₦airaland Forum

rottennaija:
Thanks. Clamp meter measures current. You will have to multiply by the voltage?

Yes P=IV

rottennaija:
That's true, never thought of it. However, using clamp meter, do you measure at full load or no load.

At no load you will see the actual idle consumption of the inverter. At any load you will see the loss/consumption of the inverter which determines the efficiency level. For instance my inverter consumes 50w on idle, but it was over 100w when I added load of about 650w

mctfopt:
I did same, bought BMS for both 24v and 48v, so I won't be stuck if I need to go to either system.

So which one is currently in active service? If it's the 48v, can you sell the 24v to me while you place another order (since it's for backup)?

essegis:


I always laugh whenever I hear una say these batteries with bells and whistles cos all my years in inverter technology I never hear am before. Maybe it doesn't exist in the Lead Acid world sha.

You misunderstand that purchase I see. The total cells for that price are 108 with American shipping. They were sold in packs of 12 of which I now bought 9 packs. I intend using 96 for my set up to achieve a 24p4s battery giving me 12v 196ah thereabouts. I doubt if you can get Battleborn for that price.

It was a deal when I saw it sha and still looks like that to me. I saw all the batteries I bought as deals, maybe because I've always heard Lithium batteries are expensive or maybe I watched YouTube too much, anyway I have no regret as it stands.

Okay thanks for clarifying, about 200AH 12v battery is not a bad deal, though if you go with the prismatic cells you can get a better deal of a very good battery on Ali. Currently starring at a 16 units of 3.2 150AH which will be 600AH 12v for 1.8k (+1k max for shipping)

I'm really interested in an alternate way of shipping things down from China oo, especially the ones that don't go through post office.

Yup there are options

essegis:
My brother na really adventure oo. I actually bought 3 types of batteries after watching a lot of YouTube on set ups and performance.

1.) 57 modules of Nissan Leaf
2.) 6 packs of BYD batteries
3.) 100 cells of 38120 LFP

Planning to use the first 2 to run my house on alternate days with an ATS changing them over (their rest days can serve as redundancy) while the 38120 will power my water pump, security lights & I'm thinking of throwing one fridge or freezer into it too though I'm not yet decided on that.

I actually didn't know DHL or FedEx is working in this period I would have bought the remaining things. Though I hate all those courier services with a passion as they use fake customs duties to cheat us out of our hard earned money. Too bad I don't know any other way of shipping down from AliExpress than using them. I dey always bleed whenever I know I'm stuck with them.

You bought a 3.2v 100AH LFP for 1.2kUSD? Am sorry what's the motivation here? Even a 12v 100Ah battleborn with all the bells sells cheaper. Or did I miss something, is it 9units of 12x8AH?
As to shipping from AliExpress without using the DHL et all, there are other ways, ping me in the backyard

mctfopt:
That's the problem with LFP, sourcing parts here is kinda tough. Our Alaba bros do not want to delve into it as it is quite new to them and they don't understand it and the market for it is low.

It's really a pain, I think I am going to start buying my parts in multiple pairs so whenever DIY users needs something I have they can get it faster, I hope other DIY LFP users can do the same. So instead of ordering a single BMS from AliExpress, order 2 or 3, that way someone who can't wait for AliExpress can pick it off you at a reasonable price margin.

Ennyasems:
Pls help recommend a nigerian use suv for a young guy with budget of 1.5m to 2m, most folks tell me to buy 2003 to 2007 highlander, but i consider that car as an old man car, actually looking at the ford edge, pls advice on it or reccomend another, thanks

You can try a toks outlander with 2m

Anyone with 8s of this active balancer for sale?

rottennaija:
How did you get to calculate the losses by these different inverters and is there any inverter you can recommend that has minimal losses?

I use a BMV but you can also use a clamp meter to get a rough idea, the goal is to check the power at the battery side. @Juo has some high efficiency inverters if you have the budget to expend

NiyiOmoIyunade:
PylonTech is rated >6,000 cycles at 80% DoD.

