anochuks08:
Help me chk ds diagram of my battery bank of 12 batteries.

Regards

Looks good.

mank1234:


Looks good.

Thanks boss. Am grateful.

bigrovar:


How did you arrive at those figures if I may ask.

I summed up the watts of all the electronics I have
2 LG 1.5Hp split unit air conditioner rated 1300 - 1530W each
1 Panasonic 1hp air conditioner
2 42" LG LED TV
1 26" industrial fan - 220w
1 18" industrial fan - 100w
1 wall mounted dryer - 1000w
1 steamer - 600w
1 Big hand dryer - 2500w
2 Small hand dryer - 1300w each
3 Sterilizer - 16w each
1 towel warmer - 200w
30 bulbs - 45w each
15 big bulbs - 85w each
4 Clippers - 15w each
2 laptops
1 sound system - 110w
1 Nail dryer - 7w
1 Nail filer - 15w
1 Stretcher - 40w
1 tonging stove set - 150w
1 orbit fan
1 Water dispenser - 95w cold 550w hot
1 Gotv decoder
1 cctv DVR and 6 cameras
1 pedicure bowl - 450w

The ones I didn't include the watts are the ones I couldn't get to the back to check cos they are already installed and I don't want to tamper with the installation.

@CoolKizzy

You can actually bring down your consumption requirements if you are willing to make changes to your hardwares. For example, LG now has air conditioners that are inverter/solar compliant with an inbuilt mode that reduces the power consumption when running them on solar or inverter, without compromising the efficiency. It is especially important that you consider changing the air conditioners because they will be on constantly as long as you have clients to service. You can also give up your industrial fans and either install ceiling fans or change them to regular standing fans. I do not know how long you have had the dryers, which I consider as guzzlers but I suppose there should be more power efficient ones available in the market today. All these are capital intensive though and you have to decide if you wish to go that way.

Two items there which I consider a must in terms of replacement are the light bulbs. You can change those to LED light fittings which will give you more brightness while consuming far less power.

Consider:

30 bulbs @ 45W each = 1350W dead load because you would always keep them on.
15 bulbs @ 85W = 1275W. Both totalling 2625W

Today, there are flood lights of 15W and above. For indoor use, however, you can replace the 45W bulbs with 12W LED and the 85W bulbs with 18W LED. Calculated below:

30 x 12 = 360
15 x 18 = 270
Total = 630W

Compare to your current bulbs you will shave off 1995W from your consumption and that is not little when it comes to solar setup.

All your appliances would not be running simultaneously. But your dryers which are the heavy duty loads you have would need some good management by trying not to run the heaviest ones simultaneously and if you must, then some other appliances would have to be switched off. This should not be too much of a problem though, if running them in the day time when the sun is high up there, but once the sun is down, the drain on your system would be quite high and therefore rapid.

Suffice to say that you will need a large system, possibly a 96V system. However, if you apply the suggestion above and are willing to replace some of your current hardwares with more energy efficient ones, you will find that your power requirements would actually reduce significantly.

But let's hear what the gurus in the house have to say.

Cheers

JohnKester:
@CoolKizzy

You can actually bring down your consumption requirements if you are willing to make changes to your hardwares. For example, LG now has air conditioners that are inverter/solar compliant with an inbuilt mode that reduces the power consumption when running them on solar or inverter, without compromising the efficiency. It is especially important that you consider changing the air conditioners because they will be on constantly as long as you have clients to service. You can also give up your industrial fans and either install ceiling fans or change them to regular standing fans. I do not know how long you have had the dryers, which I consider as guzzlers but I suppose there should be more power efficient ones available in the market today. All these are capital intensive though and you have to decide if you wish to go that way.

Two items there which I consider a must in terms of replacement are the light bulbs. You can change those to LED light fittings which will give you more brightness while consuming far less power.

