₦airaland Forum

MPPT is better. Is like comparing gas vs stove
As for setup parameters, go with the default settings for now while you learn how things work. you dont want to destroy your batteries

emmaniche:
House Please help a Noobie in Green Energy.

Please what are the parameters that can be obtained from a charge controller setup?
which is better MPTT or PWM charge controllers?

Thanks very much and God bless the house....

Yes i can confirm must power inverter self consumption is about 100w, I have one and i have measured. Powering a few energy saver bulbs with mustpower is like using a plant to run a TV...

earthrealm:
my 4kva mustpower has <25w sticker, but someone has confirmed that this is a big lie that it consumes about 100w, using a watt meter, so am a bit sceptical of all these oem data

thanks for your compliments...welcome to the family and feel free to ask questions and contribute as well...remain bless.

mcTrinity:
Finally, after 2weeks plus, I finished reading 246pages.lol.. No be small thing o!
Right now I feel like opening a Solar training center... lol. the knowledge here is so vast.

Abunufiu, Saipro, Bigrovar, Dunka, JUO, Chris81964, Efuro... you guys are just too good. the more you help others, the more God will send help to you
not forgetting the great scholar and prof himself, Dmerciful. did you study Solar Engineering lol. I remove my cap for you sir

and the host of others too who has contributed immensely to the development of this "community", God bless you all

GeorgeD1... hmmmm...the founder, patron, and pillar of this great forum and the great great great father of all the Greeners here. men, you were born to lead. A great leader in the making. you are 2derdul!!! God continue to take you higher ... I remove my head for you... lolz.

before I even finished reading the pages, I've done modifications to most of my clients solar system and the turn around was flabbergasting.
Later I will be sharing one significant turn around in one of my clients solar system, based on what I learnt here.

You guys should keep up the good works, knowing fully well that God rewards every good work
Thanks to you all and remain
blessed

Endorsed by Oga richmon74! I am humbled

richmon74:
Neat job
Love it
Keep it up

Get a 300w panel and 30A mppt charge controller to charge d battery. Connect fan directly to battery if its 12v

Deeni131:
my demand is small. Pls somebody help me understand, I want to use solar system to power my dc fan and be able to charge my two phones, pls guys what solar system should I use. remember the fan is a dc fan. it uses battery.

Thanks Bro

efuro:
10yrs of off grid guaranteed
10yrs of saving diesel/petrol money.
10yrs of saving estimated billing.

I foresee you building 5 star hotel soon with ur huge savings from wise investment in solar.

thumb up my brother. daz nija spirit.

Its been awesome. connected it to my inverter and charge with the inverter or cc. i have a battery switch that allows me to select either the lithium bank, the flooded battery bank or both. I mostly use both combine in order to reduced the charging current going into the lithium. Highly recomended.

Dam5reey:
Good evening Boss... Can you give few update on the 100AH Lithium battery.. how is the performance like, after a month... how do you charge it..?

See my response below

bodeface:
Team DIY,

I am monitoring and inspecting my proposed site for the solar panel installation and these questions arise, I need the expert advice;

1. I observed that the area where I am proposing to install has the shadow of electric wire line (small line shadow) and small portion of the electric pole shadow that pass through the place around 2:45pm (Note I have limited space to install)-since you are constrained by space, get a panel with high Voc so you can do 2 x n (where n=2, 3 , 4 ) that way when one string has shadow other strings strings continue producing appreciable power. ensure your wires are thick enuf.

2. Whats the maximum distance between the Solar panels and the Charge controller, also between the charge controller and the battery or as long the cable are properly sized it doesn't matter? Normally if the distance is long then higher panel voltage is advised however based on the reco i gave in point 1 above, i will recomend the distance be as short as possible and use pretty thick cables(16mm and above).for CC to battery, limit to under 2m cable lenth and 16mm thickness

3. Is it compulsory to install the surge controller with every installation, if so what type is cheaper and effective, where could i source this, for the combiner box must it be OEM type or can one get one locally or fabricate or is there a make shift type that could be used as I do not see so much specialty in combiner box as it looks like a small DB could be used for combining.-its prudent to install surge protector abi you wan compare the small amount wey u go spend for surge protector with the high cost of ur cc and inverter? where to source? buzz me tru my signature.

4. If I have two banks of battery 48VDC, 4 X 200Ah with two independent 3.5KVA inverters to each bank and I want a single PV system to charge the two banks, is it possible and if possible how will the battery configuration / connection be, also from calculation and experience what wattage of PV panels will be able to effectively charge the two bank together.Best thing is to split the panels to two systems as well. are u worried about the cost of double CC? its more or less almost same to get 1 big cc or 2 small-medium cc.

i hope i've been able to help...let me know if u need more clarification

Thanks team for all help.

