₦airaland Forum

Different brands of mppt works besbt at different Voc. Epsolar 60A works best around 120V input while fangpusun works best around 60V for a 24v battery system . In summary...do the research for d right input.... Almost all mppt are 97% and above efficient

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I have been following the intensity of today's posts with keen interest and I must say I echo you BigRovar!

My MorningStar TS-MPPT 60A is connected to a 4.5kw (15 × 300 Mono Panels) array just like Mr Olagunju - my yield today was 17.77kwh in Lekki. Lagos State and this was an average day with quite a few cloudy intervals.

This underscores the importance of a solid charge controller as I routinely do 21kwh daily yield on a good day when my batteries are deeply drained.

Please bear the following in mind - my panels are West facing at a ~30° slope so by no means ideal yet I get these results with a solid charge controller - I made custom settings to throttle my controller max charging amps to 55amps - it will routinely hold 54.4amps from 1pm to 4:30pm with only brief rests at 40sumtn amps when there is a lot of cloudy skies.

When I had my chinco EP Solar on this same 4.5kw array I would get say 45 amps very briefly as peak but EP Solar would generally stay around 39amps - the only thing different between 39amps & 54amps yield is a solid MPPT charge controller!!! - 15amps improvement and remember I am throttling the morningstar controller output to 55amps via custom settings so as not to boil my batteries - I have seen it easily hold 58.sumtn amps steady for 3 hours plus.

So that's it - Mr Olagunju probably needs a proper charge controller if everything else checks out - currently I disconnected my second array of 1.8kw which is connected to the EP Solar - I am keeping it as backup for when the rainy/cloudy season comes.

I have gotten 802w out of 1000w installation..... Sunshine panels for that matter

makavele:
Still not gonna get past the 77% mark

You use premium stuff , super connection strategy,
enough solar power to float d batteries most times during day etc

GeorgeD1:
none of the batteries in my 48v battery bank setup has failed prematurely - yet
and this is going 5yrs and still counting. my first setup of only 4pcs 200ah batteries went 7yrs before I changed them out. I have a feeling these ones will surpass that milestone if their present superb performance is anything to go by.

I am beginning to think 24v should be the standard
battery connection. From observation anything above 24v whether series or series- parallel is a problem..... 48v system is esp prone to premature battery failures

bigrovar:
The above is why I love flooded batteries. The ability to send equalising voltage cross all the batteries in the bank forcing all the cells to get higher voltage charge until you ensure (with the help of an hydrometer) that their voltage has been brought to an equilibrium, the ability to do this once a month means battery will never be allowed to be stuck in voltage imbalance for a long time. If you use a Valve regulated battery than your best bet is a battery balancer.

And it is better to have batteries in series connections than parallel. Parallel connection are generally less efficient, more expensive to setup and are more prone to imbalance, even with the best battery to charge/load connection the different internal resistance of batteries are more pronounced with parallel than with series. With series connection you are dealing mostly with voltage imbalance, which can be dealt easily with battery balancer, with parallel imbalance is more current.. some batteries would do more of the work and get more of the charge (thanks to internal resistance) you can try to fix this using battery connection but it only mitigate the problem.

With this I know if net my battery is charging esp when loads are connected during solar charging[kquote author=makavele post=62625690]

I do not like guesswork.
Please place an ammeter between charge controller and battery bank;
and let us know what you get,
Then place between battery bank and inverter and let us know what you get too . .
before you do this, please ensure the CC is supplying more than the c10 or c20 current
thanks[/quote]

Mank1234 is right. The battery sees 10A. I have a meter installed in mine and I see this in reality

makavele:
I do not like guesswork.
Please place an ammeter between charge controller and battery bank;
and let us know what you get,
Then place between battery bank and inverter and let us know what you get too . .
before you do this, please ensure the CC is supplying more than the c10 or c20 current
thanks

Sorry to say but this is not mppt. I have opened it up,it doesn't have the xteristic toroidal coil or inductor

NoMoreTrolling:
Thank you K.k, bigrovar, zeestone99 for your input regarding the setup.