Consider:

30 bulbs @ 45W each = 1350W dead load because you would always keep them on.
15 bulbs @ 85W = 1275W. Both totalling 2625W

Today, there are flood lights of 15W and above. For indoor use, however, you can replace the 45W bulbs with 12W LED and the 85W bulbs with 18W LED. Calculated below:

30 x 12 = 360
15 x 18 = 270
Total = 630W

Compare to your current bulbs you will shave off 1995W from your consumption and that is not little when it comes to solar setup.

All your appliances would not be running simultaneously. But your dryers which are the heavy duty loads you have would need some good management by trying not to run the heaviest ones simultaneously and if you must, then some other appliances would have to be switched off. This should not be too much of a problem though, if running them in the day time when the sun is high up there, but once the sun is down, the drain on your system would be quite high and therefore rapid.

Suffice to say that you will need a large system, possibly a 96V system. However, if you apply the suggestion above and are willing to replace some of your current hardwares with more energy efficient ones, you will find that your power requirements would actually reduce significantly.

But let's hear what the gurus in the house have to say.

Cheers

In addition to this post(which it top notch BTW), I would say you can consider getting a small generator for the blow dryers et al. Heating and inverters aren't exactly best of friends. So you would power everything that consumes less than 1KW(individually) from your inverter/solar and you can consider a smaller generator for anything with a duty cycle or anything that involves heating.

anochuks08:
Help me chk ds diagram of my battery bank of 12 batteries.

Regards

From your diagram and IMHO. Some not all the batteries will get equal charge. Some will gets more charge and do more work the others... Eventually this would create divergence in battery capacity and result some batteries dying before others.

The rule is . Use proper size wire and all wires going to the Positive and Negative Combiners Must be of " EQUAL LENGTHS" Including any wires tying 2 batteries in series. That way you get even battery charging and equal power draw across the battery bank.
This is a product of deep research. It will make your batteries have a long and reared life span.

bigrovar:


From your diagram and IMHO. Some not all the batteries will get equal charge. Some will gets more charge and do more work the others... Eventually this would create divergence in battery capacity and result some batteries dying before others.

The rule is . Use proper size wire and all wires going to the Positive and Negative Combiners Must be of " EQUAL LENGTHS" Including any wires tying 2 batteries in series. That way you get even battery charging and equal power draw across the battery bank.
This is a product of deep research. It will make your batteries have a long and reared life span.

Thanks for the input bro. I appreciate

JohnKester:
@CoolKizzy

You can actually bring down your consumption requirements if you are willing to make changes to your hardwares. For example, LG now has air conditioners that are inverter/solar compliant with an inbuilt mode that reduces the power consumption when running them on solar or inverter, without compromising the efficiency. It is especially important that you consider changing the air conditioners because they will be on constantly as long as you have clients to service. You can also give up your industrial fans and either install ceiling fans or change them to regular standing fans. I do not know how long you have had the dryers, which I consider as guzzlers but I suppose there should be more power efficient ones available in the market today. All these are capital intensive though and you have to decide if you wish to go that way.

Two items there which I consider a must in terms of replacement are the light bulbs. You can change those to LED light fittings which will give you more brightness while consuming far less power.

Consider:

30 bulbs @ 45W each = 1350W dead load because you would always keep them on.
15 bulbs @ 85W = 1275W. Both totalling 2625W

Today, there are flood lights of 15W and above. For indoor use, however, you can replace the 45W bulbs with 12W LED and the 85W bulbs with 18W LED. Calculated below:

30 x 12 = 360
15 x 18 = 270
Total = 630W

Compare to your current bulbs you will shave off 1995W from your consumption and that is not little when it comes to solar setup.

All your appliances would not be running simultaneously. But your dryers which are the heavy duty loads you have would need some good management by trying not to run the heaviest ones simultaneously and if you must, then some other appliances would have to be switched off. This should not be too much of a problem though, if running them in the day time when the sun is high up there, but once the sun is down, the drain on your system would be quite high and therefore rapid.

Suffice to say that you will need a large system, possibly a 96V system. However, if you apply the suggestion above and are willing to replace some of your current hardwares with more energy efficient ones, you will find that your power requirements would actually reduce significantly.

But let's hear what the gurus in the house have to say.