That is more than 16 years of life.

Personally if it lives over 10 years, I'd call it a very solid performance.

And the point was that any good LFP can do the same if similar care applied on pylontech is done.

Personally I do like to push up to 0.5C on my cells as that's the Koko with LFP but if I softly step on the gas like the settings on pylon am sure my cells which is rated >3500 at 0.5C could do over 10 years as well but nah... If this serves me 5 years at full capacity I will say it has done it's worth!

Buy this weekend and get further discount

dayveed1:
Hello,


Please I need suggestions on what car to buy as a first time car owner. I really don't know much about Autos.

My budget is between 1.5m - 2m. Thanks.

Any of the following should be fine
Camry 2007
Benz 230 kompressor
Honda Civic 07/08
Corolla 05-08

1kinggy:
What's the annual.fee?

Just 2.5k

ceaser:
Has tracking of the item been updated since it arrived Nigeria? If not, then don't expect it in your local post office until 2 weeks after tracking in Lagos is updated.

All items I ordered only got tracked till it got to Nigeria, likely the port. The customs will still have to do their thing before the post office people distribute it from Lagos to other states. That usually takes like 10 days in times without Corona.

Cells are still under processing at customs since 4th April, ANT BMS/Balancer still reporting transit (meaning not yet in naija). When the covid thing became serious in China, I figured the orders will be delayed so I tried to play smart, ordered a higher specs Daly on eBay late march thinking that it will at least arrive faster before the ANT BMS, see as God just dey laugh at me.
None have reached me till date!!!

NiyiOmoIyunade:
This is where the PylonTechs trump any cheap Lithium or LFP offering.

The inbuilt BMS is a texas instruments BQ series with texas instruments balancers as well. The BMS can also control a chargeFET and dischargeFET to prevent overcharging apart from it being able to balance the cells.

Couple all this with the ability to talk to the inverter or CC and communicate precise charge voltage limit, charge current limit e.t.c That is why the PylonTech will surely do 10 years plus.

I have had my bank 4 months or so now, daily discharge to 80% and not one thing is out of kilter. Everything works buttery smooth and I can monitor it all from either RaspBerry or PC.

A set of solid LFP cells plus a top quality BMS with comms ability make for a wonderful battery.

I certainly have no doubt that pylontech users would have reasons to justify the pay. I am also not surprised that pylon may do up to 10 years, as any other good LFP can also achieve same, if similar charge/discharge rate applied on pylon is applied. Let's not forget that pylontech itself is Chinese and infact China is the most advanced with lithium technology so infact the lithium cells I am using in my DIY may actually be of same quality with the one coupled in a pylon.

For battery management, with an ANT BMS coupled with an active balancer, I get the ability to monitor and manage individual cells. The only thing that will be missing is Comms with inverter/charger which IMO is not important if the systems are properly setup.

Overall we have our individual preferences but if I have a pylon budget, I will certainly expend it on a good DIY thereby having over double the capacity of pylontech.

Get it at a reduced price, reach me if you need video recording of the car

jideflash:
oops, my bad. posted it here before

I use them as well and I usually scold them about their high charges am also seriously considering Morgan capital, they charge less yet they are making more money - that's real business.

The only aspect that I wonder is customer support, though it seem their support is great as well.

jideflash:
for meristem, its from 10m

Unless they reduced it, it's from 20m.

essegis:
My present AGM at 1200ah 12v already is more than 12kwh. This necessitated my thinking to go for the batteries this way. The AGM don't last up to morning again and na only 3 fans they run at night. They weren't bought new sha and have lasted 3yrs so I'm not really crying about them. They have lasted their lasting.

A couple of things bought me over to Lithium batteries especially the lack of memory. That makes every purchase a new battery easily increasing one's packs without fear which is impossible with the conventional Lead Acid batteries. Just praying they last me sha and I will post every step on my YouTube channel here. Kindly subscribe.

