₦airaland Forum

geman:
@Geore D1
Many thanks for the response. I have a 2.4M dish. I was receiving it before but my Titanium LNB shorted and had to replace it with an old Eurostar lnb, which has not yet caught it.
What Lnb are you using over there?

@geman,
I'm using STRONG K6. You should try it and see.

geman:
East Africa,
Is there any one receiving the TBN package on 22West C band or 76East - Apstar C band? I was receiving it on 22west but it disappeared. I am particularly interested in Smile of a Child channel.

Kindly share any leads for me to get this package. Many thanks.

@geman,
Yes, TBN package on SES 4/C (22W) is still roaring hot. Use 3825h, 8950sr to track
and make sure your dish size is at least 1.8M. As for the package on Apstar (76E) that beam is a spot beam
for Asia so difficult to track from here.
Hope this helps?

abunafiu:
In my hood, NEPA has been heartless to my neighbors since yesterday despite being Sallah day.
Thank God for my solar power.
Even with the recession in Naija.
This year's Sallah was interesting.
Me and my madam alone...
Solar gooood Oo.

prof,
keep enjoying. happy salah to you!

abunafiu,
well done for the nice pics. the secret to solar success as in every other endeavor in life
is consistency. and, like iLoveTheSun said in his previous post, you start small and gradually
grow bigger with time. just like you, i also started from a rented apartment with a back up solution
with no solar initially. it was not until i changed houses that i began installing solar panels one
by one and now several years later, i have enough array to power my entire household even
on cloudy days.
no wonder they say, rome was not built in a day!

liar mohammed

zeestone99:
Hello George, sumtymes one can be very busy, I bliv ur conversation with him went well. Cheers

zeestone99,
yes, we have arrived at something. i'll get back to you and see how we can close this out with your team.

dunka,
its been posted severally in the past. just check my previous posts.
cheers!

this is change by any other name.

zeestone99,
i sent you a mail from my yahoo mailbox.
kindly reply asap. thanks.

iLoveTheSun:
Good morning,

I fully agree.
(reg. washing machines, it also depends on the temperature, if you launder with 30°C or 80°C.)
Of course, all depends on the size or depth of your pocket.
Many people work hard to buy big cars, but some prefer a big solar array on their roof instead. It's a question of priority.

iLoveTheSun,
the bolded couldn't be more true. and, personally, that was the motivation behind my solar initiative from day one.
i always thought to myself, "if i can spend 3 million and above to buy a car that takes me from point a to point b
and on a good day i only get to spend at most 1 hour, two hours or even three hours in that car, why then shouldn't
i spend an equivalent amount to make my home comfortable to live in? a house i spend over eight to twelve hours
in everyday?" for me, it just didn't make sense riding a car fitted with ac and being comfortable for one hour only to
arrive home, park that same car and you enter into a house with no lights, no fan, waiting for when phcn will restore
public power or on the alternative going to struggle with a fuel guzzling generator when you could have all this with
the flick of a switch.
so, suddenly solar began to make more sense to me, regardless of the amount i was spending to put those 40 panels
on my roof.

modern day pools staking at its worst.

nap one from five.....! mschew!!

iLoveTheSun:
Hello Newbies,

for those asking the same questions again and again:
"I have n appliances with x watts power consumption.
How many solar panels, what solar charger, inverter, batteries should I take?"

I will not answer those questions, but I would like to build some sort of foundation, that assumptions and facts may differ sometimes.
(To be honest, I was surprised myself. Like, "Oh, I need a Mercedes ML!" And then after analysing the data: "Oops, a Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit will do!" I hope you get the point. There is a saying: "The eyes are always bigger than your stomach (=real hunger)!" [That's why many people have lots of of leftovers on their plate!])
It's rather a guideline to understand your real power needs.

Here are my recommendations for the newbies:
1) Please do your homework (sorry, to say this) and read this thread from start. There are tons of valuable information by my fellow solar heros.
2) Chris has even built an app. Check it out!
3) Please do not feel disappointed, if you wait for an answer. Be patient!
4) At last, but not at least: here is a real case study to give you a feeling about your demand.
This is some sort of energy consumption audit, in order to understand what inverter and what battery capacity is really required.

