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solibayo:
IN addition to what the others have said. you said, you said you have 2 lcd tvs. lcd tvs are notorious power hogs, consuming >200w, unlike their led counterparts, that are <100w.

off the bat, i feel,
1.your batts may be bad/have been damaged by excessive draw down.
2. your charge controller is not configured properly or your panels , 11amps is too small
3. prag inverters are fairly reliabe, yours may be a case of installer supplying defective equipment from the get go
4. i see a trend , where many people dont come to this thread to ask pertinent questions b4 going ahead to hv an installer install for them, but then run here after problems surface -- by then its usually too late, and money is lost. best you come here and table your plans, we have reliable installer/sellers like zeestone, kiekie, etc who would sell and install for you, and also ensureyour load and system is balanced

HElP! HELP!! HELP!!!

Good morning house, please we are having serious electricity power challenge. What do I need aside generator to power my small laptop for 7 - 12 hours a day, 24/7? I mean something affordable o!

solibayo:
Gurus in the house...i need your opinion and help please

i paid for solar plus inverter back in January this year at a cost of over N700000 for which the installer supplied a 2.4kv prag inverter plus two GDM 200Ah batteries and three 300w flames mono solar panel with a roy solar controller so its safe to say that the installer made a very very good profit on my job because if I had bought all that myself and called him to just install, the materials won't cost me more than 525k as at then and am sure he can't charge me 200k for just installation

but i wanted to avoid issues so I let him buy everything and avoid "i am not the one that bought it, i just installed it" issues but unfortunately those issues i wanted to avoid
all came back now making it turn out to be the worst purchase i ever did in my life.

first off...i knew that solar was fishy as its mostly reading arnd 7 to 11A even under bright hot sun.

from day 1..i hardly got 20A charging frm the solar(frm my calc..900w solar should give upto 40A at 24v)...so even at full sunny day..once phcn doesn't bring light for a full day..inverter goes down arnd 6 to 7pm..now the solar charging is so bad that if nepa takes light frm morning, the inverter goes off mid day arnd 1-2 pm when the sun is at its brightest

just 6 weeks after installation, the useless prag inverter gave up..thats when i knew something was fishy 100%...the inverter would be supplying light to mains when in battery mode..had to take it in to warranty repairs.

now the inverter hardly gives 3.5 hrs backup down frm about 9 hrs when it was new in january(same load)..this is something less than 4 months old and has never worked for more than 7 weeks at a time without going nuts

usually nepa takes light by 12 midnight and bring by 4am....now even b4 4am..dis unverter would be screaming low battery and shutdown anything frm past 3am...just dissappointing for a setup costing over 700k

the installer is very nonchalant because i paid him in full so he doesn't seem to care. always forming busy and like he is doing me a favour to even respond to my messages

lesson av learnt so far is never pay any technician/artisan in full upfront and also never ever buy a prag inverter...never..dat brand is just useless!!!

can u believe that after the inverter packed up just 6 weeks after installation, it took this idiot installer another 6 weeks to show up and take it to the service center?

later...dey will say its village people when its just deir stinking attitude thats killing their prospects

if i had been on installment with this proud fool that installed this nonsense..he would have been forced to fix all this

now to why am here..any suggestions on how I can at least get arnd 6-7 hrs backup regularly?

because as it is...the prag inverter is crap(i mean i knw many ppl on luminous that has worked for years)

the solar is semi crap

now it seems the battery too is giving up

all these barely 4 months after installation that cost over 700k

ppl just don't have fear of God in this country

load is about 4 fans, 3 energy bulbs, 2 lcd TVs and 2 laptops

any suggestions on how to remedy this pathetic situation highly recommended!

thanks in advance

I feel your pain. It is to avoid situation like this that I decided to go the DIY route when I started my solar Journey. After meeting numerous installers and though I knew very little about electricity or solar.. I just knew some things were missing from talking to most of the installers. In the end I decided to bury my head in books and read my way into solar.. buying the components little by little. I don't even know where to start.

From all you have stated, the issue could be multiple but for the most part many things can be made good. First supply a picture of the installation to give us a better view of things. It would allow us see obvious issues like bad cablings or faulty connections. Next ask the installer how he connected the solar. Roysolar is favourite of most quark installers. It is a PWM charge controller - which is not all bad in itself if it is well connected to the solar panel. My guess is he connected the 3 panels in parallel which might explain why you are struggling to charge your batteries.

