₦airaland Forum

we had to install a Midnite solar Lightning Arrestor the following day to avoid damage due to lightning and any other form of surge that could come through that path

We also do small systems for your information.

We did this installation for a client in Ibafo, Oyo state where there is no shore power at all.
The client already had a Sukam 1.4kva Inverter with 2 12V 200AH Sukam Batteries.

Our job was to add solar panels so we added

1590W Solarworld Sunmodule SW265 (6x 265W) Solar Panels
60Amp Morningstar Tristar TS 60 Charge controller (my most favorite cc)

With our professional mounts we were also able to do a reverse inclination on the north facing roof to 10 degrees south.
From the day we left that site till today the client home has been CHANGED to UNINTERRUPTED POWER HOME.

The run their normal life with 1 refrigerator.

Here is also a final installation pictures of an installation which i posted earlier when we were still in the process.

the composition is on page 89 of this thread.

The system was commissioned as a 3 phase system and working great with the Air Conditioners

For more pictures and other informations go to our facbook page 'PBASE Solar'

Finally, the Sunny Island SRC20 Remote mounted 50ft away from the system (inside the house) for convenient readings.

The Battery Fuse and a 600V 60A shunt which enables the Sunny Island to calculate accurate battery readings unlike other inverters that reads voltage which are relative values.

The Inverters and battery

Next the SMA battery and PV inverter.

Note: This inverters are IP59 ratings which means they can stand all weather condition, e.g rain, snow, heat etc. So they can be mounted any where.

For now I don't know of any other inverter that has this rating.

Next is the installation processes of the SMAs and the battery

Ok. Let me inspire you with some of our latest installations.

Here is one of my lovely installations in PH for a private residence.

Components:

7140W Solarworld sunmodule sw255 (255w x 28)solar panels
Trojan INDV17-6V Industral Batteries (8x 1202AH 6V Lead-Acid)
SMA Sunny Island 8.0H Battery Inverter (6kW Inverter/Charger)
SMA Sunny Mini Central 11000TL PV Inverter (11kW PV inverter with 4 MPPT Charger controller)
SMA Sunny SRC20 Remote Control

The solar panels were mounted on the North-Facing side of the roof with gradient of 43 degrees. We did our best to re-point the panels to about 5 degrees facing south using our pro solar mounts.

The part that interested me most is the fact that we were able to achieve a perfect 100% sun path on the panels as you can see on the shadow of the first picture.

The overall output efficiency of this installation is very impressive especially with the intelligence of the SMA system.

n/b: If you are looking for an intelligent, efficient and durable inverter and you are not struggling with cash, contact us for SMA. They are second to none.

c0ogumo:
More pics if the 6KW Xantex system
With 12 x 275W Solar panels
12 x 250W Renogy Panels


The Solar Depot Nigeria
www.solardepot.com

Nice one there on a difficult asbestos roof my brother.

durodee:
Bought roof mounts + six panels from Chief Richmond a few months back>>>.....The thing dey kampe for my roof now; no leaking, no shaking and very easy to install. You need to watch the video and have access to an electric drill to enjoy the installation. One of these days, I will look for a good network and upload pics.

You don't really need and electric drill because of the rigors of running cable to the roof. The battery powered drills are more flexible in these kind of applications. The DIY cordless drills are available commonly in the market for as low as N12,000.00 for the cheap ones and they work great. Depending on your roof wood type, sometimes you might need ratchet or socket and handle to finish up the roof bolts.

earthrealm:
searched on konga and jumia....saw this one...... input range 90 to 270..far beta than prag 140 - 270v
has anyone used this b4?

http:///servo-central-stabilizer-1222080

A little advice on these AVS ratings.

The power ratings on these devices are usually on best conditions. For example, a servo regulator that is rated 10kva is only able to handle that amount of power when all conditions are normal. that is when there's no voltage drop across it, i.e. when the input voltage is 220v and the output is 220v. If input voltage drops the conversion process also lowers its power handling ability. For example, at and input of 150Vac, a 10kVA Servo might not be able to handle upto 50% of it's power. This power Factor ratings is what the products manufacturers deny us.

That is why it is much more dangerous to use AVSs that has very low acceptable input voltage ratings like the one in my image below.

Now one way out is to rate your AVR 3 times the size of your load if you experience low voltage in your area.

One very big danger of stepping up extremely low input voltage is that you are going to incur excessive bill from PHCN. if you are using prepared meter you'll run out of crdt before you can say Jack Robinson because of the high current you are drawing.