Last week, I got a 3-phase digital energy meter with S0 output (it's the 2-wire grey cable in the top). 1000 pulses per kWh. (i.e. 1 pulse = 1/1000 kWh)
And a data logger that can read S0 interface. So the data has been put into a graph.

Real-case scenario:
Small 2 bedroom apartment with 2 persons. One person (breadwinner) out of the house during the day. One person at home.
1 x LCD TV approx. 100-130 Watts
4 x energy-saving bulbs (5 - 8 Watts each)
1 x small refrigerator (don't know - it's too heavy to move around and to check the name/type plate)
2 x fridges (don't know - it's too heavy to move around and to check the name/type plate)
1 x water cooker 1800 Watts (!!!)
1 x micro wave/oven combo up to 2000 Watts (!) it is adjustable from 180 Watts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 x electric stove xxxx Watts(!!!) my comment: shouldn't be powered by battery!!!
1 x washing machine xxxx Watt(!!!) my comment: shouldn't be powered by battery!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, hot water for showering is on a different meter, because the building is a multiplex.

iLoveTheSun,
quite an interesting line up you have here but the jury is still out there on the viability or otherwise of running
a home fully on solar photovoltaics.
it is always preferable to explore more cost effective solutions where they are readily available instead of going the
fully solar pv route.
for your cooking for instance, lpg or propane gas has been found to be less expensive than using a hotplate powered
by an inverter.
for heating household water, solar water heaters seem to be the preferred method.
washing machines are getting more power efficient these days what with the emergence of top loaders so not much
issues running them off inverters (i run my thermocool washing machine on my inverter on a routine basis
without any problems)
microwaves too present a unique twist. although they seem to draw so much instantaneous power, but because
they are almost always run for brief spells in the entire day, inverters seem to love them.

bigrovar,
many peeps complaining about the high cost of solar never really sit down to do the maths.
still, many of us trying to wean people off the 'generator mentally' are sometimes at a loss
when faced with such complaints as solar being too expensive. but when we are armed with
facts such as this, the advantages of solar in terms of cost savings becomes staggering.
do you know that even with dollar at 500 naira, solar is still cheaper to set up compared with
the long-term cost of running fuel-guzzling generators over the space of 25 years?

my solar panels are still pumping out juice over 6 years after installation just like they did from
day one. my inverter is still doing great with no issues at all. batteries are performing
marvellously. at this rate, i'm seeing myself coasting through another couple of years before
worrying about any system or component failure.

so, doing the 25year maths for cost of running generators, it will be like this:

522,000*25 = 13,050,000 naira
and if i were to run my generator for double the time, i'e 24hrs everyday (like my inverter presently)
it will amount to:

13,050,000*2 = 26,100,000 naira spent over that space of time.

thankfully though, I don't have to incur this cost anymore thanks to solar.

truly, the sun is the answer!

I hope they will still be kissing and cuddling like this one month, two months and six months
into their marriage.

abunafiu,
donmajor2,
dunka,
et al,

thanks guys. indeed its been quite a while. its really exciting seeing all the new developments happening
on the thread and so many new members getting hooked on solar.

ever since the price of fuel sky-rocketed, its been my desire to revisit that calculation I did in 2010 and I
I was quite surprised at the outcome. what a difference six years makes.

on a side note, my system is still firing on all cylinders with no issues at all - discounting weather.
when I look back at all the money spent and this calculation, I realize that in six years, my system has
more than paid for itself in terms of cost-savings alone. right now, what I'm using is free energy!

so, revisiting that same calculation above and being careful to leave every other parameter intact, it would look like this:

30ltrs in 1 wk is roughly 10 litres/day.
1month = 300litrs
at the present pump price of 145naira/ltr (up from 65 naira per litre), it becomes: 300*145= 43,500 naira (instead of 19,500 naira) spent for fuel alone in a month.
and in a year that amounts to: 43,500*12 = 522,000 naira

and of course if the fuel pump price can increase by about 123% in just six years, we can only just imagine what the next 25yrs will
look like.

bottom line: there is never a wrong time to go solar!

