₦airaland Forum

Daddi:
Generator can charge the solar system, right?

lasthero:
Mods, I don't know the right thread to post this. If romance section isn't the right thread, you can move it to the appropriate section.


Moved into a new apartment and realized the light isn't too good. Average of 6 to 10 hours per day and sometimes, there won't be light for like 3 days on a stretch.

I do freelance, love watching movies, I have a small fridge which serves me cold water, I need fan to cushion the heat. This implies that I need a constant light and with the epileptic light situation around, I felt I needed to do something.


My first thought was to get a generator. Average 1kva generator cost 80- 100k. I will have to be buying fuel, buying oil and also servicing the generator regularly.

I almost bought a new generator from jumia during the black Friday sales until I heard the rumors that fuel will likely to be sold for 320/ litre in 2022, I had to abort the generator plan and seek for alternative.


Then the thought of inverter came in. To figure out the specific watt to purchase, I first analyze the power rating of all my electronics.

1 dc led TV - 12v 3A which equals 36watt,
1 gotv - 12v 1A which equals 12wat,
1 dc standing fan in living room of 12v 2A which equals 24watt,
My laptop of 18v 2.3A which equals 41.4 watt,
1 table top fridge of 45watt,
6 energy saving bulbs of 5w each in entire apartment (bedroom, living room, toilet, kitchen, corridors, which equals 30watt
Phone chargers of 5v 2A which equals 10w.
1 wall fan in the bedroom of 45w

When I summed all the power ratings, I arrived at 243.4 watt in total.


So with miscellaneous appliances like woofer and the likes. I concluded And settled for 500w inverter.

FreeStuffsNG:
You can actually work out his cost and I doubt if he will incur up to N23K per month.

According to IKEDC,
With the revised tariff regime, Non-MD customers in Band A, with a minimum of 20 hours daily will now pay N51. 22/Kwh. Band B customers with minimum of 16 hours daily will be charged N46. 93/Kwh; while Band C customers with a minimum of 12 hours daily will be charged [b]N37.[/b]

https://www.ikejaelectric.com/notice-implementation-of-revised-service-reflective-tariff-by-ikeja-electric/

Let's assume he is a customer of IKEDC and I factor in the fact that that he already confirmed that he hardly gets light so we can assume he gets for less than 12hours so he pays N37.

His total load is less than 500watts but let's approximate it,

His daily energy use cost plus vat is :0.5kw×12hrsx N37 + 0.075 x 222(VAT)= N238.65


If he takes 31 days in a month ,then his energy cost is N7,398.15 per month not N23K ,then his payback time is 20months 2 weeks(1 year 8 months and 2 weeks).
If his battery and inverter packs up before then or power improves, he just bought a liability. There are some hidden costs like occasions when some of the devices may not function optimally on the alternative power source..
As regards renewable and reference to Germany, then you are not current. The world is still tied to fossil fuels at least for the next 25 years. Same Germany is investing heavily on gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and most of the wind turbines in UK did not function optimally during low wind speed for most part of this month.
I support renewable but we are yet to crack it as an economically viable alternative. OP did well but I would have factored in the payback time before investing in it.

HEAVEN4444:
i got this setup already but without the solar panel. i just charge it with light when light comes. below is my setup. 200 amp hour battery

Skillsnigeria:
That's good, you should have bought original battery brand and not gbm. But you can still manage it

FreeStuffsNG:
Nice and commendable. Please kindly work out the payback time by dividing the N152k by your usual daily electricity cost. If you can do that calculation, you can then start counting if you got value from the investment or not. For example, if the battery and/or the inverter pack up before your payback time then it's not cost effective
As at now, it's too early to say if it's money well spent. I commend you greatly though.

queenfav:
Quanta or exide.The latest Mpower indian battery is good too, one of 220ah.

lasthero:
Total cost:

Battery : 85k



Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

lasthero:
I looked around online on jumia, jiji and konga for ranges of 500watt inverters and chargers. After a rigorous check and comparison, I settled for this (picture attached) for 35k.