Cheers

Thanks chief, I can quickly change the bulbs, but the air conditioners will need proper planning and savings. Is there a way I can run it with the current a. C?

netotse:


In addition to this post(which it top notch BTW), I would say you can consider getting a small generator for the blow dryers et al. Heating and inverters aren't exactly best of friends. So you would power everything that consumes less than 1KW(individually) from your inverter/solar and you can consider a smaller generator for anything with a duty cycle or anything that involves heating.

Good idea, I was even thinking about this also. I don't use the dryer always, but must be used for a total of about 30mins to 1hr in a day, I can run a separate power for it

@coolizzy, ur energy consumption is too high to b powered by solar/inverter systems...unless you have deep pockets...
just a rough estimate tells me you would b needing btw 7 to 12million naira to have a fairly decent set up. a 7.5kva to10kva inverter goes for 700k to 2m naira depending on make/type. we need to be sure you have the finances, b4 wasting time on unnecessary calculations..
you would be needing nothing less than 20kw to 25kw panels, most 250w panels hv a dimension of 3.5ft x 5.5ft...n u wud be needing minimum of 80 to 100pieces of such..........do you have the space or roof area to install such?, 1 piece costs btw 55 to 80k, monocrystalline wch is approximately 7M on panel

you may consider either buying the new lg inverter friendly acs, as some1 has said...a 1.5hp inverter ac consumes about 350w, wch is fantastic.
another option might b using only fans or air humidifier when phcn goes off, u must switch to LED lights sharp sharp...as a 12w led bulb is far brighter than even a 36w energy saving bulb.

so pls confirm you understand the financial implication, so as not to waste our time/energy

CoolKizzy:


Thanks chief, I can quickly change the bulbs, but the air conditioners will need proper planning and savings. Is there a way I can run it with the current a. C?

By brother. Look at the economics and see if it pays and makes economic sense in your case to go solar. Solar sweet but the technically is not there yet. It is still too expensive especially with very high energy consumption. All those adjustments cost money.. money which can be reinvested in the business. Now here is what I did, maybe it will work for you. Calculate how much your spend on generator maintenance fuel repairs and all. x 12 (representing 12 months) should give u roughly how much u spend on fuel. Let's say u want a solar setup hat pays for itself in two years. U can further multiply the yearly figure by 2. The final result if it is close or more than 10m then you can consider solar. If it is less. Then the economics will not favour you. Panels are coming down in price but there are still not there yet. Battery technology is still stone age and improvements are slow and very expensive. One day renewable will get there .

bigrovar:


By brother. Look at the economics and see if it pays and makes economic sense in your case to go solar. Solar sweet but the technically is not there yet. It is still too expensive especially with very high energy consumption. All those adjustments cost money.. money which can be reinvested in the business. Now here is what I did, maybe it will work for you. Calculate how much your spend on generator maintenance fuel repairs and all. x 12 (representing 12 months) should give u roughly how much u spend on fuel. Let's say u want a solar setup hat pays for itself in two years. U can further multiply the yearly figure by 2. The final result if it is close or more than 10m then you can consider solar. If it is less. Then the economics will not favour you. Panels are coming down in price but there are still not there yet. Battery technology is still stone age and improvements are slow and very expensive. One day renewable will get there .

Thanks bro, I spent roughly 384,000, from 1st April to 10 July on diesel, fuel and maintenance of generators, plus they are depreciating. This is exclusive of the monthly outrageous EEDC bills. That was what prompted my search for a cost friendly alternative.

Now the plan is to go solar remove every heavy machinery and use them only for bulbs, Clippers and TV.
Then still be connected to the discos and use it to power a. C when power is available, this will reduce our standard but I think it's necessary to survive first. I'll then purchase a smaller gen for my heating equipments which are not used more than an hour cumulative per day.

Going Solar is impressive. I'm a living witness. Like I said in my last post, after adding two more 150 watts panel to my already existing 600 watts I now have a total of 900 watts and the gudnews is that I can now power my fridge for a minimum of 4 hours everyday without having fears of my battery going below 50% dod. I thankGod for this innovative idea.

