Danfuster:



you are a disgrace to your existence, trying to hide under the guise of ethnicity and taking advantage of this awesome thread with the intent to turn it into another e-war battle ground is just pathetic and shameful.

I do not care where you're from or which tribe you are cos your individual ilk is inconsequential.

NB: I would implore all mature Nairalanders to ignore this person as I have saved us the trouble of pleasuring him

Danfuster:



you are a disgrace to your existence, trying to hide under the guise of ethnicity and taking advantage of this awesome thread with the intent to turn it into another e-war battle ground is just pathetic and shameful.

I do not care where you're from or which tribe you are cos your individual ilk is inconsequential.

NB: I would implore all mature Nairalanders to ignore this person as I have saved us the trouble of pleasuring him

pulsa:

I apologize if I came out wrong, now that I read through my comment I have realised it was a tad too tribalistic.
I did not mean to insult any ethnic group as I have profound respect for the Igbo's as they are extremely intelligent, enterprising, and if you will agree with me technologically savvy.
I have corrected my post as I duly apologise for coming out wrong.

YoursGEJ:
How much would it cost to set up a solar energy system for a 3 bedroom house? One 70 inch LCD TV, fridge, 10 bulbs, 2 laptops, charging 8 mobile phones?

charix:
OP has abandoned the thread or got himself banned? How far na, any progress?

UuzbaGuuzba:
This thread began 1 year ago with OP talking about solar powered hostel. Above my comment, the thread don change to curse and insult. Which time all this one start?

OP, if you are still there, please let us see pictures of you inside the hostel. Enough long English. Did it work or not? Make the hostel, enter inside and charge your phone/PC/TV... Then we may know which way to build our houses. Or Employ you to do so for us.

There's this British guy, James Dyson. He makes Dyson Vacuum cleaners. It ain't easy. But he don't speak too much English no more. Just put the ideas into a prototype.

bigrovar:
Just get a wielder to make something. You can also use wood. The wielder would use angle bar for the panels. It can be screwed tight to the panels to prevent flying. Check on YouTube too.

nextstep:


This thread is a continuous conversation, starting from a germ of an idea. It's a work in progress, and we still haven't finished it. Like mentioned on Page 1, we're producing about 30kWH per day, which is more than enough to charge my phone and PC. I imagine it will carry a TV, but we're still on it. Since we haven't finished it (since it's a real building that takes time and runs out of budget, not to mention dealing with various land disputes, youths, and stop-work orders), there's no "picture inside" yet. If you're still interested in about 6 months time, we should be done.

pulsa:

... I have profound respect for the Igbo's as they are extremely intelligent, enterprising, and if you will agree with me technologically savvy.

bigx:


30 Kwh takes 2 1hp & 1 1.5hpAC, 2 led tv's, 5 ceiling fans, 2 standing fans, bulbs, 2 fridges, 1 water dispenser & 4 laptops for 12 hrs in my office. (according to my phcn prepaid meter)

EgunMogaji:


It's okay. I've never met any American builder that will recommend or use Nigerian cable

I sometimes wonder how a house built with concrete burns so robustly in Nigeria.

I'll be bringing in lots of materials from the U.S. because it's a quality that I know.

Not saying Nigerian cables are not good but......

nextstep:


Sigh… I appreciate your post, but I must say I find it patronizing. Nigeria (and the world), is full of people who are "extremely intelligent, enterprising, and if you will agree with me technologically savvy.", and I feel that to single out a subgroup does a disservice to everybody else.

mecussey:


Cost of importation will be added and the equivalent will not be the same as Nigerian. E.g a quality 2.5mm from U.S might cost twice as a 2.5mm made in Nigeria yet the copper quality will be same. The guys in Onitsha are doing great in that aspect ask anybody. Hence, why China make 1.5mm and call it 2.5mm with heavy insulation and impurities like Almunium.

EgunMogaji:


So, stick to what you've researched on your project.

I'll stick to what I know and comfortable with for 30 years.

If I do use Nigeria cable, it won't be the cheapy low grade ones.

I won't be putting an investment worth millions at risk due to saving importation cost.

Good day.

mecussey:


You sound offended, I thought we are sharing ideas. Anyone that works for you is good

EgunMogaji:
Just as an aside, I'm self designing the electricals in my house to be all solar powered from the get go. Cables will be solar specific as I'm using low voltage wiring for lights and such. I will have a room full of batteries and a small generator to supplement solar charging.

