₦airaland Forum

chris81964:
The batteries in the video are not mine. However we will be doing an upgrade in a month. I will put them up for sale

I'm on queue. Reserve one (1) battery for me, even if I am offline. I want to wait till the end of the year before selling off mine. I need to add one more to complete the bank. The battery would make the annoying alarm buzz go away.

chris81964:
Thank you bros. I did a new one today. Happier face today. I was able to run my 2 hp pumping machine for 5 minutes with only 400 watts coming from my PV. It is recovering slowly. I am not doing with them what I did with my T105's.

Would you by any chance be disposing of your T105 batteries?

GeorgeD1:
at the end of day one: back facing panels: 11kwhr
front facing panels: 10kwhr
total harvest: 21kwhr - solarworld!

Such a grand achievement. It is difficult not to aspire for more, considering your laid down pace. Kudos!

mank1234:
https://m.aliexpress.com/amp/item/32810512997.html
If your question is choosing btw PHCN and inverter output with phcn priority. Use above link.

If however you want to be on solar(or inverter) at specific time, say day time and switch to PHCN after sunset consider attached image for setup.

The link for timer and contactor that can do this is as follows:
https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32762997458.html

https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32613347337.html

Note: in the image the load can be more than the fridge so long as current drawn is below (contactor rating divide by 1.25)

pranil:
I prefer to USE the Single Pole MCB and contractor built in instead of one single contactor. This allows you to force individual loads or circuits to stay on NEPA or inverter if you choose or switch by timer based on your usage .e.g. weekdays keep fridge on Inverter as teh afternoon load is small when kids at school. Weekends Frdidge off but TV on inverter . Added advantage is you just replace the existing MCB no Seprate DB requited or create a DB with Rows of MCB saving space and money

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MKWCT-25M-Manual-220V-240V-Universal-Home-Household-AC-Contactor-Modular-Modulus-25Amps-2P-2-Two/32671904971.html?

The two quoted posts above are good examples of why I love this thread and the people on it. Don't you just love the info available at your fingertips?

dapsyra:
True to it, the marketer turned around and offered me the batteries at N50K each! Of course, I declined and drew his attention to the fact that he purchased at N20k each. This is how middlemen cause inflation and damage the economy.

Surprise, surprise. Why didn't I see that coming?

bodeface:
@SAIPRO, you are very detail and so knowledgeable in this trade, do you have a coy, do you manage design and installation of the Solar systems, kindly let me know we might be able to do somethings together

Yes, part of a partnership. I've been fortunate to speak to a few of the lead engineers. You'd be surprised at the doors curiosity could open.

You could reach me via email. We'll trade other contact details thereafter

Mine is Saipro2000 at yahoo dot com

lucky4u1:
practically u are to subtract 45 or 65watt worst case from each Solar Panel so as to get the true power under 32•c this is always the case for all Solar panel.

Could you please explain the figures and the 32^oC? My panels reach scorching heat in the sun (gotten burnt once or twice by absentmindedly placing my hands wrongly).

GeorgeD1,

I got your email but have been unable to get a reply across to you. I could be reached at Saipro2000 at yahoo dot com

bodeface:
Team,

Please, without considering the cost, which MPPT Charge controller is the best in the market among; Midnite classic solar 150 / 200, Outback FM60 /80, Tristar MPPT 60A, Schneider Xantrex 150V / 600V, Magnum, e.t.c in terms of best solar harvest, durability, flexibility, extend-ability remote accessibility and e.t.c

Which maker or model is the best.

Thanks

No such thing as a best, as your requirements and application would determine utility.

For the commercial versions:

- Xantrex followed up from Trace and is pretty good. Perhaps the cheapest of the lot.
- MorningStar MPPT is touted as having the best DC-DC converters (their SureSine inverter is literally unbeatable in efficiency, sorry for digressing)
- Magnum is touted as having the highest amps output. New firmware upgrades keep improving performance. Lots of input from Outback and Midnite (as developers).
- Outback is largely the brainchild of the guys who developed Xantrex. Lots of improvements and tons of new features.
- Midnite. The self-acclaimed industry standard. Has a few features not seen in others. Guys who developed the Outback went on to start Midnite. Pretty pricy too.
- Then there's SMA, odd one out of the top players but pretty nifty too. Prefers to work alone. Or be boss when working with others.

That's the evolution. Also, pricing tends to follow the ordering in the list. Where MorningStar excels at DC-DC conversion, Outback and Midnite excel at tracking the maximum power point. You decide which is more important to you (I prefer tracking here because of the rapidly changing insolation levels from cloud cover interference).