I will call the contractor back to see if he can change the setup to 3X3 instead. I just didn't want to stand my ground then, because as they say, no one knows everything. So I figured I'd trust the guy that has done 100s of installs.

Here is the charge controller he bought, the first one he bought spoilt, so he had to replace it with this one.

The max PV voltage is usually like 60 something, but as soon as you load it, the pv voltage drops down to battery voltage, around 51-55v depending on the weather. It just doesn't seem right for MPPT.

Thanks again guys, may this thread and all our endeavors continue to blossom!

Thanks Guy...we learn everyday

NiyiOmoIyunade:
This bros DMerciful is a sure guy! The more I read his posts, the more I come to respect the man's genius.

For my EPsolar, itracer 60A, i use 2 breakers. One breaker which is a double pole breaker of 40A is btw the PV and CC lines. The other breaker of 80A double pole is btw the CC and battery. Here i only protect the positive terminal with one pole while the remaining free pole is use to break the PV input positive. This way, anythime the CC-battery breaker trips, there is no PV input to the CC

NiyiOmoIyunade:
You do bring a unique perspective to equipment/cable safety using breakers.

The three pole breaker you mentioned - is it dual rated to handle both AC & DC currents? If it is please share the brand names and specs.

I only break my inverter battery connection (60/100A DC MCB, Inverter AC charging input (32A MCB), Inverter ouput (6A or 10A or 16A.... AC MCB) as typical loads dictate.

In solar applications, I break only the solar input - I stopped breaking the CC to battery connection after I lost my 60A morningstar MPPT CC to an unexpected breaker trip one fine sunny afternoon like that - as I heard the loud bang and rushed to the balcony, I saw magic smoke, fire and brimstone coming out of the CC - IMMEDIATELY I STARTED HAVING A NASTY HEADACHE AS I CONTEMPLATED THE REPLACEMENT COST OF A NEW MORNINGSTAR CC.

It is a DC breaker of 100A. The mains going through one of the poles is usually less than 20A so no issues and mind you this breaker will not trip due to AC overload or surge but when the DC line trips, the whole breaker trips ensuring mains no longer feeds into the inverter until the breaker is reset.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
You do bring a unique perspective to equipment/cable safety using breakers.

The three pole breaker you mentioned - is it dual rated to handle both AC & DC currents? If it is please share the brand names and specs.

I only break my inverter battery connection (60/100A DC MCB, Inverter AC charging input (32A MCB), Inverter ouput (6A or 10A or 16A.... AC MCB) as typical loads dictate.

In solar applications, I break only the solar input - I stopped breaking the CC to battery connection after I lost my 60A morningstar MPPT CC to an unexpected breaker trip one fine sunny afternoon like that - as I heard the loud bang and rushed to the balcony, I saw magic smoke, fire and brimstone coming out of the CC - IMMEDIATELY I STARTED HAVING A NASTY HEADACHE AS I CONTEMPLATED THE REPLACEMENT COST OF A NEW MORNINGSTAR CC.

They look ordinary

Team,

Brand new MPPT controllers for sale
epever 40A 12/24v 100v PV input-60k
Fangpusun flexmax 12v/24v/36v/48v/60v 60A, 150v input -145k
Fangpusun blue controller 12v/24v 50A 100V input with display-65k

6months used sukam battery 200A 12v 2qtys-70k each

call me on the number on my signature or text.

Evrything has limitation DIY rocks!

kiekie1:
You are right on Oga Chris bservation about axpert inverters .. Saipro case is different as I know the inverter he mentioned . Pure sinewave inverters varies and you can't really compare same with axpert or modified sinewave inverters which most companies claim its pure wave like your 'I power plus" which had issues and most of these cheap inverters with "inbuilt solar charge controllers" ... You are also right about opening some equipment and voiding warranty seals .. DIY really has its limitations tho !!

