₦airaland Forum

Otitokoropupo:
Hello house,
Does anyone have an idea how to get a carport made for solar?

Thanks in advance.

Contact a good welder.
He should be able to fabricate one for you.
I use wood though.

tivta:
If he is a land lord then he messed up, unfortunately most lagosians believe in packaging than investing. N30million will give him a very good solar setup for at least 25 years

landlord is an understatement my brother.....he is a "landsssslord". he is just nt eductaed about solar power solutions or an unbeliever

Otitokoropupo:
Hello house,
Does anyone have an idea how to get a carport made for solar?

Thanks in advance.

the number of panels to be used will determine that. Maybe you need to tell us the number and watts

Trippledots:
landlord is an understatement my brother.....he is a "landsssslord". he is just nt eductaed about solar power solutions or an unbeliever

You really need to educate him and get yourself a huge commission, If I had his contact info I would convince him no matter how old school he might be.

JUO:
the number of panels to be used will determine that. Maybe you need to tell us the number and watts

I would like for 18 units of 250W.

Can you advice?

Otitokoropupo:
Hello house,
Does anyone have an idea how to get a carport made for solar?

Thanks in advance.

Hello, (i am back...)
carport for how many cars? Standard 250W modules are 1,00 x 1,65m.
regards,

Few units brand new SOLAR WORLD mono/poly panels for sale (260w , 275w, 285w, 315w) Manufactured in Germany .... Contact me if interested !! O8I35O3I95I

Dear Solar Gurus,

Please can somebody help me choose between a Luminous & Quanta Batteries.

Which brand should i pick?

Thanks guys.

Chuckdee:
Thanks again Dunka, it wasn't easy at all but we finally triumphed. I hope your setup is firing good on all cylinders as well?

yes oh really enjoying freedom from PHCN

Go for Quanta. Luminous is just a regular battery

babaegun:
Dear Solar Gurus,

Please can somebody help me choose between a Luminous & Quanta Batteries.

Which brand should i pick?

Thanks guys.

babaegun:
Dear Solar Gurus,
Please can somebody help me choose between a Luminous & Quanta Batteries.
Which brand should i pick?
Thanks guys.

i wl prefer quanta

@Chuckdee : welcome on board and congratulation on the success of your solar installation, its really impressing although no be for small small guys thing sha.

Chuckdee:
Thanks again Mr.Chris, couldn't have been easier w/out you.



Thanks bro.. I am really enjoying the full power independence Solar Power is offering me.



Thank you and Amen to your prayers sir. I am just following your able footsteps Blessings.



Boss... I have already been following your wonderful full steps tee tee o! You are a great inspiration here sir.


@ DMerciful, Thank you sir. Your contributions here are highly appreciated and helped in the realization of this project. Gracias.


@obiageLi, Thanks lol, of course you can do better and I see you are on the right path already... kudos.

@idsolar & DMerciful

Thanks guys, I appreciate.

Cheers.

Good day all it has been a pleasure coming across this trend with all the lectures, recommendations and every other ones.
I really appreciate all the efforts.

One love all

all,
as promised earlier, this are the inverter installation and battery bank test
pics.

testing the batteries.

the battery capacity tester can get very hot

-notice the bright glow of the prongs inside the
caged housing

calculating, plumbing, measuring the dimensions for inverter installation

mounting the inverter. group effort

tidying up

a peep into the heart of the magnum e-panel

GeorgeD1:
a peep into the heart of the magnum e-panel

following with rapt attention

Please Need advise on slim batteries.

Are they better than the 'fat' ones?

Those slim battery are like a beautiful girl without substance. They looks fine and nothing more! Go for the fat heavy ones

davodyguy:
Please Need advise on slim batteries.

Are they better than the 'fat' ones?

iLoveTheSun:
Hello, (i am back...)
carport for how many cars? Standard 250W modules are 1,00 x 1,65m.
regards,

Welcome back!

2 cars?

Does the port need to be placed at an angle as well or just lie flat?

