₦airaland Forum

Hello everyone, I'm in a fix here and I need your inputs.
There's a 192v UPS but power supply is very terrible and I plan to install solar panels but I'm in a fix on what to do of the following options:

(1) Connect the panels and charge controllers to charge the batteries directly ie by connecting the charge controller to the batteries which then supplies power to the UPS for use. And is it advisable for the UPS to simultaneously charge the system anytime there's ac power supply in the form of NEPA or when generator is on during the day? OR
(2) To get an inverter and connect to the charge controller and supply the house; without batteries (all appliances are plugged to the US except lights), don't wanna get another set of batteries because the UPS battery bank is enough to provide all the needed power.


The UPS is 6kva and has 192v back up of 26ah batteries- 16 pieces- (16*12v = 192v) all connected in series.
If recommending to get an inverter, what rating will adequately power the 6kva inverter and charge the batteries?
The proposed solar array is 1000w.
Are there charge controllers capable of delivering 192v to batteries in Nigeria, how much do they cost?

I'll appreciate any replies and if anyone can propose another system configuration it will be given due consideration.

tayyibb:
Who is playing Ostrich?Do u even get the intolerance am talking about.Just think of it, is their any part of ur religious rite that is being jeopardise by how things run in Nigeria.
u hav Sunday as day of rest why not Friday?we are not having issue with this.
Have u ever been in a condition to chose between ur exam and ur prayer?never
These are what am talking about.Let us recognise the important of one another then peace will reign.

Christianity admonishes believers to worship God in the spirit at any point in time because God is in the spirit with every human.
Catholics recite the Angelus 9am, 12 noon, 3pm and 6pm daily without making a fun about it you know.
Please state how many times each of Christianity and Islam appear in the Constitution of this country.
Our problem is not tolerance or lack of it, it is moving focus from the important to the very intangible things.

We should separate state matters from religious matters if we ever want to achieve greatness as a nation.
In this country we hope religion to the extent we say opening and closing prayers at a meeting to steal public funds. I just laugh at the intangible things we make big deal out of.
Can we prove that mode of dressing in line with religious belief has an effect (direct or indirect) on the level of intelligence or knowledge absorption of students?
"Two wrongs don't make a right", but (Three left turns make a right turn) "The son that has decided to die in the dry season's mother shall not fail to bury him by the river side".
So I think when the whole system crumbles the initial mode of dressing will be returned to by all.
On a lighter note: or we convert to our native wear.

shamecurls:
Hello Guru`s

Will a 12volt 1.5KVA inverter be able to charge a 4x12 volt battery bank

Picture below

Note- I will be using point 2 and 7 as charging point

The diagram will result in a 24v system, your batteries should be 12v because your inverter also is 12v
Note: I could be wrong

akbahbah:
Bros how can I know if my solar panel is charging my battery looking at the charge controller display page. Nothing seems moving here. No arrow indication from panel to battery.

I assume your charge controller should have an indicator LED
Or the display should show battery State of charge.
Those buttons should help you navigate and view different information, try and go through the manual, it will help you figure out the operation and various display options of the charge controller.

ceaser:
Frankly, I think you are expecting too much from a modest system.

First, you shouldn't really toy with the idea of putting a hot plate/electric cooker on a solar system. A properly sized one can work, yes, and probably if we are a lot closer to the sun than planet venus, but that'll be great disservice to other important, less power guzzling equipments in your home that'll benefit from your harnessed power.

Even at the said location, the temperature will reduce panel efficiency... lol

Deeni131:
OK. Pls do u know the kind of panel I should go for,i guess it has to be small but what size and capacity?

What's d Watt rating and proposed runtime of your fan?
But I doubt your car battery will need more than 80w to charge it fully on a daily basis.

Deeni131:
I just wanna know how to charge my car battery, I don't need inverter. I'm gonna use the on my fan that uses battery. pls help. I'm I gonna buy just the panel and the controller?

Yes, all you need are panel and charge controller. With wire to connect them obviously.

ceejay80:
Ok...
But when u use upto 40% of the battery, how long does it take to fully charge back that 40% u used ?

I don tire for oyimbo theory, I wan do practical..

For my setup of 260ah battery, when fully charged can take my appliances days ,if I manage (putting of what I don't need)
Ur battery is 100ah and mine is 260ah , I will go for ur own setup cos its cheaper, it will give my 260ah battery the same charge it gives to ur 100ah, weda my battery is fully charged or not , the 40-80% charge it will give my battery is already ok to take till the next day ,until when sun light comes back , at least its better than not seeing nepa light in 3-4 days, but sun must come for another charge the following day,
I hope u guys are following?

If 200 or 150w mono panel. And 30amp solar controller charger can give a 260ah battery charge for alt least 50-60%. Charge for that day alone ,which u only need in the evening and night.
What do u think?

