₦airaland Forum

Parser:
I tell u. This Powerboxng guys dey try I no go lie. It's my first Solar experience. I'm able to Power:

My phone: 67Watts
2 laptops: 70Watts*2
Lighting points 10Watts each
Sometimes 1 OX ceiling fan about 70watts
TV set 70Watts

Roughly can handle around 600+Watts during the day or when the battery is charged enough. For a 1Kw 12volts system with a 1kwhr battery running on just 2*150watts felicity solar panel I think it's pretty decent.

During the night, when the something has charged to about 3 bars cause it has 5 bars. I could charge my two laptops and phone plus on about 5 lighting points for say about 4 to 3 hrs. Let's say about 250 watts or less.

I plan to add like 3 or two more 150watts solar on top the setup.

When not on load, the the 1kwhr battery can be fully charged with about 15hrs+ of charging on the 300watts solar. Im sure the felicity solar panel could on be able to deliver probably 200watts or less of energy.

The guys that made the box says the internal charge controller can handle 40a. And each of those panel can max 8 amps.

Overall a good one at least for a small setup only downside is no displays to monitor the system as the engineers said they designed it to mitigate cost.

I tried to power a 350W blender load on the system, it went off during the day. Probably the starting current etc, of the motor. Funny thing, it comfortable powers old Ox ceiling fan like very fast.

But when I add like 3 more solar panel to the setup, I will try the blender again. And give a review.

On the protection side, I think the guys that did the system did a great job. It has a pretty decent protection for the battery. Like overdischarge and overload.

I plan again to add another system again from the same guys about 2Kw system for redundancy sake which cost around 400K.

I bought that 1Kw system for cheap though when dollar was still very low.

About 2 months review sha.

Here's d link to the guys site: powerbox dot com dot Ng.

How much did you buy it?

zeestone99:
No it won't. It would switch to batteryless mode instead.

That is good. Some installers refused to either fuse or install breaker between the CC and the battery, just for the fear of damaging the CC/inverter should the breaker trip off the battery while pv still powering....
I just read somewhere in another forum and also in Victron Community that the CC/inverter would not damage if the battery is disconnected.

If the battery breaker trip off while the pv is still supplying power to the hybrid inverter, what would happen to the inverter?
Could it damage the inverter?

Penuelseun:
li-ion does not do so good in a 12v configuration, best for 24v and 48v systems, has a greater energy density than lifepo4 albeit with lower cycle life. Also 12.0v is not 20% dod for a 3s battery pack as you have a voltage range of 4.2v to 3.0v if you are discharging to 80%. Lfp is also fully charged at 14.4v while 80% dod is at 12.8v

From what I've seen so far, solar generator batteries are mostly build with Li-ion battery pack as it's cheaper in price, lighter in weight, and faster in charging than its lfp battery counterpart.

dacool1:
Yes, lfp handles load better than lithium ion because lfp has a more stable voltage during its discharge. Lithium ion can also be discharged to 80% but voltage will be much lower and this affects inverters performance.

For comparison, LFP fully charged at13.6v and 12.9v at 80% Dod while lithium ion 12.6v at fully charged and 12.0v at about 20% DOD. Note the voltage difference.


Most times, inverters will hit LVD on some load while using lithium ion despite having a lot of juice but it rarely happens when you make use of LFP (especially when your battery bank is not large).

Thanks for your explanation Sir

dacool1:
It's obviously not upto 1.4kwh and I'm almost sure it's not lfp. It's most likely made from used lithium ion batteries. For lithium ion Battery, the capacity is about 120amps. Drawing over 40amps from that will make the voltage sag so much that it will trigger LVD.

Do you mean lfp battery is more superior than lithium ion battery in terms of load handling, assuming there are the same capacity?
Lfp could be discharged to 80% dod. Is lithium ion not having the same dod?

swagifted:
2000 watts ke, i go first buy fire extinguisher o b4 i try that one, highest i have loaded while on battery was about 400 watts and na less than 10 minutes e last,if its charging it can pick up the fridge, but once i disconnect nepa otilor,

3kva inverter with 1.4kwh lfp battery powering 400w loads for 10 minutes
We're used to deceitful market strategies in this country.
I just hope and pray it would serve you for at least 4 yrs.

swagifted:
i bought it last year for 329k plus shipping to abuja...this one has lithium.

I've not seen any sticker to be able to check out the specification.

dollarnaira:
Ok
During usage, do u hear humming sound from fan?

.
I guess to check if it's a modified sine wave.

swagifted:
my own na all in a box locally assembled in enugu, i de tempted to open am see weda wetin de claim na wetin de inside, the company claims 3kva inverter and 1.4kwh battery is what is inside.,... But i don't believe.. Time will tell...

Could you drop the pictures with the sticker and let's see?
How much did you buy it?
The ones that are built with the lead acid battery are cheaper than the ones that are built with the lithium battery.

swagifted:
my own na all in a box locally assembled in enugu, i de tempted to open am see weda wetin de claim na wetin de inside, the company claims 3kva inverter and 1.4kwh battery is what is inside.,... But i don't believe.. Time will tell...