I fix my mustpower temperature issue by relocation the themistor to the transformer body that way the fan kicks in at 40degrees vs 65 degrees so mine runs cool now. use to be very hot before the fan kicks in

Saipro:
Nothing so fanciful bro.
Since warranties are moot, I wasted no time in cracking open my first two MustPower inverters (24V and 48V) to ensure they stop the normal 60^o - 65^oC design operating temperature range (lower temperatures generally guarantee longer lifespan). Cutting and splicing the the negative of the fan to the core negative/ground did the trick. Alas, idle consumption rose 50%. Reverted the next morning for one (as a control) and the next week for the other. Both are still alive showing no imminent sign of demise though the 48V has be sent to the store and replaced with another 24V model

I doubt they work else batteries would live forever

earthrealm:
yeah..mos of what you wrote above, hv already stated b4.
i hv 3 diff types of desulphator...hooked to diff systems...even hv one on the car, next month will make it 3yrs of my chinco car batt, will be a believer of the desulphator if it makes it to > 4yrs.

just checked..the powerpulse is hooked to my villa setup, luminous 1.5kva inverter...
on my mustpower setup..i hv cleanpower desulphator - https://www.amazon.com/Batteries-Battery-Regenerator-Pulse-Desulfator/dp/B00IQ5X91I/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1510759788&sr=8-6&keywords=desulphator

really inconclusive if the desulphators are working or not, but also not buying additional units till i can confirm their usefullness

Inverters uses power MOSFETS as the switching device and they are susceptible to stray capacitance, inductance and static charges. they have a high tendency to fail if for instance mains is connected but the battery line is broken either by a breaker or blown fuse that while in my installation, the mains passes tru one pole of a 3 pole breaker while the battery cable and solar cable passes tru the others so that when the breaker trips, all the power inputs are cut off. Also a tripped battery breaker with mains on will provide no grounding for the MOSFETS which also functions as the rectifiers during charging and thus prone to failures. I use mustpower 24v, 3kva but it is well protected and everything works well including charging however when i want to disulphate, i switch off my breaker to my Epsolar charge controller due to tendency of it going on fault due to the high desulphation voltage.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I remember Oga Chris mentioned some Axpert inverters he had in production which failed when the end-users flipped the battery breaker while the inverter was 'inverting'.

I also had a Zinox (similar to Axpert) which died once after the breaker tripped due to an overload condition - it also had an internal component failure at the exact same moment so no way to know if the battery breaker tripping caused the internal component failure or if the internal short was what tripped the battery breaker

Most inverters I know you can safely trip the battery breaker without issues but certainly it is not the manufacturers' intention that the breaker should trip regularly/daily (this is for those who would want to use tripping the battery breaker as a low voltage disconnect mechanism).

Oga Pranil's suggestion still seems to me most workable long term if one is technically savvy enough to pull it off - personally I am not very strong at electronics and I hate to open a factory sealed equipment to tweak it - after it fails by itself then it is a different matter and all bets are off because at that point I experiment freely.

You want to make your own DIY lithium battery pack as shown on u-tube

totalgreen01:
my people,

pls i am looking for dead laptop batteries in large quantity
can anyone help

I once posted on this forum that NiFe batteries are awesome due to longevity of about 50years based on research. Challenge is that they are freaking expensive. Next is Lithium Iron Phophate.

mank1234:
Which of the lithium technology is better? Is it better than NiFe? Read somewhere that NiFe has lifespan of 50yrs.
In terms of ease of use, longevity, pay-back time.

Lithium revolution .

Mine doing super!

the road should be built directly by Govt. Chiefs did not build Abuja or Lagos.....Oil money did!

obailala:
The chiefs in the community probably prefer taking the money as cash which they eventually use in buying houses in Abuja and overseas to the detriment of basic infrastructure in their communities.

Still available

DMerciful:
All,

i have 2 units of 6months used 200AH sukam batteries. reason for sale is due to upgrade by a client to 48v. The batteries are like brand new.
price is 70k each.

cheers

Seems the powertube has failed and as such shunted to directly connect panels to battery. Replace the power mosfets through a qualified electrician and you are good.

liquidcrystal73:
Epever iTracer 40a . . .4210A
connected to a 600W array . . 4 x 150W panels . . in parallel
maximum current per panel: ~8.3 amps, therefore, total max. for current: 8.3 x 4 = 33.2Amps
Maximum voltage per panel: ~18V, but I have seen 20V on some days.; therefore total max. for voltage= 20V

Battery was at about 14.2 V (boost phase), for about 2hrs and then it floated . . . I was happy

Turned on about 180W loads; and panel was delivering about 227W from the MT50 meter indication

I just decided to do a quick glance at the setup minutes later and alas! battery was at 16.0V and the CC was
showing a warning: Battery Over-Voltage... I turned off the Panel - CC breaker.