DUNKA:
bigrovar just curious on how the lightning strike affected your inverter. I thought you had lightening surge protectors installed?

Bros, I am yet to fully deploy lightning protection for the new house.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
So sorry for the issues your are experiencing - this is the typical experience of the average solar user who has had a sub-par installation foisted upon him/her - I would say the issues as described are mostly the result of poor design choices....

The improvements you may make;

1) Get more solar panels - an additional 5 units of Flames 300w Solar Panels to take your total array to 2,400W (8 pieces 300W panels). Under optimal conditions, your current 900W of panels will generate a max instantaneous 720W (900W x 80%) which is about 25A max charge (assuming 28volts average charging voltage over the course of one solar day). Your stated loads average 600W - if you were to put them all on during the day, your solar panels would not be making enough power to run these loads, hence you source the balance of your power needs off your batteries, hence your batteries conk off right in the middle of the day.

Taking your array to 2,400W guarantees enough power to run your day time loads even under average weather conditions and enough excess power to charge your batteries fully ready for night time use. If your day time loads are under 300W then you may get by with a 1,800W array.

2) Get a decent MPPT charge controller e.g. Fangpusun 80A (80A CC will help you squeeze max juice out of a 2,400W PV array with your 24v battery setup)- this will help you push max power into your batteries per time. I have a running joke that MPPT permits us to be lazy engineers - any average Joe can cobble together an installation using an MPPT CC and get decent performance, but it would take a really good engineer/designer to setup a robust and efficient system using PWM especially in a fairly large system.

If you are willing to spludge or spend for the long term, then of course you can buy a more premium CC e.g Midnite Solar or Morningstar.

3) You may ultimately have to upgrade your inverter and battery combo - the GDM batteries sound to me like your standard Sino-origin grey grade offering and you are definitely stressing them by running them down to 0% (you want to stay at 50% DoD limit if possible) and also presenting a C8 discharge rate at 600W load instead of a C20 240W load they were designed for is not helping their life - I cannot speak for or against Prag - I only ever used their inverter once and I was not particularly impressed with it as per build quality although the one I installed did not break or have any issues. I know for sure they can improve on their warranty and customer service experience based on other interactions I have had.

If you upgrade your solar panels and CC, you are looking at a 400k range spend - that will at least give you time to see that you now have a working system and then later you can upgrade your batteries if they prove to have gone bad. I'll leave what to do with your inverter up to your discretion.

Those are my thoughts - other people in the house will give you any additional perspective to help you return to a happy state.

Bros a 2400w for the stated load of OP don't you think it is quite over the top? especially considering the 700k he just spent? Myself I use 1.84kw panel with grid disconnected and that powers the whole house on a 24/7 basis (Including Fridge, freezer, washing machine, TV, lightning and fan at different set time point).. I think it is important to understand what went wrong with this installation before hitting the buy button. I started my solar journey with 2 240w panels and 2 batteries and even that was able to ensure 4 hours of 175l chest freezer time, and over night light use before I upgraded to 3, then 4, then 6 and now 8 panels with a combined power of 1.84kw. The loads specified by the OP are do not contain any inductive or every equipment like fridge or freezer.

I think it is important to determine what went wrong with this install, find a way to make his load more efficient. An efficient and optimised load go a long way in paying off solar investment much more than pilling on the panels. changing my inverter from felicity to ipowerplus for example improved my early morning battery state of charge to 71% from about 55% because the ipowerplus uses about 30w during dc to ac conversion while the felicity uses north of 58w. The 20w difference made a big difference. I intend to further reduce things by getting a rechargeable ceiling fan to replace the electric motor ceiling fan in the living room. The energy sayings from this 22k investment would be used in increasing the run time of the new smart inverter LG refrigerator to about 18 hours daily while maintaining current battery daily depth of discharge to 29-35% .. remember we are talking about 2 12v, 220AH indian tubular battery that are going into their 3rd year of service.

OP should post picture of his install let all see any obvious fault and make recommendation. If op is in abuja, I might even want to come and see things for myself (pro bono)

I agree that a picture or video of his installation would help us see any obvious flaws or improvement areas in his current install.

I recommended additional panels because I don't see how OP would use 900W of panels to both run ~600W of house loads and charge batteries at thesame time - especially his 900W of panels would make a max instantaneous 720W to 800W of power on a very good day.

