Otitokoropupo:
Hello house,
Does anyone have an idea how to get a carport made for solar?

Thanks in advance.

Hello, (i am back...)
carport for how many cars? Standard 250W modules are 1,00 x 1,65m.
regards,

dicksonadams:
Can I use both pwm and mppt together in my solar setup

No, you may burn one of those, depending on the algorithm inside.
Sell your PWM and get a bigger MPPT.

sunny regards

Dear @Gennextech,

that's called hi-jacking someone else's thread!

sunny regards,

p.s. are you white labelling Chinese products? You know that VRLA batteries have limited life time when used in solar application?!

codemaster2much:
I have similar issue, China people and some Nigeria business partner are scammers. I need a 100watt or 2oowatt panels , any idea of a giid

Sad to hear about that. The forum is here to 'educate' new buyers for their upcoming purchase.

Mmh, I am happy with German, Japanese, Korean and American solar panels...

German: QCells, Solarworld
Japanese: Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic (formerly Sanyo)
Korean: S-Energy, Hanwha, LG, Hyundai, Samsung
American: Sunpower
(Taiwan: BenQ sells Sunpower cells!)

Personally, I have Sharp, QCells, and Sunpower deployed. My dream panel will be a BenQ panel with 335 Watts(peak)

Good morning @goget,


let the house know how many Wh your servers consume in total. Or do you really need 8 kVA 24/24h 7/7days?
Your firm must be burning a lot of fuel to keep the gensets running?

Where are you located? Asking because of amount of insolation.

I guess you have deep cycle VRLA batteries for UPS usage. For commercial solar usage I'd recommend flooded lead-acid batteries.

regards,

The US investment firm J.P. Morgan purchased the global solar assets (solar plants/parks) of Sonnedix Group. Sonnedix Group grew organically and by acquiring solar assets from solar developers.
The assets with a total of 353 MegaWatts are located in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Chile.
---
My comment:
Obviously, when one of the leading investment firm like J.P. Morgan invests in solar energy, solar energy seems to be a profitable business. It is a long-term stable cash-flow investment.

Braaad:
Thanks very much for this... the 2x2 config should give me abt 90voc.
but I suppose mppt cc is most efficient when voc is about 1.5 or 2 times the battery voltage. In this case im having 24v batt with 45voc panel array (which is abt 1.5 to 2 times batt voltage). I could be wrong though...can you explain more?

@Braad,
nice installation.
Could you tell us the specs of your solar charge controller. Is it a MPPT or PWM charger? What is the max. DC(in) Voltage?
The higher the voltage the better during cloudy days. With 100 V DC in, then 2 modules in series; with 150 V DC, then 3 modules in series.

9japrof:


I had tried to source your personal contact, Buh I have not been successful. I am a client and I have a business proposal for you. Can we talk personal?
PM me let's talk.

I am interested as well, because I think the Sun is the future today and tomorrow.

dicksonadams:
HI mr Chris I have a problem with my solar panel, please can I call thee?

@dicksonadams
Just call Chris, no need to make private business matters public. He is happy to help you out, of course!

GeorgeD1:


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.

supported!

DMerciful:
i love your drive and your reason. 40 panels? you go dey sell to ur neighbors o!
Anyway, i have a modest system of 750W but want to increase to 1000W however even with this 750W with mains supply, i have not on gen for more than 6 months...last time i tried to put on the gen to warm it before it forgets to work, it refused to start and the process of trying, the chord snapped, ofcourse the key no longer work cos the kickstarter battery is dead from lack of usage.
Still in someone's house house with little space but i already budgeted like 1.5M when i fix ma crib
i love this forum.

You start small, and the money you save in fuel you invest in more and bigger ones. Slowly step by step.
I started with 170 Watts poly - to be honest - many years ago.

lastpage:


Your inputs above makes a lot of sense. I salute you.

To be "brutally honest" with you, we live in an environment where "self first and greed" have overtaken any sense of morality/good values/human betterment that we have left.
Everyone thinks first about not just how much they would make but how they can do so without giving ANYTHING back into the system!