In theory
40% of 12v 100ah battery is 40%(12*100)= 480wh.
That means Elvis10ten uses about 480wh which he regains before noon.
So I'll suggest you calculate your daily wh consumption to have an idea of your daily need in order to size your panel appropriately.

superbouck:
one fan,one plasma television and one bulb one dvd/decoder:

Plasma television or LED? Cause plasma is energy consuming, try checking the Watt rating on the labels of those items, tat will give a more specific result.
Is the fan that big industrial OX or a small fan? But I'm guessing 1.5kva would be enough. How many hours daily do you want to run each item too, that will determine battery bank size.

superbouck:
pls like how much can I use to power my room

What's the proposed load and runtime?

superbouck:
Where can I get inverter in ibadan (just for a room)

Show the light... At Oke Padre (close to Salvation Army), actually there are several shop that deal in solar installation components on that street

officialfestus:
Thanks but the engine is rated 2hp (3600 rpm) small tiger generator engine it doen't consume fuel (2 litres do give us 6hrs of electricity)

I guess the alternator should be able to work at such RPM, having a perfect connection will be determine the level of success.

officialfestus:
(Am a welder but still schooling gaining addmision to enter aau next year by his grace to study electrical engineering) can i remove the (coil) in our small tiget generator and weld the car alternator to the engine because the engine is rated 2hp and i have did some research on google wachting how a 1hp dc motor pulling a car alternator to charge battery on youtube...... Pic below
Need ur reply @everybody

Here's my take
You have to lay great attention to detail so that
1) the rpm of the engine is not too much for the alternator
2) the charging current of the alternator is high enough for your battery best charging current
3)the shaft from the engine that will go into the alternator is absolutely straight.

But I don't see it as an economical project because you still need to get fuel to run the alternator in order to charge the batteries, the most important thing is to charge your batteries spending the smallest possible amount, hence GENCO (abi NEPA or PHCN) source or renewable energy source.

mmsen:
There are 7 billion people and rising.

If you wish to keep adding to that number then so be it but I do not want to hear such people crying about anything - be it global warming, desertification, urban sprawl, water scarcity, fuel scarcity, rolling blackouts, grain/rice/wheat shortages because all those things will be in your and your children's future(s).

It always seems as if the least intelligent, least capable human beings are the ones most eager to breed. Usually with no regard for the future, whether that be their own immediate welfare or that of their offspring.

True talk, you see people born and bred in abject poverty bearing the highest number of children without any efforts to save the children from the stronghold of poverty. It sickens me and makes me want to neuter some people (e.g. couple with 5 children living in single wooden room).
Back to the topic, some of these sellers know people tend to pity them and therefore extort indirectly, and there are some very unfaithful/ fraudulent ones- I once went to pick someone up at a toll gate and saw those hawkers billing different prices for the same item based on the type of vehicle the prospective customer was in/ driving and a friend once told me his experience where his sibling buys an item at a price and he was billed a different amount from the same seller when he drove there, on querying the seller about the price difference, she answered "how will I be able to buy a car too if I don't do such?"

Bottom line: separate emotions/ sentiment from business.

anochuks08:
I have this controller, it is not real mppt. These are cheap pwm that have mppt written on it.

Okay then... Thanks for clarifying based on your personal experience.

Valto:
this is not real mppt.. btw, there isnt much difference between mppt and PWM when using 1 panel.. mppt performs much better when u use panels above 400w.

Why do u keep saying it's not MPPT?
Google Wellsee MPPT30 and see for yourself.

laposta:
what's the maximum current of charging you have witnessed? If it has been a maximum of 11A, then it is not truly MMPT. However, if you have achieved a charging amperage above 11A (probably as high as 16A) , then I suppose it is truly MMPT.

Between, can you post a picture of your charge controller please? I'm looking to buy one soon.

My multimeter doesn't read current in DC

mukhcech:
Instead of the 1000w inverter, Can I use UPS to cut cost?

Sure! So far it's the same voltage with your battery bank and it can comfortably power all your appliances.

elvis10ten:
boss,
Is that inverter still working/serving you ?. Any issues with it ?. Your mppt charge controller price is great, did you test them to see if they were truly mppt ?. Thanks

So far so good, everything is working perfectly, I believe the charge controller is MPPT as stated on the carton, I don't know what type of test I can carry out to confirm.
The inverter automatically stops supplying power and the fault light starts blinking anytime you overload, it then rectifies after disconnecting the overload and restarting the inverter itself.

elvis10ten:
thanks boss. I think its best I go with mppt, rather than getting half of my panel power. Mind sharing your current solar setup and how much it cost ?