PS: You are most unlikely to fully utilise the potential of either Outback (FM series) or Midnite (Classic series) charge controllers. What are you really looking for (asides reputation and stability)?

Reprobate:
omo mehhn, really though the LG inverter fridges were super efficient, after seeing 28w sticker on one of them..
as per the freezer, guess I will go for either the 100w Samsung as stated by justin288 or go for the haier thermocool. Haier is a tried and tested name in cooling, lg and Samsung are just newbies...
make I go chk the price of Samsung, ..Samsung things sabi cost shaa.

@juo 50w after 4hrs, do you think the compressor kicked off?..if so methinks its high with compressor off.

also both LG and haier freezers claim to retain the cold/temp for 4 to 5 days after phcn is off, can someone confirm if this is true

Cycling loads (especially thermostat regulated ones) are really difficult to put an energy estimate figure on because they might consume their max nameplate rating till the thermostat kicks in (whenever that is). Then there's the surge to deal with each time they start up again.

I have a freezer which consumes roughly 360W on startup and 300W a few minutes later. From then on, consumption is highly dependent on how cool the interior is. Somehow, the more items frozen in it, the less energy consumed (seems somewhat logical), right up until the thermostat kicks in.

And manufacturers often list nameplate values for ideal operating conditions - oftentimes a far departure from real world conditions.

Saipro:
I have a few new units of Midnite Classic 150 and Midnite Classic 250 KS (the one that charges up to 120VDC bank ergo 155VDC) up for grabs.

O8O396I2I47 is the number to call

Two units left

I also have three units of the regular Midnite Classic 150. They are leftover stock from an installation which had to be downsized. Brand new and still in their original packaging.

I have a few new units of Midnite Classic 150 and Midnite Classic 250 KS (the one that charges up to 120VDC bank ergo 155VDC) up for grabs.

O8O396I2I47 is the number to call

abunafiu:
So many questions have been asked both online and offline about my 16 units of T105RE Trojan batteries.
Yes I have had some bad days with them. I had to retire 2 units when they were reading as low as 4v each.
I then connected 2 panels in parallel (200w/24v panel) to the batteries for almost 3 weeks. The highest I got was 14.7v.
Remember that I reconfigured my system to 42v which made my inverter cry low voltage all night.
Problem now started afresh when I noticed my Batts were low on distllied water and decided to top it. The whole system just start to misbehave. I almost gave up on them.
I then reunited the 2 units back to the system.
I was depressed by the whorible performance of the whole system. Imagine a battery bank you charge to 59v and absorbs for 2hrs+. Under a load of 1 fan, 1 TV , 1 fridge (less than 200w)...you will discover that by 8pm the battery is reading 49.5v. Before 49v was my battery voltage by 6am following day under same load. By 6am now, my battery reads 48v and most times less. All these events were recorded after topping up the water.
I just took k heart and began to use all I can generate per day.. That was d reason for my increased daily harvest I posted Few days ago.
Out of frustration I then read a post on an online forum where some one wrote that we (flooded users) we're mislead by the battery manufacturers with respect to charging algorithm especially for off grid applications.
The guy recommend higher absorb voltage and time. He never stated what voltage setting to adopt. But in my own case, I adopted 62.5v absorption voltage for 5 hrs( which means it's going to Gas all day).
After 4 days of using this setting I began to observe improvement since yestday that I had the courage of adding a small chest freezer to my load. In short the performance is encouraging.
Note: the 62.5v absorption voltage is a temporary setting which shall be reverted to 59v (Trojan recommended) when I achieve satisfactory performance and then hope to repeat this for 5 days in every 30 days to serve as equalisation.


This long story is to give every other silent Trojan user hope just like sir Chris AWPS always say. He said all you need to do is equalise them. But honestly I have been equalising with no result.

Maybe my new method might work for others too.

Pls remember to share your thoughts on this as well.
Cheers.

NB. When is the best time to top up with water. Trojans are known to drop in performance after topping but in few days (usually less than a week) it gets back to full performance.

