₦airaland Forum

As promised, installation of new equipment.
Porting completed!!!

[quote author=George_D]bodejohn,

sukam is a good inverter but don't fall for that marketing gimmick.

unless you're using flooded lead-acid (wet cell) batteries you don't really need any
battery equaliser. however should you need to equalise your batteries at any point in time
you could always do it through your solar charge controller - provided you are using a high
end brand with embedded features like the tristar mppt.[/quote]Oga Geroge, the equalizer i am talking about is quite different from the one you explained.
Sometimes the voltage of batteries in a series string can be different from each other.
The "battery equalizer" i am talking about ensure that the batteries are the same voltages to prevent undercharging and over charging.

See more details in at this link: http://www.mygadgetsmall.com/shopping/inverter-and-solar-accessories/sukam-battery-equaliser/prod_360.html

Oga George, respect for the boss, Thanks.
I saw the advert of the Sukam 48V battery equalizers and i decided to ask.

abunafiu: ure welcome boss.
Abeg which one be Legrand modular.............
And is ur charge controller MpPT? Whats d make.
What PV module parameters and how many do u intend using.How do u in tend wiring 2 achieve ur nominal voltage of 48V.

My battery and pv panels remains the same but I am changing my inverter and charge controllers. About the Legrand...see the picture in the link below.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/distribution-blocks/6203643/

It can be used to connect multiple battery banks and charge controllers instead of twisting the cables together or having several cqbles in one terminal.

abunafiu: Am answering u in d interim sir, my oga george may be busy.
Q1. No battery equalizer is used by oga george.
Q2. You have to re-phrase ur question- But if i get u right, No user defined settings available on sukham 3.5KVA, however, charging current may be adjusted between high and low; with the aid of a switch situated behind the inverter(on 1.5KVA which am familiar with). I believe the same goes for 3.5KVA.

I hope this helps.

Thanks...
My porting things almost completed...
Sukam 3.5Kva...delivered!!!
Legrand modular distribution module...delivered!!!
DC circuit breakers...delivered!!!
2pcs of 50A 12/24/48V charge controller...to be delivered tomorrow!!!

Oga George, two quick questions;

1. Do you use any battery equalizer in your battery bank?

2. Looks like the Sukam 3.5Kva inverter is buy and use, i was thinking it could be possible to set some few parameters in it like maybe charging voltage. Is there any connection possible with it for setup?

bodejohn: asking price?

Uhmm....

All you stated up there is very confusing or maybe I did not take my time to read it carefully.
But i will suggest you visit the solar energy thread, see link below, you will get accurate and quick answers.

Link: https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta

asking price?

This offer looks too good to be true, what's wrong with the car?

Friends, i am porting... and 1.5KVA 24V inverter and 2 solar charge controllers (30A and 20A)both 12/24V working range will be up for sale. I will definitely share the pictures of my new bride with you all after the ceremonies...

[quote author=find.it.ng]aavailable[/quote]how about 1.2m?

I thought she was a judge at the appeal court during her husband's leadership. There was some hear say that she threaten to sue her husband if he stayed a day longer in power.

We need to bring the lives of the good ones among our leaders to national discuss to encourage the youths and to show the world that we are not all bad.

Thumbs up, iyaniwura/.

bing: @bodejohn, my bros you too much.... Thanks for every every..... I hail.....

You are always welcomed.

bing: @bodejohn,
Thanks for ur response... my system is a 12v system and my battery is 5 months old, I will add one 200ah to it if it is still okay to add the week... if not then i will have to get a seperate 2 battery of 200ah as i have the mppt charge controller 30a in stock.
I manage power to the extent that I hardly use up to 350watt at a go...
I will like to know the negative effect of 240watt panel over a 30a mppt charger controller.
Thanks once again...

Like I said before, adding a new battey to an old one is complicated. You have to ensure they are same brand, same model, same Ah and same or very close week of manufacture. The disadvantages might not be noticed until several months after. You can google more about it.

To the panels and charge controller, I am of the opinion that a single 240watt panel will grossly underutilize your mppt controller, infact it will not work more than a cheap pwm controller. This is not a big problem as you can add more panels afterwards but you also need to know that your battery bank will not be adequately charged.

I still suggest you consider your load demands. Renewable energy is so sweet that not starting out with surficient capactiy may be a big disadvantage after 2 or 3 months.

bing: @george D
I hail.... can i have the contact of the suntech dealer?
@bodejohn and all,
a 240watt panel and a 30a mppt(bodejohn's type) charge controller on a 200ah zenith battery 12v system. what are the disadvantages? will increase battery and panel as the cash comes...

From my experience, your proposed start point is quite small.
My personal advise, use all the money you have now to buy only batteries. It is a little complicated to add batteries to an existing set-up after say 6 months.
For example, all the expansion Oga George has done so far has excluded the batteries.
For a 24v system, I will advise a minimum of 6 batteries and for 48v system, minimum of 8 batteries. You can increase the solar panels, charge controllers and inverter as much as you want later.

And the DC circuit breakers..
The ones protecting the batteries will be installed when I get the receive IP2x modular bus distribution made by LEGRAND.

As promised, the pictures....