In my quoted post, I recommended 2,400W of panels as panacea to definitively solve an aggravated person's household power problems nearly 100% of the time even in poor weather conditions i.e. provide enough power to run loads within 600W and also charge two deeply depleted batteries to full before the end of the solar day. I clearly called out he could get by with 1,800W if his day time loads were less than 600W.

Please recall he is using Flames panels which I would derate to 70% of nameplate based on my personal usage experience so his 2,400W would peak at 1,700W instantaneous on the average.

I generally won't bother an household consuming an average 600W of power per hour to drop or cut their consumption too much - this is not canon but personal preference/design philosophy. Within a reasonable range of power needs, I would focus on power generation but if you cross certain thresholds or there are constraints to generating the needed power, then I would start looking for energy efficiency opportunities.

If OP stays at an average 600W consumption, I foresee him needing four instead of two 12v 200Ah batteries to stay within safe discharge limits and at this time the [extra] panel capacity will come in handy - any excess power can go to powering OP's fridge or freezer and improve the quality of life for the family. Remember the additional 2 units of Flames 300W panels to go from 1,800W to 2,400W array and secure all these added benefits is an incremental ~100k at current market prices - extra cost to be sure but not crazy outrageous and definitely recommended to make a happy man of our OP who is currently very displeased that he did not get value for his money with the current setup.

bigrovar:
Bros a 2400w for the stated load of OP don't you think it is quite over the top? especially considering the 700k he just spent? Myself I use 1.84kw panel with grid disconnected and that powers the whole house on a 24/7 basis (Including Fridge, freezer, washing machine, TV, lightning and fan at different set time point).. I think it is important to understand what went wrong with this installation before hitting the buy button. I started my solar journey with 2 240w panels and 2 batteries and even that was able to ensure 4 hours of 175l chest freezer time, and over night light use before I upgraded to 3, then 4, then 6 and now 8 panels with a combined power of 1.84kw. The loads specified by the OP are do not contain any inductive or every equipment like fridge or freezer.

I think it is important to determine what went wrong with this install, find a way to make his load more efficient. An efficient and optimised load go a long way in paying off solar investment much more than pilling on the panels. changing my inverter from felicity to ipowerplus for example improved my early morning battery state of charge to 71% from about 55% because the ipowerplus uses about 30w during dc to ac conversion while the felicity uses north of 58w........

. ... OP should post picture of his install let all see any obvious fault and make recommendation. If op is in abuja, I might even want to come and see things for myself (pro bono)

room089:
HElP! HELP!! HELP!!!

Good morning house, please we are having serious electricity power challenge. What do I need aside generator to power my small laptop for 7 - 12 hours a day, 24/7? I mean something affordable o!

It may be cheaper to just buy a new laptop ( the new ultrabook type) which itself will last 8 to 10 hours .

If the laptop has a removable battery just buy one or two more batteries - The whole process of battery -inverter - power supply ( AC) - convert back to DC through Battery charger for a laptop is horribly inefficient

otherwise there are dedicated DC to DC power banks for laptops like this one -

https:///ct-mobile-laptop-powerbank-105-600mah-1926234

ZHC Battery Balancer Results

With the system owner's permission, I am posting some before (1st Pic attached) and after (2nd Pic attached) pictures of the improvements obtained from the ZHC battery balancer HA02.

The system owner had become concerned that his batteries were drifting apart over time and he purchased and installed the balancer. I chose this case out of many other success stories because he has a nice visual display for battery voltage state - 4 6v L16 US batteries in total with each battery having an individual volt meter connected (bottom 4 red LED volt meters) as well as a central volt meter for the entire battery bank (top middle blue color display)

These pictures were taken every morning and represent the state of charge after overnight usage - one week into using the ZHC battery voltage was more closely clustered together with some noticeable improvement in the battery bank health - overall charge and discharge were approximately thesame.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I agree that a picture or video of his installation would help us see any obvious flaws or improvement areas in his current install.

I recommended additional panels because I don't see how OP would use 900W of panels to both run ~600W of house loads and charge batteries at thesame time - especially his 900W of panels would make a max instantaneous 720W to 800W of power on a very good day.

In my quoted post, I recommended 2,400W of panels as panacea to definitively solve an aggravated person's household power problems nearly 100% of the time even in poor weather conditions i.e. provide enough power to run loads within 600W and also charge two deeply depleted batteries to full before the end of the solar day. I clearly called out he could get by with 1,800W if his day time loads were less than 600W.