You don't need to open the box to confirm the specification/stated capacity.
Just place about 2000w load on the 3kva inverter while the battery is still charging to see the handling ability/efficiency of the inverter.
When the battery is fully charged, place about 500w loads on it and observe if the running time would get to 2 hours 30 minutes.

Immortal99:
Hello house...
please

can you recommend a solar generator that can power my laptop for.8hrs min ... (it takes 2hrs to charge to full) so can charge 3 times minimum

Thanks..

Check JU solar generator

jikaseo:
Hello house, I have a 5kva/24v felicity inverter, a 60A PowMr solar charge controller, two Vitra 12v220a tubular batteries and four 300W panels. I noticed that using with from around 11am with my freezer, TV and two fans, the system goes off before 9pm even when I put off the freezer before 4pm. I expected to have at least 18hrs with this setup which is less than 3months old, but I'm disappointed with the results. I intend to add two more 300w panels, please would this help increase how much supply time I get from this system? Any advise will be welcomed.

The answer is yes. I guess those batteries hardly get full charge before evening.
You may still need to manage your loads on the battery from 6pm as your 5kva transformer based inverter maybe consuming about 80w on idle mode.

Dam5reey:
No dey give people advice like this, LFP is too expensive.
he should buy another one.

I may not know the angle you're looking at it, but I'm very sure 270k will package him 135ah 12v lifepo4 battery for diy and 70% dod gives him equivalent discharge rate of fullriver 200ah 12v at 50 dod. 320k if you buy a package product.
It's all about managing resources to acquire ROI.

Any review on PowMr hybrid inverter?
I know their CC is good.

micynute94:
Thanks for the suggestion boss.

I've been considering that too but capital is also a factor .

What's your best price and would it easily work with my current set up?

Looking for a plug and play solution.

Current Set up :-

I'm using 450W (150 *3 ) solar panels, 50A solar charger controller, 600W PSW inverter, and a 20A battery charger.

What brand is your charge controller, battery charger and inverter?

obitobe:
please run from this Ipowerx max.

the problem with it is that, it takes up to 30min-1hr before it start charging via mains supply. it is too sensitive and not rugged.
in my case within 24hrs of purchase it started showing code 09. Mosef don blow. please avoid it. go for other type of Ipower than this one.

Thanks Sir

For those that are using Must hybrid inverter, how do you set it to lithium battery?

Please I need review on this inverter.

DolbyDigital:
I have this setup. 2 x 12v 200ah luminous batter and a Luminous 1kva inverter (see attached). I power mostly entertainment systems and 2 ceiling fans. Everything is approximately 200-250watt daytime usage. Night time when I am sleeping, maybe 90 watt or less. I don't really worry about power consumption because we have at least 10 hours of electricity per day. But these day, the light have been unstable more than never. In fact, this is the 11day without light. I am considering buying solar panels. What panel and charge controller would you recommend? Thanks

Powmr or Felicity charge controller is budget friendly.
If you have money, go for Jinko panel.
2.5kva inverter would have been better for you, at least to power your freezer during the day.

Sunnystooth:
Uhmm, I just stayed down and looked at it... It's really not that dusty. I didn't climb to clean it though.
It's a 24V system, 4, 300watts panels,l and from the Charge controller, the voltage from the panel will be around 51V to 56V while the current will be between 1 and 4 amps... Until around mid day when I'll mange to see between 9 to 11amps... Usually I do see around 15/16 amps during the raining season... But I just don't know... And I'm not suspecting the MPPT controller because it doesn't seem like it has any problem.

Is good to clean them and monitor the harvest again but I'm equally looking at it in another perspective because it hasn't been long since we entered the dry season.
What type of panel are you using and how long have you been using them?
Most of these cheap Chinese panels in the markets are very fast to drop in capacity. On daily basis, companies are dropping products quality as they tend to produce what people can afford.

Nexuspulse:
My team and I are available 08033213577 🙏

I'll contact you

Experience installer needed for installation in Abuja

omonla5:
Good morning guy, can I use my tubular battery during its automatic equalization?

Yes

bassdow:
I still believe this is the best approach. because who knows, dayTime load fit dey prevent the batteries from fully charging, but him talk say him don chheck those ones.

Also, that brand no be original Ooo. I never use anything from them, but I know say no be original brand.

na things such as this, dey dicourage people. I recall sharing an instance hhere where I met a man who wasn't interested in spending a dime again to revive his solar setup. The man pocket deep wella yet was reluctant. Na things such as this.

Hopefully it's sorted out. reason why I no dey suggest lithium batteries to people, no be say I no like Lithium technology, but you need really rely on whatever the dealer (since you rarely can get in touch with manufacturer) tells or gives you.