[quote author=George_D post=6507961]skalamanga,
the solar business is a serious one for people thinking more about positioning themselves for a future of energy independence in a society where public power is getting more epileptic by the day even as more funds are poured into the sector.

in this country as of today, when people talk about power and they think of alternatives to phcn, they think generators. so when you compare solar to generators you may be tempted to think solar is too costly. however that is only true with respect to short term projections. in the long term, the seemingly higher cost of solar pales into insignificance when compared with the huge cost savings of not having to run generators say over a 25yr period.

lets do the maths:
personally i have a 5kva petrol generator and when i was running it almost everyday, a 30ltr can of petrol will be used up in a week and that is talking of a maximum 4 hours everyday. anything more than that and the 30litres will not even last that long. there are people who have generators double that capacity and who run them for twice that lenght of time and its your guess how long a similar volume of fuel will carry them.

but lets concentrate on my own experience:

30ltrs in 1 wk is roughly 10 litres/day.
1month = 300litrs
at the present pump price of 65naira/ltr, it becomes: 300*65= 19,500 naira
in a year that amounts to: 19,500*12 = 234,000 naira
assuming pump price remains the same (which will be virtually impossible), in 25yrs, we'll have spent:
234,000*25 = 5,850,000 naira.

now, that's putting it mildly because i haven't accounted for the cost of servicing and repairs of the generator (i'e oil changes, filter, fuel pump). also, there's no guarantee that any generator no matter how rugged will last that long. averagely you'll have to change that gen once every 5 to 6 yrs depending on the brand.
then how do we factor in the constant inconvenience of noise, smoke, etc? when there is fuel scarcity you must get fuel by all means if you must have electric power so sometimes you end up siphoning fuel from your car's tank into your generator and a few times you may even suck in and swallow some of it!

now, when you compare all this to the advantage solar gives you, the higher costs does not seem so high afterall. the secret to it is starting on a small scale. you start with an inverter and battery bank. after a while you then add solar modules to your system. that way the cost wouldn't be as prohibitive as it appears from the start.

for those who have built houses before, if you were to start from day one and look at the overall cost of building that house from foundation to the last pin, the cost alone would be intimidating but when you learn to take one step at a time, you'll discover that in no time, what you thought impossible has become a reality and so it is with a solar system.[/quote]guys,
this post was made by my humble self on the 4th of august 2010 - more than six years to the day (ref. page 2 of this thread). looking back now, I can't help feeling a particular sense of satisfaction that I made the right choice to go solar

shithapuns:
Is anybody having battrey desulphator hooked up to his battery and chatge controller assy?
was reading a review where some1 claimed the battery desulphator fried his cc...
he claimed the desulphator works by generating a spike which helps to dissolve the deposites on the plates of the batteries, and that this spike is dangerous to electronics, cc/brainbox etc
currently have desulphator hooked up to my running car battery for 4wks now...zero issues

shithapuns,
i have a battery life saver (bls) hooked up to my system from day one (and its going three years now)
and it has not fried any of my morningstar charge controllers nor any of my electronics. i guess peeps just
post all these crap on the internet to gain unnecessary attention.
remember, the world wide web is like a jungle. don't believe everything you read.

odilibe:
titan 3 is channels tv HD Amos 5 C band 3682 V 2000...

@odilibe,
Thanks for the correction.

@All,
For those asking, channels TV HD is not on KU yet. Only on C band for now.
Error is regretted.

Chinedu7:
I will like to see your 3 LNBF setup on that 2.4m comstar. Please

@Chinedu7,
The pictures have been posted severally at different times on the thread
but here they are again as you requested.

graphicicon:
@George D, with do respect sir, when we are talking about FTA, what we meant are channels that can be tracked with 60cm or 90cm dish thats what i regard as FTA, and again why those nigerian channels most of them operate on C-Band, and u know u must 1.2 meter dish upward to track such channels.