I'll have to refer you to page 44 of this thread... I posted full details and cost.

elvis10ten:
haven't gotten yet. Am thinking of buying two 50ah 12v battery and then connecting them in series. My reason/main concern is that the panels have a voltage (vmp) of 35v and from what I read online, cheap pwm controller can not fully utilize that much voltage for a 12v system (only mppt). So am considering building a 24v system (inverter, controller and battery). What do you advice ?.

Cc: Ceejay, other solar gurus

35vmp is voltage at maximum power, not the operating voltage, so I'm guessing it's a 24v panel.
Two batteries in series should perform well, the best charge controller is MPPT, and get a 24v type UPS to serve as inverter.

elvis10ten:
changed them to a brand new 200 watt mono panel.

Good decision. What's your battery bank rating?

odimbannamdi:
Yea, Ceejay80s utterly dissected the question. Meanwhile, what is the major difference between their terminals? also, whats the umbrella name of car batteries?

Car batteries have fixed terminals like we have always seen from time immemorial, deep cycle could have hole or bolt.
Lead acid battery is you only thing you will see on car batteries, inverter batteries will have additional labels, check ceejay80s' post on it again.

obimind:
That being the case, my battery bank is 400 ah in total. What size of charge controller will be okay for my battery if my panel rating is a total of 600 watts?

I answered this since the first time you asked and reply remains the same- 40amp. Here: www.nairaland.com/2428983/how-create-locally-made-inverter/59#45924182

breeze23:
Hello sir, how can i know the difference between car battery and inverter battery from it's label? Thanks

Ceejay80s provided a perfect answer.
In addition to that, the terminals of deep cycle batteries are usually different from that of car batteries.

obimind:
Presently my solar charge controller is 20ah pwm and I have 4 pieces of 150 watts panel. My battery bank is 400 ah. My question is this: is my charge controller undersize?

YES

obimind:
My installer told me that's I only need a 30ah solar charge controller when I am operating on a 3.5kva inverter system which is bigger compared to my present 1.5 kva inverter. I need more than on this pls.

Charge controller size is determined by battery size, it does not have anything to do with inverter size.

odimbannamdi:
So meaning the original poster is wrong in his assumption? as long as 2 batteries are involved, whether connection is in series or parallel, the power is usually double that of a single battery?

Yea, total WATT HOUR remains the same not minding how batteries are connected.

www.sleepinginairports.net/2015/worst-airports-world.htm
According to the above survey of world airports, it is the worst international airport in the world.
Take enough Bole, roast yam and fish oh.

officialfestus:
,e.g a two 12v 200ah in series still remains 200ah,but a two 12v 200ah in parallel connection is 400ah meaning i can get x2 of my formal series connection.

Cc: odimbannamd
Total consumption is in WH (V*AH) not AH, therefore running 2 batteries in series (24V*200AH=4800WH) provides same WH as running in parallel (12V*400AH= 4800WH).

obimind:
My installer told me that since my inverter is a 1.5 kva and a 400 ahms battery bank, I do not need a 30 ahms charger controller talk more of a 40 ahms charge controller. My question still goes thus: how many 150 watts panel do I need to charge my 400 ahms battery bank at maximum speed. I run on a 12v system. Answers will be appreciated.

Charge rate should be 10% + about 2.5% of battery amperage, so a good 40amp MPPT charge controller.
Three 150 watts solar panels minimum depending on how much ah you use daily.

officialfestus:
Yes they are 100ah wet cells car battery,thinking of changing it to a dry cell battery of 200ah each,the battery i said the seller wants to sell is a dry cell tipper batteries,sold @ 15k each.
Fairly used batteries are usually cheap in edo state,you can get a 100ah dry cell battery for 7-8k each,these batteries are tested&6 months warranty given to buyers....

Car and trailer batteries are different from deep cycle batteries. The Exide battery you posted looks like a 60ah lead acid car battery and the brand new of 75ah lead acid car battery goes for less than 15k the last time I checked (14th May, 2016). The cheapest used 200ah deep cycle that's been posted here was for 30k if my memory serves me well. Please double check label before purchase of the used batteries.

IMO, Lagos - Oore - Warri - Ughelli - Bayelsa - Port Harcourt is the best route.
@ respondents, it shows he's going by air, he made the post that he's embarking on a journey at 6:58am and says he'll be at the workshop by 10:00am.

obimind:
I have a 1.5kva inverter and 2pcs of 200 ahms battery. Recently I had to support my battery with 4 pieces of 150 watts solar panel and a 20 ahms pwm charge controller.My question is: how many 150 watts panel do I need to charge my battery equivalent to Phcn power?
2ndly I have this feeling that an mppt charge controller would have been a better option. Pls gurus in the house shld come to my rescue.

Are you running on 12v or 24v, if you are running on 12v, then your battery bank is 400ah,and you need a 40amp charge controller. MPPT is better