The avr below is a 20kva servo in one of my installations and as you can see it could handle input voltage ads low as 67v and still gives out a reasonable 181v output . But it could barely carry 3HP airconditioner.

earthrealm:
@ cuoguomo, and richmon......the solar panel roof stands............are they diy?.....my panels are located deep in the villa, and ur coming to install it wudnt be economically rewarding, so am asking if its something a diyer can install himself after purchase, 6 panels

yes it it easy to install as it is shown on the video i posted earlier

GeorgeD1:
all,
just a quick update on my experience with lightning.
sometime in late february my system was hit yet again. but unlike the previous year, this time it came in through
the ac part of the system, i.e phcn lv wires via stabilizer to the inverter. even though i had installed a midnite solar
surge arrestor (mnspd115v) in december, it could do nothing to save the day as it was meant to protect only the dc
part of the system. so, ok the system suffered multiple strikes within a very short interval and although it put on
a brave fight, it could not withstand that many number of hits. eventually the magnum caved in and went comatose.
to say the least, i was devastated and didn't know what to do. when i installed the mnspd115v in december, i realised
that i needed to get the mnspd300v for the ac part of the system and had already planned on doing so later in the
new year but i guess mother nature wasn't about ready to wait for me as it struck at a time earlier than i had
anticipated.
with damage already in my hands, i became frantic. i knew i had to act fast before another series of lightning strikes
puts out the rest of my system for good. i reached out to my good friend richmon but unfortunately he was out of stock
for mnspd300v so i had to resort to plan b. while that was going on, i reached out to my dealer in ph and explained
the situation to him. it was a big relief when he assured me it was not a problem as the inverter could be fix. so, i
shipped the damaged magnum to him and he commenced repairs.
long story short: my magnum is back and as good as new! also i have learnt my lesson and protected both ac and dc
part of my system with respective midnite solar mnspd lightning arrestors. it is now goodbye to trembling and heart
ache anytime cloud gathers and the rains begin.
but what a costly way to learn!

Sorry Oga (in our own slangs)

Good to know you had it rescued.

There's no panic with Magnum if it is faulty. There are only two circuit boards inside it and each can be replaced with ease by any one. Either one of them is faulty at a time. One is the FET Board and the other is the AC Board.

The fault code on your remote will always give you an idea of which of the ccts is defective and its easy to change.

samnaija:
house need some help. if my energy estimate or consumption is 6000watts per day, what is likely going to be my battery size or bank that keep me totally off grid. also the panel size that that will keep every thing well charged. will really appreciate all assistance from you gurus....help.

Try and confirm your energy need is 6000wh a day and not 6000watts so we know how to guide you.

Also separate the energy usage in daytime and night time

Nigerians Have Chosen.

GIVE US BARABBAS

In the Holy Bible, in the book of John chapter 18 the people of Jew known as the Jewès had an option of choosing their king and meziah who was Jesus Christ and He was presented to them with so much plea from Pontius Pilate but they insisted they wanted a rebel and shouted to the top of their voices "Give Us Barabbas".

The interesting part of this story is that the bible says "it was so that the scriptures might be fulfilled". And because of this we have salvation today through the dead of the one they rejected- Jesus Christ.

Today, Nigerians have made their choice. The history is not knew. But I am persuaded that it shall be for the redemption of this nation.

Congratulations General Muhammadu Buhari

tivta:
.

Say what? 20kva? Just one question, will all the ac be on 24hrs a day and what are their capacities? What else will be powered 24hrs? Is it totally off grid? Ok I lied about the one question part(he is without sin cast the first stone) I await your honest reply as usual.

Yes Sir. Just one answer, the ac will be on 24hrs a day and they are 1.8hp each (the so called LG Inverter ACs). Its a data center so the servers and the routers/switches will also be powered. It is not totally off grid. There is a 100kva Gen stand by and would kick in automatically if by any reason the battery is depleted.

schneid:
Good job Oga Richmond. Just reading this though and I thank God the election wahala halted your installation because I would have missed out. I wish to see those SMA in action and the sunlock Mount installation. I hope to join you next week when work resumes. Cheerio bro

Hmmm.
The mounts and the panels have been completed. Its only wiring and configuration of the SMAs that is remaining

Akanniade:
Hello Richmond, nice project you have going on there.
But you need more than 36 pcs of the solar modules. That battery size is massive.

