₦airaland Forum

dollarnaira:
Installed on almost flat roof without any strings attached to roof, na hurricane go fit comot am. The weight of panels are enough to survive high winds. Am not sure of those send down the rain roofs oo.

Those with those roofs may not have a choice, that maybe the approved house plan.

Especially in estates you either buy that way or build that way and you can't do anything about it

The only option maybe to build a carport and thus control the tilt to some extent

Tower Plc Nigeria refers to Tower Aluminium Nigeria Plc, which has been acquired by a different company, Tower Alloys Industries Ltd.

Tower Alloys Industries (formerly Tower Aluminium Nigeria Plc)

In late 2023, Tower Alloys Industries acquired the assets and operations of Tower Aluminium Nigeria Plc (In Receivership).

The company now operates as Tower Alloys, a manufacturer of aluminum cookware, roofing products, and extrusion profiles.

Buying from either is buying from the same

From their websites they have the same head office

Had to conduct this research after two sets of Chinese made pots bought in 2021 and 2023 respectively and bought from reputable outlets like shoprite and one other while pots made by Tower Aluminium and purchased by parents and grandparents are still in service.


This is why one researches heavily before purchase in Nigeria to ensure one gets his money's worth.

Omega from Tower Alloys or Gold from Tower Aluminium?

Curious345:
This terrorist seem to be more advanced than the Nigerian army. Do you know the Nigerian army currently do not know how to use drone full stop in fact they don't even have a drone unit they don't even use drones for surveillance they don't even have attack drones they still use archaic fighter jets for attack and surveillance

Are you sure of your facts?
I beg to disagree

I wish I could say more but I am not authorised to speak on this subject

A simple Google search will disprove your claims

GloriousGbola:
no matter how much you plan - you will likley still go through a baptism of fire somewhere along the line

my sister and her husband moved to the us in 2008/9 i think. he had a pwc job. she was a doctor. then he got laid off and had to go to college so he could get a degree that he could work with. it was a HARD period and everyone chipped in. today they are doing very very well. if the support had not been there, they may have been back in nigeria today. at a point they considerd it

i have been in a partnership since 2019 or so. but last year was the hardest year. it was horrible. i was broke broke. we are in a much better place now , but without some external support here and there - it would have been the end

so it is a mixture of things. yes some people dont plan - but others do - and still get the stick.

if it is your friend - do what you can i guess. my sister has also come through for me a lot since then.

Valid points

Life doesn't always go to plan

You plan, life makes other plans

Or others make other plans and rope you in

justwise:
[b]

You reached out to her first? Well.. i don't think she needs your financial help, she is trying to attack before you do and it worked

I didn't ask for help.

I never intended to.

I'm doing good.

There is this feeling, I haven't seen or heard from this person in a long while.

Additionally:

She went to the UK to study

Long before she left she asked me to assist her with 5000 pounds to aid her move

I was checking to know if she was still in the country or if she had fulfilled her japa dreams

That was the motivation for reaching out nothing more nothing less.

I finally reached out to a friend I hadn't heard from in nearly six months, but her line wouldn't connect. She contacted me shortly after via WhatsApp.

After exchanging pleasantries, she asked how life was treating me and what I had been up to. The very next thing she did was ask:

"Please can you assist me with money?"

I responded, "What kind of money?"

She named a figure.

I replied, "Not immediately," and explained the various commitments and emergencies I'd had to deal with over the last 60 days.

So she asked, "Okay, how much can you spare?"

I told her, "You have to give me time, please."

My real question is this: Does it really make sense to sell everything and move to the UK with barely enough funds, only to end up depending on friends and family back in Nigeria to survive? Or should one only move when they have enough of a financial runway—a buffer for emergencies—to last for six months to a year?

Nigerians who have moved to the UK, which side of the divide do you identify with the lady that recently moved to the UK or me back in Nigeria?

FEGEITOK:
I have a main question and some subsidiary ones.

Can a strike be legal or illegal?

Is this strike legal?

I am not asking if the cause for the strike is justified or not.

I am asking if the procedures ending up in the strike can survive legal scrutiny.

Was there a written notice of intent to strike addressed to the company and governmental bodies?

Was sufficient time given for the issues to be resolved first?

Did that notice state the reasons for the strike?

