boljamogun: @all

I have seen a Tripplite Power Inverter dealer in Lagos who has agreed to sell one brand new inverter Model APS 6048 VR (6000watts Inverter) for me at N335,000 (last price). Is it a good inverter suitable for Nigerian environment and Is it a good bargain compared with 7.5kva Cyberpower Inverter @ N350,000 (firm price)?

Please your comment is needed urgently before i made initial project investment mistake.

I attach the profile directory urls for the two inverters as follows to facilitate your advice:

http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtModelID=5067 for Tripplite 6000watts Power Inverter

http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=95&cid=6 for 7.5KVA Cyberpower Inverter.

Your contribution (preferred choice - with reason(s) - between the two named inverters) will be highly appreciated.

George_D: fedesire,
most of the questions you're asking have already been answered at different times on this thread. however, i will try and answer them again for your convenience.

1)4pcs of 12v 200ah batteries connected in series will give you a system voltage of 48v with a combined storage of 200ah. this translates to 9600wh (48*200). but you can only use a maximum of 80 percent of the stored energy (d.o.d) so you're left with 7680wh. therefore, assuming you want to charge your depleted battery bank from scratch with a 500w panel, it will take 7680/500 i.e 15.36hrs. but you can only have a maximum 5 or 6 hrs of sunlight in any given day, therefore 15hrs means almost 3 days of continuous solar charging. as you can see, a 500w panel will be grossly undersized for such a system. however, the good news is that you can always add to it as you go along.


2)the hybrid charging thing is by inverter installation and configuration. when you live in an area where you have at least a little public power to use and you also have some solar panels which can provide you with power during the day, your inverter will be installed and configured in such a way as to take advantage of both or either one power source when they are present.

3)when your batteries are fully charged, your inverter powers your house directly with the power coming from the sun. the battery power only gets used occasionally when there is momentary cloud cover and as soon as the sun is up again, the charge controller replenishes your batteries and the inverter resumes using the sun to power your house load.

4)if you plan to use about 700w for 8 or 12hrs and 200w afterwards, just take your average consumption over a 24hr period. this helps you know what your average use will be for the period and it also determines how much your batteries will be depleted which also will affect the charging time for the batteries.

5)yes, the voltage on the solar panels must match the battery system voltage. for example, your average 200w sharp solar panel is about 38v. you must combine 2 of them to give you 76v which is higher than 48v and this is good because you want the charging source (solar panels) to be higher than the source being charged (batteries). anything outside that and current will flow in the reverse direction and damage the panels. the inverter input voltage too must match that of the batteries. there are inverters built for systems of 12v, 24v, 48v, 96v, etc. same thing for charge controllers. however, there are inverters and charge controllers with adjustable input switches which do work across multiple voltage ranges.

i hope i have been able to help somewhat?

idsolar: goodmorning my people. pls anyone have idea of where i can get solar water heater and price?

BUTONEDAY: George_D,

What is the cost of one Zenith 260 amps battery?

sathob: Well, great people of FTA, I think I should start this on behalf of George_D because of the request made by others who have expressed interest in alternate electricity, especially solar energy. Our FTA independence is not complete if we are to suffer frequent power outages and been dependant on the nation’s electricity grid system always. I have read in this house many times, from members “PHCN don go off, so I will track later when they come back”. No one can run away from power outages in the main electricity grid – not even the west, it happens. Hence, we all should have alternate electricity and using renewable energy is, to me, the best. This means one can enjoy their FTA fully by being totally free and not “dom” (dominated).

Look at some advantages
• Lower or no electricity bills
• Compared to generator users, there is no fuel cost and stress of getting it and no fumes.
• People living in the remote locations where power is unavailable or too expensive to hook-up too can have electricity.
Just to mention but a few.

Without going into detail, one can enjoy electricity by means of using solar energy (energy from the sun), wind mill (using energy from the wind). Don’t forget, where there is frequent electricity supply from the utility company, you can store some energy for back up.

You will need the following to complete a solar project or back up.

1. Solar panels
2. Power Inverter
3. Charge controller
4. Batteries to store energy
5. wires and cables
6. Monitors/meters

The solar panel consists of cells called photo voltaic cells and these, covert the energy received from the sun to electricity in simple terms (this electricity is a direct current
d.c). The panels can last up to 20 years plus. The panels can be fixed, adjustable or of the tracking type. You can decide to go for a complete panel from manufacturers (already made) or build panels by yourself using solar cells- the latter is for the hobbyist. The panels are rated in watts eg 80w solar panel supplying 12v continuous at a given time

The inverter
Power Inverters are available in 3 basic designs, two of which I remember very well now – the one that out sinusoidal waves and those that are modified sign wave type (meaning not pure sine waves and do have limits when it comes to its application) . The power inverter converts your storage battery power into the 240 volts AC that runs your appliances. It is the heart of your solar energy system. Unless you only run 12 volt DC appliances you will need a power inverter to supply your AC. This is just the basics.

