₦airaland Forum

khanka,
your budget should be able to get you a high end 24v inverter which incorporates all the mention
features and much more. also, most inverter manufacturers now have local support within the
country in one form or the other. for instance when i had issue with my magnum inverter, even
though its an american product, i was still able to fix it through support from their local rep in
port harcourt.

MooreJozo:
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Bbb

brother,
what exactly are you selling? is it wedding rings or door alarm systems?

prof,
you have said it all. all the same, welcome back.
I hope you remember to incorporate the solar water heater as part of your new house design.

abunafiu:
still doing good.
It's been 3 years now..

Wow. I can't believe I could be away from this thread for over 2 months. I checked this placed since May this year.

prof,
i was almost afraid that u now value your facebook community more than this thread.
Anyway, welcome back.
And I hope we get to see a few of those installation pics too?

babaegun:
@GeorgeD1

How about your upgrade from Tristar to Midnight Classic 150?

babaegun,
thanks for asking. that question couldn't have come at a better time as i just received my long awaited
midnite classic. installation was done yesterday and monitoring in progress.
pictures, observations and vote of thanks coming soon...

suretx:
Please does anyone have a practical approach on how to achieve the 6-10 degrees inclination on a roof that has a higher inclination? I'm planning on setting up panels and I want to get it right from the start...

suretx,
use adjustable legs for your solar rails and confirm angle of inclination using an inclinometer.
you can't go wrong with these two combo...

dicksonadams:
Boss can I get someone to help me do this also? The engineer that install mine had charge me twice.... E. G change wire, new cc but to no avail

dicksonadams,
ordinarily this is something you can do for yourself but if you're afraid of heights i'm sure there are
good installers here who will be more than glad to help you do the rooftop inspection.
just check their signatures and give them a call.
cheers!

dicksonadams:
Hey guys please I have a solar set upl that I have wasted a lot of money on . Out of 420watt only harvest 100watt if I am lucky.


Please can anyone come help me do a audit or check on my set up. I am l ready to pay

i had a similar experience like johnkester with my newly installed solar panels.
after installation, i noticed one array was producing roughly half the power output
of the second array and so i set out to troubleshoot. in the process i climbed to the roof
only to discover that the mc4 connectors of two array strings were not properly
closed. what that meant was that out of twelve panels, only six were producing thereby
explaining why the output was half. i quickly reconnected them properly, climbed down
from the roof, switched on the array breakers and voila! more amps than i could imagine
started pumping into my cc. it was really a remarkable experience for me.

johnkester,
that was spot on. i couldn't have said it better.
welldone!

earthrealm:
following bumper to bumper.

also in this rainy season where we r having 3 to 5 days of rainfall....how is it holding up?

earthrealm,
like i said in the previous page:

https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta/274#58735529

my system is holding up well.

here in the south-south, we are in the thick of the rainy season - what some peeps call
"7 days rain" and no surprise, we are still bathing with hot water despite the continuous
rainfall.

DUNKA:
Goodmorning all for the solar water heater pictured below if one is installing on an aluminum roof how is it secured?

dunka,
my candid opinion is to get an independent tower to install your water heater.
however, if you insist on installing it on your aluminium roof, make sure you
consult your carpenter for proper reinforcement of your roof polines and beams.
i had similar thoughts like yours when i was going to acquire my own 300l but
after it arrived and i had it assembled, i was like "wow!" "there is no way i'm
going to place that massive frame filled with water on my roof!"
so, i instantly began discussions with my welder for a separate water tower.

earthrealm:
@all... do we think the solar water heater wud fare well in a rented apartment?............am thinking of incorporating it in my build..........
2ndly perchance one wants to switch back to electric heaters, am thinking it should be easy enough to replace it with an external 50ltr ariston type...
cc: georged1, johnkester @all

earthrealm,
like i said earlier in the year, anybody can install a solar hot water system, be it a landlord or
tenant.for the tenant, the major challenge is where to put your water tower in case you want a gravity
feed system. however, that can be overcome by installing a pressurized system. with such a system,
the unit can be installed anywhere on the ground facing the sun. all you need is a pump to supply
the hot water on as needed basis.
its really amazing what the human mind can achieve when you set it to work.

pranil,
i don't know what's happening but any time i quote your post i get banned for twenty four hours.
anyway, i'm sure you already seen testimonials from johnkester who happens to be using a similar brand
as mine from the same supplier.
as for temperatures, recall that earlier in the year i did a comparison between the conventional (ariston)
electric water heater and its solar counterpart. these days, depending on the degree of cloud cover, my
water temperature still gets above 40c which definitely is more than what i need to take a hot bath on
a cold day.
believe me when i say that solar water heating is the next best thing to sliced bread - and if this coming
from a guy who is not trying to sell you anything, it should speak volumes.

