₦airaland Forum

samnaija:
chairman its been miserable. but as of today 1.7kwh/day was generated. i still pump water and use my fridge. on a good wheather day highest from the system is 4.5kwh/day.

samnaija:
compliments solar gurus and the ogas at the top. this harmattan wheather is really affecting solar harvest. none the less we must forge on to overcome this obstacle..

i use an epsolar itracer series 60a charge controller to charge my 48v 200ah batteries.my solar array is 12* 250 watts 3000watts total. according to epsolar charge manual pv input max is at 3200watts. can i keep adding more panels over this 3200 watts just to beat the bad wheather effect on solar harvest..is it of any benefit. guys pls advice

For a 3KW array, 4.5KWH/day on a good weather day is very poor. This implies an array efficiency of 1.5KWH/KW. You should expect an efficiency of at least 3.5KWH/KW on a sunny day. It is either something is not optimal in your installation or your overnight consumption is very low.

I have a 3.6KW array and I harvest between 11.5 - 13KWH/day this season in Abuja. During the summer months, my harvest is between 14-17.5KWH/day. (http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?userid=46221)

GeorgeD1:
dapsyra,
don't you think that is a rather crude way of testing cable current carrying capacity?

there is a more scientific way of achieving this using distance/wire size tools and charts
like the one in the link below:

http://myelectrical.com/tools/cable-sizing-calculator

it's a pretty simple tool to use and will give you the right cable size provided you input
the right data.
note that if the wire you're using is undersized, you will already be losing power well
before you start feeling the heat on your palms.

Sure, there are scientific ways of calculating the current carrying capacity of cable. But when you operate in country like Nigeria where quality and standards are not enforced you've got to find other ways too.

The "so called" 50mm² you purchased might not have the current carrying capacity of a true 25mm². You simply cannot rely on the stated rating of the cable only. You use the cable sizing calculator to make purchase decision and use the touch method to confirm if the cables are okay.

The man already had the cable installed in a production environment, so I gave him a very fast and practical way of checking if the cable is undersized for the task.

[quote author=Wazari post=52327454]Hi Guys, I hope everyone is having a Happy Holidays.
This thread has been a wonderful source for people desiring energy independence and has been very useful to me. I have always thought the most important consideration when deciding to go "green" isn't generation or storage but energy conservation and efficient consumption. In other words, its more important to me that my appliances do not waste energy than it is to get another PV panel or increase my battery bank. On my journey towards energy independence, I have picked up a few tips and i want to share them:

1. Laptop chargers consume substantial power when not connected to the Laptop, do not leave them plugged into sockets!
2. Switch off all appliances from the wall socket when not been used.
3. Clean the dust off your freezer coils at least once a year.
4. Fridge and Freezer should have at least a 3cm space from the wall to allow better heat extraction from the coils.
5. Put bottles of water into freezer if you have the space (helps to keep freezer cooler for longer and also improves condenser duty cycle)
6. Use Eco mode on your TV if available and consider reducing screen brightness.
7. Avoid using a UPS if running an off grid system (inverter most likely already has a automatic transfer switch).
8. Consider buying devices with the highest energy star rating within budget.
9. Do not buy devices just because they advertise low wattage on the box. Some cheap LED bulbs have a 0.2 Power Factor. Research every little device or appliance. I find that known brands generally give more correct technical details.
10. Avoid using industrial type standing fans like OX. They are very durable but inefficient.
11. Get a domestic watt meter (eg Kill-a-watt) to monitor your appliances.

Pls share the tips you have been using for efficient energy consumption.

12. Switch off all your security lights at dawn.

shithapuns:
Hello house.
I have 4 units of 22v 220ah flooded mecury batts connected in series pararell config to a 24v inverter.1500w panels.
I used 15mm cable to link the batts..since from the charts it can handle 150amps....n a fridge if 130w is the biggest load on the system...though i sometimes ise a 1kw iiron on it.
I intend to change the cables to 30mm or 50mm...as i intend to upgrade the inverter to power a sumo.
My wuestion is..i hopr the 15mm cable is ok for now?..and am not loosing energy

Touch the cable while under load. If it is warm, then you are loosing energy. If it is hot, then you are not only loosing energy, but you are also at the risk of fire.

