₦airaland Forum

Oga Gazzuz, I have got this code on my Yaris, how do I go about fixing it?

Regards

Hello,

I need 02 Highlander rear shocks, how much is it?

Regards

drakeskull:
Thank You, I'll try that. But I heard the tank is larger at the top than bottom so it doesn't really give precise reading

That's why he suggested you fill-up again when you get to half tank

drakeskull:
Will do the full tank trial. I'm able to get 75km from 20 litres.

So for every 1litre you do 3.7km? perhaps you meant 750km

Dkev:
could a temporary cheap option be; moving your panels to the north or south side of your roof? that way the sun moves horizontally across it from East to West. That may help before your set up the standalone mount.

Yeah I thought of that as well, but the process of bringing down the panels a couple of times does not encourage me to do that, the several holes and dents I will be giving to my roof is also a discouraging point. I am just going to plan for standalone and get it done once and for all.

On that note, I will appreciate suggestion on standalone spec/design. I plan to use 3inch galvanized pipes and 1.5inch angle bars. I will be making space for 12 panels with 3 on each row (future expansion consideration)

Regards

mank1234:
Not with the GK from MPPSolar. GK can actually work without battery and the battery is hot swappable. Circuit breaker is needed in case of short circuit however.

Indeed and I even read it has an inbuilt circuit breaker but ofcourse it's always better to have an external breaker.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Apologies if I sound harsh but to DIY properly you have to equip yourself with the right information and tools.

You can't *just choose one of the sides* - your panels ideally should be facing South and if South is not available then West or perhaps East and the ideal tilt/angle should be tending towards nearly flat in this side of the world.

Lesson learnt and sure no offense at all it's fine to be harsh to get words out. Wish you were close to my location, would have invited you instead.

Please download a compass app on yoir phone and determine where your South is and relocate your panels to this direction.

I am using solarCT app though the app is suggesting that I tilt towards the North I will follow your suggestion.

After getting the panel orientation right, please look to your cable gauge - you should be doing minimum 6mm at ~150v - I use 10mm as my minimum gauge - the thicker your cables the better

Actually I made sure to use a good cable; it's a 2 core 10mm amoured solar cable

Next check each panel to be sure it is delivering voltage and amps properly and make sure your panel to panel connections are tight.

I will like to do this when I bring down the panels, but can I do the checks with a multimeter? What should I be looking out for?

Finally please remove the SPD and see if situation improves - some SPDs malfunction or are miscalibrated and start shunting away power at too low of a voltage. It is possible also that your SPD is designed for a lower voltage application than you are using it for although I never studied the spec sheet you posted a while back.

I have not even installed the SPD, waiting for my DC breaker to arrive before installing both.

This are some preliminary checks you could do - you want to identify the root cause of your issues before applying any fixes or spending any money so that you don't throw good money away.

Thanks a lot my brother, really appreciate the support and I hope this will be a great testimony for me eventually.

PS: Just in case this has any meaning; today PV input voltage got as high as 197v but then it will sharply go back down to 160v or 150v at times. Perhaps this is due to the shadow thing

GeorgeD1:
ojeysky,
the bolded explains why you initially got a high output on your panels in the morning and it later declined as the
day went by. the sun rises in the east and sets in the west (every solar enthusiast should know this).

Sure at least that am aware of, actually if I had gotten above quite high output I would not have bothered much but like I said, highest I have gotten thus far is 450w.
I am just waiting to get a few bucks to get the alone up and running for now I will live with the low output

Trippledots:
Can u guys help some of us on very tight budgets biko nu.

You may send me PM

Trippledots:
Why not use some kind of props to raise the lower end of your array till a flat level is obtained? Maybe cheaper that way. Iv seen it done so on some of my coy's installations.

I have read that doing that won't help much based on my roof position (the stuff is currently facing the East)

Regards

chris81964:
It might have a PWM controller. Verify that and I can give you an answer

Nope it's mppt for sure

chris81964:
Do you see voltage from your panels?

Sure it's over 160v

What type of charge controller do you have?

