easyyoke:


Where did you buy the controller please

Alaba!!!

adrusa:


Felicity Charge Controller crew here. I have 2 120A models in my house serving admirably.

Well done sir adrusa.

I just got myself 2# 100A Felicity charge controllers but trying to program them for lithium batteries is presently proving difficult.

I wanted to adjust the float and absorption to 57v but it seems the charge controllers can't go beyond 54.6v. Actually they get the battery pack to this voltage and stay there for the remainder of the day so I'm experiencing a lot of waste in that direction.

Anyway this can be adjusted upwards?

Juror:

That's nice. You'll really have no worries about power when you add these, but are you setting up a solar farm to charge them? Because I can only imagine how much solar input you'll need and the space.

Hello Juror,

See my present situation and initial plan.
At home right now I have 24# 350w solar panels all optimally placed on my car stand with right orientation during the house construction. 16# service the Nissan Leaf batteries while 8# service the BYD. On a good day they all float at just after midday.

What I'm thinking now is moving the 16 panels to instead service this EVE bank while the 8 goes for the Nissan Leaf. I have some 8 250w panels on the gen shed that I can incorporate into the BYD cells.

Now, since I really didn't consider how big these guys would turn out to be what do you think about this plan. Also, EVE masters in the house could please help chip in. Will these 16# be enough or I should just plan a whole new increased amount to still get same float around midday? I intend on connecting them through the Growatt inverter being advertised by @justcallmenuel with 100A solar charging when I have the funds to obtain it.

Contributions will be appreciated.

Juror:


Didn't you have some cells recently? I think Nissan leaf or so? or was it someone else

Yes oo.
Those guys are still going strong but this is a system upgrade. I will be moving those guys to handle the refrigerating systems (2 freezers, 1 fridge) now while these guys handle the house. The BYD from before too will now be fully dedicated to security lights alone (maybe afternoon pumping too sha).

Oshomo12:


That means selina did not handle the shipment. 3 months is very good. Well-done.

I don't believe she did. They were first moved to a warehouse in China where the shipping was done from. So I believe all she did was the internal shipping over there.

Na 52 cells oo. But I want to use 48 to make 3 banks. 4 extra was bought just in case some get issue during transport, abi na so them dey advice. I sha no see anyone with issue so I don get 4 spare be that. I go use them build 12v bank for my pikin in school.

As for the charging, I only have one of those chargers and with children running around everywhere I no trust doing them in bits oo. Let me just keep all of them in one place for now. As for spreading out the poles for balanced charging I would have loved to do that but you know say those chargers don't come with long wires. Make I dey manage am as I see now my brother. Thanks.

As for shipping I no really know who do am. I went through one of my colleagues that does China a lot. They charged shipping and clearing in one package sha.

earthrealm:


omo, you wan start substation ni?. thats over 50 cells, from experience, 16 cells take about 7 days 247 charging using that same charger type you are using set at 40amps.

if you want a faster charging you can hook them up in series to a decent inverter and charge at 100 amps or more with a bms of course. personally i prefer top balancing them in batches of 16.

also best to put the neg and pos terminals of the charger at opposite ends of the pack, to ensure a balanced flow of charge.

2 busbars, thats how standard busbars come--naked. only the thinner 230ah bus bars come with insulation.
the insulation on the busbars arent tht critical. you can build your packs without it.

@3.28 and 3.27 cell voltage diff...not a big deal..the are all brand new cells.

the shipper was OJ shipper or bestline....did they charge you extra for clearing

Selina came through for me.
Payment was made early January and they arrived early April. 3mths shipping and clearing duration then.
Well packaged for the long journey inside standard cartons. I don keep the cartons to use as separator when installation starts, top quali those cartons.
One of the things I didn't like with the purchase is the busbar came without insulation (usually its in their adverts). Just ordered shrink wraps now to use for that, extra monies.
For now batteries are undergoing top balancing. I see this my small charger using up to 2wks to gain full charge status.
Batteries arrived at 3.28v with a few dropping to 3.27v. They have been marked out for close observation.
Let's see where this new adventure will take us to. One China thing wey people never start to complain about.

@justcallmenuel, abeg this Growatt hybrid still dey available? Can you please paste the specs here. Thanks.

Valto:
contact Selina Li of shenzhen deriy new energy. she can handle shipping from Shenzhen to lagos warehouse address. her price is very fair.

https://dery.m.en.alibaba.com

Hello Valto,
How does she collect payment? Also, the site you shared here is down for maintenance.
I will like to acquire some cells.

