₦airaland Forum

Lovely! We're getting there...

Take a look at the link below,it's a very comprehensive analysis of renewable energy in Nigeria.
Very interesting read...
https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2015-en-nigerian-energy-sector.pdf

DUNKA:
Please where can I get programmable timer switches for freezer and refrigerator?

Kindly advise brand and price.

Regards

If you can order and wait about 2 weeks, follow link below. Select UK plug... Its about N4k each.
Or search for "Smart Power Sockets" Lot of options bro...

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Broadlink-SP2-EU-Smart-Home-Wireless-Remote-Control-Electrical-Smart-Plugs-Sockets-By-app-control-switch/32655943437.html

Else contact coogumo, kiekie, richmon etc...

ihebrooke:
Mail Lounge interior

Mail? I assume you mean Main...
Do you have designs for a 2 bedroom bungalow?

LOL...
No worries bro. If we had a power outage once in 10 years , i would've settled for a battery-less system.

Hopefully we get there before 2116!!

iLoveTheSun:
What I observe, people do their sizing according to their finances - what is obvious - but they end up replacing their batteries within a year or two. People take a single day as the duration for a full cycle. In fact it's rather C5 (=5 hours) discharging to DoD 50% within 5 hours after charging. But I'd recommend to go DoD 75% within 5 hours. This will almost double the life of a battery.

Where did you get this info from?
I understand when selecting deep cycle batteries, focus should be on the C20 rate. A C24 rate would've been perfect!

If i discharge a battery at C20 rate and recharge it at C10, is that a full cycle? Is this cycle
a function of the charge/discharge rate? I'm curious as to how you arrived at the C5 full day cycle dogma.

I have been thinking, should battery banks be sized for whole day or night time use?
Wont it make more financial sense to buy a small gen for those few and far between cloudy days in a
year, and spend the rest on panels...

Size your batteries for night time use. Invest the extra cash buying more panels. Move your peak loads
to daytime. Have a standby gen that you may run once a year or never! Maximize energy efficiency at night.

If you've got a 400Ah battery bank, 50% DOD philosophy, draw no more than 500w at night.
So as to stay within the C20 rate. 9.6kwh is available at C20, discharge any faster and the available capacity
drops...Peukert law.

Good stuff: http://www.mpoweruk.com/life.htm

DUNKA:
wow. I thought that, the charge controller is designed with the ability to handle such variation, with + and - tolerances.

Kindly advise further

There's a thread in here on stringing ur panels to at-least twice the battery voltage.
So you should have 2 panels in series or at most 3, whilst ensuring the Voc stays around 100Vdc...

Mine hovers around 90 to 100Vdc region, but goes lower under load.
Other users will share their experience.

See an old pic i took many moons ago... I'll post more when i get home.

Dunka, that 145Vp is too close to 150Vp!
This na just wet season, what happens when dry season reach?
Your cc will be damaged if that voltage level is breached!

netotse:
can you connect your charge controller/inverter to a computer? if you can, a raspberry pi could be a cheap way of automating your set up to achieve all you've mentioned.

The ability to connect a computer directly is not available.
There's an RJ45 connector on both which require a Hub/Mate 3.
I suspect its for view only, not sure one can fiddle with any software settings...

@ ilovethesun,
Lovely drawings, but scenarios 1 and 2 are incorrect for a battery based inverter/charger, e.g Magnum.
Once there's power from the grid, the inverter enters "pass-through" mode. It simply passes gridsupply to the connected loads and charges the battery if low.

So in both scenarios, assuming the batteries are full, the mppt cc will throttle pv production and trickle charge the batteries.
No matter how hot the sun is, it'll only trickle charge. Potential production lost! All power to loads, sourced from the grid.

I'd modify scenario 3 and put a contactor between the ATS and your breaker box. It'll only energize on low battery, allowing grid/gen to pass-through. Effectively using the grid as back up.

What are your thoughts on buying a large battery bank as against supplementing a small bank with a generator.
Cost-wise, i'd go with the latter... If properly sized, the gen might run once a year or never

donmajor2:
Not so fast! I think you have good solar components out there. You need to be more explicit on what you actually mean by energy management. There is much you can do with programmable timer switches and automatic transfer switches.
With the simple setup in the image below, I supply power to my load based on time of the day and availability of PHCN power supply.