No matter how cloudy the weather may be I can now conveniently turn on my fridge for a minimum of four hours without having any fear of power failure during the day time.

My set up is a 1.5 kva inverter@ 24v. Two pieces of 200 ah batteries. This year it clocked 2years of me running them strictly on phcn & generator. The very day it was officially announced that fuel(PMS) will now sell for 145 I took a bold step of going solar. I started with 4panel rated 150 watts each. At first I wasn't so much impressed with its performance even when the sunrise is at its peak, but ever since I added two more 150 watts panels my battery easily gets charged at a short period of time.

bigrovar:


By brother. Look at the economics and see if it pays and makes economic sense in your case to go solar. Solar sweet but the technically is not there yet. It is still too expensive especially with very high energy consumption. All those adjustments cost money.. money which can be reinvested in the business. Now here is what I did, maybe it will work for you. Calculate how much your spend on generator maintenance fuel repairs and all. x 12 (representing 12 months) should give u roughly how much u spend on fuel. Let's say u want a solar setup hat pays for itself in two years. U can further multiply the yearly figure by 2. The final result if it is close or more than 10m then you can consider solar. If it is less. Then the economics will not favour you. Panels are coming down in price but there are still not there yet. Battery technology is still stone age and improvements are slow and very expensive. One day renewable will get there .

Sounds like something Fashola will say. Solar is an option that should be on the table for everyone. With proper planning you can make it work for you. Invest in the proper equipment upfront.
Battery technology has advanced beyond the stone age. We have Lithium Phosphate battery, Saltwater batteries and the Iron Edison style batteries that have in excess of 3000 cycles at 90%.
I currently use flooded batteries that have a duty cycle of 1500 at 50%. When they eventually die I will replace them with one of the batteries that I mentioned.
I don't have AC, however I have fans, TV, A freezer that runs 24 hours a day, a refrigerator that runs from 8 am to 5 pm daily. I have not used a generator in 2 years. Because of the unusual rainy and cloudy weather that we are experiencing in Lagos I will purchase a generator. I intend to run it for 4 hours a week to compensate for the deficit in production from my 2 kw in panels.

CoolKizzy:


Thanks bro, I spent roughly 384,000, from 1st April to 10 July on diesel, fuel and maintenance of generators, plus they are depreciating. This is exclusive of the monthly outrageous EEDC bills. That was what prompted my search for a cost friendly alternative.

Now the plan is to go solar remove every heavy machinery and use them only for bulbs, Clippers and TV.
Then still be connected to the discos and use it to power a. C when power is available, this will reduce our standard but I think it's necessary to survive first. I'll then purchase a smaller gen for my heating equipments which are not used more than an hour cumulative per day.

At that rate you would have spent 1.3 million Naira a year not including the cost of a generator.
Look at solar. It should be an option

chris81964:


Sounds like something Fashola will say. Solar is an option that should be on the table for everyone. With proper planning you can make it work for you. Invest in the proper equipment upfront.
Battery technology has advanced beyond the stone age. We have Lithium Phosphate battery, Saltwater batteries and the Iron Edison style batteries that have in excess of 3000 cycles at 90%.
I currently use flooded batteries that have a duty cycle of 1500 at 50%. When they eventually die I will replace them with one of the batteries that I mentioned.
I don't have AC, however I have fans, TV, A freezer that runs 24 hours a day, a refrigerator that runs from 8 am to 5 pm daily. I have not used a generator in 2 years. Because of the unusual rainy and cloudy weather that we are experiencing in Lagos I will purchase a generator. I intend to run it for 4 hours a week to compensate for the deficit in production from my 2 kw in panels.

I do not disagree with anything you have said. Only thing I added was for him to look at the economics of solar to consider if it is worth it. This was in response to the brother that gave a ball park figure of what it could cost to implement solar based on the energy figure he gave.