If you compare our private investors to their counterparts in US/Europe, you will see the wide difference.
Ours just want to make stupendous wealth (so they can flaunt it and oppress the less privileged : e.g those who took over Govt assets like Nitel, NICON, Steel Mills, Discos, e.t.c) at the expense of the poor

But their counterparts in those foreign lands always think first, how they can mass-produce for the public, satisfy a yearning "gap of need" and then GRADUALLY MAKE MONEY from it over a LONG TIME.
They are long-sighted while the Nigerian private sector/investor is acutely short-sighted.

This is why you cant have the likes of Sir Richard Brandsten who has been funding space vehicle researches, multiple delivery/re-entry vehicles even when he knows that he may keep spending for the next ten years without a single "kobo" coming back-in. But he knows that once he succeeds, the financial profit would roll-in like a flood! (Mugun importing nations like Nigeria will be the first to queue-up that they want to BUY solutions, with the forex we dont even have )

The Nigerian private investors/Mogul is interested in only short term projects and that is why you wont find them investing in building a Power Plant (aside those micro projects they call micro-plant that will provide power for just one company or street and be completed in a very short time so they can start getting paid back within one year! )

In essence, funding of MAJOR, public projects like Power is a Govt DUTY.
I think the U.K Govt contracted to build another Nuclear Power plant last year, seeing that power demand may increase in the nearest future and some of the present plants are aging.
That is "foresight and responsibility" by a GOVT.
On completion, Govt will break it into manageable parts (generation, Transmission, distribution, e.t.c) and sell it to private investors, who will then sell the power to the public and other end users.

It is not generally the position of private investors to invest in very capital-intensive projects whose ROI (Return on Investment) comes in bits and will take a long time.

We can also factor in the problems of "standardisation" as you can see in the Roads done by our local Companies! Asphalt that should be Eight inches thick on a major road is reduced to less than One inch thickness with the result that any small rain like this, the road quickly develops Pot-holes and fails. Such example litters the whole place within Nigeria.

The point l am making is that Govt MUST DO certain things, complete it and then hand-it-over to (sell) to those who are profit minded and are better able to ensure the "profit" comes out of it.
Waiting on these FDI's and Private investors (I have been hearing those terms since 1985 when Babangida came into power but more since the Civilians took power) has proved to be an endless wait. They just sign MOU and never do anything beyond that.

It is the duty of Govt to kick-start the economy with "Capital spending" on infrastructures like Power, Steel Mills, Petro-Chemical Plants, Roads (If not for Govt, we will never build the 3rd Mainland Bridge and Private investors have not been able to build the 4th Mainland bridge, despite the big grammar we have been hearing since 1999! ), e.t.c.

When Govt does its part, the Citizens will have no choice that to leverage on it, produce goods and services, reduce importation of such goods, export locally manufactured items (thereby generate more FOREX and improve the exchange rate of the Naira), create Jobs for million sof able-bodies citizens, reduce level of insecurity as more people get gainfully employed and the attendant benefits goes on-and-on.

I pray we will have leaders with such simple vision

Lastpage!

You are right, but how long should the people wait for action in the power industry.
It is obvious, that money can be made in solar plants/parks, otherwise Private Equity firms from the US and Canada wouldn't be investing (or at least, they have announced they would invest).
But big projects have a flaw. They are overpriced. (I have stated the breakdown of costs in a different thread!)
I favor the decentralized power generation, with the involvment of local people and communities. I always have problems with big projects, very often there is little transparency in the bidding process and tenders. (Who gets what at what price tag?!) You will see that many budgets are overblown - simply to put cash aside. I mean, even Siemens was accused of corruption. Big power generation projects mean almost oligopolistic market conditions without any competition. All deals behind closed doors... more or less...
Corporation A will bid in Ghana, corporation B will bid in Kenya, and corporation C will bid in XYZ...

In that sense, I feel that decentralized energy production like solar energy is very DEMOCRATIC. We need to find a way to finance it in a fair and proper way.
But as I meantioned before, we shouldn't change the topic of this thread?!

regards,

I support this as well. Lots of efforts of people are wasted, most of their little household budget is spent on electricity, and little is left for new investments in tools, machines, or vehicles to increase productivity.

lastpage:


If we look around, we would realize that not a single country ever PROGRESSED without an appreciable level of stable Electricity (Power Industry), followed by STEEL industry. These two are the basis if any industrialization that produces development.
Until Nigeria can generate an appreciable level of Power, we will keep going round in circles. Electricity powers development/production.