No burnt smell, no fire, no smoke, nothing!

Battery went back to 13.8 float voltage, disconnected the battery terminals from CC to reset the CC; and back again
it was rising 14, 15, 16, then the Over Voltage error again.

Take note, no power from phcn and panel was at about 17V,., so the panel naturally would try to raise the battery voltage to 17V
because controller charging has failed.

Disconnected once more, did a factory reset of CC, Same thing.
The meter was showing negative battery amps, and zero amps from the Panel . . as you can see in pictures attached.

I brought out the PWM, connected it and all was perfect, no issues, disconnected PWM, connected MPPT, same error . . .
So connected the PWM back and left it there to continue its job . . .

Decided to crosscheck the MPPT and as you can see, images are attached.

Called Mr K K, and he pasted me his Engineer's number, called him, he said he is at Ojo (Lagos State University environs)
Disconnected the call, called Mr K K, he asked me to speak and conclude with his Engineer, called Engineer and he said I have to bring it over . .Distance is a problem, texted Mr K K, i cannot do the distance, maybe he can help arrange a delivery; or I might have to return the unit.

No response yet. So no warranties 36 hours and internal failure of CC . . ?? No after-sales support?
No words of encouragement? Nothing . . .

I have an expensive brick in my hands, CC still lights up and displays all info correctly, but will not receive any Amps from Panel
and will overcharge my battery bank; no matter how many times I tried.

So I am back to the PWM ( the stone that was rejected, now became the chief cornerstone)

That is the story.

Thank you.


P.S. Installation is wall-mounted; more than enough ventilation; and failure occurred this afternoon, around 1.30pm thereabouts

All,

i have 2 units of 6months used 200AH sukam batteries. reason for sale is due to upgrade by a client to 48v. The batteries are like brand new.
price is 70k each.

cheers

Liguidcrystal73,

kindly give more details like capacity of epever controller, capacity of solar array, installation pics to ascertain ventilation, what time of the day did it fail etc?
this will enable troubleshooting and possible solution.

liquidcrystal73:
Dead controller 24 hours into test-run . . .

Please advise

[color=#FFFFFF]CC: Pranil, bigrovar, zeestone99, pranil, DMerciful, Saipro, Kiekie1[/color]

Atiku for President

Has nothing to do with one corner....dint read the story but prob they were careless

What an interesting match!

Dem never see hunger. By the time Bubu finish with them na Hungarian dem go turn. Yeye dey smell

I do not understand why the old Benin kings never saw the strategic location of Lagos to have harnessed it when they conquered the war camp and called it Eko. Look at the Fulani, they conquered Ilorin and occupied it till date but the Benin kings left Eko that has more potentials than Benin....they weren't ambitious I guess. The Europeans chased the Indians and native Americans out of US and occupied it till date!

Tinubu had it coming

Bubu is a scam

At bolded [“Between you and me, has this man performed? Between you and your God, tell me, has he performed? So why are you asking the question? Are you asking me to follow the line of tribal discussion all over the country?

Because he is a Northerner, I must support him; because he is a Fulani, I must support him; he is not performing but because he is a Moslem, I must support him. “I am not like that and you can go and check the nature of my politics.

After all, there are people who will come and vote for him, no matter what he has to offer, his performance or non-performance. You don’t do such a thing in the 21st Century,” he said. [/b]Mohammed said that the South-West having been part of the plot in the conspiracy to give Nigeria a leadership that is below standard, cannot resort to making noise now as if they were members of another party[b]. Instead, he said, they should take control of their party to ensure that everybody who wants to contest any position has a good and equal opportunity in 2019]