₦airaland Forum

Kabawhat:
Please guys please I need your suggestion I just move to a new remote location am planning to go off grid


I have my batteries and solar panels and solar controller on ground but am still saving to buy get inverter

Most of my electric appliances are all optimized for DC (fans, bulb and other all 12V) don't know if a good ideal to can run DC 12V battery current through into AC 220v wire since most of the appliances are 12V best saving up to inverter please


Running DC 12 voltage into AC 220V cable before buying inverter

The best you could hope for is to run some very low wattage (not even up to 100w) DC load off the DC load section off your solar charge controller or... getting elcheapo inverter (see attached image) pending when you are good for getting a better one?

Note: Don't run DC voltage for AC appliance. Not a good idea.

misbee1:
Good morning, please help, how can I go about returns and refunds in aliexpress? I received a hair order that I was not pleased with. The seller is offering discount for the next order and claims it takes 60 days to return. Please how do I go about it? I want to return it and get a refund. The package was delivered through speed AF. Thank you.

Don't return it. You'll surely pay through your nose if you do. The best you could hope for is refund without return or some percentage refund without the option of return.

To get things out of Nigeria is hard and expensive, and the FG suddenly wonders why there is scarcity of FX when we can't even send mails cheaply out of the country!

That is why it is recommended you review and REVIEW the products you want to buy. Don't believe some 5 star reviews (most are fake or induced by sellers giving buyer a discount in exchange for good reviews). Always check the reviews made AFTER DAYS OF USING A PRODUCT. That is where you find out the the true condition of the quality of the product.

For instance, there is an earbud I wanted to buy, it was all five star reviews, not until I start seeing the additional review after 50+ days of using product with SAME COMPLAINT; the abrupt failure of one of the bud with no explicable reason why it failed. Even those that initially gushed over how awesome the earbud is and gave 5-star review after purchase, has some serious regrets. I aborted mission

Salihusidiq:
. If I am using a virtual card like a site that provide us virtual card

Rate is then blackmarketish

Salihusidiq:
PLEASE ooo when I pay for an order for a product on Aliexpress, would I be charge at the black market rate or normal rate

The rate depends on the bank in question. I think GTB is ₦490/$ and Zenith is ₦522/$. Both banks have a $20 spending limit in a month.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
They should be guillotined - my current location the electrician was paid for 4mm2 wire for all AC and heater lines, enough to cover both Live and Neutral and Earth wires, he switched the Earth wires to 1.5mm2 because 'he felt 4mm2 was overkill'. I fired him immediately I discovered the breach and got him to pull out the 1.5mm2 and deliver the 4mm2 he was paid for.

You'll be surprised at the stunt some tech people pull off at jobs. I've seen someone bill for 4mm² 3 core flex, one for input and one for output. The tech guy ended up using one of the wires (3 core) for both input and output. How he achieved this is both criminal and at the same time genius. The 3 core wire was used this way, L was used for input live, the neutral wire was used for both input and output neutral (inverters share a common neutral for both input and output) and the third wire, earth, was used for output live. Dude did not really care for earth, "after all it works"



So he bought only 30m of cable and pocketed the money for the other 30m meant for output wire.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
We should stick to what is science backed fact and accepted best practice.

DO NOT GROUND YOUR HOME APPLIANCES AND YOUR PV TO THE SAME GROUND, WEATHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY. THOSE IN LIGHTNING PRONE AREAS CAN TELL YOU MORE ABOUT THIS MY "PERSONAL OPINION" Those in North America can give accounts of their experiences. >>>> In North America, a facility must pass inspection per NEC and/or applicable local codes before it is put to use and before it can qualify for insurance. NEC and local codes invariably require an equipotential bond of all Earth electrodes in a facility. The overriding goal is personnel safety and secondarily equipment safety. To alleviate some of your fears, an equipotential bond creates resistances in parallel which reduces the overall system resistance. If you had 3 rods for your main Earth and 1 extra rod for your PV - connecting all 4 rods together externally with a suitable conductor will give an overall lower system resistance than either 3 rods alone or the 1 rod for your PV - the combined system is a far more effective fault sink when all Earth electrodes are bonded together. It is not that you cannot have an isolated/standalone Earth for PV systems situated some distance from the main facility - just that you expose personnel caught between the two isolated systems to harm and the electrical code always prioritizes personnel safety over equipment.