DMerciful:
Those slim battery are like a beautiful girl without substance. They looks fine and nothing more! Go for the fat heavy ones

Thanks, just that most fat heavy ones are from China and the slim batteries are US.

I was offered slim batteries at the rate of 110k each and the fat heavy ones at 90k each, so I'm wondering which is more durable, owing to the price difference?

Chuckdee:
Hi all,

I want to share my setup with the house so as to serve as a source of motivation to new DIYers that would come across this thread because it's the same way i got the needed info to do mine. I have read, watched and studied so much in the past years as regards to solar and renewable energy that I was able to design, procure and deploy my setup all by myself and with help of a couple of friends. I did make use of some carpenter guy to help mount the panels on the roof following my instructions through, and also got my electrician to run load separation cables for me. However, there are members of this forum who have been immensely helpful to me by answering my plenty questions and worries, I am very grateful to Mr. Chris of AWPS Renewable Energy, your love n passion for the job is unquestionable!, Dunka, your motivation is next to none, Frankie the able supplier and a brother, George_D da boss!, thanks for the emails! and all the contributing members here, y'all are the best. it has been a very wonderful experience and I thank God for the opportunity.

My rig consists of:

15 X 300W yahSun Mono Panels (4,500W)
8 X USL16EXC2 6V L16 360AH USA Flooded Batteries
1 X Midnight Solar Classic 150 96A MPPT Charge Controller
1 X Magnum Magnasine 4300W Pure sinewave Inverter
1 X Magnum MERC Advanced Remote
1 X Trimetric 2030A + 500 Mv Shunt
1 X 48V BLS Desulphator
1 X 6Ft Earthing Rod
2 X Midnightsolar MNSPD Surge protector (1 for AC side, 1 for DC side)
1 X 10KVA Servo Stabilizer ( Pre-owned for about 4 years now)
4 x Complete galvanized aluminium Roof Mount
Various quality Breakers, Fuses and Accessories.

EXTRAS:

1 X TP-Link AC750 Dual Band WiFi Range Extender, Extends WiFi to Smart Home & Alexa Devices (RE200)
2 X TP-Link Smart Plug w/ Energy Monitoring, No Hub Required, Wi-Fi, Works with Alexa, Control your Devices from Anywhere (HS110)
1 X TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch, No Hub Required, Single Pole, Control Your Fixtures From Anywhere, Works with Amazon Alexa (HS200)
1 X Amazon Echo dot 2nd gen.
.....More on those later.

It is important to state that these items were acquired over a long period of time, infact, it took me one year plus of self disciplined money management, savings and forfeiting so much to make this happen maybe because of my taste in quality but from experience, i have learnt to go hard and go once! at a point i was sending money monthly to Frankie so as to secure a price point on the panels when the dollar was climbing like crazy. The most expensive item to get were the batteries as you had to buy them once. My candid advice to anyone is to start small, make a checklist of needed items and bit by bit, you will be striking off the ones you get as time goes on.

Panels were run in series/parallel strings of 3X5 to a combiner box with 5 breakers. All panels, inverter, CC and Combiner box were Grounded. 6MM ammoured cables from panels to combiner box, 10MM from combiner box to CC. Battery interconnect cables, CC to battery bank, Inverter to battery bank all 50MM Extra fine stranded Welding cable. Although a little more expensive, these cables handle any load comfortably and have never felt a tad warm to the touch at all and trust me, i have pushed them to the max all in the name of testing.

Seeking to achieve an 'almost' off grid setup, I went for that much number in panels and the result of having an array sized to cover the worst time of year, is that you get quite a bit of spare power at peak sun times. Therefore it makes sense to divide your loads up into base loads and opportunity loads. My base loads are 1 large Refrigerator (on a timer running 7AM-5PM daily), 1 always-on 24/7 Freezer, water pumps, computer gear, chargers of all sorts, lighting, security lights consisting of 8 X 15W energy saving bulbs (looking to change them to LEDs of less than 10W if i find them), an always-on Apple MacMini I use as my media server running a PLEX server serving movies to all TVs and smart devices like Roku box, Amazon fire Tv stick, and one Xiami Mi Android TV in the house, 2 standing fans, as well as sundry occasional appliances,power tools and other usual stuff; washing machine, iron, juicer, blender, microwave and hair blowers.

