@Ikiriye
How can someone get this batteries? Is it sold in Nigerian domestic Market?

@aadewoyin
my brother i bought mine from a battery dealer at ikoku ph,i dont know how he got it sha but wen eva he gets it it comes in a crate of 12.i have deposited for the last 2 in his shop.reach me on ikiriye@gmail.com and how many u will need so i can tell him.

ikiriye,
what is the spec of these fiamm batteries, i.e voltage, amps, etc?

and at what cost per each or per crate?

2George D
the fiamm umtb batteries i bought at 38k with serious abeg and d man day do yanga.i have comfirmed the tin,it is really powerful
spec is 160ah volt is 13.7. weight is 66kg.u can google www.fiamm.com

That's not bad. Does he still have stock of these batteries?

@aadewoyin
the last 2 i have deposited for them.he has not gotten new set yet,but will let u guys know immediately he has.they dont com in like dat

ikiriye,
if a crate contains 12pcs then i might be interested in buying one crate instead of in pieces.

how much does he sell a crate for? kindly confirm. thanks.

@George D
Well he sells at that retail price of 38k,he does not sell it in crate.d battery is scarce not easy commodity.as i speak he just got some and only 3 is left.pple that knows d battery rushes it.

ikiriye,
ok, that is noted. maybe i need to call him directly and make reservations.

pls let me have his contact.

thanks.

@ George_D
hi. your post has been helpful. please I need a very good inverter that can power one TV, Dstv Decoder, two fans, three laptops, fridge and a couple of light bulbs.
I need an inverter that automatically switches off when fully charged. can i have a brand name as well as how many batteries i need to buy to power the above appliances. your help will be greatly appreciated. thanks

omonaija,
your battery bank will depend on the total load you want to power and the duration (hours/day)
you want to have them on. your inverter rating on the other hand will depend solely on total
wattage of your appliances you want plugged in at any given time.

without having the power rating of your appliances to to work with, i can only hazard a guess.

you will need an inverter of at least 3.5kva and a battery bank of 4 pcs 12v/200ah.

as for the brand, you can go for sukam 3.5kva (http://www.su-kam.com.ng/products.html)

or cyberpower 3.5kva (http://buyright.biz/productdetails.php?categoryid=c134&subcategoryid=&productid=p1137)

Does anybody know about Tec inverter?

Ameboperoo:

Does anybody know about Tec inverter?

ameboperoo,
tec inverters are a product of thermocool. they're relatively new in the market compared to
other tested brands. personally i've not used them so i can't vouch for their performance.

@George D
that fiam battery guy's number is 08033406634,i also saw a guy who has it relatively cheaper than this guy but i dont have his contact yet.get in touch with him and give me feed back.

@Ikiriye
Pls let us know when u get his contact.

@Aadewoyin
no problem i will cheers

ikiriye,
thanks for the effort. i will contact the man very soon.

also like aadewoyin try and get the contact of the other man. looks like its not only me that's interested.

Hi George and All,

Thanks for all the good advice you have been giving on this thread.

I have been using my inverter for a over 2 years and I am thinking of upgrading to solar soon.

My question is, can a 100 watts solar panel power a 60 watts DC pump.

Also, during the peak of the sun, is it possible to connect a DC appliances direct to solar panels without the use of charge controllers (That is when not being used for charging of batteries).

I have this idea that DC appliances consume less power than the same AC rated ones and I am thinking of how to maximise the potentials of the sun and best use of the panels.

obijack,
i'm happy that you're one of those who have tasted alternative power and has seen the good it can do hence your plan
to upgrade even higher to solar.

as to your question, yes you can use a 100w panel to power a 60w dc pump but it will be best to run it during peak sun output
like noon. For better results think of something in the range of 120 to 150w considering days of cloudy weather during
the rainy season.

then, it is never advisable to run your dc appliances directly from your solar panels. always take your dc power from your
battery to avoid damage to your equipment. i could give a full explanation here but i don't have the time right now.

and again, you're right. dc appliances are more energy efficient when compared to their ac counterparts.

best of luck!

Hi George,

ThankS for the reply.  I think I  may have to find a way  to change some of those  power hungry appliances  to  DC.  I was surfing the net and found there are DC  fridges and other dc powered appliances.

I am just  looking for a   way to maximise the use  of the power of my batteries and PV panels  and reduce the waste that occurs during conversion from DC to AC.

I have found out on the net that there so many ways to get by  and live a quality life even though  there is not much cash available to throw around.

Not to digress, but to inspire others  still in doubt about  alternative energy,

In late 2008, after so many months  reading your posts  and that of others in FTA and finally when thread was opened, I made up my mind  and went  for it with a 100ah deep cycle  battery which  I got for around N24k  then I  ransacked the storage area in my house and found an 8 year old UPS which I had removed the  7Ah battery and dumped.