earthrealm:
just wondering...so for an old house....one would have to run the hot water pipe from the solar heater to the various hot water points in the house?...........if yes..that would be untidy and a bit difficult in some builds.

for a new house having a central hot water piping traverse the whole house might be a tidier option...though when one factors in the cost of the copper pipes...it might add up to much...especially for a large build eg 5br duplex..
what are your thoughts/advice?

earthrealm,
yes, for a house with an already existing electric hot water plumbing network, you definitely have to
run your solar water heater hot line to the various points but its not really as untidy as you think.
provided it has an existing hot water line, you can retrofit the solar water heater outlet to link up with
your existing plumbing system.
for a new house, it becomes even better. the cost of copper plumbing drops drastically because in this
instance you can run your hot water line directly either from the roof downwards or through the floor
of the house.

DUNKA:
Thanks a million . I will run it by my plumber and see how it goes. What did you do with your former water heaters?

dunka,
i dismantled them and gave them away. there was really no point in keeping
them around as i wouldn't be needing them anymore. and, several months down
the line, i'm still glad i took that step.

DUNKA:
chiefo the plumbing is also what had been putting me off installing a a solar water system. How did you handle the plumbing for multiple bathrooms and kitchen without extensive modifications of the existing plumbing works? Please further explanation would be appreciated to enable us understand the re plumbing

dunka,
plumbing does not need to be a headache for you when it comes to solar water heating.
first of all, get the package and measure the total height of the assembly, i.e from the top
of the water heater tank to the foot of the frame carrying it. add one or two feet to this value.
that would be the clearance from the bottom of the main water tank to the top of the water
heater tank.
after installing the water heater, run your hot water lines direct from the hot water outlet to
the inlet of your existing electric water heater inlet. use a t-connection copper tube. you
only need to bore a little hole from outside your bathroom to gain access to the existing
plumbing.use the t-connection to introduce the hot water into your bathroom.

pranil:
May times but the plumbing headaches stop me from doing so. Now the solar panels are dropping in price I am thinking of converting existing geysers into solar geyser using SolarPV-

e.g. One 200 Ltr Solar water heater at 200 K + plumbing upwards is similar to 3 x 300 Watt + one Gyserwise controller -
http://www.geyserrobot.co.za/Technical_Details/technical_details.html

I will switch off NEPA to Gyserrobot using a Relay based on SOC. So If the SOC is high then Gyser will use the PV

pranil,
plumbing for solar water heating is quite straight forward when you put your mind to it - especially for gravity feed systems like mine.
your geyser idea while laudable may meet with several hiccups when put to real world situations. from personal experience it pays to have a dedicated system for solar water heating. reason being that your solar water heater continues to heat up your water regardless of whether it is a cloudy day or not. however, with your geyser idea, on the same cloudy day, unless you massively oversize your solar panels, your battery bank will struggle to get enough juice and there may be no excess power available to divert to water heating.

pranil,
thanks for the insight. Indeed there is joy in living a diy lifestyle - which is why most of us are here in the first place. ever thought of incorporating solar water heating to your setup?

hello pranil,
quite an interesting setup you have there and rather complex for a water supply system. I'm really trying to understand what you really wanted to achieve with such an elaborate setup? I got banned twice now when I tried quoting your post.

foonshur:
Who made this inverter?

foonshur,
that inverter looks very much like my old prostar 5kva modified sine wave inverter which I used for over two years. it's performance was anything but spectacular and then one very quiet morning I got up to power the inverter and it blew up in my face without any warning!
to say that I was shocked is an understatement. up till this day I couldn't fathom what could have made a perfectly working inverter go up in smoke just when the power switch was activated. I wasn't using solar at the time so that was out of the question. there was no phcn supply at that time so no question of overvoltage. and besides the same inverter had worked all through the previous night without any issues and I only just shut it down for an hour or two to give it some rest...and then boooom!
worse still, the very next day I took it down to the dealer only to be told that the model had been scrapped and was no longer being supported...
this experience was a turning point for me and it was why I decided never to have anything to do with chinese inverters, ever again!

bigrovar,
saipro,

very true talk. rainy season has its up and downs especially for those in the south.
one sunny day followed by a partially cloudy one or outright torrential rainfall the very
next day. its the more reason i decided to oversize my system and i can say i'm reaping
the benefits big time.