Go on Nigerian Twitter I am one of the biggest promoter of RE and solar energy. However RE should not just be about power generation it is about economy and conservation of energy. All three most go together to be viable. No point going solar if in your case the economics and opportunity cost won't favour your business. Especially if your business is AC and heavy machine intensive.. the start up cost might be such that it would be difficult to recoup back before your first financial maintenance usually the battery. Even if you could. That up front might just be too much to release one time.

For me I planned my system over a 12 months period.. making adjustments and creating efficiencies in areas like ensuring my house had natural cooling even during hot season.. this involved choosing what part of the city I site my house, type of window, where my window is facing etc. I took 600w off my power needs by outsourcing security and external lighting to external solar security motion sensor lights that cost less than $60. Invested in energy saving bulbs from Philips highest of which is 11w but most are 8 and 5w. Got an LED 43 TV that uses 35w. A freezer that can run even with 800w inverter (startup surge and all) all this I got 12 months before buying my first solar equipment.

And when I started buying, it was in piecemeal over a period of 10 months. 2 240w panel, charge controller, inverter, breakers, mc4 connectors, crimpers , wire lugs etc.. last thing I got was the battery which I got in may this year. System has since been live. My earlier activity at conserving energy has been a success.. my room is always chilled never used the AC there once and it has no fan. Just added a 3rd panel 220w panel to put my string at 660w. The result is here http://twitter.com/bigbrovar/status/757182083127185409?s=09

Still approach to solar should be from an economic point of view in my opinion. My investment made sense because I was spending close to 480k yearly on generator hence investing 450k on a solar setup with a battery rated at 1200 cycles at 80% dod (which is cycled daily at 35% dod) is a no brainier for me. Everytime I think of the money spent.. I remember the cost of generator and I have no regrets.

Still I will always recommend that people do their maths to see if the economics favours going solar. As much progress has been made. Solar is still not affordable. Battery tech is still background. Over 90% of off grid solar rely on Lead acid batteries which are highly inefficient when it comes to charging and discharging. New technologies in batteries are not mainstream yet and are very very expensive. When I can purchase a power wall battery for 150k that can will store at least 5200wh of energy and I can totally discharge it and replenish without worrying about dod. Then we would no that we have arrived. For now. Alternative energy is still alternative. It requires separate set of thinking outside how you approach grid power.

CoolKizzy:


Thanks bro, I spent roughly 384,000, from 1st April to 10 July on diesel, fuel and maintenance of generators, plus they are depreciating. This is exclusive of the monthly outrageous EEDC bills. That was what prompted my search for a cost friendly alternative.

Now the plan is to go solar remove every heavy machinery and use them only for bulbs, Clippers and TV.
Then still be connected to the discos and use it to power a. C when power is available, this will reduce our standard but I think it's necessary to survive first. I'll then purchase a smaller gen for my heating equipments which are not used more than an hour cumulative per day.

That's the way to go. Take out the heavy machine and see how to can get more efficiency out of your current appliances without breaking the bank. You might want to consider DC powered rechargeable clippers if u think it will work for u. Maybe buy one and see how it goes
http://s.aliexpress.com/rUfMRzUz When u switch to led lights u will find out cost of solar would drop considerably because it is cheaper to conserve energy than to generate it. Sweet thing about renewable is u can use it on demand. And u take just want you need. Unlike powering a whole 5kva gen just because u want to run a 50 to 100w clipper. Further more. A well sized system would allow you even generate all your concurrent needs when the sun it out till about 1600 hours on a good Sunny day so all you will be using will be free energy from the sun. Also when you turn on your gen for the heavy stuff. It will also be charging the battery while it is on adding one more layer of efficiency to the system. Just remember it is cheaper to conserve energy than to generate it.

CoolKizzy:


Thanks chief, I can quickly change the bulbs, but the air conditioners will need proper planning and savings. Is there a way I can run it with the current a. C?

I understand your worry when it comes to financing this endeavour. But be rest assured that the cost of changing those air conditioners would be far less than the cost of sizing a solar setup that can power your current air conditioners, as well as the cost of running them on a smaller generator.

Consider:

3 air conditioners consuming 1300W (stick to this for simplicity sake) = 3900W
3 LG inverter air conditioners consuming 350W each = 1050W
The difference between the two levels of consumption is 2850W which is a lot of shaving.