Yes Oga

36 255w panels is simply a joke for this batteries if they were to depend on Solar Panels only. To run this system effectively on solar panels alone it will require about 130 255w panels.

However, the system is a hybrid system and the installation includes a 100kVA generator with generator auto start system from the SMAs. Dont ask me too much question cos the design was handed over to me and I didnt have any room for adjustment.



I am still waiting for you to move to SMA though

The Election wahala halted our work today. We ended up just mounting the cable trays, webbox, control panels pv & battery fuse boxs and positioned battery in place.

Few hours wiring and configuration remains.

watch and like our facebook page for more pictures soon.

Next stage is wiring and configuration.

our contacts still remain:

phone/whatsapp: 08023033135, 08182218868
email: contact@pbasesolar.com

plz like our facebook page 'PBASE Solar' and invites friend to like it too and help us grow.

More about the recent installations will be coming up soon on the facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pbasesolar

SMA Inverters in place.

Who cares to join us in as we round off our 20kVA Hybridg System installation today?


Project config:

36pcs of SW255 (255W) Solarworld Sunmodule Solar Panels
Pro Solar Mount for 36 Panels
3pcs of SMA Sunny Island 8.0H Inverters
1pc of SMA 11kW Sunny Mini Central PV Inverter
1pc SMA Sunny Webbox
1pc SMA Control Panel
24pcs Hoppecke OPzS Solar.Power 3250 (3250AH 2V) Batteries

This system will be powering a data center with 6 air-conditioners.


Status:
Solar Panels mounting completed.

earthrealm:
hello house?..anybody used/using this new luminous 2.5kva inverter?........i need to know the charging current, and also see the display in action, if it displays batt status, batt life remaining etc

http://inverters.com.ng/Luminous_2_5kva_36V_Inverter-details.aspx

am in a dilenma, my present 24v 1500kva inverter's runtime appears insufficient for my load wch hovers btw 120 to 370w max.
so i want to upgrade to 3 or 4 batteries...but i feel the charging current of my present 1.5kva inverter is too poor to handle 4 units of 180amp/hr batt, so i need a smart upgrade, but my budget is tight and solar isn't an option.

i know trojan or magnum will meet my need but from my research they are too expensive.

If charging current is your need you can use any of those china inverters that looks like MUST Power. Maybe a 2kw Voltron, Powerstar, etc. They have good charging algorithm and as long as you don't put too much demand on the as per power they are great inverters. One very important thing to note; NEVER LOAD THOSE INVERTERS BEYOND 50% OF THEIR CAPACITY. They don't function well beyond 50% of their rated load carrying capacity. The output waveform becomes very distorted and that increases consumption from your battery beyond the calculated figures. I'll find time to write comprehensively on this some day.

c0ogumo:
I said Some calculations don't really apply in real world because we make so many assumptions when calculating Solar panel size and Battery bank size.

1. Power Consumption:
The power consumption on a TV may be 250W. That does not mean that the TV would consume 250W continuous. It may reach 250W at start up and then back to 200W.
Again for 30HP pump. We calculated that 1HP is 750W x 30 = 22500W. We dont know how old this pump is ....maybe the pump would consume more or less we don't know. We need to actually measure the consumption at startup and again after about 15 mins to actually figure out the consumption of the pump.
Some people may the thinking its good to over-design the system, Yes its good for a DIY/Small project..... but for 30HP pump running 24/7 thats not a joke.

2. Battery Sizing
So many labeled 12V 200AH batteries out there are just 150 or 160AH battery. I know the secret behind all these cheap batteries. The Chinese manufacturers add glass to the battery to make it the weight of a 200AH battery. How do we account for this in our calculation?.So people please watch out when picking your batteries.

3. Solar Panel sizing
The installation of your panels is another critical thing. It has to be installed correctly to make sure there is no shade. shade could reduce the energy harvest by 50%. Its has to be at the correct angle. How do you account for a 250W panel putting out 150W in your calculation.

4. Wiring
After doing a the calculations and thinking everything is correct, if you do not use the correct wire size, you wont get the desired output.

To round it up, all the assumptions we make when sizing our system is good if we are installing a small system. For a very big installation, everything has to be right or we could be throwing millions in the drain.

I hope this answer you question richmond74.
Guys please drop your comments

I wasnt asking a question though. I was just saying you should emphasize enough.
The actual application sometimes varies very well with the theoretical calculations.

c0ogumo:
@ Schneid

I am sorry to say but this is not a DIY installation.
Please consult a professional otherwise, you would be throwing money into the drain.
We do not know how you come across the load you presented...therefore, cant really say if your calculation is right.
Some calculations don't really apply in real world. You need to answer few questions before pointing you in the right direction.