Please recall he is using Flames panels which I would derate to 70% of nameplate based on my personal usage experience so his 2,400W would peak at 1,700W instantaneous on the average.

I generally won't bother an household consuming an average 600W of power per hour to drop or cut their consumption too much - this is not canon but personal preference/design philosophy. Within a reasonable range of power needs, I would focus on power generation but if you cross certain thresholds or there are constraints to generating the needed power, then I would start looking for energy efficiency opportunities.

If OP stays at an average 600W consumption, I foresee him needing four instead of two 12v 200Ah batteries to stay within safe discharge limits and at this time the [extra] panel capacity will come in handy - any excess power can go to powering OP's fridge or freezer and improve the quality of life for the family. Remember the additional 2 units of Flames 300W panels to go from 1,800W to 2,400W array and secure all these added benefits is an incremental ~100k at current market prices - extra cost to be sure but not crazy outrageous and definitely recommended to make a happy man of our OP who is currently very displeased that he did not get value for his money with the current setup.

I most have missed something. I did not see the 600w consumption. Indeed 600w consumption is insane! for regular house use (from my perspective sha) and would require quite a lot generation to avoid falling into energy deficit. My response was based on this...

load is about 4 fans, 3 energy bulbs, 2 lcd TVs and 2 laptops

pranil:
It may be cheaper to just buy a new laptop ( the new ultrabook type) which itself will last 8 to 10 hours .

If the laptop has a removable battery just buy one or two more batteries - The whole process of battery -inverter - power supply ( AC) - convert back to DC through Battery charger for a laptop is horribly inefficient

otherwise there are dedicated DC to DC power banks for laptops like this one -

https:///ct-mobile-laptop-powerbank-105-600mah-1926234

Thanks a bunch bro!

Someone just told me about MTN Lumous electricity, won't it be able to power my laptop and some gadgets for 7 - 12 hours a day, 24/7?

Ha... This is... page 404 ... It should be blank!

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

earthrealm:
solibayo:
IN addition to what the others have said. you said, you said you have 2 lcd tvs. lcd tvs are notorious power hogs, consuming >200w, unlike their led counterparts, that are <100w.

off the bat, i feel,
1.your batts may be bad/have been damaged by excessive draw down.
2. your charge controller is not configured properly or your panels , 11amps is too small
3. prag inverters are fairly reliabe, yours may be a case of installer supplying defective equipment from the get go
4. i see a trend , where many people dont come to this thread to ask pertinent questions b4 going ahead to hv an installer install for them, but then run here after problems surface -- by then its usually too late, and money is lost. best you come here and table your plans, we have reliable installer/sellers like zeestone, kiekie, etc who would sell and install for you, and also ensureyour load and system is balanced

Abi o, he shud v allowed reliable sum1 from d house here do d job, but they ll jst choose to go outside, nd later bring complain here,red flag was using Roy solar or Wat pwm did I see in d post. We shud b discussing more of how to improve RE, more efficient hacks on off grid or hybrids, high performance review etc by now...

solibayo:
Gurus in the house...i need your opinion and help please

i paid for solar plus inverter back in January this year at a cost of over N700000 for which the installer supplied a 2.4kv prag inverter plus two GDM 200Ah batteries and three 300w flames mono solar panel with a roy solar controller
...

because as it is...the prag inverter is crap(i mean i knw many ppl on luminous that has worked for years)

the solar is semi crap

now it seems the battery too is giving up

all these barely 4 months after installation that cost over 700k

ppl just don't have fear of God in this country

load is about 4 fans, 3 energy bulbs, 2 lcd TVs and 2 laptops

any suggestions on how to remedy this pathetic situation highly recommended!

thanks in advance

I am always saddened wen I hear stories like this particularly wen Being reapoff by horrible non solar installers. No wonder KOLN Solar guys call them 'cowboy solar installers' . I remember my first post here was similar to being ripped off too( thank God I detected early). So I feel your pain particularly wen you worked hard for the money and you believe solar is doable.

Not having engineering background I became diy from the foregoing, so you have a great chance to learn and with the good disposition of members of the forum, am sure your simle will come back.

However, I suspect HALF TRUTH statements in your story so far. For instance on your inverter / loads. You will know if your inverter has factory problem minutes of powering the setup. The hidden load that affected your prag can also prove difficult for it's replacement.

Sir
1. Yes you have 300w x 3, are they properly oriented? Esle they may perform like 80w panels thus low amperage.