For me, what I consider more effective would be to run your heavy duty equipment on generator, since they only run for short periods in a day. All others that must run throughout the day such as the lightings and air conditioners, if you can switch them to solar, you will be good to go.

I firmly believe that on the long run, given the current spending of N1.3 m+ on power annually, solar would be far more economical than you can imagine right now.

Do no get scared by the figures already mentioned. The way to go is now to use the new power consumption based on the LED already given and the air conditioners above to recalculate your power needs and you will find that it has dropped considerably. You can then take your time to plan and size your system in a way that would be both effective in performance and also cost effective in execution. You can achieve it.

Cheers.

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1kva-12v=80k
1.5kva-12v=95k
3kva(2000w)-12v=100,000
3kva(2000w)-24v=130,000
4kva(3000w)-24v=140,000
5kva(4000w)-24/48=200,000
6kva(5000w)-24/48= 230,000
7.5kva(6000w)-24=250,000

Hybrid inverters with inbuilt PWM controllers
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5kva-48v=250,000
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12KW-48v=870,000

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Hello @CoolKizzy,

your salon seems to be big? Nice!
Where are you located?

How much roof space do you have for solar panels? A 250 Watts(peak) panel is about 1,65 x 1,00m.

So, a solar system with 4 panels = 1.000 Watts(p) can produce up to 1,600 kWh per year in Lagos or between 80 and 130 kWh per month.
8 panels = 2.000 Watts(p) -> 3,200 kWh per year.
etc.

This is an example:
Voltage U(mp) = 29,7 V
Current I(mp) = 8,42 A
Short circuit I(sc) = 8,8 A
Open circuit Voltage U(oc) = 36,91 V

In the pic is my solar roof with six panels, where I grow my tomatoes.

bigrovar:


I do not disagree with anything you have said. Only thing I added was for him to look at the economics of solar to consider if it is worth it. This was in response to the brother that gave a ball park figure of what it could cost to implement solar based on the energy figure he gave.

Go on Nigerian Twitter I am one of the biggest promoter of RE and solar energy. However RE should not just be about power generation it is about economy and conservation of energy. All three most go together to be viable. No point going solar if in your case the economics and opportunity cost won't favour your business. Especially if your business is AC and heavy machine intensive.. the start up cost might be such that it would be difficult to recoup back before your first financial maintenance usually the battery. Even if you could. That up front might just be too much to release one time.

For me I planned my system over a 12 months period.. making adjustments and creating efficiencies in areas like ensuring my house had natural cooling even during hot season.. this involved choosing what part of the city I site my house, type of window, where my window is facing etc. I took 600w off my power needs by outsourcing security and external lighting to external solar security motion sensor lights that cost less than $60. Invested in energy saving bulbs from Philips highest of which is 11w but most are 8 and 5w. Got an LED 43 TV that uses 35w. A freezer that can run even with 800w inverter (startup surge and all) all this I got 12 months before buying my first solar equipment.

And when I started buying, it was in piecemeal over a period of 10 months. 2 240w panel, charge controller, inverter, breakers, mc4 connectors, crimpers , wire lugs etc.. last thing I got was the battery which I got in may this year. System has since been live. My earlier activity at conserving energy has been a success.. my room is always chilled never used the AC there once and it has no fan. Just added a 3rd panel 220w panel to put my string at 660w. The result is here http://twitter.com/bigbrovar/status/757182083127185409?s=09

Still approach to solar should be from an economic point of view in my opinion. My investment made sense because I was spending close to 480k yearly on generator hence investing 450k on a solar setup with a battery rated at 1200 cycles at 80% dod (which is cycled daily at 35% dod) is a no brainier for me. Everytime I think of the money spent.. I remember the cost of generator and I have no regrets.