Most of the guys, if not all, advertising goods here or on other sites are not shop owners. They go around snapping products they advertise for your purchase. My friend calls them "baranda". Most shop owners are not tech servy to advertise by themselves.

With that being said we need to be extra careful dealing with them. While they can save you the stress of going to the market yourself I will advice for really big business waka enter by yourself. One day in the market to get things right won't hurt.

Unfortunate incidents like this happen, even with the real product owners. Both guys should just sheath their swords and move on. Life no hard for too plenty words.

mcTrinity:
It's actually becoming more frustrating how sellers would want to intentionally defraud you and end up blaming their boys!!!

Innocent boys that's following their oga's directive would be dragged.
A customer paid for specific items and specific rating. You received the fully agreed price. Then you send nonsense and want your customer to believe it was a mistake from your boys... What business has the customer with your boys!

And the funny things is that, these sellers would want you to end up managing whatever they sent to you.
I mean, they'll feel that after the whole delay and probably, you're also desperate and need the items urgently, you wouldn't want to go through the stress of returning the items.
Because they would even tell you that you'll bear the cost of the returning waybill. And then they'll make it look like as you're returning those items, there might be delay in getting a replacement or a refund...
All manner of nonsenses and condiments gimmicks!

In my solar business lifetime, I've dumbed like 3 suppliers who never ever, in their widest imagination, believed I'll dumb them.
Yet, I've had one particular supplier I've been using right from the beginning.
Sometimes, even after I've paid, hell call to refund my money because either the exact spec of what I ordered for ended up not being available or complete, or he doesn't trust the quality of the ones available. His boys have also been sending my goods, when he's too busy to do it himself and there have never been issue, because he gives them detail instructions to avoid error.

All these recent "abeg no vex, na my boys error" are very unserious.

And it's also very annoying when a seller is readily available and responds fast when you're negotiating and sending money, but after that he takes the role of Mr President and becomes too busy with coordinating the affairs of the country.. Mtcheeeew

Still unfortunate how some sellers don't understand that integrity is very key in business sustainability. Honesty is non-negotiable.

https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600218998733/Lifepo4-pack-3-2v-230ah-rechargeable.html?src=saf&fullFirstScreen=true&xp=ZXWGH_cjT3nMsj--iuynWTKth_uf3wcU_yuMdwJV_m0H8i5eSi8b7CdiKPJb_1inKXkLxEQpYivkjh--v4ezrvJ9PpLbbDCiNgTb25SXWu5T8&bm=cps&cps_sk=bednd4pd&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alibaba.com%2Fproduct--detail%2FLifepo4--pack--3--2v--230ah--rechargeable_1600218998733.html&redirect=1

Any China shipper in the house that can help with this should contact me. Thanks.

mank1234:


That mean you didn't read my comment well then. NiyiOmoIyunade does even more than 25kWhr daily. My argument was that the figures he inputted is proportionately inaccurate, thus the result.

Okay, sorry about that.

mank1234:


Are you saying that it's possible to consume 1kWhr in the day and 24kWhr in the night and your total appliances startup power is 2kW only?

Please kindly list equipment scenerio that can possibly make the above possible.
Edit: (Microwave, pump, air conditioner alone dwarfs the 2kW load). For you to do 25kW a day, there's no way you won't have some of those high energy guzzlers. So the 2kW total equipment surge is grossly under quoted.

1kwh in the day and 24kwh in the night is not what I meant. I meant as a total it is very easy to do 1kwh every hour for 24hrs to give 24kwh.

If you have one of there NEPA prepaid meters then you will understand what I'm saying better.

mank1234:

Thanks for your feedback.

I think you got the strange figures because your input are not real world values.

Firstly, there's no way total startup power of all your appliances will be just 2000W while you consume 750kWhr in a month.

Secondly, it's near impossible for you to consume an average of 25kWhr in 24hrs(from your first input) and your night consumption will be as much as 24kWhr.

If you input real world values, you'll get real world answers.

You can offer where corrections is to be made if you notice any and we will implement it.

Thanks once again for your feedback.

Baba, 25kwh in 24hrs is very doable. Doesn't even need much to accomplish sef.

Trippledots:


Thanks Ojes...

essegis, kindly share your experience pls.
Thanks

The chargers I got from Ojeysky? Booming like hell.
I got 3 and they are all still doing the job just right. The 24v ones you asked about are actually very good for now. I think this is 6mths running.