2. I was seen as ' too know' wen I told an installer he was using the wrong cable for one 150w PV meant for a clock in device close to my office. You can see my laugh wen dey replaced last week with another similar AC cable. My point is that are you sure the proper cable was used for your setup?
3. Is Your CC correctly rated? With your load I have seen people enjoy their setup with Roysolar (as their bulk converter) as being observed earlier.
4. Are you located in the south or in the north ( because of hours of sunshine and cloud effect) my point is that you seem to be using same consumption day & night thus ur batteries are having a hard time completing their cycle. You may need to conserve energy at nite to put back during the day particularly if you are in the southern part.
5. You need a serious installer or good DIy close by to help you audit your setup. Do not be discouraged. Your on the bridge and will soon cross over to enjoyable land of RE/AE.

Cheers!

Hello house I have a budget of 350k looking for the best inverter and tubular batteries that will last. Planning to put up solar later. Inverter will be 2kva. Was checking out Indian inverters (microtek, sukam, luminous) until I saw their charging current and was discouraged. I'm currently eyeing icellpower but I want to avoid stories that touch pls help a brother with a good brand and good brand of affordable lasting tubular batteries too. My load will be about 300watts and I'm sure of 4 hours light daily at least at night. Thanks.
CC bigrovar et all help a brother
my email incase of contact namzynau@yahoo.com

kiekie1:
BONANZA SLASH - CALL US NOW

Canadian solar module 330w mono.... N71,000 N67,000 ... Quantity price N66,000

Contact :
Smartcell global services
081-350-31951

any 255 Watts in stock?

Perhaps 2 units of Luminous Inverlast Tubular Batteries (12v 220Ah) at ~110k each coupled with

1) 12v VilPower 1kw @ ~70k - 12v will restrict you if you want to go solar later OR

2) 24v 2Kva IcellPower @ ~90k OR

3) 24v Zinox IpowerPlus @ ~140k - already has a solar charge controller built in but nothing spectacular

Those are the first options that come to mind, other folks would know other good options - again you dont really need a 2kva inverter to run 300watts loads so perhaps smaller sizes?

If you choose a flooded battery please be aware that there is significant maintenance effort required - watering to keep fluid levels up, greasing terminals to prevent corrosion also a lot of washing and greasing for your hands and tools else the acid eats everything up - I suppose you could buy gloves but I haven't yet seen anyone who actually wears them while working with flooded batteries.

Namzy:
Hello house I have a budget of 350k looking for the best inverter and tubular batteries that will last. Planning to put up solar later. Inverter will be 2kva. Was checking out Indian inverters (microtek, sukam, luminous) until I saw their charging current and was discouraged. I'm currently eyeing icellpower but I want to avoid stories that touch pls help a brother with a good brand and good brand of affordable lasting tubular batteries too. My load will be about 300watts and I'm sure of 4 hours light daily at least at night. Thanks.
CC bigrovar et all help a brother
my email incase of contact namzynau@yahoo.com

DUNKA:
any 255 Watts in stock?

Good Morning Mr Dunka,
we have 250/260w respectively. If you are seeking for 255w spec in solar world , notify me personally ! Cheer's

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Perhaps 2 units of Luminous Inverlast Tubular Batteries (12v 220Ah) at ~110k each coupled with

1) 12v VilPower 1kw @ ~70k - 12v will restrict you if you want to go solar later OR

2) 24v 2Kva IcellPower @ ~90k OR

3) 24v Zinox IpowerPlus @ ~140k - already has a solar charge controller built in but nothing spectacular

Those are the first options that come to mind, other folks would know other good options - again you dont really need a 2kva inverter to run 300watts loads so perhaps smaller sizes?

If you choose a flooded battery please be aware that there is significant maintenance effort required - watering to keep fluid levels up, greasing terminals to prevent corrosion also a lot of washing and greasing for your hands and tools else the acid eats everything up - I suppose you could buy gloves but I haven't yet seen anyone who actually wears them while working with flooded batteries.

Thanks for reply i opted for 2kva with plans to add a refrigerator, 32 or 40 inch lcd or led tv and ps4 later with the solar. I read that tubular batteries are good for up to 8 years that's the main reason I opted for them. Because money is hard to come by.
PS it's really wonderful that you dropped the exact prices I've been seeing online. Thanks again for that

Boss those 'online' prices are actually the maximum that you should aim to pay. I was deliberate in putting up these prices as a guide so you wouldn't be shafted.