Bought the 48v mppt controller, opened it and did not see the characteristics inductor(toroidal coils), i returned it sharpaly to the seller . their inverter algorithm is nice though

efuro:
BUY NIJA PRODUCTS

please I need information on AUXANO SOLAR Products and price

has anyone had experience with their hybrid inverter or mppt CC or their actual pv rating ?

Do they have auxano ba3 too?

do they have extended warranty on their products?

thanks!

The charging consumption is not continuous, once the internal battery is full, this consumption drops to almost zero besides charging consumption at 50w and 30w vis-à-vis time for the batteries to get full assuming same capacity of internal batteries will amount to same watt-hour! It just means that the 30w fan will take a longer time to get full. In terms of efficiency, if the performance of the 13w is OK, I recommend that.

anochuks08:
hello house, whats your take on solar rechargeable fan rated 13w but has 50w charging power? is it better than regular rechargeable fans rated 30w with 30w charging power?

I am not sure the Sulkam 3.5kva inverter has the capability to charge flooded batteries, check the back if it has a selector switch for flooded ot tubular flooded and select this. what type of charge controller are u using? can you set equalization of 2hours every 2weeks or 4hours monthly?(you can do this manually on some CC like fangpusun flexmax). for your panel installation, make it almost horizontal or 6 degress facing south(almost flat) just like efuro said or better still get a professional installer before ur batteries gets ruined

sensisosu:
Hello house,

I have a 3.5kva Sukham inverter system with a setup of 8 pieces 250w mono panels, 60amps mppt charge controller and 4 200amps batteries

The issue I am currently having right now are:

My solar panels are positioned in a way that after 1pm my panels aren't getting enough sun light due to the position of My house(the panels are placed on the roof of my house)

I have a problem with a Trojan battery as it discharges faster than the remaining 3 batteries

My inverter usually goes off at 2am in the midnight with minimal or no load on the system

When I'm on nepa inverter cuts off when there is drop in voltage..

I would like my honorable members on this thread to enlighten on how to get the best out of my systems..

Thank you all and I will greatly appreciate your opinion

See pic of an installation I did not long ago. Put all ur installation components in max two boards and draw ur circuit flow offline and critic it before transferring to d board. There is nothing lovelier than a neat installation, its even a safe way to go

efuro:
can someone study my installation & advice me. in a bit to cut out MATE 2 & monitor my setup, the wiring is getting scaring and a kind of substation.

I need advice on how to tidy it up professionally.

I have 2 AC watt meter for monitoring consumption from inverter. the 2 AC watt meters runs my flat on two separate wiring; one to my DB for the whole house & d 2nd for basic load of LEDs, LCD+decorder, Rechargeable fans.

also, My DC meters ( thanks to oga JUO) monitors my batteries readings/current drawn from them and the other monitors my PV performance against CC Readings

I am kind of worried it is not professional. any advice please?

There are many sellers on this forum.....try me guys

Are you the marketer? I'm sure forumites want to know....allow him speak

Modify....you are d marketer....anyways if something is sold on this forum, it should not be resold at very high price as it erodes equity and fairness

kiekie1:
... Mank, you very funny .. You don't need to criticise the marketer as the post isnt really complete without asking the poster how much he negotiated et al.. Let's kindly stop derailing the interactive forum/thread !

In truth the marginal difference btw these controllers and also compared with normal controllers does not justify the huge price difference. Instead of spending huge sums for few additional watts why not get a panel to knock of such advantage. Many of us have capacities that are 50% or less utilized so there is really no point unless its for remote monitoring or some form of tracking or connectivity

Saipro:
No such thing as a best, as your requirements and application would determine utility.

For the commercial versions:

- Xantrex followed up from Trace and is pretty good. Perhaps the cheapest of the lot.
- MorningStar MPPT is touted as having the best DC-DC converters (their SureSine inverter is literally unbeatable in efficiency, sorry for digressing)
- Magnum is touted as having the highest amps output. New firmware upgrades keep improving performance. Lots of input from Outback and Midnite (as developers).
- Outback is largely the brainchild of the guys who developed Xantrex. Lots of improvements and tons of new features.
- Midnite. The self-acclaimed industry standard. Has a few features not seen in others. Guys who developed the Outback went on to start Midnite. Pretty pricy too.
- Then there's SMA, odd one out of the top players but pretty nifty too. Prefers to work alone. Or be boss when working with others.