Was alternative dispute resolution (mediation/arbitration) attempted and it failed?

Or did they just bring out the big guns?

the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act, under Section 18(5), explicitly states that:

“There shall be no strikes or lockouts for a period of ten years following the commencement of operations within a Zone, and the Authority shall resolve any trade dispute arising within a Zone.”

According to the NEPZA boss, while workers in the Free Zones retain the right to join or form trade unions and engage in collective bargaining, any dispute must first be referred to NEPZA for resolution as required by law.

FEGEITOK:
I beg to differ.

Such businesses exist

BUT NO ONE WILL SPILL SUCH SECRETS

because it spells doom for the person, you become a competitor

This link illustrates my point.

https://www.nairaland.com/8535821/businessman-accuses-verydarkman-exposing-trade
Initially it is hard to make money

But once you find a winning formula

It becomes easy to make the money


Having worked so hard you don't want a disruption

So

You will hold it to your chest

GloriousGbola:
you will see all sorts of s**t from electricians you are supervising as an expert

for a domestic house, the electrician is a third party lowest denominator contractor guy who sends his barely trained boys to do 'wiring'

Even those that wire a house the first time my not go for the best.

In my previous residence, the DB had to be replaced with something better, also the bulbs kept blowing up, and I even had to install earthing before the house stopped shocking residents.

So long ago (close to 2 decades), I did not chronicle that one here.

Unless you absolutely trust your electricians, buy your materials yourself (so you can get the highest quality your funds can buy) and let them fix it for you.

Also, sometimes you need to watch them like a hawk to be sure they do not mess you up.

I recently installed LED outdoor landscape lighting, the LED light is housed in a metallic container and the there is provision for wiring Live, Neutral and Earth since it is running on what the experts would call high voltage, line voltage or standard voltage, and the electrician ran 2 wires, until I insisted and put my foot down, he must run a third wire earthing. LEDs can shock as anyone who has played with those rope LEDs can testify, and he kept wondering why I insisted.

Grounding (Earthing) is essential for the electrical safety of most outdoor lights. In lights with a metal body (known as Class I fixtures), a protective earth wire connects to the casing. If a fault causes a live electrical wire to touch the metal casing, this earth connection provides a safe, low-resistance path for the fault current to flow to the ground. This mechanism is critical for two reasons:

It prevents the metal casing from becoming live, which eliminates the risk of electric shock.

It allows the circuit's protective device (like a fuse or circuit breaker) to quickly trip and shut off power, preventing fires and system damage.

In contrast, lights made entirely of non-conductive materials (like specific types of plastic) are categorized as Class II and are designed with sufficient insulation that they do not require a protective earth connection.

FEGEITOK:
Thanks.

Lots of greys these days I missed that

Interesting metric @gbadexy from the UK courtesy justservicesgroup website

Which exterior house paint colours are most popular in the UK?
Grey – 24,190 monthly searches
White – 11,430 monthly searches
Black – 8,230 monthly searches
Green – 3,530 monthly searches
Red – 2,440 monthly searches
Cream – 1,810 monthly searches
Blue – 1,580 monthly searches
Brown – 800 monthly searches
Pink – 570 monthly searches
Yellow – 240 monthly searches
Orange – 110 monthly searches
Purple – 40 monthly searches


Start looking into the most popular exterior paint colours for homes in the UK and one shade immediately stands out. It is, of course, the ever popular grey.

The monthly search volume for grey masonry paint during the period we researched stood at a whopping 24,190 searches, a number which far exceeded any of the other colours users were searching for.

Topping the popularity charts for exterior house paint were grey shades of light, slate, dark, charcoal, Plymouth and gravel. This shows a natural evolution from last year’s huge interest in grey decor for interiors, with paints like Zoffany’s ‘Paris Grey’ and Farrow & Ball’s ‘Down Pipe’ in high demand across the UK.

The runner up of white saw less than half of the searches that grey did, with 11,430 searches per month. In third place was black masonry paint, which attracted 8,230 monthly search queries over the period we analysed.

bassdow:
what's more helpful is telling us what the issue actually was, and what was eventually done

But I did

favouredbymercy:
Pls i am interested on how it was finally fixed.