By calculations and research, though I would love to control all from one source but I think there will be several stand alone units. Example the driveway gate will have it's own standalone battery and charging system, the wholehouse fan will have it's own.

To really save watts I will have sensors in each room to auto shut off if no movement detected.

I have a coworker that is earning money from Southern California Edison (our version of NEPA) monthly by suppyling electricity back into the grid. He has all the electricity he needs and the left overs goes into the grid. Who cool is that? He won't tell me his setup cost and that tells me it's probably lofty.

All this being said, I may just go with the flow and just hitch up with NEPA. There's something about Nigeria that makes me tired and unproductive.

poseidon12:


A grid tied system like your friend's will not work in Nigeria just yet because we do not yet have system that allows us to feed power into the grid. In Nigeria you have to store your excess power in batteries to be used when needed (at night). Having to invest in batteries makes solar expensive in Nigeria.

Saintp:


I wanted to ask this too. I want to get my ass off this NEPA issue once and for all.

Plz experts in the house, help us answer ooo.

Saintp:

I wanted to ask this too. I want to get my ass off this NEPA issue once and for all.
Plz experts in the house, help us answer ooo.

YoursGEJ:
How much would it cost to set up a solar energy system for a 3 bedroom house? One 70 inch LCD TV, fridge, 10 bulbs, 2 laptops, charging 8 mobile phones?

nextstep:


The short answer is that you should just budget #2.5M for a system that will last through the night.

The long answer is that there are a lot of variables in your cost request:
- do you want to be able to run (for example) for 3 days continuously? or just a few hours per day of charge
- are you supplementing NEPA, gen, or will this be totally off grid?
- will you be satisfied with increasing capacity over time, or you want full capacity today?

I've already mentioned two places you can get started with Solar systems in Naija, so you can check them out… Solynta for instance, gives you a good sense of how much will buy a system close to your needs.

YoursGEJ:



1) a few hours per day of charge is ok
2) Totally off-grid
3) I'm ok with increasing the capacity over time. Does not have to be done all at once.

I think I will need a 2-3KV set up. Do you know how much this might cost to put together?

I checked out Solynta. It is too expensive and Konga/Jumia sell systems for much cheaper. Konga has a 2.5-3.5 KV systems for between N400,000 - N500,000. Do you think the Konga deals are good deals?

I would like to buy components myself and pay someone to put everything together. I'm just wondering what my budget should be.

Eagerly looking forward to your reply

nextstep:


Frankly, I think you'll not save as much as you think, once all the little details are added up. You'll need to pay for:

- 10 solar panels for a 2.5kW system
- 4 200Ah batteries (note you can only use 1/2 battery capacity if you want them to reach 3 years)
- 2 inverters (yes, two, don't skimp here)
- thick cables (I forget the gauge, but it's much larger than regular 2.5mm), and this gets expensive per meter
- TY branch connectors
- aluminum channel rods
- tons of aluminum holders, bolts, nuts, washers
- transport, especially if you're outside Lagos, like me
- labour
- many other little bits and pieces that you'll have to waste time and money looking for, one at a time

Their price includes all the above, plus the assurance that they will provide all you need. I could have learned and got all these parts myself (after all I am an electrical engineer), but since this is not my domain, I paid (extra?) for the domain expertise and peace of mind. I was working on an already complex project, and didn't want to take more risk by buying all these pieces separately (which ironically can end up costing more)

For instance, I just took a cursory look at konga, and I found several systems described variously as 2.5kv, 1kv, etc… with inadequate number of panels. Two 250W panels is just 500W. How does that translate to 2.5kV? It's that kind of misinformation that can be quite dangerous if this is your first time. A lot of them use the much cheaper PWM chargers, when you really want the more efficient MPPT types. There's debate for which is better for Nigeria's hot weather, and some people even advocate spending more money on more panels than on a better charger, but YMMV. One such advertised system costs about #500k, but I imagine your final cost after all is said and done will be more like #800k.

Why don't you get a system from konga, try it out, and document it here?

nextstep:


We still have a roof made of solar panels that leaks, and doesn't have a fascia board to prevent water into the top wall… we're still trying to resolve that issue (and a possible solution might involve moving the panels to a ground mount so we can uses a regular roof on the building).

Been busy

RichYoungRuler:


Hi Boss, just a question, do you think using a thick membrane like tarpaulin or thick gauge nylons before installing the panels could have worked?