Smiggle's Vibes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGGgBRPftSYPUtzjewvU26A

On paper yes but in practice, you will safely get more juice out of a 12kwh lithium than a 14kwh AGM.

mctfopt:
But post offices are working, just not at full capacity. I just wish they should prioritize post. Even in NYC, the epicenter of the Covid19 pandemic in the US, the post still works efficiently. But in Nigeria, things are usually upside down

Post offices in my state was on lock and key until this week that they are opening 3 times a week, having not yet received a call planning to check on them by next week.

Edit: So I thought post office were open until I called one of the staff today who said it's only post office with level 13 and above their post office does not have any person at that level hence they remain locked up

essegis:
Even for top balancing I will still have to parallel them. Only difference will be a charge would be applied to them as against discharge when it's bottom balancing.

As for the cells they are rated at 66AH, 500WH. But these cells are not new and they being used initially in an electric car one does not know the condition they are coming with. Though seller sold at 65% capacity and a lot of folks have been getting that or higher.

I don't know what you mean by significant storage as they are not brand new. I ended up buying 57 modules though at an overall price of just above $2000 (a full pack containing 48 modules then 9 extra).....the shipping cost a arm and a leg sha oo. Planning to set them up in 14s for a 48v system and yes I won't have to go digging too much before I can get inverters that will work within the sweet spot voltages of this system. They are compatible with most inverters out there.

I meant the storage back will be high, over 12kwh is not a small something o.....I can imagine the shipping will be expensive considering it seem to have metal casing as well. All the best with your DIY, do keep us posted on your adventure.

mctfopt:
Oh, that's 50mm² the LFP is 280AH. Oh, your ANT BMS still enroute? Cool.

50mm cable? Wow that must be quite heavy, yeah BMS still on the way without clarity on when it will arrive...... Very unpredictable time we are in.

Jejebabaa:
Stock brokerage is not that profitable. Imagine Morgan capital despite making 3rd best broker by volume and 9th top broker by value with total value of 750,720,603.74 naira. At 0.5% brokerage fee amounts to just 3.75M naira for the month. They better have other source of income and not only this brokerage thing.

I guess it's why meritrade is charging over double of Morgan's charge...... but ofcourse Morgan has an annual fee as well, though not much

Very clean dashboard, make us an offer

unicmarket:
Hello sir, your 0.8 pf for battery conversion may not be necessary here, the battery surely as it’s dod, which serves as the state of efficiency; coming up with a 0.8 loss may be misleading how about if the pf is 0.7? Or 0.9? Only the manufacturers can provide you with an efficiency which is called DoD or you can get that from the Inverter manufacturers as pf 0.6/0.8, so for a good battery your 0.8 may not be required, if there must be Losses like I said 0.8 is way too much to insert by ourselves; except it’s adviced by the particular battery or Inverter brand

Efficiency of a battery is Dod not pf and that’s why from 200ah you got 140ah at 60% dod of efficiency

You think so? Well I would have said the same few weeks ago until I saw my inverter pulling a loss of over 100w and another inverter pulling just above 20w under the same load condition so yes 0.8 can't be applied to all set-up but it's not necessarily "too high" a figure for planning.

essegis:
Oh, these are called Nissan Leaf batteries. Removed from a Nissan Leaf electric car. They are not actually LiFePO4 but a variation of Lithium with Nickel Cobalt additives and a nominal voltage of 3.7v.

Reason I'm a little confused with best form of balancing to employ is because I have not actually employed them to use in my house so I don't know if they will last a full day before running out. If they do I think bottom balancing should be done to allow them drain out equally but if they don't which means they will hardly get to low cut before being charged again next day by solar then I will carry out top balancing on them.

Most knowledge now is from YouTube but I expect them to work for me. See my write up on my intended set-up below. The house can review and help with positive criticisms if they think they will work or not. All my batteries are bought already used.