Javid4me:
It has inbuilt controller.
Start up wind speed is 3.8m/s. Use link below. Hope it helps

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CE-Russia-RoHS-approved-600w-wind-turbine-generator-12v-24-48v-charge-controller-including/380416524.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.xhZDKO

Thanks for the link. It surely helped.

I look forward to reading your review of the wind turbine after some usage.

Thanks a million.

@Javid4me

Nice professional grade setup. Congrats!

I am seriously thinking of adding a wind turbine to my setup. So, can you please give us more info about your wind turbine? A detail specification or datasheet will be appreciated.

I noticed that it is wired directly to the battery busbar. Does it have an inbuilt charge regulator and clipper?

What is the startup wind speed?

Gennextech:
Good Day house , very long time, we are proud to announce that we have commisioned another a 65,790kwp off gird filling station project in Ejigbo lagos state

Did you mean 65,790Wp (65.79KWp)?

65,790KWp = 65.79MWp

DUNKA:
Nice and Beautiful set up. Really liked the way you utilized your water stand. Please what is the difference between the battery equalizer and the desulphator in your pics? Also which settings are you using for the mercury tubular batteries?

Thank you for the nice words.

The battery equalizer ensures that the batteries are within 0.2v of one another. It is the only battery equalizer that I have installed that really works. Before I installed it, the differences between my battery voltages is as much as 2.5v at times. During the absorb charging stage, the weakest battery will quickly rise to 15.6v while the strongest is still at 13.1v. All the other batteries will have various values in between the two extremes. This rapid increase in voltage of the weakest battery raise the array average disproportionally and prevent the other batteries from charging properly. This issue was effectively resolved by the battery equalizer and my batteries are now always within 0.2v of one another.

The desulphator is used to desulphate my SMF AGM batteries. The AGM batteries are 4years old and are beginning to to show signs of old age.

For the Mercury 220AH batteries, I set absorb=57.8V, float=54.4V and equalize=62V. The Mercury MC5048E Inverter cannot handle battery voltages above 58V, so I was forced to set the absorb voltage slightly below that limit.

I always disconnect the Mercury batteries from the Inverter before triggering equalization from the Charge Controller.

finally ....

some more ....

more ....

DUNKA:
please kindly post pics of your solar setup

Here they are:

efuro:


bad market to NEPA.
up AE.

Very bad market for NEPA indeed. I have been partially off grid for more than a year. I use PHCN once in a while when the weather is bad and at nights when I need Aircon..

The PHCN technicians and marketers have been to my house three times in the last nine months to investigate me -they thought I bypassed the Meter. Before I went partially off grid, I buy about N20,000.00 worth of electricity every month (before the February tariff increase). But since October 2015 when I installed my solar gears, I have bought only N45,000.00 electricity from PHCN.

I have also not switched on generator in the last 14months.

Green forever!

chris81964:
What are you monitoring with? (software) good harvest

I am monitoring with the inbuilt logging software of Midnite Classic 150 Charge Controller. The data is automatically uploaded to Midnite Solar website every five minutes and graphed. Later in the night, I manually extract the data and upload to PVOutput website.

DUNKA:
Hmmm just registered on 08/12/2016 and you are already up to date

Anyway Bulk to absorb 59.2
Absorb time 2 hours
Float 54
Equalization charge 64
Equalization time 2 hours

Batteries are doing Great no regrets whatsoever. Will do a more comprehensive review when they reach 1year in service

Thank you for sharing your charging parameters. I look forward earnestly to reading your comprehensive review.

Though I just registered, I have been following this incisive thread for more than six months. I have read all 189pages.

You can follow my daily solar harvest at http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?userid=46221

chris81964:
One of my clients has used them since April. He is loving them. I use 31 for equalize 29 and 27 for bulk and float. Mercury did not give any guidance.

Thank you Chris.

It is just too bad that Mercury did not put out any data/spec for them.

@DUNKA

Can you please post the charging parameters (Bulk, Absorb, Float and Equalize voltages) for your Mercury 220AH Tubular Batteries.

I will also appreciate a review of the said batteries now that you have used them for about five months.

Thank you.