Troubleshooting the Shocking Truth

In the course of troubleshooting this issue, I ended up installing a brand new earth rod and earthing connections. I had wrongly assumed that there was something wrong with the earthing of the house (yes, something was wrong, but not necessarily what I thought was wrong).

However, I noticed that the fridge, the freezer, the microwave, and the cooker still shocked to the touch.

But I discovered that there was zero shock if the power came from the inverter and not from the mains.

When I shared this with my very able electrician, he said, "Let me come and confirm." Once he confirmed this issue by testing the Live, the Neutral, and the Earth at the outlet that powers the fridge, the freezer, the microwave, and the cooker, the remediation process started.

Identifying the Culprit

We then went to the distribution board (DB) and tested the common earth, the common neutral, and the common live, and each of these would light up.

So the next thing he suggested was to go to each outlet in the house and check the connection, which would have been very tedious. I said, "OK."

Next, he said, "There is a better way."

He said he would try to sort it out at the DB level.

So we started separating each of the earth connections at the DB and tested. The earth would light up until the problem circuit was identified: the earth wiring to an AC switch and a looped wall socket in the guest room.

He then went into the ceiling and asked me to confirm from the ground which room he was in (the problem room). I told him it was the guest room. After he traced the wires to the part of the wall where the wires were, he came down and went straight to that socket, and when he tore it apart, we confirmed our suspicions.

The problem was that in that one circuit due to the use of a single color of wire, whoever wired the house did not know when they bridged the live with the earth. So one had the same result testing live and neutral and earth with a tester.


Once this was fixed, I went back and turned on the circuit breaker that I installed between the AC input and the inverter, and voilà, no inexplicable ramp-up in consumption occurred. I did not bother to switch off the breaker embedded in the meter, and everything is as good as it was.

The Cost of Cutting Corners

This is a practical example of how much cost one ends up incurring in time, material, labor, and worry just because standards (like a different color of wire for each type of connection) are ignored and sidestepped for expediency.

He told me he did this because of me, and that many electricians will often ask you, "Are you wiring a new house, socket, or light?" If you say yes, they will come. But if you tell them you have this kind of issue that I have—a maintenance issue—they will give any and every excuse in the book not to be involved in this sort of troubleshooting.

All in all, I am glad. I can finally trust that the house will not make me guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

The Office Debacle

This leads to the story of what happened in my office and how I ended up spending a lot of time to untangle the mess/hack job that was done when my electrical assistant got frustrated. (He wanted to run new wires; I said, "But I already bought wires before, even made sure it was up to code. Why should I abandon the wires in the ceiling and redo the wiring? It would be such a defeat!"

I ended up going into the ceiling of the office myself to sort out the mess of a connection that was done there by a new set of inverter people who do not understand why standards are made and why they need to be followed. I will address this story in another post.

FEGEITOK:
I have a Longi 3 phase meter,

My neighbor uses a Longi 1 phase Meter.

The Meter has L1 in and L1 out.
L2 in and L2 out.
L3 in and L2 out.
Neutral in and out

I tapped the neutral from the Neutral Out.

I tapped the Live from the common Live Out.

One has to be careful where to tap the Live and Neutral to charge the inverter so that the disco does not think one is trying to play a fast one and not pay bills, so I tapped the Live and Neutral after it exits the meter but before it enters the DB (house) and not before it enters the meter.

In my previous residence I also tapped it at the RCCB just before the power goes into the DB, but the inverter was indoors close to the DB

In my current residence, I am tapping the power closer to the meter just after it exits the meter and the inverter is now outside next to the meter.

I am wondering if there is a house wiring problem because this situation only stops if I shut off the circuit breaker that is part of the meter or if I shut off the circuit breaker that I installed between the AC in and the inverter.


Thanks.

I was finally able to resolve this issue today!

To do this required patience ( and a never giving up until the issue is fixed attitude) and a willing and able assistant.

And an understanding of the principles on which electricity operates.

There are two types of electricians, those who specialize in wiring a house and will not be found when troubleshooting scenarios like this occur ( he understands the practical and not the theory, as long as he can find give you power it does not matter to him that he did not do thngs right) and then the other type of electrician who understands both the theory and the practical of how electricity operates and does not mind taking the time to understand, tear down a circuit to resolve issues like this (even if he was not the original builder or designer of the circuit)

The problem was that in one circuit due to the use of a single color of wire, whoever wired the house did not know when they bridged the live with the earth. So one had the same result testing live and neutral and earth with a tester.