You should aim to reach out to the sellers you like on here and negotiate and get a better deal than online prices. Even with companies like ICellPower you can reach out to an internal contact offline and negotiate a better deal than the posted online price.

Namzy:
Thanks for reply i opted for 2kva with plans to add a refrigerator, 32 or 40 inch lcd or led tv and ps4 later with the solar. I read that tubular batteries are good for up to 8 years that's the main reason I opted for them. Because money is hard to come by.
PS it's really wonderful that you dropped the exact prices I've been seeing online. Thanks again for that

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Boss those 'online' prices are actually the maximum that you should aim to pay. I was deliberate in putting up these prices as a guide so you wouldn't be shafted.

You should aim to reach out to the sellers you like on here and negotiate and get a better deal than online prices. Even with companies like ICellPower you can reach out to an internal contact offline and negotiate a better deal than the posted online price.

Can i get the 2kva icellpower less than 90k? Do you have any contacts?

Should have gotten back to this group earlier, just been very busy.'

I was complaining before that my charge controller might be toast, because i had disconnected it from the battery in the day time without disconnecting the solar input first.

I am please to report that the charge controller made it

My batteries are still dead though, 200ah batteries have now become 10ah batteries

I suspect that it is due to the wretched inverter the installer supplied (soccer power ). Honestly, these installers don't really care about you, they just want to make a sale and that's it.

I have been doing alot of research on battery float usage and cyclic usage. In cyclic usage, it is recommended that you charge up the batteries to around 14.1 for gell and 14.4-14.8 for AGM batteries, before reverting back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8. The inverter that i have only does a float charge at 13.8, same with the charge controller. Both never hit absorb at all.

I bought a 12v inverter to try to charge each battery separately, up to 14.1volts, but it seems like it may be a case of "too little, too late"!

I don't have money now, so i will have to buy 4 cheap batteries in the meantime, cause there really is no use of buying expensive batteries when you don't have the right equipment to ensure that they are well taken care off.

My next upgrade after that would be to buy a Must 48v inverter that employs charging pertinent to cyclic usage, giving me the option to select battery type as well. That way, i'd be sure that my batteries hit the absorb voltage every night.


Thanks to all for the advice, you guys are really cool, knowledgeable and helpful. oh, i have now installed a dc circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller, so that i avoid any stories that touch moving forward

Boss. Bad as e bad that Yohako MPPT CC should be able to reach absorb voltage of between 14.1v and 14.8v - are you sure that you have sufficient PV panels capacity to run your house loads and recharge your batteries to full? That could be the issue here. Of course I know nothing about 'Soccer Power' inverter sha

As for buying grey market el cheapo batteries you would still buy four pieces yeah? Even at 70k for a cheapo 12v 200Ah battery do you really want to throw away 280k within one year? Better to just bite the bullet once and replace with the long term in mind - except you can lay hands on fairly used batteries in good condition sha.

NoMoreTrolling:
Should have gotten back to this group earlier, just been very busy.'

I was complaining before that my charge controller might be toast, because i had disconnected it from the battery in the day time without disconnecting the solar input first.

I am please to report that the charge controller made it

My batteries are still dead though, 200ah batteries have now become 10ah batteries

I suspect that it is due to the wretched inverter the installer supplied (soccer power ). Honestly, these installers don't really care about you, they just want to make a sale and that's it.

I have been doing alot of research on battery float usage and cyclic usage. In cyclic usage, it is recommended that you charge up the batteries to around 14.1 for gell and 14.4-14.8 for AGM batteries, before reverting back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8. The inverter that i have only does a float charge at 13.8, same with the charge controller. Both never hit absorb at all.

I bought a 12v inverter to try to charge each battery separately, up to 14.1volts, but it seems like it may be a case of "too little, too late"!

I don't have money now, so i will have to buy 4 cheap batteries in the meantime, cause there really is no use of buying expensive batteries when you don't have the right equipment to ensure that they are well taken care off.

My next upgrade after that would be to buy a Must 48v inverter that employs charging pertinent to cyclic usage, giving me the option to select battery type as well. That way, i'd be sure that my batteries hit the absorb voltage every night.