There are millions of Nigerians, with millions of brilliant and profitable, productive ideas floating around but when you consider that you had to first buy a Generator (not even feasible in some business where the electricity consumption is enormous!), buy Petrol/diesel at average of #145 still rising, factor-in cost of breakdowns and repair of these generators, then you will realise that all your projected profit will just be sued to "produce electricity".

The Govt has a duty and responsibility to invest and build Power stations (Hydro, Wind, Solar, Wave, e.t.c) to kick start the economy.
No foreign investor will do that for Nigeria simply because it is a long term investment with slow pay-back regime.
Private Investors want quick returns.
I dont want to write anything lengthy on this issue because it is very deep.

Bottom line is that until we develop those two sectors, which in-turn will sprout other cottage industries and fuel innovation and other ancillary industries,
...
Lastpage!

One possible solution could be private-public partnerships: private investors to initiate solar plants/parks with feed-in tariffs that are guaranteed by the state first, then by the federal government. 10-25% equity by private investors, loan provided by various Development Banks?!

But this topic should be discussed in a different thread, I guess?

sunny regards,

lastpage:

Years back, we go to "Trade Center" when we were in primary six while the girls go to Domestic Science Center.
I can still remember that a lot of Table Tennis Bats l used in playing Table Tennis were carved out by myself, from that same Trade Center.
we did Metal Work, Wood work, e.t.c.
But today, l hardly hear children mention anything like that or bring such things home, thing sthey did with their own hands!
The question then is WHY?

Good morning @House,

@lastpage, I like your comments!
Where are the Trade Centers? Are they gone? I can see the advantages of having Trade Centers.
In the US, there is an emergence of the DIY/maker trend. New privately run workshops are founded all over the nation and run like a sports club, even though funded by private capital/venture capital. You become a member and you have access to all sorts of machines and tools, that you normally are not able to afford.
Pensioners would teach members of all age how to use those machines. When unemployed, you have time to learn new skills to be ready for your next job. Young people are able to discover new trades and can identify their skills and likes. At the same time, it is a place where new ventures are incubated, where you meet like-minded people to bond and to create something great for your neighbor, for your state, for your nation, and eventually for exportation as well. (that will bring hard currencies)

efuro:
Respect to all Gurus in the house

you have a new baby to solar family

I have fallen in love with SOLAR WIFE

and have drained my account to have just a piece of just 2 TATA panels rated @150w from N110k Algbenga Solar Tech. and
2 100A Genus Battery @ N120k

Has any Guru used TATA Polycystaline panels before? I hope they are good.
am eager to go green when i save a bit more.

Welcome to the 'Club'!

Good morning,

GeorgeD1:

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.

Thanks!
In my personal opinion solar photovoltaic is more cost-effective in the long run, IF the quality of solar panels is good so that they really have a lifetime of 25 years or more as advertised by the manufacturers.

GeorgeD1:

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.

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.

The objective of installing a digital energy meter was to identify the right size of inverter and battery capacity for this household.
In this case 2kVA and 7 kWh battery cap @ DoD 50%. The good effect: it opens your eyes, and you start changing your behavior according to the sun.

...
The big advantage of decentralized energy production, smaller systems require less high-voltage experts and can be implemented by local trades, which produces more jobs downstream. More value is added by local people and in rural areas as well. Ongoing jobs are created for service and maintenance. Whereas high-voltage service and maintenance can only be done by specialized firms, often within a big, long-term maintenance framework contract. For small systems, more local products could be implemented in the future.
...

Dear House,

here are some thoughts about the "architecture" of the high-voltage grid and new opportunities that solar provides in terms of electrification.
I'd like to draw an analogy to telephony. wired line/DSL vs. mobile/WLAN; central vs. decentralized architecture.

The reason for having AC can be found in the history of electricity in order to distribute from big steam engine generators and water dam hydropower to the consumers and industries. For long distances high-voltage was required in order to reduce loss and limit the investment in copper. To obtain high-voltage, AC was required to transform to medium-voltage and then to high-voltage, and vice versa. In factories mostly electric motors were used to do the mechanical work. And three-phase AC was ideal. At that time electronics were not present so DC to DC was not an option.