That's the evolution. Also, pricing tends to follow the ordering in the list. Where MorningStar excels at DC-DC conversion, Outback and Midnite excel at tracking the maximum power point. You decide which is more important to you (I prefer tracking here because of the rapidly changing insolation levels from cloud cover interference).

PS: You are most unlikely to fully utilise the potential of either Outback (FM series) or Midnite (Classic series) charge controllers. What are you really looking for (asides reputation and stability)?

@ Barezzi, you cannot really parallel charge controllers even of same spec. You have to separate ur panels else ur system will perform poorly. Its difficult for 2 paralleled CC to not influence each other and also difficult for them to find d maximum power point!

ola28:
The one without display is not available, but if you are interested in this new one, we can talk abt d price.

I'm not sure if u can parallel with 150/70

Love your panel platform. Nice system though a little arrangement will make it more decent.

babaegun:
So, few days ago, I upgraded my setup from the old 24 volts , 4 solar panel setup.

Now i have a car port with 12 nos 250 W Solar Panels (mixture of felicity and my-home with almost similar configuration). The car port can accommodate 15 panels Maximum (by just tweaking the holes in pipes), 80A Fangpusun Mppt Charge Controller, Mate 2, 48V Battery (4 Quanta batteries connected in series), and 5kva - 48V Felicity Inverter.

The only item missing is the Monitoring System which i need to complete but I can access the readings up to 128 days on the Charge controller. Need to brace the car port too. Interestingly, the highest generation so far recorded 8.4kWH in a cloudy day and I've been off grid for like 3 weeks(24/7) because the transformer in my area packed up.

I think its a good way to start for a beginner like me, right?

His panels are just right. Almost flat is better for our region. Mine is flat and its 1000w panels and my harvest yesterday was 4.3kwh. Like he said it has been cloudy where he is and his system is not really loaded.

tivta:
It might be as a result of the flatness of the panel, it is best to put it at an angle

Are you sure its a wind turbine or expeller
Anyways, was the atmosphere windy when u were there?

teamsynergy:
I saw one 400w wind turbine at palmgroove recently, its spins very fast and i was told its very effective

You are right. I have noticed it with Fangpusun flexmax. Harvest is better when input voltage is limited to x 2 of output voltage however for epever itracer, higher voltage of x 3 is better.

efuro:
Gurus in the house have spoken and I agree. While option A remains the best.If As A DIY FREAK with good rated cables & want to drive heavy equipment as stove, iron, water pump, etc. I will prefer option B
Reason: my DIY study of 60A fungpusun mppt revealed a considerable drop in cc temperature when trading off voltage for amps. to me it means the components of d CC are not stressed thus extending it's lifespan. ( But the problem is cable gauge to handle huge amps pushing through )

In addition, on a terrible day(s) when harvest drops considerably u will still have juice flowing to ur bank instead of depleting it further.

My view awaits correction from very experienced DIY enthusiast, particularly those with large arrays for us to extend boundary of knowledge.

Bro,

This is clearly a communication mixup as assumptions were made rather than specifying however I understand your feeling as ur expectation is different from what you got. I can assure you that there is no appreciable difference in mono & poly of same rating other than the possibility of the mono being a little smaller in physical size and as such I have no doubt in recommending those panels. If however you feel it will affect ur passion for ur system, you can put it up for sale on the forum, a guy is already lamenting how he missed buying some panels by raising his request on my mention when it was actually GeorgeD1 selling

therealMcCain:
I'm angry as I type this now & i want the house to be the judge

GeorgeD1 put up an ad for his panels for 30k, he stated he had SHARP and SUNTECH panels for sale 200w each, he equally stated that it was 1st come first serve basis

Immediately after his post I was first to indicate interest.


We spoke LAST WEEK and he told me he was not in town & that i should hold on with payment, that the panels will be RESERVED FOR ME.

SARTURDAY HE CALLED that he was in town & I promised to make payment on MONDAY which I did.

I paid for 4 panels including courier fee, the delivery date was Thursday/Friday which I agreed to.

Its worthwhile to mention that when the panels were put up for sale, the picture of the panels were MONO

When he later did a test on them using a multimeter, the pictures were also MONO

Imagine my disappointment when I went to pick my panel to see that they were POLY panels with no sticker or nameplate behind.

I am not happy at all. I called him, I couldn't really process what he was saying, background
Was noisy & i was really disappointed & down

It was when I got home to check the name plate, ALL 4 panels had no nameplate!

I called again & he promised to send a pic of rhe name plate from the initial installation


How do i know that these are really SHARP panels as I requested?

I am weak, disoriented & angry

Option A would be more efficient .Recommended.

babaegun:
Hello Guys,

So am trying to setup 12 nos - 250W, 30V/8A solar panels in series/parallel.