Once we were able to isolate the problem circuit and corrected the issue, everything was back to normal.

If you want to read the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then the full story can be found here: https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta/2168#136985633

I finally fixed the inverter issue I complained about bitterly recently!

GloriousGbola:
there is NO such thing as union regulated price for petrol sir.

dangote is not the first businessperson to fight unions. you do not fight unions - you negotiate with them. this is a democracy, not a dictatorship.

The guy spoke about Dangote and Pengassan.

I have already posted about the legal angle of the issue and not the justification of the issue, I stand by those comments, and made no more.

The guy I quoted then spoke of unions in general, I responded to the last two paragraphs about how unions in Nigeria foist an unrealistic economy through price fixing.

If you start selling and don't join a union, issues.

If you joined the union, but your price is lower than the union agreed price, problem.

How then can someone who can produce or source cheaper and wants to dispose of the product faster compete in such a market?

Clearly he or she can't because he must not be seen to undercut the union even though that is a clear abuse of the power to and right to associate

That is the issue unions don't seem to know the limits of their powers in Nigeria especially those unions built around selling this or that.

My point is simple: while they often do, there is no law that empowers unions to regulate prices in Nigeria and that in plain English is union overreach that we have become so accustomed to that we act like it is normal.

DeLaRue:
Dangote Cement, Dangote Refinery and the other Dangote companies pay above the average salary in all the sectors they operate in, and there has been few to no public complaints from their employees over the years, about poor salaries or treatment.

So those who are supporting the union on the basis that unions are essential for the protection of workers rights are overestimating the need for unions in a company such as Dangote refineries.

I prefer to queue for petrol for the next 12 months. I don't mind. Mr Dangote must not back down.

Unions of all sorts have run rings around various sectors of the economy to such extent, that they are now an obstacle to economic growth.

You can't even sell some basic products unless you join an association. If you try it, the Association will threaten you, destroy your goods, and attack you and your staff. The constitution does not provide for this kind of unionism.

One more point, you must sell at the union regulated price or else sorry will be your name.

That one is union overreach that those in favor of the way unionism is played in Nigeria have chosen to be blind to.

I have a main question and some subsidiary ones.

Can a strike be legal or illegal?

Is this strike legal?

I am not asking if the cause for the strike is justified or not.

I am asking if the procedures ending up in the strike can survive legal scrutiny.

Was there a written notice of intent to strike addressed to the company and governmental bodies?

Was sufficient time given for the issues to be resolved first?

Did that notice state the reasons for the strike?

Was alternative dispute resolution (mediation/arbitration) attempted and it failed?

Or did they just bring out the big guns?

bigrovar:
Major Upgrade to My Solar Setup (20kW Hybrid System)

I just wrapped up a big upgrade to my solar system. It’s now a 20kW hybrid solar setup — built mainly on traditional off-grid components, but I also added some grid-tie functionality using Deye Micro Inverters in AC-coupled mode.

This project has been in the works for over a year, and there’s a lot going on under the hood beyond just the specs:

IoT & Control: Built a custom system computer using a Raspberry Pi 4 Compute Module running Venus OS + Node-RED.

Smart Automation: Created several Node-RED flows to keep the system efficient. One cool one uses the Solcast weather forecast to predict tomorrow’s solar yield and automatically decide whether to allow grid input — and how much.

Monitoring & Dashboard: I switched to Grafana for visualization. The new dashboard gives a detailed view of performance and energy data.

I’m working on a detailed overview (with schematics) to explain how everything is connected. Hopefully, it will inspire anyone looking to build or upgrade their own setup.

👉 Live Dashboard:
https://helio.openculture.org.ng/public-dashboards/867d6afd562543508eaf080533e7b652

Nice job Sir.

A question for you

What is the thinking behind 3 inverters instead of 1 almighty inverter?


1. Multi RS 6kVa

2. Multiplus 2 10kVa

3. Deye Micro Inverter 2.2kW

motymop:
To be sincere. No business will turn 2m to 10m in one year except you are speculating in the stock or crypto market and it depends on your trading skills.