Still I will always recommend that people do their maths to see if the economics favours going solar. As much progress has been made. Solar is still not affordable. Battery tech is still background. Over 90% of off grid solar rely on Lead acid batteries which are highly inefficient when it comes to charging and discharging. New technologies in batteries are not mainstream yet and are very very expensive. When I can purchase a power wall battery for 150k that can will store at least 5200wh of energy and I can totally discharge it and replenish without worrying about dod. Then we would no that we have arrived. For now. Alternative energy is still alternative. It requires separate set of thinking outside how you approach grid power.

The size of your pocket should not determine another persons choice. Solar is very mainstream in the US, Europe and China. Go to the middle east and it is widely adopted. The size of your pocket should not be a determinant to what another should do. A friend of mine has a factory close to my home with 665 KW of solar installed. It made sense for his business.
I changed my light bulbs, I purchased an energy efficient freezer. These are practices that are common in the West where people pay the real cost of electricity unlike the subsidized values we pay in Nigeria. People who are not into energy efficiency and with money to burn will pay a higher premium to get solar power. Lead acid batteries come in different flavors. The Rolls Surette, Trojan IND or L16, Hoppecke are high end batteries designed to give you a minimum of 7 years and up to 15 years with proper maintenance.

(By the way, Hoppecke in Germany has to provide a 7 years take-back warranty. So that people feel assured, that the manufacturer's promise of number of cycles is true. If not, Hoppecke has to take-back the batteries and pay the remaining "book value" of the battery to the customer.)

iLoveTheSun:
Hello @CoolKizzy,

your salon seems to be big? Nice!
Where are you located?

How much roof space do you have for solar panels? A 250 Watts(peak) panel is about 1,65 x 1,00m.

So, a solar system with 4 panels = 1.000 Watts(p) can produce up to 1,600 kWh per year in Lagos or between 80 and 130 kWh per month.
8 panels = 2.000 Watts(p) -> 3,200 kWh per year.
etc.

This is an example:
Voltage U(mp) = 29,7 V
Current I(mp) = 8,42 A
Short circuit I(sc) = 8,8 A
Open circuit Voltage U(oc) = 36,91 V

In the pic is my solar roof with six panels, where I grow my tomatoes.

Nice setup, doesn't look Nigerian, I love ground mounted solar setups, its easier and safer to run.

Very lovely story Bigrovar
I'll share it with my korofo friends who have refused to make the switch.
RE is the way to go... the off-grid lifestyle is a complete paradigm shift.

I'll have a look at my current loads, and swap them for more efficient versions.

chris81964:

The size of your pocket should not determine another persons choice. Solar is very mainstream in the US, Europe and China. Go to the middle east and it is widely adopted. The size of your pocket should not be a determinant to what another should do. A friend of mine has a factory close to my home with 665 KW of solar installed. It made sense for his business.
I changed my light bulbs, I purchased an energy efficient freezer. These are practices that are common in the West where people pay the real cost of electricity unlike the subsidized values we pay in Nigeria. People who are not into energy efficiency and with money to burn will pay a higher premium to get solar power. Lead acid batteries come in different flavors. The Rolls Surette, Trojan IND or L16, Hoppecke are high end batteries designed to give you a minimum of 7 years and up to 15 years with proper maintenance.

Please brother. Point to where I talked about the size of my pocket. Do you know the size of my pocket? Who is talking about pocket size. Point to me where I suggested or insinuated that installation should be done based on my pocket? I talked about installation having to be economically viable to make sense. Economic viability of a project is unique to each project and what individual can afford. I spent more time advising on how to make a system efficient so that the consumer spends less on generation which is pretty much what everyone here agrees on. Europe, China and middle East are all middle income countries what applies there don't apply here. Less than 2 million Nigerians earn more than 250k a month. To that extent Nigerians are generally more sensitive to cost. I am not a installer I don't sell solar product I feel no conflict of interest when I advise people to take time to make their system efficient before going solar. I shared my experience with solar here for anyone who may not be able to fork out the start up cost to take time and plan over a period buying that they need piecemeal. But that is a choice if anyone has the money and it makes sense by all means.
I live in Abuja where someone spent over 30 million on solar for his house. Having a well efficient designed system is not about throwing money. It's takes serious planning that including consumption efficiency, system design all to ensure the end user gets the optimum value for his money. Your friend made the investment because it made sense for his business. He pulled the trigger after making some maths to see the cost analysis favoured him going solar. How is That different from what am advocating.