I have been a bit busy. Was gonna call you directly but I figure we all reference this forum so I'll post here instead

- our Trojan T105-RE use 62V for equalisation (48V nominal bank). Means you went on a 5-day equalisation crusade. I've tried it before and the results weren't what I expected. A bad cell is really difficult to revive once it's dead. The grim news is, the bad batterie aren't long for this world. The good news is 42V works, if you can beat the annoying alarm buzz. Also run heavy loads during the daytime if possible lest the initial surge trips the low-voltage cut-off. I have a second work around which we could discuss privately. I hope to be in town this weeked so we could hook up.
- I personally use 56.4V to 57.6V as absorb for best results. 56.4V during the rainy season and 57.6V during the hazy harmattan. It took a lot of fraternising with guys who had used the T105 (regular GC2 batteries) for 10+ years to understand a few but vital differences between off-grid and grid-tied (or grid-supported in our case) use.


In addition:
1. The best time to top up the FLA batteries is after a full charge (termination of the absorb charge)
2. The best time to equalise FLA batteries is after a full charge too (termination of the absorb charge). Because of the limited hours of sunshine, I do bulk charge -> equalisation too; it's a necessary trade-off at times. However, it defeats the purpose if you're trying to revive dying cells in a battey bank. Your initial technique of isolating them and bringing them up to speed first, works better
3. Equalisation is hard on batteries so minimise how often you do it lest you drag down the better batteries in a bid to bring up the bad ones

abunafiu:
17.6KWH harvest today from my set up.
RE rules.
My house is the only one with light in the street.

Cool. That's the way to go. I suspect you leave the air conditioning on for long. 17.6kWH is a lot to consume (hence the need to generate that much).

dapsyra:
So, the figures are for the output of the CC.

If you have never seen above 25A output from the CC going into your 48V battery from 2,340W (9*260w) array, then something is not optimal.

Either there is an issue with the panel installation/cabling or your overnight usage is so small that your CC is throttling down in order not to overcharge the batteries.

I strongly suspect the panel position/angles are not optimal. Seemingly common. Cable size and length are just as culpable.

chris81964:
Good Morning Folks,

I hope my message meets you well. Please if you paid someone else to install your solar power for you, don't ask me for advice on fixing it. We charge a fee to diagnose problems on bad installations.

If you are a DIY'er I am very happy to answer questions and offer advice.

There is a clear difference between the two. I do solar for a living and if you are willing to patrnonize someone other than me it is your right. However if you want a performance problem diagnosed it is a minimum of N7500. And if it is an unusually bad job that fee is double

I couldn't agree more

abunafiu:
I was on the phone with w nairalander yesterday morning. I was shocked when he told me about the sudden death of 3 of 16 units of his flooded L16 Batteries.
Is it that we are doing something wrong.
Sir Chris, I appreciate your feedback. Let's see the video once it's ready.
I just feel we need to identify what we are doing wrong so we can improve on our past error.

Anyway, if those batteries were sold for the prices we got them in 2014, one would have replaced them all without hesitation.
Na recession cause all these talk talk.

I don't really think so. As you are aware, 3 of my 8 batteries were defective ab initio. The one with the worst defects gave up first. From extensive reading and conference with people who've been using solar since the 80s, I would say we're doing everything right. We need better batteries.

I am yet to receive a single complain from any of my US Battery users/clients. Fresh stock for each one. Me thinks:

1. Our Trojans spent a wee too long in the warehouse. We have no idea of how they were maintained or bulk charged (3 of mine came with swollen terminals and buckled plates).
2. No need to reach float everyday so long as you can hit 90% daily. 100% charge twice a week is adequate.
3. Do not keep them under 50% charge for any length of time.

Golden rules:
4. Single string rules! If you must use multiple strings, connect them all to a busbar. More than 3 strings is considered poor practice.
5. For FLA, be mindful of electrolyte levels
6. For FLA as well, check SG at least once a month for the first 6 - 9 months so you get a feel of which batteries might give issues.
7. Routinely check terminals for dirt, corrosion and loose connections. How often is up to you

Finally:
8. Learn your charging voltages for your batteries. Overcharging is nearly as lethal as undercharging.
9. If you wouldn't be using your batteries for a while, find a way to trickle charge them to maintain them in float. Or since Nigeria is smack in the middle of the tropics, bulk charge them every 30 - 60 days.
10. Oh, I almost forgot: if you your batteries are constantly warm to hot, there's a problem. True, you get more kick out of warm batteries. They also die almost twice as fast. Shorts, overcharging, loose connections, etc. Whatever the case, investigate fast, especially if a single battery or two are warmer than the others.
11. I have been told that it's also good practice to occasionally take your batteries down to about 50% and bring them back up soon afterwards. There's supposedly another that of hard sulphation which occurs with frrquent shallow cycles. Do that perhaps every 2 - 6 months. At least once a year. You stand to gain a lot more than you stand to lose. If you routinely discharge 30 - 50% of your capacity, this advice isn't for you.