If you have an opportunity to visit a Data Center please find out how the Earth System in the facility is built. They have Different Earths for Server Arrays, Network Arrays, Power Backup Arrays, PV Arrays, ETC I happen to have some expertise and business experience setting up backup systems, UPSs and enhanced protection for data centers - the reason why the Earth systems are separate is not for safety but rather to achieve isolation and eliminate electrical 'noise' and loops from interfering with [sensitive] equipment - the rest of the facility must still implement an equipotential bond of the lightning protection system and general protective earth.

In all forums, the subject of Earthing, Grounding, Lightning and Surge Protection is oft misunderstood, mis-implemented and the subject of much controversy. Even the electrical code sometimes seems to give obtuse or confusing or contradictory recos but there is always a way to do it right for the use case. Every facility should have a risk assessment and decide how best to implement a suitable protection scheme that mitigates the specific risks that facility is exposed to.

I happen to live seaside and very near the Lagos Lagoon - we are prone to lightning hits yet I have had an equipotential bond in place for 8 years now - at current location, I setup a Lightning Protection System using Indelec Prevectron Early Streamer 2 meters above the highest point of my house and this is bonded to the rest of the facility's protective Earth - 3 sets of 6 foot rods spaced 18 feet apart for the LPS and 3 sets of 6 foot rods spaced 18 feet apart for the general Earth - all the rods and mats are bonded together by 25mm2 stranded cable and the rods are all encased in suitable permanent Ground Enhancement Material - the PV racks and frame are connected directly to one of the rods - this is the same scheme I implement at most customer installs and with access to a surge/strike counter, I can see how many times the LPS took and safely diverted a hit into the Earth with no residual faults getting into any protected equipment - I have SPDs scattered about but not installed in my power room - my power equipment are UL listed so a bit robust for handling voltage rise

I almost felt guilty after reading this. This information is so packed with useful tips that it felt like it shouldn't be free. Thank you for sharing..

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Very available boss. I will be glad to hook you up.

Saw this on Konga and "surprisingly" it's made in India

India has taken over the power sector and manufacturing everything from breakers to transformers.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
For permanent good results, it is better to use a suitable GEM premix in place of animal dung, salt, charcoal etc.

A good GEM premix properly applied will create a very stable low resistance earth for several years with no need to do any topups or further work

See example picture below

This is awesome addition. Is this premix widely available in the local market? Would love a premix since sourcing all these can sometimes be a pain.

odimbannamdi:
Please, how did they do do a new dedicated earthinh for the inverter? Also, how can I NOT hook it up to earthing at all? I can't see any useful videos on Youtube

If you want to DIY you will need the following:

1) Earth rod and earth clamp bolt
2) Earth mat, there are already made in the market, or you can buy 20mm or 25mm flat copper tape and DIY the thing.
3) 16mm² single core cable to run to the earth connection in db or changeover
4) Industrial salt
5) Charcoal
6) Cow/ or poultry droppings


1) Dig a hole (at least 4 feet)

2) Put your copper rod in and drive it down till it's flush with the ground

3) Use clamp to secure the 16mm² wire to the rod and make a good electrical connection to the earth mat. This wire will run to the final earth location which is your inverter in this instance.

4) Add industrial salt and charcoal.

5) Pour in water to mix.

6) Add the dung and pour in more water.

7) Finally, cover the hole

The whole purpose of providing earthing is to discharge the leakage/fault current safely to the ground. All these are just to increase the conductivity of the soil or reduce its resistance. Adding of charcoal, cow dung, industrial salt and water (termed as conditioning of pit) decreases soil resistivity. Industrial standards requires that the soil resiativity be less than 5 ohm.