It's an hybrid with mppt 80A

How are your panels wired?

6 250w bought brand new

Do you have breakers between your controller and your panels?

Not yet

Answer and I can speak more to my suspicions.

Overall I think I will try the standalone as earlier adviced, my concern though is that I hope that is the actual problem since that will be an extra investment.

Dkev:
can I use a 1200watt iron or a 1500watt water heater on the 3024 pip-gk (3000watt) inverter? would doing that be pushing the limits of the inverter?

By the way since you seem to be using same series with mine, how is performance of yours? What's your setup like?

zellfoxx:
Standalone setup would your best option. This is extra cost though as your roof pitch will not allow you reap the benefits of roof-mounted solar panels. At least you'll have longer duration for daily harvest. I also don't think getting adjustable roof-mounts will solve the issue.

Thanks, I will start working towards this, especially budget wise (still wondering how much it will cost me), do you have a rough estimate for me?

Secondly, you need more panels in that string. So you can enjoy that your inverter. If you can hit 250V input at least, it'll save you alot of headache.

Ah! Migbe midaran I only bought this thing for future expansion ni; i had hoped to add up 4 panels every 1 or 2 years. This thing will really alter our budget o....lots of lessons learnt from this my solar quest!

Thanks a lot my brother

Dkev:
can I use a 1200watt iron or a 1500watt water heater on the 3024 pip-gk (3000watt) inverter? would doing that be pushing the limits of the inverter?

Ofcourse and infact I used it on mine today thinking it will increase my load and give me higher harvest from my panels unfortunately the impact was all on my battery. Hopefully this was due to the issue I currently have with my panel position

mank1234:
You've said it all. Weakest link determine the output.

I don buy market I guess way forward with minimal extra expense is what I can hope for now

mank1234:
As posted above, orientation of the panel appears wrong judging solely from the picture.

What's the installed total panel capacity?

Installed capacity is 1500w (250x6)

Thanks @mank1234 @Dam5reey @GeorgeD1 we agree but the issue is that in the morning the sun is on the other side so I just choose one of the sides not knowing that I won't be getting any wattage in the afternoon.

@zellfoxx am not in Lagos, am in Ado-Ekiti by 0⁰ does it mean my roof can't achieve an optimal harvest from sun rise to sun set and will need to setup a standalone?

mank1234:
Not enough sunshine.

It's right on my roof, is it possible that it's throughout the day that it's not getting enough sunshine because I have not seen anything above 450w since morning. At the time of writing this, I am only receiving 0w

mank1234:
May be solar insolation is low or may be your priority setting is not right.

Please how do I check solar isolation status? I confirm that my priority is set to solar only (as there isn't utility source for now)

Please what else could be wrong?

Thanks

Finally hooked up, could not get a DC breaker with amp low enough and voltage high enough locally but have found an appropriate one via AliExpress (20A/440v) so am running direct for now.
However I have a concern, at around 7:30 I was getting 440w harvest but now that I have turned it on with load, I am getting just a little above 220w and I am wondering why this is so. I thought with load the generation should increase, please what I am not doing right?

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Imagine that there are two loooong wires going from PV array to CC - one is the positive PV cable and the other is the negative PV cable.

You want your SPD to sit 'in line' with these two PV cables that go to the CC - you want your SPD to 'plug into' the circuit made between PV and CC *without breaking the connection* and monitor it for voltage surges - if SPD senses an incoming voltage above its set threshold on either positive or negative PV to CC cable, it immediately shorts that terminal that has higher than desired voltage to its (SPD's) ground terminal so that the surge voltage is primarily diverted to ground and does not make it to the CC. This is roughly the operating principle.

See very rough diagram below - bus bars are the best method to bring mulltiple cables together but you can use whatever technique makes for a solid mechanical and electrical connection

Thanks a lot, I will get the DC breaker and busbar as you've recommended. I have just finished hooking up 6 panels tonight with PV cable direct into the CC waiting for day to break tomorrow to see the performance. Can I still run the system without at it is for now pending when I install the SPD and DC breaker?