bigrovar:

Please brother. Point to where I talked about the size of my pocket. Do you know the size of my pocket? Who is talking about pocket size. Point to me where I suggested or insinuated that installation should be done based on my pocket? I talked about installation having to be economically viable to make sense. Economic viability of a project is unique to each project and what individual can afford. I spent more time advising on how to make a system efficient so that the consumer spends less on generation which is pretty much what everyone here agrees on. Europe, China and middle East are all middle income countries what applies there don't apply here. Less than 2 million Nigerians earn more than 250k a month. To that extent Nigerians are generally more sensitive to cost. I am not a installer I don't sell solar product I feel no conflict of interest when I advise people to take time to make their system efficient before going solar. I shared my experience with solar here for anyone who may not be able to fork out the start up cost to take time and plan over a period buying that they need piecemeal. But that is a choice if anyone has the money and it makes sense by all means.
I live in Abuja where someone spent over 30 million on solar for his house. Having a well efficient designed system is not about throwing money. It's takes serious planning that including consumption efficiency, system design all to ensure the end user gets the optimum value for his money. Your friend made the investment because it made sense for his business. He pulled the trigger after making some maths to see the cost analysis favoured him going solar. How is That different from what am advocating.

After I subscribed to your Youtube page na him you wan fight me. Okay oh nothing spoil. (I hope you posses a sense of humour)
You do reflect a cost bias. Give an opinion just like you did in your video and let the people make a determination as to if it makes financial sense to them.
I commend you for the steps you took and 95% of the people reading these exchanges will not pull the trigger. In addition to hard costs do we look at the soft and more punishing longer term cost of running fossil fuel based energy sources?
Just tell the story and let people make a decision either way if it makes financial sense to them or not.
And with a name like bigrovar I am sure your pocket matches your name. My company installs solar and if we sell based on upfront cost we will be out of business.

Solar power involves compromises. Yes on extended cloudy days you turn everything off or turn on a generator to charge your batteries. You have to do more planning during the rainy season than you would with the grid or generator.

However would I give it up. The answer is no. I place a very high value on having electricity 24/7.

chris81964:

After I subscribed to your Youtube page na him you wan fight me. Okay oh nothing spoil. (I hope you posses a sense of humour)
You do reflect a cost bias. Give an opinion just like you did in your video and let the people make a determination as to if it makes financial sense to them.
I commend you for the steps you took and 95% of the people reading these exchanges will not pull the trigger. In addition to hard costs do we look at the soft and more punishing longer term cost of running fossil fuel based energy sources?
Just tell the story and let people make a decision either way if it makes financial sense to them or not.
And with a name like bigrovar I am sure your pocket matches your name. My company installs solar and if we sell based on upfront cost we will be out of business.

Solar power involves compromises. Yes on extended cloudy days you turn everything off or turn on a generator to charge your batteries. You have to do more planning during the rainy season than you would with the grid or generator.

However would I give it up. The answer is no. I place a very high value on having electricity 24/7.

We agree. Sometimes written words do not convey communication efficiently. Anyway thanks for the feedback

Btw Chris. Are you on Twitter ? Some recommendations I want to send your way. Some Lagos based followers are interested in solar

bigrovar:
Btw Chris. Are you on Twitter ? Some recommendations I want to send your way. Some Lagos based followers are interested in solar

I am on Twitter personally @chris81964 and as a business @atlanticwastepw.
Thank you for thinking enough of me to recommend. Subscribe to me on YouTube. We have over 60 videos. I did most of them in Nigeria.

@bigrovar,i have subscribed to your youtube channel,and now your follower on twitter.Even downloaded your videos.Thanks for everything,you have now made me able to generate my own electricity and am happy you did that.I enjoy your tutorials alot.Godbless you.

@Chris81964,what your youtube username?

Green all the way.One love.