A dedicated earth is just an earth for a particular device, the whole house may have an earth which may have failed or compromised, a new dedicated earth is just for the equipment you want to secure.


The experts may have other great ways of doing this.

Prince3:
Please guyz, I have my uncle at Finland whom called me asking me for USA (non China) Inverter... He wants to which to buy and include in his containers...
Please someone help with few names. Especially the best...

These are American inverter makes: AIMS Power, Vertiv, Magnum, MidNite Solar, Morningstar, Outback, Renogy, Sol-Ark, Tesla, Caterpillar, GE Solar Inverter, Innolia Energy, Rich Solar Inc, etc

You can also try SMA (German) or Victron Energy (Netherlands)

Important Notice: Let the uncle verify the output voltage is 230v and not 110v when buying an American made inverter.

FEGEITOK:
Cheap route. Thanks so much.

Just updated my comment above

FEGEITOK:
So I have decided to make all my outdoor lighting smart by installing photocell sensors, so there is no need to turn them off and on, they should turn on and off automatically.

If anyone has done this before, which I believe someone has, please let me know what brand you recommend.

As for the indoor lighting, I which to install motion sensors, so if there is no one in the room, the lights should go off. So same question again, please let me know what brand you recommend.

It will make my alternative power setup last longer.

Thanks in advance.

I have visited a facility that does this, and they said that it made a world of difference to their electricity bills.

Just beginning my research on this, and I will share my findings

Buy a timer like the one you see here:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mORz2e0

It's less than $10. You can set the time to come on and go off whenever you fancy. Cheers

There is also a proximity sensor bulb holder for keeping the lights on when someone is near here
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0MP0Y8

That is if you don't wanna go the DIY route.

ceejay80s:
Hi guys, I want to buy my phone charging part from aliexpress, it's not available in Lagos, how do I choose a zip code, I stay at Anthony Village, does aliexpress has a full English version page for me to understand, it's asking of zip code. I type in 23401 and it doesn't recognize it and I can't leave it blank

AliExpress app is in full English. Anthony village zip is 100232

icon91:
Nawa o, first few pages i went through, thd reviews were just positive about how good the product was, does that mean most products there are just a replica of the original?

Is this why almost everything there is very cheap?

If so, will it not be best i enter open market like Main market, Onitsha & buy my stuffs?

That boombox sells for around $300 in Amazon. The original costs that much, that AliExpress type is definitely a clone of the real deal.

Jess99:
This stupid seller sent me an empty package. Do i confirm received and open dispute or let buyer protection time lapse and open dispute

I hope the package wasn't tampered with, I once received an empty package for a smartwatch that turned out was stolen in Nigeria. I did get refund when I opened dispute, but item was stolen during clearance. I only got the extra watchband the seller added . Those thieves at clearance point are doing the devil's work.

morikee:
But the likes of chipper cash still charging 880 While dollar is currently at 700

They are very quick to do upward review, downward review will take em a month.

swagifted:
Abeg I want to shop from aliexpress but I have dollars cash, who will help me, location is abuja. Wuse 2

Go to the bank and open a dom account with the dollars and but whatever you like with it on AliExpress

Msmither:
I stopped buying electronics from Igbo shops since the day they sold a brand new generator to me and I had to change the carburettor, starter, spark plug, capacitor and every other component within a week.

I bought another generator from Termocool office since February and it has not developed a single family since then.

So go to companies, avoid Igbo shop it's an avenue for everything fake.

Scam, duplicity, sharp practices is not a exclusive preserve of any ethnic group. I'll encourage you to condemn the crime, like every well meaning Nigerian will, then offer solution (if any) or warning to prospective buyers to beware of such acts going on. Thank you

peteregwu:
Guys, what means do you for your aliexpress transaction? All my naira master cards and naira visa card is no more working.

Try ZBN and GTB, maximum limit per month is $20 though.

isangjohnson:
Please, is your Growatt 5kw an ES version?
What's the no load consumption?