Thanks

dragnet:
The cables coming from the PV:
goes into breaker (if available) then output to CC,
also PV input goes into the SPD but never comes out.

I am actually spinning my head over this, sorry am a network engineer by profession. When you say PV input goes into the SPD I am confused, there was only 2 cables on each solar panel, am not sure there is an input to PV. If you don't mind, could you show me this diagrammatically?

dragnet:
You sure it wasn't a knock off?
many imitations/rebrands in the market.

Absolutely not, funny enough I have the used flames and the new flames so no; both performed the same and were exactly same as well

Namzy:
Lol I got 340w Era solar for N44.5k and jinko 340w for 60k but I believe men here are getting ridiculous deals especially on barely used panels.

Actually the flames I was referring to were tear nylon brand new . I have gotten used 300w from some seller on this thread in the past (won't mention name) but that was before I discovered that new ones are not as expensive out there.

dragnet:
All you need is input, no output.
There should be three terminals, +ve input, -ve input, ground/earth.

Yes I have all those, so the cable coming from PV goes into the input, where do I get the cable to connect to my CC? I was thinking there will be output on the SPD that I will then put on my CC.
Please Pardon my questions am just a JJC on this stuff

duwdu:
The SPD has its own dedicated earthing slot on it (like I saw on those in the pdf file you posted earlier, have.) I ran a grounding wire direct from that slot to the grounding bus bar in my fuse box.

........
P34c3
.....
...

Can you kindly show me image of how you connected your SPD from the PV to the CC, the SPD I have (which was a gift to me) has only input and I am not sure how to connect it. It's a type2 SPD:
https://www.otowadenki.co.jp/eng/products/pdf/LS-YPV6012S%20%20LS-YPV10012S.pdf

Regards

Namzy:
Dirt cheap solar panels? Bros show us the way

While I also found that I can get solar panels at cheaper rates than the ones posted in this thread I am curious to hear that of @NiyiOmoIyunade. I for instance got Flames 250w for 30k yet the quotes you see here are way beyond that.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Is there a compelling reason you must pass your PV array through this your new inverter? While adding more panels is a good thing, you could just as easily buy a Fangpusun 100v/50a CC for about thesame price as one panel.

Actually using/buying another CC will just mean that I can only generate <1000w from the 4 250w panels. However getting the required panels for my current CC will push my generation to <1500 which is more power, using the same controller.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
We have good guys like JUO, DMerciful e.t c that will be happy to fix you up with a good budget CC

Again not saying 2 more panels is a bad thing - I have 36 ~300w installed and going to 48 pieces eventually - but you should consider your long term power needs and any future plans for expansion so you make the best long term decision.

Yeah it's due to expansion that made me get this GK series, I just didn't realize that I will need over 150v to startup. Other than that, I expect that the GK will serve its purpose; It has a 80A and 4000w max PV capacity on it.

By the way, that your abode must be a generating plant on its own . Am curious on what your consumption is like to have required that much panels?

Fyi - my panels came in today, will hopefully setup tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks

Namzy:
Or buy a separate charge controller

Lol, certainly that won't be optimal cost wise. Anyway I have made necessary arrangements for panels, eventually I get more panels which is not a bad thing in itself.

Thanks

chris81964:
I will pretend that you did not make the above comment. The number of panels is less relevant than the voltage. If you have 100 W panels and there are 6, you will not get to 150. Your delta is the voltage.What if your panels produced 37.5 V each then you will only need 5 to get to that number (150V).

I did make the comment before finding your reference in the manual[1] and yes I know it's the votes that is important but based on my panel specs having 2 extra panels will be optimal since I won't mostly get a 150+ with 5 panels of my specification.

Thanks though for the comments and support.

Regards
1. Please see my previous post as I acknowledged your comment accordingly

So I have double checked the manual, @chris81964 is right a startup voltage of 150 is required. I guess that explains the source of my issue. Now to look for funds for 2 panels

Edit: Mppsolar has also confirmed that 6 panels is required minimum