Oh I have voltage switches, relays, contactors...
They switch my backup loads to PHCN based on battery voltage.

I had plans to get a timer to knock off PHCN from 6am to 6pm. What then happens on cloudy days when production is low and consumption high and one of the voltage switches kicks in?

They'd switch to PHCN, but the timer would have already taken it offline!
Except for my booster pump, kitchen tools and Laundry, the backup loads sit comfortably south of 700w daily. Else they hover around 4kw.

So by mid morning, batteries are floating. Pv production gets throttled and wasted. I have thought of introducing a contactor to switch my main loads to inverter during the day once batteries hit absorb or float to maximise self consumption.

Or get a grid interactive inverter.(I get about 20 hours of PHCN daily) The new wahala would then be reconfiguration of my Pv array, and ac coupling with the magnum.

What I want is to maximise self consumption. Grid supply in my hood is very good. I get high estimated bills from them yet I have a multimillion naira RE system always on float!

Sorry for the long winded post, just waking up.

DMerciful:
Seems he needs a new excitement especially with the latest systems coming up

Expensive new toys abi...
Dunka and kiekie1 I'll contact you with pictures once I get home. Thanks.

No issues at all kiekie1. It's still Bright and spotless as if I bought it this morning.

Yes Dunka.

Battleaxe, I prefer the hybrid inverter to modular setups.

I currently own the Magnum MS4348PE, FM60 charge controller, PV array of about 3500w, 400Ah 48Vdc battery bank, dc disconnect box, surge protectors etc. I've been using this for more than 4 years i think...

I'm currently dissatisfied with it cos it's dumb. I've been racking my head on how to implement an intelligent energy management system with it, but no luck.

I want a setup that can intelligently look at my PV production, Battery capacity, PHCN, time of day and smartly decide the mix to power my loads.
A smart hybrid inverter can comfortably do this...
Hey, my setup listed above is up for sale, interested buyers are welcome

Chei Dunka, this is mouth watering. Congratulations bro, and welcome to the club!

I am in need of a Goodwe GW5048D-ES hybrid inverter. Any dealer/seller please respond, thanks.

onatisi:
When I said this in July ,many thought I was kidding

This man! You be fortune teller!! Why didnt i see this?
Imagine if i bought 10m naira worth of dollars then!!! Gaddamit

The reason among others why the headquarters is in Lagos/Abuja is so the management of Exxonmobil can interface directly with government and buyers.
With the advent of technology, companies even outsource their HR to other countries! In the interest of peace, it wont be out of place for Mobil to move their administrative headquarters to Uyo from Lagos.

ihebrooke, that 4 bedroom duplex is very beautiful!
Wish i saw that earlier... How area?

abunafiu:
I now live off grid...

Going off grid sounds intriguing, but alas! it's not for the faint of heart

pranil:
The setup looks enviable. Few thoughts

1. The battery is too small for 4.6 KVA load unless that is your peak load for bedroom /lights - 400 AH is hardly 10 KWH at 50 % DOD at 3 KW it is not even 3 hours of runtime in the night . I have exat seame battery size and I can run 800 watts for one whole night ( which includes 300-500 Watt of bedroom AC)

To clarify, my house will be divided into 4:
Panel #1 will carry ALL the light points in the house and circuitry in the Master bedroom. (~400watts @ night with aircon , 100watts without)
Panel #2 will carry the kitchen, wholehouse fans, and Main lounge (~400watts @ night) This panel will drop off once the battery SOC gets to 70% due to grid failure or cloudy days.
Both panels above will not exceed 4.6kva.
Panel #3 will carry 13A sockets in the rest of the house and 15A sockets in the laundry room/water pump. This panel will get bi-directional feed from the inverter during the day.
Panel #4 will carry the remaining 15A loads in the house, and will be supplied directly from PHCN.

I plan to concatenate panels 1 to 3 in a single 3-phase panel, while panel 4 will be stand alone.
I also plan to upgrade me banks to at least 500Ah. My goal is to keep nighttime backup load demand to 500w.