Most mornings, I wake up to a battery bank that is between 68-75% except on days i play the PS4 pro or xbox1 all night, i have seen 66% in the mornings, still under 50% DOD so not too bad and I know that my batteries have not yet been broken into very well. By 1-2PM batteries are already in float so the excess power are dumped into opportunity loads like running ACs, boiling water and cooking using the Induction cooker running at max power till like 4PM. I have seen max PV output of 3600W+ and my area in Abuja is very dusty, so many untarred road around my hood, panels were covered in dust from the next day after installation! and we have not seen any rains yet so i believe there is tendency for better output when the rains come.On average i harvest around 14-18Kwh daily. I have been running the system TOTALLY off-grid since the 10th of March.

I used the Wifi extender to extend my WAN and use the Ethernet jack to plug in the Midnight Classic CC to my home network, so i can monitor from PC and phone w/out having to run a long lan cable to my router inside. Got for less than $20 on amazon and works like a charm.

I use The smart plug to plug in my fridge and set it on a timer so it automatically comes on @ 7am and shuts off by 5PM daily. I also use it to monitor energy consumption in real time or over a period of time, very helpful to calculate all your energy consumption.

The smart switch i use to automatically turn on the whole security lights @ 7pm and turn of @ 6:15 am daily. and just like the smart plug, they both can be controlled from anywhere in the world from the app as long as u have internet and i have tested this, it works perfectly.

I am a geeky kinda guy so I love me some home automation and i have had some Phillips Hue lighting in the house, all devices in my Home theater setup are controlled using just a single remote-- The Logitec Harmony elite and all these devices can be controlled via voice with Alexa on amazon echo dot, pretty neat and works for the TP link switch and smart plugs too. I hv 10 Terabytes of Movies, TV series and Anime all in HD and running perfectly on the media server 24/7 with the beautiful interface of PLEX (guys u need to check it out, its simply your own NETFLIX @ home) For internet i use the NTEL unlimited package so everything is always ONLINE... I share my home wifi for my neighbors and they can watch movies on their phones and tablets as the media server can comfortably handle multiple media streams at once without issues. All these are possible because the sun gives me free Energy!

I cannot state how lovely it is to have uninterrupted power supply, something people in other countries take for granted. I think going solar is the best way forward for us here.

Ok!Sorry guys for the long read , however, Your comments, criticism, corrections and questions are welcome..

This set a gold standard for setting up a smart and energy sustainable home. Massive congratulations and thanks for sharing.

I never knew Amazon echo would work in Nigeria (does it have to be always internet connected ) also how did you setup your 10terabyte hard drive array? Are you use a turnkey device or built one? I hope to setup a media server with 10 tera but my aim is to use disk arrays setup to raid 5 for redundancy...That's will eat lots of 2 terabyte disks and would require a server with 10 disk drive bay. Kindly share.
FYI currently use kodi (formerly xbmc ) as media center. It is the project which Plex is based. Running for over 5 years now.

Day 3 with zero grid power ... My battery state of charge at about 7am after another whole night of use

bigrovar:
Day 3 with zero grid power ... My battery state of charge at about 7am after another whole night of use

which app are you using for this monitoring?

davodyguy:
Thanks, just that most fat heavy ones are from China and the slim batteries are US.

I was offered slim batteries at the rate of 110k each and the fat heavy ones at 90k each, so I'm wondering which is more durable, owing to the price difference?

What make are the batteries and are they sealed or flooded batteries?

Ferdiwar:
What make are the batteries and are they sealed or flooded batteries?

C and D technologies True front Access technology

If u've d funds...go for iron edison, LiFeO4, deka, quanta, UK zenith,Fullriver,sulkam in this order

davodyguy:
Thanks, just that most fat heavy ones are from China and the slim batteries are US.

I was offered slim batteries at the rate of 110k each and the fat heavy ones at 90k each, so I'm wondering which is more durable, owing to the price difference?