The Charge Controller
A Charge Controller is necessary to protect the batteries from over charging and supply them with the proper amount of energy to promote long battery life.

Batteries
Without Storage Batteries to store energy you would only have power when the sun was shining. There is a lot more to batteries than just the ordinary car battery. Yo may need to change batteries over the years.

Wires and Cables
Without the right size of cables, you are likely to experience inefficient transfer of power (greater losses) and overheating.

Meters
This is required to monitor the performance of your solar system.

Firstly, it is very necessary to know what gadgets you will be using (eg.tv, sat. receiver) and how long you will use how long you would have them on the solar power and how much energy your battery can store and which solar panel (rating in power) will supply the required energy.

A lot goes into calculating the cost of setting up a solar system. First one has to consider the period of usable sunlight available at their location to do this calculation. For us here close to the equator, we get about 7 to 8 hours or more of sunlight during dry season, just a rough estimate.

How do I know I need 100w or 80w or 300 watts solar panel for my project?

The power consumption of appliances is given in Watts. To calculate the energy you will use over time, just multiply the power consumption by the hours of use.

Eg. If I have 90W tv set which I want to use for 6hrs, 25W satellite receiver for the same period, and a 50W fan for 3 hours. What will be the energy required from the solar panels for the period?

1. the energy for each appliance is Watts x time (hours) = Wh

So, the watt hours for the tv = 90 x 6 = 540 Wh (watt hours)

Watt hours for sat. receiver = 25 x 6 = 150 Wh

Watt hours for fan will be = 50 x 3 = 150 Wh

2. sum the watt hours for the individual appliances ie. 540 + 150 + 150 = 840 Wh (watt hours)

This means that the solar panel will need to supply 840 watt hours of energy to the battery each day to cover the total power required by these appliances.

3. since there are bound to be losses in the system However, to account for natural losses, we multiply the result by 1.2 (this factor allows for natural system losses, assuming 85% efficiency). Therefore, we will assume the panels will actually need to be able to supply a total of
840 x 1.2 = 1008Wh

4. so, to supply 1008Wh of energy the panel we assume to receive 7 hours of sunlight will be rated at 1008 Wh / 7 h = 144W
So, I will need 144W solar panel to supply energy to my appliances above at the given time.

Regarding point 3, it also means, if I have a solar panel rated at 100W receiving sunlight for 7 hours a day, the total energy supplied considering 85% efficiency will be 100x7x0.85= 595Wh and not 700Wh

5. Your battery should be able to store 1008Wh of energy. Since batteries capacities are rated in Ah (Ampere Hours) you need to multiply Ah by the Volt rating to know the Watt Hour. Power(W) = Voltage (V) x Current (I) ; Watt hour = VxIxHour

Therefore Ah (which is I x h) = Wh / V = 1008 / 12 (the number 12 represents a 12v battery)
= 84 Ah

So it means you will need not less than a 84Ah, 12V battery (deep-cycle batteries, not ordinary car batteries) to do the job.

NB. Another way of calculating battery capacity is explained in this example. Should my battery be rated at 84Ah, 12V the watt hour (energy) will be 84Ah x 12 V = 1008Ah

It implies that the battery can supply a 150watt appliance for 1008/70 = 14hours

Pls don’t just play around with batteries they are dangerous.

George_D: ifedesire,
congratulations! you're actually on the right track. just make sure your 3.5kva inverter input dc voltage is same as your battery bank voltage and your good to go. as for the charge controller, 60amps is very much ok. its always advisable to go for such a high capacity so that there will be room for expansion in the future. morningstar and outback are one of the best in the market to date. and yes, 1000w solar array will shorten your charge time by half but it gets better in the sense that since you will installing a hybrid system (that uses public power and solar to charge) you may never necessarily find yourself in a situation where your battery power is drained to almost 80% d.o.d like the scenario i painted in the example. usually what you will find is that as long as public power is fairly available in your area, the inverter will mostly be used to charge your batteries while your solar panels step in on those few occassions when there is outage. again, with efficient use of your house equipments, your battery bank should never really be in the red under any circumstance.

lastly, you will need two change over switches. one for your standby generator and the other for your inverter. try and get an experienced electrician to install your inverter change over switch. herein lies the key to your hybrid installation! if you don't install it properly, your inverter cannot cut in when there is power outage and you will find yourself constantly having to manually go and turn on the inverter-which i tell you can be very tiring! and, of course it will not charge from public power as it was meant to do!

George_D:
@all,
in addition to the 6v 420ah trojan batteries and 295w canadian solar panels above,

there is a battery de-sulpahator on offer. it can be used to revive dead or weak batteries.
it is a must have for anyone using deep cycle batteries. check the link here:

https://www.battery-rechargeable-charger.com/Store/products-page/battery-life-saver/bls-48a/

price is 25k.

George_D: pdozie,
depends on the distance between the two but generally the advice is to keep them as close as possible like maximum of 2 feet.

for that distance, a 16mm cable should do just fine.