Refa:
The 20hr or 10hr just means that it is discharged to 1.75V per cell over a period of 20 hours or 10 hours while the total amp hour supplied is measured. But this does not mean a 20hour rated battery is necessarily better than a 10hour rated battery.

Example; Rolls Surrette S-605 L16 Battery is rated at 100hr for 605AH, 20 hr at 468AH and at 10hr for 398AH. Note that this the same battery, the only thing that changed here is the load that was used to discharge the battery.

So the numbers can be may look better if a 100 hr rating is given for a particular battery.

Because of the Peukert effect, batteries turn to deliver more AH if they are discharged slowly (low amperage draw) and lower AH if discharged fast (High average draw). So a 200AH at 10hr, may be better than a 200AH at 20hr.

refa,
you're very much on point. and that has been my beef with the trojan ind-17 6v battery being sold by solarshop:

http://www.solarshopnigeria.com/homepage/trojan-ind17-6-industrial-line-flooded-lead-acid-battery-1202ah.html

on the surface, it looks robust with a high amp-hour rating of 1202ah but on careful examination, this rating is
based on 100 hours. the question then is: why this deliberate deception? and for a price tag of 535k?

Juokorow:
I am currently decking part of my duplex that is under construction so as to create a roof terrace. I'd like to situate a 300 liter heater like yours there and may engage your assistance when finishing. What are the installed dimensions of your system, stands included?
Thanks for showing us this much preferred central water-heater option.

hello juokorow
the most important dimensions you should worry about is that of the frame which carries the tank.
i will climb to the top of the water tower and take actual measurements by weekend and revert.
cheers!

pranil:
The plumbing and piping is the main deterrent for going solar on water heating not the technology . I am also dabbling the thought but have not taken the plunge .

hello pranil,
the beauty of solar water heating is that it can be retrofitted to existing house plumbing - and that's what i did
in my case.
when you do the maths, the energy savings over 15 or more years of its lifespan far outweighs whatever
extra cost of plumbing that may be incurred in the short term during installation.

Ferdiwar:
Good morning house

Please I need your assistance, someone want to change his inverter and want to import it from USA and needs it to power;


5x water heater (3 hours at most a day)


Can 15kva power them all or should he go for 20kva. As he was previously using 10kva/48v inverter with it (with 24x 2v/1500Ah GasTon VRLA batteries) but got burnt.

Thanks.

hello ferdiwar,
in addition to the above post by pranil, your friend could further reduce his total load by installing a solar water heater.
for almost the same cost, he could replace those 5 electric water heaters with a 300 litre solar water heater which
would take care of his entire household hot water needs even in the rainy season.
you didn't state the model of water heater he intends to power with the inverter but if it is ariston 50l, that could be a
whopping 7500w (1500w for each water heater multiplied by 5) eliminated from his load calculation. that is a
lot of power savings, if you ask me.

davodyguy:
Too many greedy Nigerians

Bought two 215/70/16 tyres today at same rate of 460 naira to a dollar.

I'm just upset about this

my brother, it's just so disheartening. from solar products to tyres and even commodities the story is the same: artificially high prices totally at variance with realities on the ground.
unless they start re-adjusting these absurd prices downwards they stand to lose customers big time.

zeestone99:
Yeah as d dollar keep falling we can only hope price gets better, to allow many of us upgrade our system

zeestone,
well done. keep up the good works. i only wish other sellers like solar depot, et al will toe this line.
i observed that most die-hard retailers are still hanging on to their old high price which they adjusted for
when dollar was selling for 450/500. now that dollar is trading below 370 their price adjustment mechanism
seem to have gone on sabbatical leave. which way nigeria?

bigrovar:
There is no way an home theater or sound surrounds can consume 850w and 1000w respectively. You are confusing sound watts with electricity watts. Get a watt meter for proper testing

exactly my thoughts. you have too many power guzzling appliances.
kindly re-check the nameplate power specs or best still use a watt meter.
pay particular attention to the home theater, surround system and cpu.
if they really consume that much power, it may be better to just replace
them and get more recent and energy efficient models.

your present load outlook is 3575w going by your list above. unless you
do a proper load audit and confirm the actual power requirements of the
items already identified above, you may need up to 5kva inverter to carry
your house. however, i'm sure this figure will come down after you
re-adjust the high load items downwards.

babaegun:
@GeorgeD1 - Now you have enough "evidence" to upgrade your CC.

So what are you thinking of in terms of charge controller - MorningStar, Victron, Fangpusun/Outback......?

babaegun,
you're right.i knew the array size was greater than the capacity of the cc right from time
but I wanted to get a practical field test and the monitoring reports have confirmed this.

i'll most likely be getting a midnite classic 150.