Thanks to all for the advice, you guys are really cool, knowledgeable and helpful. oh, i have now installed a dc circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller, so that i avoid any stories that touch moving forward

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Boss. Bad as e bad that Yohako MPPT CC should be able to reach absorb voltage of between 14.1v and 14.8v - are you sure that you have sufficient PV panels capacity to run your house loads and recharge your batteries to full? That could be the issue here. Of course I know nothing about 'Soccer Power' inverter sha

As for buying grey market el cheapo batteries you would still buy four pieces yeah? Even at 70k for a cheapo 12v 200Ah battery do you really want to throw away 280k within one year? Better to just bite the bullet once and replace with the long term in mind - except you can lay hands on fairly used batteries in good condition sha.

na real grey market batteries, hehe

I'm a 100% certain that the panels aren't the issue. Though the configuration of the panels could always be changed later on for more efficiency (i.e 3 in series as opposed to 2 in series as it is now), they are supplying enough for our needs. We have 2000 watts in nameplate panel power and on good days, I see above 20amps coming in.

For instance now, there has been mains supply for a while, so the batteries aren't loaded and are just charging, yet the controller never goes past around 55-56v, even with charging support from mains, via the 48v inverter. I don't even know if this thing does true mppt, cause most mppt controllers I've seen on this thread will show you the current hitting the controller and the converted current hitting the batteries. This one doesn't show you the current hitting the controller, only the battery, makes me wonder, like "what are you hiding" I'm sha okay with the controller and the power coming in, so i don't think i will change it.

I figured since i just bought a 12v inverter capable of reaching absorb, that if i bought new cheap batteries now, i could always disconnect and charge them individually with that 12v inverter, say, every 3 days or so, to make sure they are really charged to 100%, not the 100% the 48v inverter and controller display, which is really about 80% in my opinion. That way, I could ward of sulfation before it gets a chance to set.

You're right though, I may have to bite the bullet and change the inverter and batteries all at once, but man, that is a very salty and bitter bullet to swallow at this point in my life

so may go for cheap 50k, 150ah batteries and pamper them.

My last shot boss - is there a way to edit the Yohako CC settings? So you can change the absorb voltage setpoint?

Perhaps right now it is just working with default settings and they are too low for your application.

NoMoreTrolling:
na real grey market batteries, hehe

I'm a 100% certain that the panels aren't the issue. Though the configuration of the panels could always be changed later on for more efficiency (i.e 3 in series as opposed to 2 in series as it is now), they are supplying enough for our needs. We have 2000 watts in nameplate panel power and on good days, I see above 20amps coming in.

For instance now, there has been mains supply for a while, so the batteries aren't loaded and are just charging, yet the controller never goes past around 55-56v, even with charging support from mains, via the 48v inverter. I don't even know if this thing does true mppt, cause most mppt controllers I've seen on this thread will show you the current hitting the controller and the converted current hitting the batteries. This one doesn't show you the current hitting the controller, only the battery, makes me wonder, like "what are you hiding" I'm sha okay with the controller and the power coming in, so i don't think i will change it.

I figured since i just bought a 12v inverter capable of reaching absorb, that if i bought new cheap batteries now, i could always disconnect and charge them individually with that 12v inverter, say, every 3 days or so, to make sure they are really charged to 100%, not the 100% the 48v inverter and controller display, which is really about 80% in my opinion. That way, I could ward of sulfation before it gets a chance to set.

You're right though, I may have to bite the bullet and change the inverter and batteries all at once, but man, that is a very salty and bitter bullet to swallow at this point in my life

so may go for cheap 50k, 150ah batteries and pamper them.

davodyguy:
That's our number 6 Gas Station.

100% Solar powered. No single connection to National grid.

90-110KW from Station 1-6 in different parts of Lagos
Gennex batteries
Gennex Hybrid Inverters
Gennex Solar Panels

The panels are always placed on the forecourt Canopy

Where do your panels face (N/S/E/W)? Is it determined by the design of the filling station forecourt or you decide the design for them?

NoMoreTrolling:
Should have gotten back to this group earlier, just been very busy.'

I was complaining before that my charge controller might be toast, because i had disconnected it from the battery in the day time without disconnecting the solar input first.

I am please to report that the charge controller made it

My batteries are still dead though, 200ah batteries have now become 10ah batteries

I suspect that it is due to the wretched inverter the installer supplied (soccer power ). Honestly, these installers don't really care about you, they just want to make a sale and that's it.

I have been doing alot of research on battery float usage and cyclic usage. In cyclic usage, it is recommended that you charge up the batteries to around 14.1 for gell and 14.4-14.8 for AGM batteries, before reverting back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8. The inverter that i have only does a float charge at 13.8, same with the charge controller. Both never hit absorb at all.