I've got me sights on LG inverter aircon

pranil:
2. You might want to consider running the inverter in hybrid solar mode during daytime to maximize that 6 KWp Solar panels solar production . In that case I suggest to use changeover along with DOD cut off to keep non essential loads connected to grid if available on days when solar production is not enough otheriwse one angr better half

See comments above

pranil:
3. You might consider reducing the solar panel size and investing that amount in energy efficiency ( long term effects will be similar) specially as NEPA bill also comes down. Solar prices will always drop for next few years and you can always add more 1.5 KW diakin or LG AC is around 200,000 NGN but can run on as low as 300-600 WATT. LED bulbs ( i found the Yellights and Philips both reliable )- The yeelights are specially good at less than 20 USD in addition allow dimming and color change from you rsmartphone - http://www.gearbest.com/smart-lighting/pp_361555.html

I love automation and control, and i'm looking at integrating the above using zwave via homeseer hs3. Keep it coming bro...

Lovely setup Pranil.
Been tinkering with my proposed setup, and finally came up with the attached.
I have no plans to sell to the grid or go fully off grid.

Supply to the 2nd essential load panel will be controlled by my battery SOC.
Have a look and lemme know your thoughts.

pranil:
I have modified my system to avoid the small gen going to house or inverter by coupling the output of gen through a 3 KW DC power supply set at 54.3 V feeding into batteries effectively isolating the critical parts of my house from NEPA .

Interesting thoughts...
I am currently in the process of upgrading my setup, but torn between ac coupling it with a grid-tie inverter or buy a hybrid inverter.

Can you post a block diagram of your setup?

Why is it so difficult to get information on the specs of your inverters??
I'm interested in the 10kva version, can you post the system specs here?

kiekie1:
Must Power Star Light inverters
Hybrid inverters with inbuilt PWM controllers
7.5kva-48v=290,000
5kva-48v=250,000
4kva-24v=220,000
3kva-24v=190,000
Hybrid Inverter with inbuilt MPPT control
12KW-48v=870,000

What is the "make" of this inverter?

Beautiful installation above mutilated by the writing on the changeover switch.
With the amount of money spent already, surely that writing could have been better presented.

Very lovely story Bigrovar
I'll share it with my korofo friends who have refused to make the switch.
RE is the way to go... the off-grid lifestyle is a complete paradigm shift.

I'll have a look at my current loads, and swap them for more efficient versions.

bigrovar:
Based on my email exchange with sukam support center (as I could not find any information whatsoever about the charging profile of the Mercury Tubular) I used what I found relating to other Tubular batteries like Sukam and Luminous:

Floating = 27.3
Absorb = 14.5 ( I was told by sukam support that absob voltage for their tubular is 14.4 - and that was what I saw on pretty much every documentation on indians tubular batteries, however made the decision to use 14.5 since my controller does not have a separate voltage sensing cable)
Equalisation= 15.5

May I ask why your Floating voltage value is higher than Absorb? I suppose you meant to type 13.65v

Very interesting thread. Take a look at the link below, I think it'll serve your purpose.

https://www.control4.com/solutions/products/centralized-lighting-panels

Source??

steppin:
Hmmmmm... Impossible.

I'd love to see the expression on your face...LOL

989900:
Obviously, but why?

98 - Met your fiancee
99 - Proposed to her
00 - Got married

989900:
Wow, but fail . . . N10,000 to you or anyone that gets it right.

Too easy, i need that 10k...
It's the concatenation of the years 1998, 1999, 2000

Elliot2:
Yes, God knows everything. he predestined everything. despite that he still gave everyone a choice, and that choice is called rational mind. whatever action a man takes in the midst of several choices was as a result of his rationalisation of that choice over others. What God does is to set the outcomes just like it's written-the soul that sins will die; the soul that does good will live. these are facts and laws. U now have the choice to do good or bad.

God already knows ALL the set of choices i'll make in the course of exercising my freewill.
I am responsible and accountable for the choices i make, but God knows them all...
God already knows ALL those that will make heaven or hell. He knows the sum-total of actions every human being will take.

Does God intervene at anytime to change the outcome??

Now i'm confused
Since God already knows ALL the choices an individual will make, why appeal to the sinner that is destined for destruction??