₦airaland Forum

I use mustpower 3ka and I put 2.4kw iron on it, microwave, 1hp AC, pumping machine etc but the idle consumption is high making it less efficient for small loads. I solved this by getting a small 500W inverter for light loads and at night.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I used the 5kva Zinox IPowerPlus Axpert clone. It was my first major foray into 48v systems.

I had my first solar array on thesame inverter and used it for about 3 months without issues - ironing, microwave for short periods e.t.c until one day it just blew up without warning.

From talking to the Zinox tech people the 'power card' burnt up due to overload - they avered that the inverter could easily run 1hp AC but never iron or microwave.

Neways they fixed it and I never used it with Iron or Microwave anymore but 1hp AC a few times till I sent it home to my family house and its been working fine there for like 2 years now.

I believe Oga Pranil and someone else here have had success paralleling two such inverters together - with this config they are able to use iron and microwave without issues - in OP's case, one single 4kw or 5kw MustPower unit wld handle all the stated loads including 2.3kw iron without issues and at a price point lower than one IPowerPlus unit not to talk of two Axperts in parallel.

I would expect axpert to power resistive load like iron whose power factor is 1 easily. I would expect it to struggle with inductive loads like water pump and AC... someone with good knowledge of these transformerless inverter should weigh in but I am basing my assumptions on tests done on the cheap mercury 2.4kva inverter

earthrealm:
lol, ok...its for random charging of automotive battery, nor for inverter stuff.
thinking of giving my auto batts, a good deep charge every 3 to 6months, as they dont get much action from intra city driving



there is this school of thought that axpert/zinox inverters dont like resistive loads like steam iron...whats your take on it?.the axpert is a beauty, input ac voltage 85 - 280v, variable freq range 35hz to 70hz and over 60amps charging current!...exactly what i need and more.this issue about resistive loads is what is holding me back. the normal load on the inverter would be 2 x 400w sewing machines, small tv, 130w industrial fan,led lights etc..say 400w total...and then the 2.3kw steam iron which would be coming on intermitently. phcn is fairly stable and an avg of 10 to 16hrs daily. so the solar charging option is just for the few days when phcn might not come on at all- when there is a fault or something, i intend to slap on 1200w panels for that, thus my thinking, no need for paralleling the inverters or any other sh,it

The tilt angle looks like the culprit. is it 86^O to the vertical or horizontal? for optimum yield your panels should be almost flat...about 6^O inclination.
mind your the weather has not reached the 'clarity' of high yield.....probably after several rains however moving clouds becomes the show-stopper

sinistrian:
I think I am finding out the hard way that FLAMES solar panels have inflated specs. Even when I was using a PWM controller, I noticed my yield was consistently about half what it should be. I should have known - the Voc never ever reached 44V as advertised.

What i've tried so far:
* Moved from PWM to a Fangpusun 100/50 MPPT charge controller
* Increase my battery bank from 24V 200Ah to 24V 400Ah
* Changed all my cable connectors to MC4 (money!)
* Tilted panels to 86^O based on clinometer recommendations
* Changed from 1 x 4 array to 2 x 2 array
* Moved all panels completely out of next-building shade (the last one was being shaded slightly)
* Added 2 more panels and changed panel output voltage to 72V
* Changed batteries to a 48V system and 145/60 charge controller
* Clean panels with sponge and water twice a week
* Drop my DOD to 55% and switch on power-hungry devices between 10am and 4pm.

From what I observed and the statistics I generated, and it's pretty much the same. So the nominal 300W panel is really performing like a quality Canadian Solar 200W panel. I guess I got what I paid for - each one was N50k. I'll just derate it on my calculations so that I can manage my expectations.

This charger will charge ur battery to death...not regulated thats y its cheap

earthrealm:
OK missed the spelling!. hefty$41 shipping to niaja, bringing it to $82 total, na waoh..not in lagos..its cheaper buying from alaba.
maybe i will buy this instead, cheaper, and 12v/24v option, came across it while searching for the suoer. only 24usd and free shipping.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2017-Car-Battery-Charger-AJ-618-Charger-Intelligent-Pulse-Repair-Lead-Acid-Battery-Charger-Orange/32795585218.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.335.6mw7LI

Oga, put on your car and remove the battery, all these loads will still be on. infact the alternator will do less work since it will not carry the load of charging the battery. Once the car is running, the alternator takes over.

earthrealm:
AC DOES DRAIN CAR BAttery,[for cars with dual cooling fans, bboth fans come on with ac = bigger electrical load] even headlights too...the alternator works harder when these are on. to keep up with the sucked out juice.
since one cant equalize a car battery insitu, above whatever the alternator can do, a good desulphator should prevent the plates from clogging up.