I bought a 12v inverter to try to charge each battery separately, up to 14.1volts, but it seems like it may be a case of "too little, too late"!

I don't have money now, so i will have to buy 4 cheap batteries in the meantime, cause there really is no use of buying expensive batteries when you don't have the right equipment to ensure that they are well taken care off.

My next upgrade after that would be to buy a Must 48v inverter that employs charging pertinent to cyclic usage, giving me the option to select battery type as well. That way, i'd be sure that my batteries hit the absorb voltage every night.


Thanks to all for the advice, you guys are really cool, knowledgeable and helpful. oh, i have now installed a dc circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller, so that i avoid any stories that touch moving forward

This yohako does not perform like an Mppt Controller even though Mppt is written on it, we discussed this earlier on this thread, epsolar, fangpusun, and any premium controllers shud b ur choice of any Mppt.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Boss those 'online' prices are actually the maximum that you should aim to pay. I was deliberate in putting up these prices as a guide so you wouldn't be shafted.

You should aim to reach out to the sellers you like on here and negotiate and get a better deal than online prices. Even with companies like ICellPower you can reach out to an internal contact offline and negotiate a better deal than the posted online price.

Had a nasty experience with someone on this forum recently on his dubious online prices. Well, business integrity seems not to matter to some people sha!
A word of advice to all forumites: In an anonymous forum like this, big business can come your way from the most innocuous members since you don't know who they are in real life and you don't know who is researching you!

I have dismantled this yohako controller, it's not mppt. I repeat it is not mppt.

NoMoreTrolling:
Should have gotten back to this group earlier, just been very busy.'

I was complaining before that my charge controller might be toast, because i had disconnected it from the battery in the day time without disconnecting the solar input first.

I am please to report that the charge controller made it

My batteries are still dead though, 200ah batteries have now become 10ah batteries

I suspect that it is due to the wretched inverter the installer supplied (soccer power ). Honestly, these installers don't really care about you, they just want to make a sale and that's it.

I have been doing alot of research on battery float usage and cyclic usage. In cyclic usage, it is recommended that you charge up the batteries to around 14.1 for gell and 14.4-14.8 for AGM batteries, before reverting back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8. The inverter that i have only does a float charge at 13.8, same with the charge controller. Both never hit absorb at all.

I bought a 12v inverter to try to charge each battery separately, up to 14.1volts, but it seems like it may be a case of "too little, too late"!

I don't have money now, so i will have to buy 4 cheap batteries in the meantime, cause there really is no use of buying expensive batteries when you don't have the right equipment to ensure that they are well taken care off.

My next upgrade after that would be to buy a Must 48v inverter that employs charging pertinent to cyclic usage, giving me the option to select battery type as well. That way, i'd be sure that my batteries hit the absorb voltage every night.


Thanks to all for the advice, you guys are really cool, knowledgeable and helpful. oh, i have now installed a dc circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller, so that i avoid any stories that touch moving forward

NoMoreTrolling:
Should have gotten back to this group earlier, just been very busy.'

I was complaining before that my charge controller might be toast, because i had disconnected it from the battery in the day time without disconnecting the solar input first.

I am please to report that the charge controller made it

My batteries are still dead though, 200ah batteries have now become 10ah batteries

I suspect that it is due to the wretched inverter the installer supplied (soccer power ). Honestly, these installers don't really care about you, they just want to make a sale and that's it.

I have been doing alot of research on battery float usage and cyclic usage. In cyclic usage, it is recommended that you charge up the batteries to around 14.1 for gell and 14.4-14.8 for AGM batteries, before reverting back to a float voltage of 13.6-13.8. The inverter that i have only does a float charge at 13.8, same with the charge controller. Both never hit absorb at all.

I bought a 12v inverter to try to charge each battery separately, up to 14.1volts, but it seems like it may be a case of "too little, too late"!

I don't have money now, so i will have to buy 4 cheap batteries in the meantime, cause there really is no use of buying expensive batteries when you don't have the right equipment to ensure that they are well taken care off.

My next upgrade after that would be to buy a Must 48v inverter that employs charging pertinent to cyclic usage, giving me the option to select battery type as well. That way, i'd be sure that my batteries hit the absorb voltage every night.


Thanks to all for the advice, you guys are really cool, knowledgeable and helpful. oh, i have now installed a dc circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller, so that i avoid any stories that touch moving forward

Lol this controller again