It is a 2 -in-1 package.( Solar charger / controller + 800va - 500w inverter). So no need for a separate solar controller

lashout1:
Which brand will you advise?

lasthero:
The next challenge is how to charge the battery.
I have two options, charge with light or with sun.

I thought about it. To charge with light, It will add to the consuming units. And also, the light isn't even stable. Here is sun on the other hand, completely free from baba God and it shines every single day.

I decided to opt for the green and free route, solar energy.

I bought the solar panel (150w mono) attached for 30k

lasthero:
Total cost:

Battery : 85k
Solar panel : 30k
Inverter : 35k

Total: 150,000 naira.

I bought wires 2k

Making 152,000.

My observations so far
It takes 5 to 8 hours of sunshine to charge the battery from 0 to 100% depending on the sunlight intensity.

And guess what guys. When all the house load are on it, it lasted me up to 8 hours to use up a single charge. But when I put of the fridge, the 45watt fan and when my laptop isn't in use, it takes more than 12 hours and that's exactly what I needed.

Burning 8 to 12 hours on petrol daily will send me back to my village.


Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

lasthero:
Mods, I don't know the right thread to post this. If romance section isn't the right thread, you can move it to the appropriate section.


Moved into a new apartment and realized the light isn't too good. Average of 6 to 10 hours per day and sometimes, there won't be light for like 3 days on a stretch.

I do freelance, love watching movies, I have a small fridge which serves me cold water, I need fan to cushion the heat. This implies that I need a constant light and with the epileptic light situation around, I felt I needed to do something.


My first thought was to get a generator. Average 1kva generator cost 80- 100k. I will have to be buying fuel, buying oil and also servicing the generator regularly.

I almost bought a new generator from jumia during the black Friday sales until I heard the rumors that fuel will likely to be sold for 320/ litre in 2022, I had to abort the generator plan and seek for alternative.


Then the thought of inverter came in. To figure out the specific watt to purchase, I first analyze the power rating of all my electronics.

1 dc led TV - 12v 3A which equals 36watt,
1 gotv - 12v 1A which equals 12wat,
1 dc standing fan in living room of 12v 2A which equals 24watt,
My laptop of 18v 2.3A which equals 41.4 watt,
1 table top fridge of 45watt,
6 energy saving bulbs of 5w each in entire apartment (bedroom, living room, toilet, kitchen, corridors, which equals 30watt
Phone chargers of 5v 2A which equals 10w.
1 wall fan in the bedroom of 45w

When I summed all the power ratings, I arrived at 243.4 watt in total.


So with miscellaneous appliances like woofer and the likes. I concluded And settled for 500w inverter.

lasthero:
Total cost:

Battery : 85k
Solar panel : 30k
Inverter : 35k

Total: 150,000 naira.

I bought wires 2k

Making 152,000.

My observations so far
It takes 5 to 8 hours of sunshine to charge the battery from 0 to 100% depending on the sunlight intensity.

And guess what guys. When all the house load are on it, it lasted me up to 8 hours to use up a single charge. But when I put of the fridge, the 45watt fan and when my laptop isn't in use, it takes more than 12 hours and that's exactly what I needed.

Burning 8 to 12 hours on petrol daily will send me back to my village.


Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

litaninja:
Great start. Since DIY is up your alley, where you really want to go is the link below.

https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta

Tons of info, assistance, tips and by the time you're ready to expand the setup you'd be better prepped. Nice one.

nedekid:
Pls how much is the mppt?

uuzba:
Well, since you are the one that did the installation and not the electrical guy, you must make sure you follow the basic rule of electronics. And that is, to make sure ALL THE CONNECTIONS ARE VERY TIGHT.
Nothing destroys electronics more than a lose wire that is just lose enough to allow an electric arc/spark to keep jumping across wires. That spark is called Plasma. It is neither a solid, liquid or gas. But it is as hot at 10,000 C. A tiny thing will burn and melt wires and create bigger sparks and more heat till the whole connection will burn.
I hope there's a point for Nepa to charge the inverter and batteries as well. Because you'd be surprised that you won't always get 8 hrs of Sun, Mon - Fri, January - December in this Nigeria.