Though for all I bought I refused maxing out the charge current (50A). I set them all to 40A and added additional chargers when needed. Like for the 24v chargers I bought 2 and set them to 40A each to charge same battery bank instead of one set to 50A.

One time the kids tampered with the 12v charger and took it to 50A, it started giving out a funny whining sound and they were afraid something was wrong. I wasn't home at the time so I told them to turn it off. When I got home I readjusted it to 40A and its been firing no wahala.

They even come with very tiny wires sef you will be afraid to max the amps. I hope this helps.

ojeysky:
It's like ups is becoming yruns o....they have just given me a 80k bill as custom charges for my incoming Deye inverter. An item that weigh 36kg. I beg has anyone experienced this extortion from UPS and is there a way to address this?

Bros, no vex. You see those big name courier companies UPS, DHL, FedEx all of them dey inside my black book. No be runs them dey do. Them be proper thieves. Daylight robbery. Abeg pay to get your item then don't ever use them again. If na them be the only option for me I go forgo the item oo or buy am from naija.

I made my way around them using indigenous Impex to ship my items from America. I never see such service from China so I try to dodge bulk or heavy buying from there.

Wish you success though.

earthrealm:


Valto listed one unit for sale a while back.

I am out of stock, but expecting fresh limited stock on or b4 the end of first wk in January. 3.2kw and 5.5kw all 48v

Kindly quote me when you do. Thanks.

ceaser:


Well, I have had no experience whatsoever with scanfrost freezer or any of their products for that matter. But I'm on the third thermocool freezer. The first 219L was 12 years ago and demanded first kazeem tinkering 10 years after faithful service. It still freezes alright but I had to dump it when post-kazeem tinkering ramped up the wattage from 130 watts to 250 watts.

The second is the 203L non-inverter acquired over a year ago. The third is the 319L inverter acquired about 4 months ago. They both still live up to expectation. Freeze quite good and retain frost for the claimed 100hrs from the very few occasions (not anytime recent) I had to leave them off power for such duration.

I want to strongly believe that if you have constant, non-surge voltages like the inverter produces, gadgets including HVAC gadgets should last longer than if they are exposed directly to our epileptic BEDC power supply. So if thermocool with their good reputation gets exposed to such insult, it may fail earlier than scanfrost, and vice versa.

As per your observation of peeps repairing thermoccol more than scanfrost, I'll assume it's probably because more people use thermocool than scanfrost.

But apparently you've have a fairly impressive experience with scanfrost, then you may go with it.

Personal experience, I bought the 319L for madam last year & while the first few months were rosy with I can guarantee you about 2inches of frost formed on all sides of the freezer the following months have not been fun at all.

Problem started with frequent cutting of the freezer. It cuts and cannot be reset until Thermocool is called. Apparently its a feature to help save the compressor from erratic current, either NEPA or gen. But when it cuts you won't know until all your items in it have already finished defrosting. They came twice to 3 times to fix that until they said it shouldn't be happening that often so they took it off to their office. All this na with that standard AVR on it oo so no one knows where its seeing its own from.

When they brought it back it was like from frying pan to fire. Compressor cuts and restart too frequently not allowing freezer to efficiently cool. As if that was the end of it when it wants to cut it does it with elongated noise and vibration like something Kazeem had fingered. This particular purchase is a disappointment as we don use Thermocool before like you for years unending. I had to dash it out sef cos of moving to the new house and wanted to change equipment.

Warranty expires May next year and madam has called them to come and carry their property. If they can't give her a new one make them keep, we no want again. And like @ojesymsym rightly pointed out experts are screaming why we bought Thermocool. That the repairs are too much for their modern batches and a lot of people are dumping them to move on. That is our next line of thought now.

earthrealm:


This unfaithful man, that has jilted his first love MPP, for a slay mama Deye.. .

Me am sticking to Sorotec for a long long time.
The people serious for biz abegi

Sorotec has rudimentary inbuilt AI, that tells you whats wrong, in the event of a fault.
5.5kw 48v is below 400k, and standard waranty

User exceed panel Voc, and instead of damaging the cc section of the inverter. The inverter throttled down harvest to protect itself and spat out an error message to warn user as well.

And a one of its kind touchscreen interface, infinite data logging and wifi capability

Anybody offering this Sorotec on the platform?

They say when it rains it pours.