About same price with EPSOLAR. AC does not drain battery. Who knows the longevity might just be the quality of the battery. Good equalising is all a flooded battery needs

earthrealm:
yeah, i went for a cheaper cc then, the jury is still out on the desulphator, i think there are fakes and those that work, my chinco car batt is 3yrs 3months now, v6 4ltr engine with constant ac use.
installed the desulphator abt the 2yr mark when i noticed reduced performance, it has continued serving me till date. most chinco car batteries crap out in 2yrs or less

I removed my disulphator long ago.... Don't think they work especially these low price ones probably the battery life saver do. Balancer is best and you would have gone with Fangusun flexmax were u can equalize manually anytime u like

earthrealm:
i just feel it would be too much pulses and sHI.t going on, mek e no come fry my CC ..do you have a CC hooked up to ur setup?.
i would hv felt more confident if it was just inverter alone, cos i believe it would be able to handle the pulses/transient voltages from the 2 devices

Great job so far..... Following seriously to know how it goes

chris81964:
We finally started phase one of our project: Victron with Lithium batteries. We had to do three phase electrical connections, so we are doing three 8 kva Quattro Inverters. 250 / 100 MPPT Controller, Color Control GX, 2 x 200 AH Lithium HE 24V batteries Everything is mounted on the wall.
Tomorrow the wiring starts. We hope to be online tomorrow.
We have a fantastic team of people at AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD Nigeria's #1 provider of premium quality solar power. I beg make una hail dem when una see dem

OK... Will check for this specific brand

NiyiOmoIyunade:
The ZHC HA02 48v boss

Which balancer are you using currently?

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I have the manual in my hands and have posted it below.

ZHC HA02 has 0 to 10A listed as the 'optimizing current' and with an operating voltage range of 2.4v to 12v, I interprete the maximum current it can move around to be 10amps at 2.4v and 2amps at 12v. Basically it can shift a maximum 24watts around from stronger to weaker battery per time.

I am convinced this is true as the wires on the device are pretty thin and cannot safely move 10amps at 12v.

I want to clarify your statement below - are you saying you used the ZHC on a battery bank and they still failed after 6 months? Did you eliminate other causative factors? Please clarify

Thanks... Got something like this however it gives 5A to balance. If I could get a balancer of 10A would be better
Used it on a 48v installation n 2batteries failed within 6months.losses minimised due to warranty

makavele:
https://www.amazon.com/ZHC-Battery-Equalizer-Balancer-Connected/dp/B01JJ4X8CO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518535030&sr=8-1&keywords=zhc+battery+balancer

This gives 5A. Want something of 10A

Oshomo12:
Look what I found on AliExpress
http://s.aliexpress.com/IVj6JvUZ

Share a link of a good balancer pls

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Invest in active battery balancing and in one fell swoop kill the bane of series wired battery packs.

Even Lithium batteries usually have some battery balance mechanism incorporated into their BMS or other wiring circuitry to keep all the cells happy and in thesame state.

If you can keep your batteries balanced, the only thing that should kill them early is old age or poor charging or too deep discharge.

So far Saraki has done well as Senate President and as such I will welcome him to the PDP. I do not want to use sentiment to judge him but as per performance he has performed and still performing. The Senate under his leadership is not a rubber stamp.

Maybe you consider premature battery failure a cheaper option. By the time you replace 2 batteries then you'll
understand

earthrealm:
WHCIH IS MORE EXPENSIVE AND IN MY OPINION NOT WORTH THE EXTRA COST.
SIMPLY SLAPPING ON A 60AMP RELIABLE EP SOLAR CC TO A 48v system..hook up ur 3200 - 3500w panels...and u r good.
no need spending extra on 2 ccs or the expensive midnite classic 90amp.

U can split ur array and use 2 controllers or use the midnite classic of 90A

earthrealm:
SO WHICH WOULD YOU GO for axpert or zinox ipowerplus??. i am in a dilemma of which inverter to go for since there are so many options now in the market,
@gennextech, what advantage would you say axpert has over the other common chinese/indian inverters?

@dmerciful, 24v systems limit your panel array/harvest to 1600w for most common cc's . this is usually inadequate for a 4 x 12v x 200ah bank, in addition to the wahala that comes with a series.parallel config.
48v is my fav all time, though seems icell inverters share your philosophy as they even have 6kva 24v inverter!.