Hundreds of years later, when we look at our household appliances, what do we find? Many transformers converting AC to DC 5, 9, 12, 24 Volts.
We deploy TVs, LED light bulbs, laptops, mobile phones, tablets... all need low-voltage DC. So, there are a lot of conversion losses from the centralized power stations most of them burning coal, gas, fuel.
Where is AC useful in the household? Washing machine, compressor for fridge and freezers, and high energy loads like irons, microwave, and maybe electric stove.
In the meantime electronics have advanced, so that direct usage of DC makes sense without conversion losses.
And new technology have proven that high-voltage DC is more efficient for long haul cables as well like 1,000 kV or 1 million Volt.

The new opportunity is to generate most of the energy at the place where it is consumed. And here comes the sun, I mean solar photovoltaic.
Most of appliances can be run with DC 5 V, 12 V and 24 V. And in the future if people know that DC makes more sense, the demand for DC fans, DC fridges, DC compressors for AirCon will grow, and the industry will follow the trend. For certain appliances you do not need any AC/DC transformers.

Washing machine is a different story.

But in the end, total consumption of AC from the grid can be reduced. And AC power will be used where AC is really required.

Another issue is that centralized energy production where large power stations are built, lots of capital is required. Big capital investors (investment banks) and loans (mostly from development banks) are put together. Tenders and bids are done, but in many cases corruption and non-competitive bidding can be found. Gentlemen agreements are sealed behind closed doors. Only few big corporations will make a lot of money. Local firms do subcontracting. What many do not know, a big chunk of the cost of electricity is the cost of capital (financing), depreciation (initial investment) and, of course, fuel (when it is not hydro.) For example, in Europe, when interest rate was about 6-7% p.s. and depreciation over 20 years was 5%, then 1/4 was for financing, 1/4 for depreciation, 1/4 for fuel, 1/4 for distribution (grid) plus profit plus taxes.
So, with decentralized renewable energy cost for fuel and for distribution can be dropped.

... to be continued...

chris81964:

100 MW will not fail. There are solution the world over that exceed the 100 MW. Ivanpah is a concentrated solar solution. Those will work in our environment

Dear @Chris,
let us stay in the context of Nigeria and national grid.
I will modify my old statement, so that everyone in the house can understand what I mean!

iLoveTheSun:

(By the way, sometimes I smile when I read that big investors plan to build 100 MW of solar plants/parks. Those people are financial guys, not knowing about the technical challenges, I guess?! If light is not available, the plant won't operate... = no power = no income.)

By the way, sometimes I smile when I read that big investors plan to build 100 MW of solar plants/parks in Nigeria.
Those people are financial guys, not knowing about the technical challenges in Nigeria, I guess?! If light is not available, the plant won't operate... = no power = no income.)

okenne:
Elo House
what n what do I need to power a 2bedroom flat wt electrical appliances n a fridge

Hello @okenne,

did you see my power consumption chart over 24h?

sunny regards,

tdayof:

You are right. Will be happy if you can check hong kong from 2002-2014 and notice their export pattern.

Are there any import statistics as well?

According to the bureau of statistics, Nigeria is in a recession following the definition of two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Re: EEG Act in Germany
At the same time the state-bank KfW provided 10 year or 20 year loans at subsidized interest rate.
Let's say market interest rate was 6% per year, KfW would offer -2%, i.e. 4% per year. So the initial cost to the taxpayer is 2% of the investment.
The clever thing about doing so, the German fiscal office got a multiple of that back. EEG Act was an economic stimulus.
When you buy a solar system for 100 points, then 19 points on top was given as VAT to the fiscal office.
And 30 points of those 100 points was labour. Then 33% of those 30 points (=10 points) was paid to the social security and income tax to the fiscal office.
So, Germany "invested" 2% in the first year and got 29% back. The year after the 2% would become 1,8% because the loan was paid back 1/10, if it was a 10 year loan.
But the government hat 29% "cash" in the first year. It was a solar boom and created over 250,000 jobs, some were high-paying research and engineering jobs, many manufacturing jobs, and most jobs created were in installation business.