Thicker and longer wire were attached and   that was the end of using my 950VA tiger generator (which  the mech I gave it to for fixing  after a year of non usage has converted to his own)

Anyways, I later bought a 50ah charger for charging the battery as the ups was not suited for such. Well I had other reasons for buying the charger and not an inverter which has long paid off and is still paying off as I type (severally my car battery had gone dead at home  and a 10minutes charge is enough  to get the car going and allow the alternator to do the rest.

So 3 years on and the battery is still working like  I just  got it. The down side about the charger is that it has no regulator  but it does have a circuit breaker which always  trips off whenever there is a power surge or if the charger is left  ON  when power is restored.

FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANTS TO TAKE A JUMP AT IT, PLS. DO.  IT PAYS OFF IN THE LONG RUN.

While my neighbors battle with their generators, I just smile within me and when they ask how much it cost to get the package and you mention like N50k for a start, you need to see the look on their faces. however one of them just bought another gen for  95K and he is already complaining  about how much petrol he uses every week.

Finally, (I know I keep telling this story but I just can't help myself, pls. indulge me)  The first day I was dragging the battery into our apartment  my wife  said to me  "U HAVE BROUGHT IN ANOTHER DUSTBIN AGAIN    'Abi').   Well to cut the story short 2 weeks later  the PHCN transformer in my street went dead for 10 months and within that time I was moving the battery to my office  for charging so we can use it at night (The heat then was killing) and whenever I say that I do have strength to carry the battery to the car, she will always say "LET ME HELP U DEAR". Also, my family became experts in power management. Never leave any lights ON unless you are there and really need it.

PS: With a 21" TV of 80 watts, 4 CFL lights of 15watts each and a KOAN decoder of 30wats, the fully charged 100ah battery last for upto 4.5hrs before  we go to bed with 2 standing fans on  overnight.  Honestly, you can't beat that and the automatic changeover  is second to non no matter what any one tries to say. 

THOSE BATTERIES ARE REVOLUTIONARY

@George D
i need to upgrade to solar,my propose battery bank will be 800-1000ah and load will be 600-750watts,kindly advice what qty of solar panels will i need ,charge controllers and possible cost implication thanks.

hi ikiriye,
congrats for choosing the wise option of going for solar. however, you got the wrong approach in the sense that when planning your system, its always better to go from the known to the unknown. that is, you start from your equipment load and use that to plan your battery bank. then your battery bank determines your optimal solar array size.

so using the right approach, if your looking at running a load of 750w (max) say for 24hrs everyday you will need a battery bank of 415ah. Allowing for more than one day of autonomy (say 3 days) will bring that figure up to 1246ah (450ah x 3), but you can do with only one day autonomy for a start as long as there is enough solar power to charge your bank during the day.

sticking to the 415ah battery bank, you will need a charge controller that can output at least 60amps at a go and that will be talking of either an outback or morningstar charge controller.

for the solar array size, you need at least a minimum of 3200 watts of solar panels but again this is not a fixed number as you can always start from any number just like i did. after you install the first one or two panels you see what a difference it makes to your power availability and this will encourage you to keep adding - in accordance with your financial abilities.

as for the cost, my advice is not to lay too much emphasis on that because the initial start up is always a bit high and that is what discourages most people. they only look at what it will cost them now but often don't realize that in the long run whatever they spend now will pay for itself over and over again in terms of cost savings of running generators and not forgetting the convenience that goes with having power available at the flick of a switch!

Hi George D,

Pls. advise. Is it possible to get a charge controller and connect my 50ah battery charger to it then to the battery so that it can regulate the charging of the battery or is there an external regulator that are sold separately.

Thanks.

The same ? I want 2 ask. If the charge controller can be used to charge a battery with the regular battery charger

@George D
what wattage of solar panel should i start with and possible cost plz

obijack & ameboperoo,
yes, you can connect a charge controller and a regular battery charger to your battery but i would advice to be careful here not to use just any battery charger. what you're talking about is a hybrid system (which is common to almost all solar power installations here). when the sun is up, the charge controller outputs charging current from the solar panels to charge the batteries and during cloudy days when there is no sun, you can use public power to charge the batteries using the regular battery charger.

i suggest however that rather than just connecting a regular car battery charger to your battery bank, use an inverter with charging abilities. they are more suited for that kind of applications and besides you have the added advantage of automatic change over switch built into them.

also, for a regular car battery charger, charge regulation is very poor therefore the risk of consistent over charging or undercharging is very high leading to early battery demise.

ikiriye,
you can start with two pieces 200w panels preferably sharp (but any other brand will do).

as at last check, a 200w sharp panel costs about 85k down from almost 180k less than three
years ago.

Thanks George for always being there.

Oga George you're too much. Thanks for the advise

George_D:

ikiriye,
what is the spec of these fiamm batteries, i.e voltage, amps, etc?

and at what cost per each or per crate?

Hello George, could you please email me the seller of the Zenith deep cycle batteries? How genuine and long lasting are these batteries? Email is educatedsoul@gmail.com. I need it asap.

vabrida,
i've just emailed the contact to you.

check your mailbox.

cheers!

GeorgeD and Ikiriye i think i need to join solar/inverter club now.