@graphicicon,
If you noticed I specifically mentioned FTA stations that are on KU. But again remember that FTA cannot and must not be limited to Ku band alone or to dishes 60 or 90cm and below.To do this will mean a deliberate attempt to stifle innovation.Besides like odilibe said, take away the initial set up cost, C band dishes remain the most economical to run in terms of coverage and yearly through put.I have had my COMSTAR 3 in 1 for over 5yrs now and besides the occasional lnb and Jack change outs, it has remained ever sharp performance wise.None of the heavy rain storms in these parts have been able to shift the alignment.Whenever any new station comes out east or west, I simply move it to the position and track it without sweat.No need struggling in the sun to add a new LNB or going to buy another 90cm before I can track. It is essentially an install and forget setup.Now, how is that for economy?

HAH:
Why are Nigerian TV mostly not FTA. While most of east africa,french west africa and Ghana are FTA ? Can you imagine even ordinary NTA is a to be paid for.

Best way of making advert money is increasing your reach and with FTA your reach increases because advert price is Based on your reach.

I think with the entrance of Core tv, Galaxy tv together with Rave tv and now Channels tv HD all on KU
the yoke is finally being broken. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.

ManirBK:
pls are they still showing because my signal red?

@ManirBK,
Afro music channel still blazing hot at this end. I'm watching it now as I write.
You may need to check your dish or decoder settings.

@All,
For those not already aware, Afro Music Channel (12664H, 27497sr)
now live on Astra 4A/SES 5 @5E. Non-stop music.
This is the afro version of channel O! All the music lovers in the house, let's go there!

@Adex70,
As promised, Inverto black ultra and Supermax lnbs already packed and coming your way tomorrow.
I will call you later tonight for shipping details.
VIVA FTA!

pharynx,
one of the biggest shortcomings of so-called stand alone chargers is that they are optimised for
charging of lead acid or automobile batteries. the 'smart' label is mostly just thrown in for marketing
purposes. from personal causal reasoning, the worst inverter with basic charging algorithm is better than
the best 'smart' stand alone charger.
those batteries already suffered enough. please don't add to their misery by installing a glorified automotive
battery charger.

Adex70:
@George d good day pls i knew u are bussy but still expecting ur call and the gift hope to see action this weekend

Ok bro,
Sorry about that. Will get back to you before the day runs out.

Adex70:
@George d wellcome i have been trying to reach u pls i need the inverto black and one old supermax cband i knew u are using the red classic i will be so happy if i can get it for my 4mt to get mbc nile it is issue for us in lag thanks 08168877844

@Adex70,

Yes, the inverto black ultra is still very much available. I will call you so we can arrange on how to send it
across to you. I also have an old supermax lnb since you need it.

mtchris:
Is this the real GeorgeD or an impersonator?

@mtchris,
LOL! It's the real me for sure.
Sorry I have been away for quite a while. Work pressure and other issues have not given me
the time to keep pace with developments on the thread.
But the good news is that I'm back now. I will be going through back posts and will respond
to any queries that catch my attention.

VIVA FTA!!!

Cheny:
pix of 57e (primary)& 68e.

@Cheny,
Nice job! That's the spirit of FTA!
BTW, looks like you have your dish installed in a corn farm.
It will be good to feast on roasted corn with one hand while rocking your dish with the other!

DUNKA:
Chief George please how are your Zenith batteries doing? Would u still buy them if you had achoice 2 change batteries out?

hello dunka,
apologies for the late reply. i have really been away from the forum for a while now.
yes indeed. three years on, my zenith batteries are still performing as new.
if i have a choice i will buy them all over again.
very soon, it will be time for my yearly 'turn-around' maintenance. i will
be posting results of battery nominal voltages which will be used to compare
with previous years.

http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/?p=168676


Understanding Buhari in 100 Days, By Oche Joseph Otorkpa

Premium TimesAugust 31, 2015 Understanding Buhari in 100 Days, By Oche Joseph Otorkpa2015-08-31T21:03:23+00:00Opinion Comment



It was Joseph B. Wirthlin who said, “Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil; the devil was a liar from the beginning”. This quote sums up the the attempt by a presidential media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu to further deceive Nigerians into believing anything meaningful has taken place in the last 100 days.