At the same time, consumers of solar systems saved 50% on their own electricity bill. Let's say 10% of total household budget was on electricity. Then they would save 50% of it. Eventually, they have 5% of the household budget available to spend on other consumer goods or to pay back their house or would save it. Additional consumption or future investments help the economy as well.

When I read about the fiscal effects of subsidized loans, I thought "Wow, Germans are smart!"

re: Germany
Since the emergence of the oil crisis in 1973, the German government has introduced an Energy-Saving-Plan Law.
Therefore gas and diesel in Germany is one of the most expensive in the world due to heavy taxes.
The big side effect: the car industry had to manufacture high-efficient engines, (even though VW and others cheated).
Eventually many foreign buyers prefer fuel-saving cars from Germany.
All inventions and innovations evolved from a need...

In 199x, Germany introduced the Renewable Energy Feed-in mechanism under the Social Democratic Party. Renewable energy was not cheap, but the cost of renewable energy installations should be born by all electricity rate payers. The government invested heavily in public-private research centers and universities to increase the efficiencies of solar cells.
The so called EEG Act was introduced. The government guaranteed for a period of 20 years the payment. The big target becoming more energy independent has been achieved. (In 2015 and 2016 on some days, Germany produced so much electricity from wind and solar that Germany dumps surplus electricity to France, Austria, and Switzerland for free! Having Solar in Germany is like growing pineapples in Greenland compared to the sun in Africa.)
The side effect: the solar industry became a multi-billion industry in Germany. Germany exported along the whole value chain: machines, raw material, glas, solar cells, robots, frames, solar panels, and solar inverters with electronics.

In 2016, Germany has introduced a 5,000 Euro Electric vehicle rebate. Mercedes and VW enter the battery storage business for vehicles and for homes.

What I am saying: there was a masterplan that was supported by all political parties, because leadership was embedded in the masterplan. The color of governments changes from time to time, e.g. after 4 or 5 years, but the masterplan is still kept. Technocrats and true patriots laid the foundation of the masterplan.

@tdayof

Hello,
thanks for the posting. Graphs are very interesting.
Is there any update? Do you have the source?

sunny regards,

re: Singapore, it was ruled by a CEO who put the wealth of his people (consisting of many ethniticies) as 1st priority. I wouldn't call it dictatorship because he was elected. But his power was big. In contrast to western society, the CEO put the wealth of the majority above the rights of individuals. It is very similar to Hong Kong. So, Singapore is almost built according to a big masterplan... similar to Abuja, if Abuja was a nation.
The foundation of a society is education (, freedom and respect for each other), i.e. pupils from Singapore are ranked among the top in math according to Pisa studies. Most northern Asian countries have confucius values. (I am not talking of religion!)

battleaxe:


His comma equals our full stop
His full stops equal our comma

Solar production started just before 8am and went on till a little after 5pm with peaks of close to 2.8kwh over a 4 hour period. I think the 18.3kwh produced should be right on track considering the entire production over the 9 or so hours.

Thanks! now corrected!

chris81964:

You can do AC coupled solutions. You need a battery inverter to do the job of the grid. There are few that can do it. The three that I know that can are SMA, Schneider and Victron.
Some contributors to this forum have done AC coupled solutions.

Yes, on a smaller scale on the AC load side. (Though, according to SMA you can build up to 12 x 3 Sunny Island 8 = 36 in a cluster, up to 300 kW. That would be a nice project!)

100 MW solar plant (upstream) will fail.
(Or you use large battery storage? Is it then economically viable?)

...(corrected)
Solar production in total for that day was: 18.30 kWh
Total consumption: 4.06 kWh (if cooking was done with cooking gas, the electricity consumption would be less!)
whereas 1.06 kWh was consumed directly from solar.
i.e. 3.00 kWh (4.06 - 1.06 kWh) would have been used from the battery within 24h during a more or less sunny day.

So, for this use case a lead-acid battery with 6,000 Wh (c20) with DoD 50% would be required.