Please use my contacts below.
Thanks.

Please can you emphasis this enough? I get so many wonderful calculations daily and they ask me to give them cost

DUNKA:
@Richmon thank u. I have received d items at Jos purchased from you. Hope 2 do more business with u very soon. Regards

Oh! I didn't even know you were DUNKA.
Thanks for your business though

hardywaltz:
Hello House,
I have followed this thread for quite a while and i had commented some time ago but it was lost when Nairaland got hit last year.

I have had my Bluegate 2kva (24v) inverter since 2011 with 4 x 200Ah batteries connected in series and parallel. So theoretically i have 24 x 400 = 9600watts.

My Inverter is analogue and has a 20A charging which i have noticed is inadequate for the system coz 24v x 20A = 480watts/hr
which means it will take about 9600/480 = 20hrs (on the assumption of 0% DOD). My constrain is that i hardly have NEPA lite and I put on my Gen. from 5pm to 1am each day (8 hrs average) but I noticed that it doesn't really charge the batteries.

I just changed all my four batteries (200ah/Bluegate).


So I am looking for a good Inverter brand with higher capacity of charging 45amps or more
with digital display to show the % charging and discharge coz I intend to increase my battery bank and buy solar panels in the next few months so the Inverter should be able to support the incoming system.
Also the Inverter would be powered mostly by a 5kva Generator. (for the mean tym)

Please I will need ur help guys.
Thanks

@richmond77
@Akanniade
@GeorgeD1
and all

Ps:
Some one is offering me a Voltron inverter with the following spec
:
Main Features:
Output Power: 2Kw
Soft start capability for starting heavy loads
New power factor corrected (PFC) charging
Durable construction for long life under extreme environmental conditions
70 amp automatic three-stage battery charger (bulk, absorption, and float)
battery equalization with remote temperature sensor for increased performance
Low idle current (less than 1 watt) conserves energy when no loads are present
Built-in starting control circuits for two- and three-wire generator starting systems*
New digital display shows kilowatts (kW) when inverting and amps (A) when charging
Better thermal performance allows full output power to 50°C (122°F) without de-rating
High surge capacity starts more difficult loads and handles overload conditions reliably
Simplified controls with a snap-on cover that protects settings from being accidentally changed
Durable construction for long life under extreme environmental conditions

Hi hardywaltz

For your upgrade you should be talking about 48V system no more 24V.
One observation,
No 5kva generator will be able to charge your battery at 45amp 48v and run your house load at the same time CONVENIENTLY. As such another feature you will need in your inverter which you didn't is variable charging current function

For my recommendation
Magnum MS4348PE will be the best for you. It's the cheapest of the inverters in its class and has all the features listed above and many more.
It is a 4.3kw inverter with a 55amps charging current.

Voltron inverters are in the class of MUST Power and powerstar which wont serve you well except you are fully dependent on solar.

bode4real:
Remaining rail for future expansion

Nice one there Oga bode4real

Your roof material most be of very high gauge for you to be able to suspend the roof mount (L-foot) on the ridge. Or else you could have fixed then on the trough. That would have ensured a firmer grip.

Congrats though and thanks for patronizing us.

Yes the mount is adaptable to any kind of roofing materials.
Yes it is easy to install (refer to the video link on page 79).
Yes it is collapsible for those in rented houses meaning you can move it anytime you relocate.
Yes anyone with a good technical ability can install it.
Yes we offer free after sales support.
Yes we offer professional installation services.
Yes the mounts are still available for sale.

Our contacts still remain:

Call/Whatzapp: 08023033135; 08182218868
email: contact@pbasesolar.com

these are the repeated questions we get daily. I am just trying to answer as many as I can remember.

adrusa:
Meanwhile if you have Outback gears with Mate 3, you can subscribe to Outback's OPTICSRE and monitor and control your renewable energy set-up on-line. I can now see if I have NEPA at home, how much power I have generated or generating, the state of my battery, inverter and charge controller. I can also start or stop my inverter from anywhere there is internet, I can stop my inverter from charging the batteries etc. Visits www.opticsre.com for more information.

This is a great device.

Magnum also have Magnum Energy ME-MW-W MagWeb which does the same job and the data is available at data.magnumenergy.com.

These devices are the same in prices but they don't come that cheap