Picture 1: 100 watts panels, 4pcs will be increased to 6 later.
Picture 2: 6pcs of 120 watts polycrystalline panels.
Picture 3: Inverter and battery bank.
Picture 4: The charge controllers

Oga George, congratulations on the new array additions. It is just like the Oliver twist, We always want more from the sun. I am sure you are also enjoying the full support of madam, this is top on the list of projects that my wife is in 100% support.

I also re-added the 4pcs of the 100watts mono crystalline panels that I brought down early this year with a small 20A charge controller and the results have been impressive. I hope to share the pictures tomorrow.

I got delivery of my dc circuit breakers and the power meter but unfortunately I specified a 220v model instead of the model powered by 24v. I am discussing with my supplier to trade it back in and get the 24v model.

....won't be suprised if this was a scene in a nollywood movie.

abunafiu: Yesterday, i added 2 more 24V @ 120W panels to my existing panels. I now have 10 panels. My charging current increased to 33A from 28 to 29 average maximum charging current.
Observation: the temperature of my 6mm wire starts to rise which means am loosing current. I need to double the wire to achieve 12mm and then buy similar wire double it (12mm). Which means i'll use the old one as NEGATIVE and the new one as POSITive.
Am i making any sense at all.

Congratulations on the new additions to your solar array.
I guess you or your family members stay indoors during the day time. Don't mind me, i was just wondering why you need 10pcs of 120 watts to charge 4 batteries.

To your request, I found a link where you can size the diameter of your cable but i will advise you to use same cross section for both the positive and negative. Also keep in mind your expansion needs.

Link here: www.energymatters.com.au/climate-data/cable-sizing-calculator.php

Akanniade: Finished installation on last friday. Its been raining since then. Will post performance data when am back in lagos.

I saw some shadows on the panels by the trees. You should try and fix this because a considerable amount of energy download will be missed.

Dear friends, i successfully hit a major milestone in my quest for sustainable green energy yesterday.
I grossed a total of 2366 Amps in the month of May bringing the total harvest now to more than 10,000 Amp-hr in the first 5 months of 2013. I have now received about 240 Kw-hr of energy from the sun.

Meters reset again back to Zero...it's a new month!!!
Happy new month folks.

earthrealm: SORRY FOR MY FREQUENT QUESTIONS ON THIS, BUT AM ALIL CONFUSED.
MY MPPT CHARGER is 45amps morning star, my panel is 250w x 4, my battery bank is 200amp x 2 [thoughmy long term plan is to have 4 units of 200amp]........so still on this circuit breaker issue......what rating should i get...for the breaker btw the panels and mppt charge controller and 2, for the breaker btw the charge controller and my battery bank?..am thinking of a 50amp breaker both places....but a lil unsure..so pls advice.


nb: the setup is for my folks in the village, just lights and tv, fan and maybe a small fridge - optional]

The CB between the solar panel array and your charger controller might not be straight forward because we do not know what plans of expansion you have and how soon the plans will be actualized. But since your charger controller can only handle 45amps, i will suggest you protect both the upstream and downstream of the charge controller with a 45amp DC circuit breaker, please note the stress in the dc circuit breaker, it is different from the ones commonly available in the open market. It has to be specifically made for DC voltages otherwise, just use a cut out as once suggested by Oga George.

A word for wall mount inverters, they should be installed as far as possible from charge controllers.

I noticed huge flunctuations in the charging current displayed by my charge controller anytime the inverter is on and the batteries are been charged by the solar panels. I also remember reading something of this sort in the user manual of the inverter. I had to move the inverter away from the charge controller and the flunctuations disappeared.

I am expecting to take monitoring of my power generation and use to the next level with the Nemo d4 dc power meter complete with a 100Amp shunt resistor and its rs485 to ethernet adapter. I will share the pictures of the meter and installation when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

microgiant: George_D & others, Please urgent advice needed. Which of this would you advise buy
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=94
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=109
Note promo is on and end by 30th June 2013.
I'm planning to purchase the one in the first link, but don't know the added features/advantage of the second over the first

wouldn't advise any of the two, they both have simulated sine wave forms. First things I check in inverters are the wave form especially if it will drive electonics and input voltage incase of minimum battery requirement.

I am still suprised that team GEJ is this despirate about the leadership of the NGF after trying to create a parallel group in the PDP governors forum.

I am however more worried that the general elections that is still about 2 years away is getting this much attention from the federal and state gladiators.

I would have expected that these people concentration on their election promises....

....did the news say june? it's been on since in some embassies already.

Like many Nigerians, Pastor Tunde Bakare is dieing to see a Nigeria of our dreams, for this reason you see fire in many of his outburst.

But i think he is often weakened when the road to our recovery seems like a long tunnel without a light at the end, this reality makes him say or do things that make him look as a hypocrite.

How do we change the course of our nation if people with little integrity do not join political parties and contest elections? But Nigerians are quick to cast aspersions on the few with a dot of integrity as soon as they join politics.

Even Gani couldnt bring together those who could change the course of our country for better. Why couldnt people who spoke against injustice and fought for the rights of Nigerians form formidable political organisations to better the lots of Nigerians?

If you belief the all the political parties we have are worthless and cannot bring the required change we desire, how about starting one that can?