What else? Let everyone else contribute. I'm sure there are a lot of "green scholars" here.

kiekie1:
HURRY ! DISCOUNT SALES !!

Perlight mono panels
Hoppecke 12v 250a monobloc deep cycle sealed batteries
Solar world modules
Genus batteries
Solar roof mount accessories
Mppt solar charge controllers
Solar panel cables
Solar panel installation accessories;improvised combiner boxes,programmable timer switches,watts meters,mnspd surge protectors,DC breakers etc
Prag products rebate prices
Must power inverters(arriving soon)
Yachi panels (arriving soon)
My home panels. (arriving soon)

See signature or profile for contact number !

Prices?

abunafiu:
For over a week now.
Ilorin sun has been smiling at me. My daily harvest is now 14 to 15.5kwh daily with my 4kw @250w poly panels.
2 weeks ago, I will shout if I hit 12kwh. I almost felt my panels are going down.

Saipro how far ur side?

Finally ve united my Trojans. Back to 48v set up now.
So I now discharge gently.
Since I am 100% off grid. Saving for additional 1kw to hit 5kw PV strength.
After then start saving for battery replacement.
Not sure if I would love to have a repeated flooded experience.
What about you?

I think I might have too many panels. Despite maxing out my opportunistic loads, I still hit [b]Absorb[/b]by midday and begin wasting power by 1pm latest. If I manage to max out from dawn, I get up up to 12kWh. That's a 3kW PV array. Yours is a notch higher. Means if you max out your loads, I'd expect no less than 15kWh from you. Means you're doing great.

On a brighter side, I can leave my cooling systems on from 10am till 4pm. From then till dawn, the fans take over but the walls would have cooled sufficiently to make fans a bliss. And my gas cooker is suffering some disuse atrophy since my acquisition of induction cookers.

Sadly, I haven't been able to restore my bank to a 48V nominal run. Still using a 42V bank. How/where did you get batteries?

PS: Unless you'd be assisting your neighbours, me thinks a 5kW PV array is an overkill. Even on cloudy days, I now do great. I have exceeded the 10 - 13% cost efficient charging capability and pushed my limits to 19.4%. At times makes me sad seeing that extra power going to waste.

kiekie1:
Eco mode LED TV's are generally energy efficient .. 55inch full hd android LED TV in my sitting room consumes 91w(42a) max , and 87w min operating watts .. While the smaller bedroom 24inch full hd LED TV's consumes 20-22w(10a) max. This results are far better than plasma TV energy consumption ! In situations like this whilst on solar , get a watts meter for accurate load watts reading and size up your battery bank properly for longer battery LIFE ..

47" LG 3D SMART LED TV
32W at lowest consumption. My best TV investment ever.

32" Sony Bravia LCD TV
47W at lowest consumption

LED wins, always (the 47" is almost twice the size of the 32" even though the figures don't make it apparent)

dapsyra:
I have a lot of opportunist loads that I run during the day like Water Heaters, Water Pump, Fridge, Freezer, Induction Cooker, Iron and Aircon.

My entire house is 100% off grid between 8am and 4pm. After 4pm, the Aircon, Iron and Induction cooker revert to grid power while the Water Heaters and Water Pump remain on Inverter power but are switched off. Fridge and Freezer remain ON on a two hours alternating cycle till 8am

I have a 20KWH battery bank from which I draw not more than 7KWH overnight.

Nice one. I run a similar opportunistic load consumption. My consumption rarely exceeds 10kWH/day though I hit 12 - 15kWH/day at times. A 10.8kWH battery bank (225Ah x 48V) though lower now - one battery died. 3kW of PV panels. Loads go off at variable times typically 3 - 5pm. People at home know how to gauge the power generation hecnce power down early, should the need arise.

It's beautiful, belonging to the "green" family.

Next project is the solar water heater.

JUO:
you don't need inverter. Just get dc bulbs, cc with dc load or digital timer, you are done

Won't even need a timer switch if the CC has load control, like the Ep Solar MPPT controllers (IT3415ND, IT4415ND and IT6415ND). The periods it powers the DC loads on and off are programmable. You could even run multiple time schedules or base it on sunlight times.

bigrovar:
Una don the see the secret behind my battery pampering .. even am away on travels.. security lights in my house do their thing.. come on at night, go off at dawn. Even the outdoor Christmas light runs on solar.. I nor fit shout..