House, do you agree?
---
p.s. Watts is a measurement of power; Wattshour [Wh] is a measurement of energy (= power over a period of time like one hour)

...
as you can see the fridge and the freezer turn on every 80-110 mins. (I have not seen the type/name plate, but those are quality brands, so I guess they are energy-efficient?!)
The baseload in the night is also to charge the phones and one laptop. There is an Internet router, a fax and a conventional fixedline phone. In a 2-person household, LED light bulbs are only lit on in the living room...(of course bathroom as well - just in case ;-)

LCD TV: depending on the show, if it is bright and noisy, I guess the TV consumes more.

Cooking lunch: only one stove was switched on, but it took from 12:10 to 13:00h?!

It was a sunny day with some clouds in between, as you can see. It is a 4 or 5 kWp solar panel array. (don't remember... I need to check)
...

...
Here we go!

Color codes:
Yellow = Surplus solar production put into batteries
Green = Self consumption, solar power directly consumed by AC loads
Red = Consumption from battery (or from grid, if available... in this case, light was on!)

to be continued...

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.

chris81964:

Where do you plan on using a grid tied inverter?

Good point @Chris81964!

@BlackBaron

In case you are not familiar, in Europe it is required that an on-grid inverter only works when there's light.
I.e. the on-grid inverter "listens" to the grid, the grid is like a "heartbeat" and if voltage and frequency of the grid are within given thresholds (depends on country), then the on-grid inverter will start to operate and "sends" the energy to the grid and to the loads in the house. It is a safety measurement.
(Of course, there are inverters that provide the "heartbeat" as well, so that you can connect an on-grid inverter. Normally you find those type of inverters in the US ...rather small scale for homeowners ... just saying to complete the picture.)

(By the way, sometimes I smile when I read that big investors plan to build 100 MW of solar plants/parks. Those people are financial guys, not knowing about the technical challenges, I guess?! If light is not available, the plant won't operate... = no power = no income.)

Wazari:
Hello House, I knew when buying my Prag 3KW 24V inverter that i was going to have to settle for some compromises compaired to the higher quality brands but I never expected to get a No Load Draw of approx. 45W. The power saver mode is about 20W and constantly pulses any loads to try to switch it on. Not comfortable with my modem and router constantly coming on and then going off.

It was running at seriously high temps but a recent firmware update addressed this issue by causing the fan to run permanently thereby increasing idle power draw.

The biggest issue i have with it is the Vdc ripple can be as high as 0.8V and increases with higher current setting. I have set the charger to C/20 to reduce the ripple for my battery protection and rely on my charge controller to properly charge my bank. I have complained to Prag and they have assured me that the inverter is designed to operate that way which I think is very POOR.

What experiences do other people have with their Prag inverter or other inverters?

@Wazari,

Sorry to hear that. But thanks that you share your experience with the house.
I guess the Prag is not programmable? I need to check myself...

Does anyone have an osciloscope to put on the inverter? I am curious about the sine wave quality of the so called "pure sine wave" inverters.
I know -for example - that a brand fridge manufacturer does not allow that the built-in compressor to be run on an inverter, the warranty is void then. Why? Because the compressor wouldn't run smoothly if it is not operated with real sine wave. (Even I doubt the quality of the grid.) Before I read about the warranty, I did not know about this issue, that your fridge (or freezer or A/C) could break because of poor AC wave quality?!
Lessons learned.

peaceland:
Good day al,
Please I need some clarification and advice.
By my own calculations need 3.5kva to run all home appliances
However based on cost of setup looking at a 1kwh system to power small-mid sized freezer, a TV and lights. Cfl& leds up to 10
I intend to power only the freezer during 9am-3pm and tv+ lights during 8pm-10pm.
Generator will be on between 6-8pm for water pumping.
I am presently 100% off grid.
My situation is that even though the promotional materials I read seems to suggest 1kwh is good for a 3 bedroom 24 hours I am kind of worried may not satisfy me and i don't want to end worse off.
I have also not been able to understand or convert kva to kwh.
So will appreciate advice on if 1kwh system can work as I planned or not.
Thanks a lot.

Hello @peaceland,
I'd recommend a different thread, if you want to go solar.

...let me get the link. There you will find tons of valuable information.
...here we go:
https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta/166#49087595

sunny regards,