Fapemz:
A lot more people are embracing alternative source of power and as it is worth every penny. I always recommend Lithium battery for portability and longetivity, i assembled LiFePo4 battery for inverter and Laptop use as external battery. Presently we have 3 size capacities 300wh, 480wh and 1260wh and they have been making the difference for our clients. We are reachable on 080653..16307 www.cooldipo.com

PeaceJoyLove:
Nice one bro.

A single usage must not be lower than 70% of your battery if you want it to last. Well, it depends on your battery as some can still take 60% to 65%. If you keep using your battery below the level specified on your battery, it will kill it fast.

So, every night you use it, make sure it doesnt go below the recommended level which is always btw 60% - 70% of the battery.

Goodluck bro!

vibratingpenis:
What is the use of the deep cycle if it can't endure up to 50% discharge cycle or is the market flooded with some substandard cells of battery?

airsaylongcome:
I just did a solar setup yesterday and I have been evaluating. It's nice to see the inverter start charging from 7am until 6pm. If you want a contact I can share my solar guy's contact for you to get a quote

jerobua:
Nice one, I commend your effort being your first DIY installation, You saved some cost but it will only be for a short while. As time goes on when you broaden your knowledge on Solar inverter electricity, you will be able to correct certain things..... I will highlight a little for you to research on
Firstly, your Solar inverter is mostly likely not a pure sine inverter and that's why it is cheap, it might even be a square wave form inverter which could damage your electronics in the long run.
A single Mono panel (180watts) won't be able to able to charge your GBM 180Ah battery sufficiently on a daily basis, this will affect the life of your battery
You could have waited a little while to buy a quality battery that hasn't stayed more than 6months, RITAR, GENUS, ADDO, QUANTA. but also know that battery purchase is also luck, it's 50/50 no matter the place or warranty given
For your GBM battery to last longer, you need to charge with a smart charger
Lastly, during raining season, you won't have enough sun, you still need a back up generator
I wish you all the best
For more secrets of solar system that no engineers will give you for free, you can e-mail me jerryighodalo@gmail.com.

HEAVEN4444:
alright bro first of all let me tell you this setup has its limitations. its an energy storing setup and you can only store so much energy unless you want to go crazy and buy 100 batteries and link them all up. do you have space for 100 batteries ? and do you have the money for 100 batteries ? each battery is like 90k. and so as you can see ? you can only store so much energy with this setup and as such this setup is meant for minimalist living meaning someone who wants electricity to run for 24 hours so that they can power their laptop and lights and fans even when nepa has strike again. its advisable to only power these low power items with this setup. trying to power an ac with this unit will destroy the battery quickly. and so now that i have explained the limitations here is what you do. got the most powerful battery deep cycle which i believe is 200ah. then buy an inverter. i have a 500 watts inverter. connect them together positive to positive, negative to negative. then connect the battery to the mains and your appliances to the inverter. and thats it. 24 7 electricity forever assuming nepa does not take your light for more than 2 days at a time ( if nepa takes it for more than 2 days all the juice in this setup will be drained unless you buy more batteries and connect it parralel ). and if light comes back your unit starts charging again and when it goes your unit takes over powering your gadgets without missing a beat. and you can be like OP and introduce solar panels to the unit. monocrystalline ones in which case when they take light for more than 2 days you are not affected. everything you get from konga.com is where i got mine from in 2019

FreeStuffsNG:
Nice and commendable. Please kindly work out the payback time by dividing the N152k by your usual daily electricity cost. If you can do that calculation, you can then start counting if you got value from the investment or not. For example, if the battery and/or the inverter pack up before your payback time then it's not cost effective
As at now, it's too early to say if it's money well spent. I commend you greatly though.

aariwa:
Why are people still buying generator and waiting on NEPA instead of this option.I guess it will have to do with ignorance