chris81964:


I don't do the Indian brands. So I am not familiar with them and can't give a qualified opinion. The reason why they list cycle uses on batteries is so that you know the maximum and minimum voltage you can charge the batteries to. When they are not charged properly sulfation occurs and there is no particular manner in which it occurs. Differences in tightness of your lug, distance of battery to the charge source, imperfections in the battery can be the reason why one fails before the other.

I attended a class over the weekend and the instructor told us that you can equalize your sealed batteries. Give that a try and see if it will bring it back. At 12 Volts your battery is flat. It is beyond flat at 11 volts. You might want to set the alarm for 11.5 Volts.

Run the equalization and get a desulfator. The instructor swore by them. If the batteries are not too far gone you might be able to rescue them with the suggestion that I made.

chris81964:


Accept my sympathies.
1. How did you size the battery bank?
2. What size chargers do the inverters have?
3. Salam12 has asked the other questions that are relevant.
Lead acid batteries don't like being completely discharged. The sealed batteries need to see 28.5 to 29 V (on 24V) daily during the charge routine. With a small charger and a depleted battery bank you batteries will not see that.

salam12:


Please check if any of the mentioned inverters have setting for DOD. If this important safety control is not there, most times the batteries must have been pulled down to 100% DOD which will be more injurious to battery life. Also, most of these inverters must have come with 10 to 20A charging capacity which will be too small to deliver needed power to pull back the batteries fully from nearly zero SOC.

Konnektions146:




"if you want a backup power, its affordable; but if you need a complete independence, its a project"

richmon74:


I usually stay away from making this kind of comments am about to but for this one i really feel like i should.

In economics of Engineering, we were thought to make the best use of what the client has on ground already.
You should avoid making changes according to equipment you feel are not pro, rather you should base your design on what the need of the client is. In this case you didn't tell us what the need of your client is. Your planning to sale off the solar panels any replacing it with an expensive inverter doesn't make sense to me except i didn't understand you well. With that system and your recent upgrade to FM80, I want to believe if the installation is properly carried out (with proper cable sizing/quality, proper terminals etc) that the system should be very effective with relative to the size.

What will your client gain buy buying an inverter with almost half a million naira when he doesn't even have batteries? What advantage will he get by buying PRAG over luminous?

In my advice, power generation is always priority to storage. As such, the solar panels which you even want to sale off is more important than the inverter and batteries except the present batteries are bad.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Sukam inverter if you depend more on solar for charging the battery. Depending on inverter for charging the battery doesn't make economic sense to me except the person is not paying bills for power.

Finally, we always advice client to upgrade only on certain conditions like;
- If he has grown financially over time and wants to move to pro products
- If he has moved to a bigger apartment and can afford the upgrade
- If the system he had installed was wrongly designed and wasn't operational for at least 60% rated efficiency
- If the previous system failed and he could afford something better
- If we are called and asked to upgrade.

The upgrade must make economic sense and improved efficiency before we get involved.

Please pardon me if this is not what you expected

JUO:
mercury brother, all they do is to sell no after sales

Barezzi:

Thanks bro, but how will this timer help in the scenario i painted earlier?
There are times, during cloudy days that the battery state of charge is low. If the water pump comes on, it'll drain the battery and trip the inverter at low battery cutoff. If i had a voltage controlled switch instead of a timer, set it, the pump would never come on as long as the battery voltage is low and there's no utility power from the grid. I'd achieve better control...

So whether during the day or at night, i want my auxiliary loads disconnected when the battery voltage drops below a certain value, and reconnect them when the battery voltage climbs (by solar or grid supply) above another value.

If kiekie has such a switch, abeg hola!

JUO:
it has a cmos battery that can keep time for over 6 months according to spare in my hand. You will need 30a for pumping machine although this will work because is 16a. Contact kiekie he is the dealer. Believe me this timer will make life easier for you

Pharyn:
Hello House.

Has anyone used this timer before?

How do you connect the wiring?

Clue:
It has 5 terminals:
1
2
3 & 4 (NC - normally closed)
5 (NO - normally open).


Your help and support would be appreciated.

I would soon post the images and results of the Inverter (changed) that woke up those dying Trojan J185. Thanks for all your comments and contributions.

donmajor2:
What a great thread! After following this thread for quite some time now, I am glad to begin with a humble entrance into the renewable energy world.

Many thanks to Sir Frankie(Kiekie) for his prompt delivery of Two 12V Trojan batteries and 2KVA Voltron pure sine wave inverter to my doorstep in Benin City.