Like Steven Covey puts it, the more people rationalise cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

It very regrettable that the same people who told Nigerians that they will generate 20,000 Megawatts of electricity in four years are turning around to not only disown the promise as a road map, but are now claiming they knew nothing about the contract document that almost certainly brought them into office.

Before the presidential elections, Buhari and APC had accused their opponents severally of not declaring their assets publicly, and went on to pledge that not only will their Presidential candidate declare his assets publicly, he will encourage his appointees to do so as a “Pre- condition” for their appointment into office. Unfortunately, it never happened! Buhari and “Pastor” Osinbajo till date are yet to fulfill these simple promise they made to Nigerians.

Even the new NNPC boss who attempted to make his declaration public was quickly whipped into line.

The claim by Mr. Femi Adesina that the promise to declare assets publicly was made by the APC and not General Buhari clearly shows that he lacks the mental capacity to do what he was employed to do, because if he does, he would have come to the conclusion that under the Electoral Act 2011 as amended there is no provision for independent candidacy.

On Boko Haram, Nigerians do not need to peruse any document, General Buhari himself promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency within two weeks if elected President, even though he had eight weeks to fine-tune his strategy, he has so far failed to deliver, 14 weeks after coming to office.

Within Buhari’s 100 days in office over 2000 innocent Nigerians have perished in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents. Under the former administration, APC members and sympathisers shamefully celebrated every attack and loss of life on social media “showering” insults at will on our soldiers.

Despite the huge sacrifices our brothers and sisters in the armed forces were making Mallam Nasiru El-rufai and his clan led an onslaught against them and their families describing them as “Jonathanian”, unfortunately these are the same men and women they are now pleading with to save them from disgrace and embarrassment.

Rather than hiding under some mischievous excuse, the President and his team must accept the fact that they have failed to deliver on this promise.

Running a government on “Body Language” when citizens are neither deaf or dumb is a style that is alien to virtually all Nigerians, the country does not need a leader that hardly ever communicates with citizens or a leader who goes into hibernation at the slightest opportunity, the last kingdom to be ruled using “Body Language” was probably the Manyakhetas of India who were ruled by Rashtrakutan dynasty from 753-982 AD. It is therefore out of place for Shehu to subject citizens in the 21st century to body language lectures instead of telling them what the government has done in plain language.

The recent revelation by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, that the recent improvement in electricity was as a result of earlier steps taken by the Jonathan administration has rubbished the false claims of Shehu and the APC that Buhari’s body language was responsible for the improvement in power supply.

On relations with our neighbour’s, one must not fail to state the fact that when the then president of Nigeria sought help from our neighbour’s in the fight against insurgents; the APC and General Buhari himself described the action as a big disgrace while Mallam Nasiru El-rufai described Jonathan’s visit to Chad’s as a meeting to strategise on how to plan more attacks on citizens. Interestingly, the first country General Buhari visited on assumption of office was Chad where he sought the assistance and cooperation of that country in the fight against insurgents like Jonathan before him.

These is the kind of hypocrisy and deception that must be condemned by all those who wish this nation well.

Rice importation or production has nothing to do with the Buhari Administration as falsely claimed by Shehu in his article. The agricultural strides of Nigeria under the leadership of the current African Development Bank chief, Dr. Adesina is widely celebrated and documented despite attempts by the APC and their cohorts to rubbish it, even a village farmer knows that it takes an average of four months to plant and harvest the best variety of rice. This desperate attempt to appropriate another man’s achievements is part of the corruption that Nigeria must eradicate

Although I am from the North, I do not support the systematic emasculation of other sections of the country as presently being practised by the Buhari administration, neither am I in support of the gradual de-capitation of INEC and all the ingredients that makes it independent.

As Nigerians we must be objective, people like Shehu must see beyond their next pay slip, while all those who chanted change must see beyond party sentiments, ethnic or religious affiliations and stand for the truth even when it hurts.

May God continue to Bless Nigeria and Nigerians.

Oche Joseph Otorkpa is Publisher Tsuntsu Hausa Newspaper and writes from Abuja.