I didn't check. Will do that once I visit the location it's at.

jonescosmo:
I guess you are talking about a Parallel Setup.

You can post Pictures so that we can understand ourselves better.

Yeah, parallel setup.

FEGEITOK:
Does anyone here have several inverters connected to the same battery bank? If yes, why did you set it up that way?

I have two 5kw Growatt connected to single 30kwh lithium bank. Why did I do that? To increase the capacity of the inverter and also so it can handle the number of solar panels in play.

swagifted:
I have used zenith and stanbic today. UBA bank should work too.

What's Stanbic's monthly limit now?

Namzy:
We were able to run an 1.5 ton lg inverter ac, microwave, freezer and fridge totalling about 3000w simultaneously and inverter display was 92% load. At least its more than pf 0.8 for sure

That's impressive from Famicare, a brand I thought is one of the worst thing to happen to Nigeria

Didn't think they have it in them to make products that are awesome. Thanks for the heads up.

dietola01:
11:11 is almost here and no solutions to these cards restrictions yet Omo!!!

Chat up many sellers and request for split payment, one will play. Just made payment via this method.

Namzy:
IAlso its power factor is about 0.95 (yea we measured) an impressive feat considering most Indian low freq inveter are pf 0.8.

I'm curious to know how you measured the pf.

Sapiosexuality:
Guys, I want to get Charge Controller from odimbannamdi, I just want to know if he is legit in relation to my money?

Btw, I took his permission to ask this.

He's legit

Fiil is doing me good. Mine is now officially a year this month.

Good ANC and battery life is ok. Mine has fallen so much I'm surprised that it still works. Lol

duality:
Please how does the split payment work. Considering that the payment process is automated. You can't change the amount it shows you before paying.

Contact seller and inform them that your bank cant allow you to pay more than $20 at once. Tell them to help you split the payments into many parts.

Some of the sellers have link for paying extra shipping cost. You'll try to make payment and it won't go due to card restriction, contact the seller to adjust price and split it.

Once they do, pay for the split payment

Ravenna:
Everytime I buy a Luxury wristwatch on AliExpress, it won't come.

I either get a refund or lose the money..

I think there're fuckers in Nigerian Clearing Houses.

They stole my $100+ smartwatch @ NIPOST, I opened dispute, won. Reordered it and luckily it was delivered by Speedaf untouched.

Affiliateseun05:
please as a beginner in aliexpress what are the dos and don't

1) Don't buy things on AliExpress that you can get in Nigeria cheaper, unless of course you've factored in the cost of transportation, the delay, the cost of the item and of course the rate at which you source dollars, eg I will not buy a product that is sold for ₦2500 in Nigeria for $5 in AliExpress, it is just not worth the stress.


2) Ask for dimensions of items if you are buying goods that has different sizes, don't be fooled by images used by sellers which may appear to exaggerate the size of an item when in real life it is just a toy.

3) Also if an offer is too good to be true 9.7 times out of 10 it is false. Eg a seller selling Samsung S22 for $70 may just be selling you a fake badly cloned copy of the real deal.

4) Be ready to wait. Goods can take between 8 days to 60 days to get to Nigeria. Every shipment has its own peculiarities, logistics is never an exact science. So chill and wait and after the wait and you don't get the items you ordered, file a dispute and get a refund.

Happy shopping.

Scope26:
Do you feel comfortable buying from a store without any followers and ratings?

I only gave him those tips since he's a new customer there. With time, he'll soon learn how to buy things safer.

The things I buy these days don't even require me to check ratings. I can only hope the seller is able to split payment

Good tip though to check, just that I pity any seller selling fake items as I always win in dispute, at least so far

I saw very great review on an item I wanted to buy the other day, I noticed all the reviews were given same day from same country It turned out seller na scam using fake reviews to boost their store's rating.

Sellers go to great lengths to make that sale, me too goes to great length to ensure you no chop my money should you sell me a dud.