So since 3rd of this month Ikeja Electric installed a 3 phase meter for me which I paid for oo. Ever since their initial 100 units was exhausted under 3 days I have not been able to buy credit and use it as it keeps complaining meter not yet activated. I sure madam has spent more than 5k calling their customer care ever since, yet no solution.

Na inside this wahala sun decide to carry him busy body shift base oo. It now casts a house shadow over my panels. When I did the design for panel placement I took time & did the study properly hence my surprise when I noticed shadow yesterday. This has caused the system not to float for over a week now. Even on days the inverter is not used it still doesn't float.

Well, presently there is no immediate plan to get around this conundrum oo. Question is just why we make our own lives deliberately difficult in this country. No be everything be government cos this is a private business that could have just come up with a very simple system of activation instead of this suffering for their customers. Heard every one who collected meters around the time I did have the same problem.

Ordinary small question wey I ask I got blocked. I start to dey look upandan like wetin happen to my Nairaland. This is the first time I am experiencing it sha.

E mean say I no go kuku complain my NEPA matter for here cos that one them go block me for 600yrs. Over 2wks now I never get light for house oo, all because I decided to be a model citizen and acquire my prepaid meter. Since then na one excuse or another, come tomorrow tomorrow. God dey sha oo. Na my money I dey use pursue people now to fit buy energy oo.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I have heard this PHCN charges better and faster than Gen and Solar cannot charge batteries well soooo many times. My thoughts are as below;

It is all a question of the quality of the power supply. Think of PHCN as an effectively infinite power source. When PHCN supply is available you are able to run your loads (bypassed through the inverter) and charge the batteries at a constant current or constant voltage with no variations or dips. The PHCN supply is typically a quality sine wave with peaks and troughs well regulated and frequency at 50hz.

Most people's generators are relatively undersized vs the power demand on them and typically have poorly regulated outputs (frequency off spec and voltage dancing around under load). All these will affect the ability of an inverter to latch on and derive maximum power from the Gen. Use say a properly output regulated and oversized Gen e.g 80kva for a normal household that could manage a 15kva and you will see that your results are much thesame as when using PHCN to charge.

Solar charging is the most finicky of all, since the supply is usually limited, batteries are holding a constant current when all of a sudden, clouds or large loads come on and the available power for battery charging drops. To get grid like results from solar, you must GROSSLY OVERSIZE the panels relative to day time loads and battery charging requirements. If your need is 1kw for loads and 2kw over 5 hours for battery charging, you can't usually get by with a 3kw array - minimum PV size would be ~4kw and practically I would do ~6kw of PV to run combined 3kw of loads and battery charging. Even in this scenario, there are days when you would still need Gen or PHCN assist. The trick is to find the optimal point between PV size and occasional Mains/Gen assist.

In short, most people tend to try to do too much with too little PV and then get dissappointed when their design fails.

I have a 21kw array to run roughly 8kw of daytime loads and return 40kwh into my battery bank daily. Even so oversized, there are still days the PV cannot keep up with household load and battery charging demands and I need to invoke Gen support.

80kva gen. Bros, na hotel abi village we wan run ni? Anyway, I understand all what you're saying & invariably both you & Ojeysky agreed with me. Oversizing is not necessarily or realistically visible.

As for my present set up, I think I got it just right with sizing and charging capabilities. My present problem, after using today to rethink it could be attributed to the shifted solar path. My Victron that floats before 11 doesn't do it all day long these days. E go better.

Got a question guys & would want sincere answers.

Why is it that Solar charging is not usually as deeply suited for batteries like mains charging.

Maybe I'm not putting it well but make I break am down. Over the years I've used solar, started with LA & now lithium batteries, I found out batteries charged using solar alone run out faster than those charged with mains. These same batteries though have and fully reflect the battery SOC oo, it's not like something is amiss but they don't just tend to stay the length when being discharged.

Same narrative can be said between mains and gen charging. Anybody has a reason for why this is so?

Now let me blow your mind. Use solar charge your batteries all day and give it shikini 30mins - 1hr of mains to top it up in the night and see it last like say kilode. That is where my confusion lies.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
You are very lucky to not have caused/had a fire boss.

AC breakers should strictly never be used for DC applications - this has been reinforced several times on this thread.

The mechanism of operation (how the breakers make/break contact and handle the resultant arc) is very different between AC and DC breakers.

An AC breaker breaks contact at the zero crossing point (that moment when the AC waveform is moving between positive and negative polarities) whereas in a DC application there is no such zero crossing point since the waveform is essentially flat. The DC breaker therefore has to absorb and extinguish a much larger current arc (think mini explosion).