Special thanks to all the gurus in the house as you make time to respond to virtually all the questions from the newbies like me. I will appreciate your mentoring as I sojourn the solar way.

durodee:


I can confirm i have noticed a lesser voltage at cutout on all the batteries on the NEGATIVE end of my systems. I thought at that time that maybe the NEGATIVE terminal cable being a bit longer was the problem! Periodical swaprounds highly recommended.

JUO:
and that doesn't come cheap, since MorningStar has 600v input are you saying one should put 550v or 600v since the the cc can handle 600v? High dc voltage can kill incase we have forgotten

JUO:
my oga easy o. Your boy remain loyal. Just an advise for those that don't know, high voltage will damage your cc

kiekie1:


Quite an age dear friend! Yes the 60a mppt and DC/AC surge arrestor are readily available., you can simply reach me ...

JUO:
But you were scared to use 4x4 even when your cc is 150v input? Have you by any means checked the device temperature at 90v and above at noon? I believe you will be scared of 4x4 by the time you see the result. I think you know the result of an engine performing at a high RMP all the time?

JUO:
voltage usually hovers around 130v. This is high, you suffered the cc to handle the voltage for 21 months. To make matters worse you were off grid, no resting time for the cc. Sorry for your loss but I think alaba boys can fix it. Always leave breathing space for anything be automobile or electronics next time. 2x2 would have been better

JUO:
What is he still looking for?

JohnKester:


Sir Frankie

I am in the process of moving into a new house and wish to install solar power since I am not connected to the grid yet. For this I need the following:

Hybrid 6KW 48V Inverter (Daltron, Xantrex, Outback or Prag are my preferences) to handle Solar, Generator and Public utility.
Solar charge controller, MPPT 80A (Morning Star, Xantrex or Outback)
Mono Solar Panels (24V 300W minimum capacity), German, Japan or American made
Batteries (AGM Deep Cycle, 12V 230AH or 2V 500AH or 6V 500AH) German and American makes which can be install indoors.
AC and DC breakers

Kindly give me a quote based on the above, using the appropriate quantities.

The project is to be executed in Port Harcourt and your quotation should therefore include delivery of the merchandise to Port Harcourt.

Please give me your most competitive prices and I will see if we can deal and I trust that all items shall be original and no China Nigeria specs.

Send email to reflections_galleries@yahoo.com.

Hope to hear from you soonest.

Cheers.

sting224:
I want my 5KVA (50hz) generator to charge my batteries, but it wont. The inverter does not see the generator power, it still shows 'Mains Failed'.
When Nepa power comes on, the inverter sees it and the batteries charge.
It's a mopower inverter. What could be the problem?

victor1464:
i will send u a link to download d full album

scribble:
Haven't smelled light for over a week


We are boycotting Nepa bills in my area


If only more Nigerians would do the same

jazzman2:


Hello Abunafiu, I am new to this forum and have been watching from the sidelines. I would like to know your total installed panel capacity in KWp? Thanks

hisenjos:
Has Anybody had a bad experience with Richmond. Just did 16m transaction and d guy is holding on to a 500k equipment for a balance of 300k which I promised to settle at d end of d day.
Meanwhile I sent 10m to him for over 2 months without meeting him. Business trust must flow both ways. Learnt my lesson. Just disappointed.

hisenjos:
Has Anybody had a bad experience with Richmond. Just did 16m transaction and d guy is holding on to a 500k equipment for a balance of 300k which I promised to settle at d end of d day.
Meanwhile I sent 10m to him for over 2 months without meeting him. Business trust must flow both ways. Learnt my lesson. Just disappointed.

EgunMogaji:


I like your philosophy and your approach.

I'm building my house from scratch as a solar powered entity. The electrical cables will be specific for low voltage efficiency.

The west and east facing sides of my roof will offer a solar array to the sun and charge a bank of solar batteries (that'll be the money pit).

I'll have a small I generator to maintain the batteries during low sun periods. Nothing kills these batteries more than that.

I'll have passive roof turbines to excavate any residual hear trapped in the ceilings. There will also be at least one or two (still studying the efficiency) while house fans.

With careful tree planting by windows and the fact that I have a gaping hole of a 500 square foot central courtyard I think I'll be able to keep the house sufficiently cool with just fans.

My plan was chosen specifically because it was originally built for Mexico which has similar weather system like nigeria.

The only issue now is the blocks which is different from the 2x6 wood that that external walls were designed for.

Interestingly enough I've been told that the design of the hollow blocks acts like insulators of sorts.

Good stuff.

geesampower:

True and not true. On the dc end it is strictly KW but we don't use DC conventionally so KVA is appropriate as inverters can be rated in kva by multiplying the power (kw) of the inverter by the power factor of the inverter.

Thank you