Kindly look at my diagram and suggest the best option that is most efficient. Charge Controller is 150Vdc/80A mppt, Battery Bank is 48V, 200AH and the Inverter is 5000va.

Thanks as I await your response.

Same happened to me when I stringed 3 panels with Voc of 35v during my early solar days. It was epever of 30A rated 100v input. It wasn't charging sometimes mostly when panel voltage rose above 100v so I bought the 4th panel and do 2*2 configuration and Voc became 70v. Buy the 4th panel for urs as d installer said but don't go with d pwm option.

peaceland:
Good day House,
Please I need your help on a solar installation.
- installed recently 1.5kva solar system.
- 2 Gacia batteries (200Ah); 3 panels (250w, 24v); MPPT charge controller (epever) & Sukam Falcon + inverter.
- Recently the installer came that he wants to change the MPPT to PMW claiming that the voltage from the panels is sometimes over 100v and that this led to the controller (epever) shutting down occasionally. I noticed the charger not indicating charging even when the sun is very high. The explanation does not make any sense to me and changing to PMW even makes me more worried.
- The alternative I was given was to remove one of the panels or add an extra one to make 4.
- My concern is – could the current MPPT charge controller be a faulty one?. How can I check this independently.
Thank you

I did not advertised panels for sale...maybe Others on d forum

shiftmarket:
Are your panels still available, I need like 2 of them or up to 4 if you still have them.

Its double pole but I switch only the live while the neutrals are joined together(common neutral)

dejidotun2000:
A purely mechanical switch (double pole double throw) ?

I was banned like 6 times trying to conclude my review on lithium...in d end I stopped half way.

abunafiu:
I have been banned for 4 days in a row for trying to share my battery absorption parameters.
I don't understand nairalands anti spam algorithm.
I wanted to contribute to the discussion on flooded mercury.
Let me observe sha before her banned again.

I have a two way switch I switch over quite fast such that whatever is on remains on

dejidotun2000:
How do you switch without interruption ?

Idle consumption is less than 5w cos it just comes in intermittently to check if load has be added else it goes off again

earthrealm:
yeah, i was using option 6 - open lead acid 14.8v, ytday i switched to option 7 calcuim-15.1v, lemme observe and see, though am seeing some improvements already
yes i use the energy saving function, once your loa is less than 35w, it will trip off, a bit iffy for me on cold nights when i have only 2 energy saving lights on,16w each, it usually goes off...unless its 18w each.

have you checked the idle consumption when on energy saving mode?

I have a small inverter with self consumption of about 5w. I use this at night n for light load operations. I use my must for appreciable loads. I switch over from one inverter to the other without my electronics going off

Ferdiwar:
That is to say that the best way to switch off you system of it is not on a 24hours working capacity is to off the battery to the inverter

On must power I use option 3 for charging which is sealed flooded acid(I use sealed flooded acid battery n lithium iron phosphate(glorious battery)) They quoted 25w in their manual but its pure lie. The best way is to use energy saver mode so when there is very little load it goes on standby however even if you running a load of 39w, know that what ur battery is seeing is 130w. Their charging system is awesome(mine is adjustable charging current), I have no issues though I use a 24v system.

earthrealm:
100 effing watts!!!!!, and the clowns wrote <25w on the manual, ...damn!.
so pls clarify the dc voltage on the display when its charging, what charging/batt setting do you use, what type of battery do you have

@bigrovar most common inverters dont charge with 58v for a 4 batt setup, prag is even 13.3v, mustpower stated 14.8v but i dont see that when my batts are charging

I use must power. Great inverter but high self consumption due to its huge xformer

earthrealm:
another thought occured to me: who else use mustpower 48v or even 24v?.
on setting 6 -- open lead acid battery, wch i normally use...the batt display voltage rarely goes over 52.8v, but going by the manual it shud hv been 14.8 x 4 = 59.2v, is this normal?...
its only when am on equalize mode that it reads 61.2v, instead of 15.5x4= 62v.
fellow mustpower startlite users abeg come chook mouth for this mata

Must power self consumption is about 100w. factor it into ur calculation of load.

earthrealm:
MY SETUP IS series 48v 4kw mustpower and i equalize every month or 3weeks,at 62v.its solely a phcn setup..no solar as phcn is fairly decent in my area 12 to 16hrs daily.
will consider swapping the batteries around to see if there would be any change, though i doubt.i also hv a desulphator permanently hooked up to the bank.
am guessing the batts may hv a factory defect, as my other set of mecury flooded are performing beta.