That is why an AC breaker will soon or ultimately fail if used in a DC application - it is not designed to contain the current arcs (explosions and sparks) that will be produced when making or breaking DC contact.

You really dodged a bullet here. Please do not repeat the experiment as there are good DC breakers cheaply and plentifully available.

For educational purposes, you could try using the common knife switch as a battery breaker or manual disconnect when there are large loads on the DC bus. Notice the huge sparks that result at each point of making or breaking contact You can dissaassemble the knife switch after 10 connects and disconnects and note how the metal contacts have been eaten away by the current arcs. That is what is going on inside your AC breaker if used for DC application.

Breakers respond to changes in current - at 220v, a 1.5hp pump is drawing about ~5 AC amps. You could get by using a 6A to 10A AC breaker on the AC wiring. If this load was running off a 24v nominal system, the DC side is seeing ~45amps so imagine going to use a 10amp AC breaker or even a 60amp AC breaker on the DC cabling, you would soon see that breaker give up under stress and erupt in flames. You would need to grossly oversize an AC breaker to use it safely for DC and even then, it would still not be safe or code compliant.

Well put bro. This is the long & short of it. Expecting proper DC breakers to fill in the loop. Man don learn.

In the space of a week, I lost 2 of this and had to get one thinking for what could be the reason. We have pinpointed it though and this write up is for educational purposes.

1) The is an AC breaker used as a battery output / inverter input breaker which strictly should be DC. An AC breaker can and will work if you remember that AC and DC ratings are not exactly the same and factor in the coefficient in your design.

2) Breaker was used in a 24v system while same breaker in a 48v system supplying same load is working fine with no issues. A 24v system will draw out double the battery amps for same load than a 48v system would.

3) The water pump automatic changeover for my system got bad so we ignorantly dumped the load on the 24v system and believe this is the main culprit as on the days the inverter is loaded and it still runs the pump the amps will get too much for the breaker to bare.

4) Unanswered question though is are breakers not supposed to trip once they receive over-current? Why is this one burning instead? Answers are welcomed.

foonshur:
Pls for those who have ordered from amazon, is there anything special one has to do, or its just order and wait like aliexpress?

2 things. Either you're using their international shipping site where they can deliver to Nigeria, in that case you order and wait for custom to call you

Or you use a naija courier service with an American address where they ship to and those guys ship to you. Make diligent enquiries before choosing one of these guys though cos some still claim custom fees.

Good day house and happy weekend to you all.

I been take small sabbatical from the group to go study oo cos them wan blow person head with big big terminologies. I am learning arduino and now remains for me to put the learnings into some practical usages. You will all be made aware as that goes.

But I'm glad to announce now that when Niyi, Ojeysky, Chris start with their big big words I can contribute or at least not look all so confused again . Had a lot to catch up but I'm good now.

For those asking about my Nissan Leaf batteries, those guys are there oo. I have not been able to carry out a full function test on them as all equipment required are not yet purchased. For now they are still serving the house and enjoying themselves as they basically do nothing on alternate days. Before next year is over sha I see myself increasing the bank sha. Solar full ground to charge them.

futurenix:
Baba, so ur the one

Glad its performing wella and thanks for the trust patronage. I appreciate

Na me oo. That thing is working wonders. I especially love the times it shows full bypass from solar to feed the house straight.

Only downside na the WiFi monitoring head no correct. As Chinco e just dey do as e like.

Na all this kind thing Ojeysky no dey like see. An under utilized battery.

Ever since I installed my hybrid bought from Futurenix and interchange the battery banks on a daily all of them just dey enjoy life like Airtel *444# advert. On their off days the CC don't even work at all. Looks like it's time to go off grid fully, or what do you all think.

durodee:
Thank you sir!
The battery hooked up this morning for it's first day of service in a new husband's house!

Nice doing business with ojeyski, more will surely follow. Happened that looking through his post made me realize say I might do upgrade myself soon! Lol!!!
By the way, a liver and two parathyroids for sale.............. anybody interested?

Baba, snap the set up, is it for mouth alone. And while you're at it kindly also snap the items for sale. X-ray shots not allowed

ojeysky:


Yeah it's now 560AH, yet to determine actual capacity. If I get minimum of 500AH before BMS lvd then that will be a win

You no go the 48v route again?

Guys, anyone knows much about this? https://photizzo.com

Reviews and all