Below are 2 crude videos I made from my phone showcasing some of the functions of the BMV victron battery monitor


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTvvPg_z8MI


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8tkdHXoCkM

I have an EPSolar IT6415ND 60A MPPT. Bought it for a job but retained it when the deal was cancelled. It powers security lights. All my bulbs (inside and outside) are LED (did the swap about 2 years ago; swapped out my 5 - 6 year old CFEs) but all floodlights are DC (10 - 30W LED). That way, even when the inverter goes off, they stay on (the few nights I actually use grid power and the grid still fails me). The load feature is set for 7am - 7pm so they're more or less automated too.

I have 2 infrared ones but they're retired as they rarely come on (I placed them in places with low traffic previously and found them idling perpetually).

GeorgeD1:
harveyspec,
i tend to avoid mercury products generally. a couple of years ago they had this
reputation for being substandard and that really put me off.
maybe over the years they have improved in quality but i guess first impression
lasts longest.

I'm with you on that

cooldipo:
Pls we need more contributions to this issue of limit pose by charge controller rating. In my case, I have a 12V inverter set up and a 30A Epever Tracer charger controller with 3 units of 150watt mono panels. The Max Pv input power is 390watt(12volts) 780watt(24volts) for the cc..... I was tempted to add one more panel even though the Maximum Power current is about 8.5A per panel. I wanted one more panel if 150watt for obvious reasons......bountiful harvest on days with less solar radiation which my supplier gave a nod to but my installer here gave me the scare that I run the risk of blowing up my cc with the extra/over current...... Pls help me out with informed opinion. Thanks

I have a Midnite Classic 250 capable of accepting up to 250V DC without issue (actually 298V DC, considering HyperVOC). That means it will take 7 of some panels in series (like mine), 6 of most panel types and 5 of some really high VoC type PV panels. It does up to 80A output current. It's most important attribute (to me) is its ability to handle a 120V DC battery bank. I really don't know of any other commercial charge controller which does that. Expectedly, it costs a fortune too. Had to source for one in other to uniformly charge a client's battery bank which consisted of 12V 200Ah batteries (x 10). Settled the issue of uneven charge or one CC going into float while the other was in absorb (happens, even in networked clusters).

The Midnite Classic 150 which I use has HyperVOC of up to 198V DC and operational limits of 150V DC. Means you won't damage your CC when feed voltage from the panels exceeds 150v DC. Excellent for maxing out the power gotten from your panels on one CC alone, assuming you've based you're PV array on the 72 - 77% NOC values.

richmon74:
Hi guys

It's been a while.
Good to see a lot of good stuff happening in this thread.
Obviously this is one thread that spells the future. I have tried to scan through most of the pages though unable to get into details. I've come across some very interesting discussions and some very funny ones as well. Some of them which i feel like responding to but when i look at the date i just think the sleeping do should lie.

The most interesting thing to me is that many have become renewable energy owners through this thread. God bless the founding fathers.
I'll be making my contributions as usual very soon and introducing new products as time goes on.

Over the years we've experimented on various designs and materials and i think its time to share the knowledge with the great people of this thread.

Congratulations to most people who have become solar power installers with the help of this thread.

It's nice to have you back.

The words in bold ... regardless of how far back the post might be, you might have different (yet better) perspective than was presented at the time of discussion. Kindly highlight your observations and if possible, discuss them. Every day is a good day for learning. Thanks!

Refa:
Hi all,
I came across this and thought it will be an interesting read for the house.
http://blog.evandmore.com/lets-talk-about-the-panasonic-ncr18650b/

These are the same batteries in the Tesla vehicles & power wall, the Volt and the leaf use the LiFePO4 pouch/prismatic cells which is recommended by a few in other forums as it offers more cycle life than the 18650 batteries (Tesla battery). All these batteries have their down sides and advantages; Pb acid batteries won't burn your house down but the the lithium ion batteries have the potential to do that if the right charging parameters are not observed. That being said, if the favorable lithium ion charge/discharge parameters are observed; the cost per kwh in the life of the Li ion battery is cheaper than the Pb acid batteries.

The ruggedness of the PbSO₄ is its main appeal. The light weight and ability to sit for long without a trickle charge are my own merits for even considering Li batteries. As you've said, they're quite liable to start fires (seen that with smaller ones in laptops and phone/laptop power banks) and have a low tolerance for heat despite the fact that they heat up quite easily.