I think that you should not miss that initial bottom balancing and paralleling, am not sure the few minutes paralleling will be sufficient but since this isn't Lifepo4 perhaps this will behave differently. That said what's the capacity of each of the cells and how much did you get them? From your plan it seem you are looking to build a very significant storage.

The 3.7v is closer to conventional inverter voltage range and should make the LVD easier to administer since a typical 24v setup will be 22.2v(6S) instead of 25.6(8S) that we have in LFPs

There was a country

essegis:
As someone using this for a while now which of the balancing do you think is best for inverter use of these batteries, top or bottom balancing?

I just got part of my batteries (pictures attached) and would like to balance them when finally complete before I start using. Corona has hampered their early delivery though, I no dey shout.

@bigrovar gave a lot of scary scenarios I would have love to dispute with him but since I've not yet used Lithium before I just decided to keep quiet. With my Lead Acid experiences though if this Lithium I'm aiming for packs up after one year I won't cry at the money lost and would likely go for another set of Lithium next time.

It's just 4 months usage and mine was a packaged DIY, I recently noticed it's a little unbalanced and the Daly BMS is not doing a good balancing job so I will either have to do it the manual way, semi manual or wait till when my ANT BMS with an active balancer arrives. No thanks to covid-19 at the moment.

To your question, my response is based on my study and what I will be doing if I have new cells (I am also trying to increase my capacity, I have 4 cells already waiting for the rest), when they arrive I will bottom balance by making sure the voltage is almost the same (with max of 0.02 diff), I will then parallel all the cells together and leave it for a day to allow for proper voltage level and capacity sync. If that is properly done with a proper BMS installed then you won't need balance for several months to come (with all things been equal) as the BMS will handle little lags.

The above is what I call the manual way, the semi-manual involves identifying the cells that is moving faster than his team and adding sufficient drain to the cell once it's passes 3.4 so that the rest of the cells can meet up with its voltage level while charging which is top balancing

That said, what's the specs of your cells? As they seem long and wider than the normal prismatic cells

mctfopt:
Too late to wait. I'm enjoying LFP already and I doubt I'll ever go back to lead acid

I love watching 100A flow into em banks and get it floating before 2 hours. Even if it fails tomorrow, it's been nice rocking it.

Lol.....I guess this is a 200AH LFP right? 0.5C is not bad....mine is limited by 60A BMS installed in it (and my current charger)....I may be unpacking in future when my ANT BMS arrives and GK comes back alive.
What's the cable size you have from the controller to the battery?

Name your offer price and let's deal

Still available to best offer

bigrovar:
Which is true but still very very expensive, an expensive experiment which often time ends up in failure.. You know why? Lithium is very very complicated and has many component all of which have to work just right. Lithium has very little margin of error in setup.. You have to get the right cell from the right cell maker, you have to ensure the cells are well balanced, you have to get the right BMS, right charger sometimes the right inverter.. One mistake and poof all goes up in smoke.. and they often do more often than not you just don't hear that part in the songs

Many on here have dipped their hands in lithium and gotten burned badly and suffer their loses in silence.. You will hear them throwing specs like 3000 cycles at 80% dod lol.. what u don't here is the case where the bank (if you are lucky) just stop working after like a year.. They just stop..

Lithium is the future no doubt.. Just waiting for the dust to settle.. maybe when reputable chinese solar maker like episolar start doing lithium then you can take a cue that it is time to give it a look. for now I will advise wait for the second iteration before you look that way

That will be interesting to hear the experience of those people, I certainly agree that having a balanced cell is very important for LFP, I have experienced that with mine but once the cells are balanced it hardly get unbalanced so long as the balancer is doing it's job (it's why I still don't think using an LFP without BMS is a good idea).

As one who started using LFP this year, I am enjoying it and won't mind sharing my disappointment when one occurs even if some will laugh at me for that but for now DIY LFP rocks and the cost isn't bank crushing like the pylons