Business are the hardest thing to do..it depraves you of good sleep and it reduces your quality of life for a moment until you are successful.

I beg to differ.

Such businesses exist

BUT NO ONE WILL SPILL SUCH SECRETS

because it spells doom for the person, you become a competitor

ask4bk:
I've replied and mentioned the guy's name many times and each time I'm given suspension from the platform.

I don't know how someone can use emotionalism to hold his ego over scientific facts.
God help us here abeg!

Everyone has things they are passionate about

But it is the course of wisdom to know when to take a chill pill and realize that in the market of ideas some ideas maybe superior to others

Another issue is that a truly wise person can be opinionated but will give ground to superior arguments when they are marshalled

To do this requires stepping aside from our strongly held views and looking at them dispassionately and objectively and not subjectively, that is separating feeling from fact and emotion from fact

This thread needs this very much.

Insisting for example on 300 watt panels in 2025 is taking us back to 2018 technology and is equivalent to insisting on carburetors (or automatic seat belts) in a modern car or like a three-speed manual transmission or a carbureted engine for a new mainstream passenger car..

In 3 years (that is 2028) 1000 watt panels might be in vogue

Years of popularity estimate courtesy Reddit:

180W/190W – 2003 to 2010

250W/260W – 2011 to 2015

300W – 2014(LG) 2016 (other manufacturers) to 2018

>Half cut panels now common<

330W – 2019 to 2020

370W – 2021 to Ongoing

415W – 2022 to Ongoing

On the issue of bifocal panels, our guy made good points but overflogged the issue and seemed reject any attempt to challenge his position by experimentation.

Here are the key points for anyone shopping for panels:

Bifacial solar panels represent an upgrade in energy production because they can capture not only direct sunlight but also reflected light from the ground or surrounding surfaces (the albedo effect). In the right conditions, this added efficiency can translate into stronger long-term returns on investment. While my Monos struggle to reach maximum output, as soon as the conditions are slightly ok, the bi panels hit maximum power and sustain it for long, but my panels are raised and not on the roof!

Monofacial panels, however, remain the go-to option for most residential rooftops. Since these installations usually have the back of the panel shaded or placed close to the roof, there’s little opportunity for extra energy gain from reflected light.

In the end, the decision comes down to the site. Bifacial panels are worth the higher upfront cost ( bu these days that they are costng the same or less than mono is there any justification to go mono?) only when the installation environment—such as highly reflective surfaces and elevated mounting—creates enough additional energy production to make the investment pay off.

That said, if the conditions are right, insisting on monofacial panels in 2025 instead of bifacial panels is equivalent to insisting on carburetors instead of electronic fuel injection (EFI) in modern automotive technology.

dannie007:
Meet people selling tiles there is acid for it.

Thanks very much

FEGEITOK:
What is the best way to remove cement from tiles due to poor finishing, if the tiles are not glossy?

What is available in Nigeria for this purpose?

The internet recommends baking soda and vinegar,what else can I use to solve this issue so the bathrooms can look presentable?

Thanks in advance

Found one. Costs 15,000 for 5 Liters

What is the best way to remove cement from tiles due to poor finishing, if the tiles are not glossy?

What is available in Nigeria for this purpose?

The internet recommends baking soda and vinegar,what else can I use to solve this issue so the bathrooms can look presentable?

Thanks in advance

BigDickProblems:
I like the arguments so far . I won’t lie.

I believe I understand the final angle of discussion bassdow chose to rest his arguments which is based on how the bifacial is balanced on the roof and the cost that is likely incurred. Most of the initial ones were countered, and I liked that too.

Being a science person and one who has also published a paper too, most of the claims here are hypothesis (both bassdow and the rest) because they are yet to be tested and proven to become a theory or a generally accepted fact. A scientist must be cautious as not to easily accept an hypothesis except an experiment is being done and proven on it.

The findings or results from the experiment can actually differ from the hypothesis (the original sayings here) and if that is the case, such sayings are refuted.

Secondly, some experiments may not have had the best set up required to completely and successfully determine a conclusion (in this case, a marketer here who claims that Bifacial yields better than a mono may have his reasons; maybe from personal experience or testing). But if further experiment is done that finds out more about the original theory from the first experiment, then it requires a “modification”. The popular Bhor’s atomic model modification on Rutherford’s comes to mind.