GeorgeD1:
all,

those rooting for lithium batteries should know they have limitations too.

for instance, they don't handle overcharging very well and you'll have to
install additional voltage and charging current controls that you don't need
when it comes to traditional lead-acid.

bottom line, do your research very well before throwing your money away.
google is your friend!

I have no problem with overcharging as Midnite CC's are quite adept at handling almost anything thrown at them. I've actually run an experimental system before and this is what I can tell you - LiFePO batteries are prone to charge imbalance. If uncorrected soon, the beginning of the end sets in. And no sir, you cannot equalize. I had to invest a little (translated as reasonable sum) to get balancer/charger combos to keep things in order. This much trouble over a single string setup. Imagine if I had parallel strings. Asides that singular shortcoming, they're probably the best thing since pants were invented.

PS: I have a lot of cordless tools using Li batteries and yup, you guessed it, the batteries are the bane of their existence. Next thing you know, they're crazily out of sync despite silly complex boards in the battery packs themselves. Seems those things are good only for shutting them down when one discharges too deep hence killing the whole pack. And to prevent overcharging. The previous NiCd batteries were much less of a hassle (zero maintenance) but required frequent recharges. Heavier too.

abunafiu:
Time to review the performance of Trojan batteries. Installed mine in June 2014. I just retired 2 units out of 16.
I now run a 42v system. Had to tweak my cc to effectively work at this level (thanks to Saipro).
My inverter now beeps Low Battery alarm for almost 24hrs.
Considering all I have read about Trojans especially about maintenance, I feel it's too early (abi na recession cause am).
Brothers in d house, let's see how well your Trojans have served or is serving you.

My system is a smaller version of yours. A few months younger too. Deliberately designed so we can have fair comparisons over time and if possible, chart a roadmap for reference - the Ilorin perspective. Incidentally, I run a 42V system too, one of my T105-RE Trojan batteries having given out prematurely (it had defects ab initio). My inverter is the RE version of Abunafiu's own so the high and low alarm points are higher and lower respectively.
Undeterred, map charting continues and we shall soon have a reference guide for running sub-optimal setup (salvaged systems so to speak). Game on!

Refa:
Thanks to you all. I really feel at home here. I started with a 2000W 24V cotek inverter, a 30A Stecca PWM CC, 4X410AH (6V) battery, and 1400W mix solar panels. I need only lights and a few fans at the time for the place since I was living there less than half there only half the year at the time. It worked out well till battery maintenance started giving me issues. I had a few guys I had trained to do the maintenance, but neglected to do as long as they had lights. I sold most of my items to friends and family, used some to batter trade for building materials and when I replaced it with my current system; 8x430AH Crown Batteries, 3xMorningstar 60A MPPt CC, 1 Magnum 4448MPAE, 15x435 solar panels (these are rebranded Sunpower panels). I use the batteries for only Funs, TV, Lights in the night. The AC can be used during the day for about 4 hours and I do washing and ironing only during the day. The Fridge and the Freezer are on timers so they come on at 6:30 in the morning and go of at 7PM. The batteries are always are always between 50.8 and 51.2V in the morning. 2x35w flood lamps are on through the night and 6x35W flood lamps with motion sensors and photocell on all the time. I wired my place 110V since am not on the grid and most if not all my appliances are from the States. The 110V appliances also deters theft in my absence.

How I love the statements in bold. You're my kind of guy.

DMerciful:
Low voltage

On point!

earthrealm:
lets not be carried away by panel qty, but by total combined wattage.
some installers like buy and installing the 80 or 100w panels...saying its more efficient..blah blah blah, my pal has 33 panels of 100w each..totaling 3300w, my 6 panels of 250w is almost half of his installed capacity. i prefer higher wattage panels, i setttled for 250w. and not 300w cos i wanted to strike a balance btw weight and size.

@georged1 and other pros.....whats ur take on the installers talk abt 80w n 100w panels being more efficient?
if u do the maths sef...they are more expensive!

I have a potential generation capacity of 6kw (current installed capacity is half of that). I use almost exclusively 250W panels. I've used them so often, I know most specs as well as the dimension (which is uniform as an international convention, by the way).

Why 250W? For most manufacturers, 200W - 250W is the sweet spot regarding Energy cost/Watt. And since they're large, fewer connections and fewer installation accessories. I'd generally recommend not going outside those panels unless you have other (space, utility, etc)