I prefer to buy maximum of 4-cells a time annd use for ttesting. that way, if e disappoint me, I go know to avoid you, except you confess to me say that batch really bad and you don get aother better batch and you're willing to give me good discount. But to count money, go buy box or bunch of cells, I jump and pass

This very issue is not peculiar to lithium battery alone.
Just as I stated above, I assembled 160ah 48v battery bank for a friend and I carried out the capacity test yesterday using Victron Smart BMV and the bms. I discharged from the fully charged 160ah (55.2v) down to 11.06ah (50.6v) and 148.9ah was recorded as consumed Ah. I didn't want to discharge further because I was already certain that the stated capacity was completed.
This is what many people fail to do before selling their coupled products and they know for sure that those that are buying their products are not interested in confirming the battery capacity pasted. They're only interested in packaging and the beauty of the box.
Just as I said, most lead acid batteries in Nigerian markets stated either 200ah or 220ah are either 170ah or 190ah.
It's a recycle business. We know them....

I thought it was just 9.6kwh but when I realized it was 40kwh, I was surprised.
Over 7m for battery bought this year and not enjoying the ROI is very painful.
I pray nothing happens to them now. It's too early.
Please, let us know your pv type and if possible check the harvest from your inverter and the position of the pv.
I'll advise you shut down the entire loads in the house, charge the battery to full and allow it to power the same 2000w or 3000w loads while you monitor the duration.
Make sure you check the battery settings again before you start the process.
If bluethooth bms is attached, monitor the individual cells in the process of charging and discharging.
Fake capacities everywhere. God will see us through.
All the best.

Juror:
I think he used 4 units for the setup

That should be 9.6kwh x 4. Is ok

Braaad:
Thanks for your response sir,

The 5units are lithium. They were to go into the same system but one of it had a defect, the cells inside shifted on their mounting and was shorted to the casing of the batteries.(the dealer acknowledged it was a manufacturing defect for this type of their batteries)
The batteries are rated 9.6kwh on the nameplate -the dealer says it is 10kwh- it is mated to a 18kw inverter and 13.2kw of solar with remote monitoring.

The batteries were bought February this year. And we're integrated in installation by July this year.


All other aspects of the system are working pretty good, just the battery.

You really need to take your time and check your setup.
In my opinion, the inverter and pv do not match the the battery capacity.
1. Putting 13.2kw pv for 10kwh battery bank plus day time loads require constant monitoring even when all the charging parameters has been set correctly. You never can't tell when the peak sun will pull down more power and when the battery will heat up.... Don't forget most of these readymade coupled batteries do not have enough holes for ventilation plus the area we usually placed our batteries.
My experience yesterday: After carrying out capacity test of 160ah 48v lifepo4 battery I coupled for a friend, I started charging the battery all over again, pumping about 2000w into the battery while other house loads took their share of power from my 4.05kw pv. In the afternoon, I realized the Jbd bms temperature was 37°C which is nothing to worry about but I wasn't comfortable with it as the bms didn't come with an external temperature sensor. I quickly switched on my Victron Smart BMV and saw 80°C. Immediately, I switched on the 1Hp AC to reduce the amps that were going into the battery and the temperature started coming down to recommended value. If I was to rely on the bms, something may have gone wrong...
The main killer of lithium and lead acid battery is HEAT.
We should not also forget that most of these readymade coupled batteries do not have smart bms with bluethooth and most of the bluethooth do not have external temperature sensor.

2. You may not have any issue with your batteries. I guess 9.6kwh is about 195Ah 48v.
If I'm right, then the 2000w loads on the battery can only sustain you for about 5 hours when the battery is fully charged to 55.2v (3.45v each cell).
If the idle power consumption of the 18kw inverter wasn't factored into the 2000w, then expect about 4 hours run time from the fully charged battery.
I MAY BE WRONG.

Braaad:
Thanks for your response sir.

I appreciate.

I currently have very serious issues with the batteries I bought from YOHAKO and I want to be sure the issues are not peculiar to me as the dealer wants to make it seem. I bought 5units of those batteries. I used 4units for a setup, and they cannot support 2000w of load for 10hrs.

Once the sun goes down by about 5pm, the battery drops immediately.

I want to have more feedback so I will be sure this is not peculiar to my case only.

I assumed the 5units of the battery is lithium.

How long have you used the 4units?

I also assumed the 1unit left was attached to another system.
Is that one behaving the same way?
What is the battery capacity?
Giving more information on the system will help to trace the cause.

Kreamie:
SRNE is pretty good. Couldn't agree more.

Though some inverters are naturally bad but most of them do last depending on how they're handled.

FEGEITOK:
October 2023.

Running a 2hp AC on it during blackouts no issues.

Running a 575L fridge no issues.

Pumping water with a 1hp submersible no issues.

Good buy

Sorry for asking, were you running the 2hp AC on the 3kw 24v SRNE Inverter?

If yes, for how long and what was the temperature of the AC set to?

What is the efficiency of the inverter?

What is the power consumption of your 2Hp AC?

bassdow:
...but the Voltage and Cuurrent is stated there or isn't it ?

P= IV i.e Power = Current * Voltage . Use crossMultiply to find what's missing i.e

I = P/V

,

V = P/I 

My calculation was based on 18,000 BTU and one btu is 0.297wh.
I didn't use IV........ I wanted to be very sure of of the actual power consumption.