That a bifacial panel will yield better than mono on a regular position on the roof is an hypothesis, of which I don’t know, but an experiment. So Damrey can go ahead and perform his experiment, it is now left for us to find any experimental error (or magu-magu 😂) to invalidate his experiment or not. Shikena.

And pls bassdow, pls try to keep your arguments shorter. I like them, but sometimes they are too long. But keep them coming anyways 😁.

I have mono and initially ran away from bifacial because the crowd seemed to be against it.

I was also always a Jinko guy because the crowd seemed to say Jinko or nothing else.

But when last I wanted to shop for panels.

590 watts Jinko was so expensive and I found 700w FY way cheaper.

I opted for the 700w FY bi panels and I can tell you that in the same position as my 545 watt Jinkos they do better and consistently match their rated output.

I believe they would exceed the rated output if not for the bottleneck in the form of the charge controller.

To confirm, or disprove this, I would need a charge controller with a bigger throughout capability, that is not a priority for me now but will be in 6 months when I plan an upgrade, I'll report back to the house.

So from personal experience bifacial panels rock

topsy23:
Go to Dede market you will get it there. But you need to check what you typed up there. 200m should be typo error. You can't get light of 200m. Maybe you are trying to say 200cm i.e 2m long

200cm thanks for spotting the error

Any ideas anyone, where to find this light in Abuja?

not the short 40cm version but the long 200m version

Thanks in advance

abuzz33:
Reports coming out suggest that the Afriland Towers Fire was started in the INVERTER ROOM.

"According to the Federal Fire Service team leader from Ebute Metta, Mr Ehimen Momoh, the fire started from an inverter battery in the basement and spread to a parked Toyota Sienna and a motorcycle, both of which were completely burnt. Other vehicles in the basement were, however, saved."

Its very important that if you are installing solar systems to get EXPERIENCED installers who calculate load, wiring sizes and use fuses, breakers properly. Ensure that you also install smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher nearby in case of fire.

Which means that there was nothing installed so they could remotely monitor that room and the installations therein so that they could respond before the crisis got out of control.

When building alternative power supplies for critical infrastructure such as that building, we aren't supposed to stop at just the power equipment, but there should be sensors and meters monitoring the alternative power supply as well as people assigned to monitor those sensors and meters on shift.

At the electricity utility level, we have SCADA.

There is something similar available for such a building so sad.

abuzz33:
I have two ABB meters I used for something like this. Very rugged. Drop your digts.

This thing go cost!

How much e be?

favouredbymercy:
Another thing i thought about now. Do you have an AC current/voltage limiter installed in your inverter input side? If not install one since it is polarised, it should not allow backfeeding to inverter i believe.

I do not have.

Please recommend a brand and/or seller

Tdoctor:
How Nairaland Solar FTA thread has helped me:

This may be a long post, but I want to thank everyone on this thread for their help. Many people read stuff here anonymously, believe me.

Moral of the story.
> Before you spend a lot of money on anything. Do your OWN due diligence.

> Many sellers and installers just want to sell, and DO NOT care about your subsequent frustrations.

> DO NOT trust sellers who have not been recommended by MANY people.

> Poor installations may not only lead to financial loss, they could lead to death, because people who cut corners, cut corners in EVERYTHING.
>

It is YOUR money. Do not let anyone cajole you into buying pain and loss.

God bless.

I have preached the same gospel in the past.

My 700w panels, some of my best investments, I get the full value of the panels from time to time, I think I could have gotten more if not for the controller bottleneck of 1.4kW.

People who cut corners, cut corners in everything. That is the only gospel I have not preached but I will henceforth preach. I was taping the earthing cable with green adhesive tape and the electrical guy asked me, am I trying to suggest that if I do not tape the cable, it will not work? I told them it is the law that the earth cable should be green, the other guy said which law in a mocking manner, this same guy took several of my 1.5 inch screws without informing me, and only informed me because I suddenly entered the sitting room and saw him in the act. I am very disappointed in him, but then people who cut corners, cut corners in everything!

I forgot to add that in the course of our discusssion, I learned that he does electricity bypass after sundown which he restores first thing in the morning