24V system seems to be the best bcoz it is in btw the battery stability of 12v system and the efficiency of 48v system. Just a string of 48v battery system is prone to premature failure of one or two batteries in the string. Unless there are multiple well balanced strings

sinistrian:
I decided to bite the bullet and change my inverter. I'll also switch to 48V while i'm at it. Reasons:
* Fangpusun 100/50 cannot handle more than 4 300W panels, no matter what config I use
* The voltage loss along my PV cable is annoying, an i can't increase the number of strings (see #1 above)
* Inverter draws insane currents from batteries at full house equipment load (approx 650W) and 16mm² cables get hot. My 63A MCB has been thrown many times.
* Inverter (CloudEnergy LPT3000) runs hot and uses 75W standby
* The woes of parallel batteries and charge imbalance. One set is starting to show an ever-so-slight bulge.
* No monitoring software for the inverter, I mean seriously?? Not even a data logger.
* Inverter is aggressive with charging cycles. setting for AGM batteries = 29.6 - 30V bulk (until battery is at 95%), then 28.8V absorption for a loooong time. I have seen the LED for float light up only once.
* Inverter runs hot and i'm worried about overheating. The fan doesn't run constantly and at a point in time you ill not be able to place your hand on the chassis- it's that hot.

Buying an axpert from Gennextech. I can use tools to read data from it and my BMV at the same time.

Fear of TBoss.....complete it

why cant we boycott meat? but if we hear that meat has one disease that causes death like mad cow disease we will boycott it!
Is fulani herdsmen killing not disease enough to boycott meat?

You think you doing someone else... You are doing yourself

angels09:
If you continue like this Yoruba will vote Buhari again and nothing will happen

My concern is the brazen electoral fraud being perpetuated in form of underage voters. APC is a fraud!

This weather is just too cloudy these days. Low harvest

How long does it take to reflect after paying online for the first time on ARM mutual funds

chinexex:
It depends on the factors you are considering.

Higher rate offer, Customer service, Transperency etc.

Make your choices based on these factors.

I settled for ARM after factoring in the above points.

In the manual, the recommended voltage range is quoted and it normally falls with the AGM-Gel range.

mank1234:
This is cool. Thanks.
Please more clarification: Does it mean that irrespective of your charger settings (flooded or vrla or gel), the BMS will conditioned it for the lithium battery.

Most lithium batteries designed for inverter usage comes with BMS(battery management system) that ensure the lithium battery is not overcharged or overdischarged and consistent with multiples of 12v and besides they have been adapted for direct plug and play to easily replace lead acid batteries. For mine, no setup, just connect and use.

mank1234:
Question for honourable lithium users:
Assuming one already has Morningstar MPPT charge controller and he or she decides to incorporate lithium battery, how will the charge controller charge the lithium battery since it doesn't not have settings for it? Does lithium also use three stage charging algorithm? How do you incorporate with existing infrastructure?

I am in love with Lithium.....

dapsyra:
Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) batteries are already here

I have used part of it to replace my AGM and Flooded Lead Acid batteries.

I will have a small quantity to dispose off when we finish the project we imported them for.

It is placed before the inverter to protect it and ensure stable voltage for charging.

dragnet:
the stabilizer was for input to the inverter or output from inverter?

Thanks for apologizing... Thumbs up

makavele:
DMerciful , I am sorry & I take back the insult.

Exactly what I started yesterday with 1.5kw array. Two water heaters that runs or 45mins btw 11am and 1pm.

dapsyra:
With 6.3KW array and 38kwh of battery storage, why are your water heater not on solar?

Install timer switch on the water heaters and set them to run one after the other for 30 minutes each in the afternoon, preferably between 11am and 2pm. Once the water is boiled it is good for the next 24hours.

I have a 4.5kw array, I run a borehole pump and four 20litre water heaters off it between 11am and 2:30pm.

The last time I bought PHCN recharge was October, 2016 when I needed utility bill for banking purpose.

Well using for a year now... No noticeable drop in performance. I always prefer to buy known low quality and pay the low price than to be sold the same quality for a higher price cos of name. They are mostly same when all comparative analysis is done. I will consider them different when I start seeing some at 30% efficiency while the low quality at 20% efficiency

bigrovar:
Quality and durability. We often forget that a solar panels should last for over 25 years. Many PV might start proper but degrade at a very rapid rate down the years. You experience things like burnout of the silicon and drop in yield.

You are right. Why buy a panel guaranteed to last for 25yrs when new panels with probably 60% efficiency will surface in 10yrs time. Lithium ti take over

efuro:
Yes Sir, Quality is good & nice for those who can afford it.

Even though PV are rated 10-40yrs, My narrow reasoning is such that I prefer to use sunshine panels now and probably for 6 to 7 yrs from which new template in technology would have be out in RE where the pleasure of current expensive PV
Would have been overwhelmed.

Take a look at Trojan 6v industrial batteries of few yrs back and now lithium solutions.

Just my view.

'ordinary' Sunshine panels o

mank1234:
Which brand of panel are you using?