abunafiu: Akinade, thumbs up 4 ur latest installation.
I also need 2 apologise 2 d house for delay in posting pics of my new installation. Am having serious challenges here due 2 poor mobile network reception due 2 d location of d new site.. I'll need 2 post the pics when am in d office.
Meanwhle, akin kindly give d specs of ur solar panels, inverter and battery bank. Your initial post are not clear enough for me. Thanks. Congrats.

House, the used tellco batteries are not worth it. Pls always buy new ones @ totalgreen u are very correct.

Am modifying the initial spec. The point George raised is valid.
The array will now be 5.25kw
i.e 21nos 250w panels in a 3 x 7 array
The charge controller remains flexmax 80
The inverter is now tripplite 6kw/48v
Battery bank is 2v/500ah x 24

microgiant: George_D & others, Please urgent advice needed. Which of this would you advise buy
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=94
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=109
Note promo is on and end by 30th June 2013.
I'm planning to purchase the one in the first link, but don't know the added features/advantage of the second over the first

microgiant,
i think both of those inverters are one and the same. the only difference is that one is 2kva while the other
is 2.2kva. i will advise to go for the higher model (2.2kva). although the difference may not seem to be much
but i tell you 0.2kva can make a whole world of difference when the chips are down.

microgiant: George_D & others, Please urgent advice needed. Which of this would you advise buy
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=94
http://www.buyright.biz/index.php?module=product&event=viewdetail&pid=109
Note promo is on and end by 30th June 2013.
I'm planning to purchase the one in the first link, but don't know the added features/advantage of the second over the first

wouldn't advise any of the two, they both have simulated sine wave forms. First things I check in inverters are the wave form especially if it will drive electonics and input voltage incase of minimum battery requirement.

A word for wall mount inverters, they should be installed as far as possible from charge controllers.

I noticed huge flunctuations in the charging current displayed by my charge controller anytime the inverter is on and the batteries are been charged by the solar panels. I also remember reading something of this sort in the user manual of the inverter. I had to move the inverter away from the charge controller and the flunctuations disappeared.

I am expecting to take monitoring of my power generation and use to the next level with the Nemo d4 dc power meter complete with a 100Amp shunt resistor and its rs485 to ethernet adapter. I will share the pictures of the meter and installation when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

bodejohn,

good job. please keep us posted when you're done installing.

cheers!

a word from the elders. what's battery equalization all about. i believe my batteries are sealed and according to documents i have re d online, sealed batteries need no equalization. i did enabled equalization on my mppt . what do you have to say abt that. happy democracy day.

abunafiu: a word from the elders. what's battery equalization all about. i believe my batteries are sealed and according to documents i have re d online, sealed batteries need no equalization. i did enabled equalization on my mppt . what do you have to say abt that. happy democracy day.

pls hurry, and remove that setting.

u can only equalize flooded battery.

NB: there is some sort of equalization that can be done on sealed battery, all i think it does is boost it just and extra 1 volt(dc) above the regular charge, but you have to make sure you set the dip switch as stated in your manual, assuming you are using Morningstar, for other controllers i have no idea

A solar related joke for democracy day....
I was busy around my BATTERY BANK when my wife called 2 ask what i was doing,
i told her "dear, am busy with my battery BANK.
Later that night, we were discussing home finance,
my wife quickly reminded me that."dear pls let us withdraw small amount from ur battery BANK because ure always busy everyday with that BANK at least by now you would have saved enough".
Funny.

I know most women are jealous of us treating our battery banks like babies. Before going to work and when i return, i do check the voltage and temperature of my battery bank and my wife would say "i know those batteries are more important than me"....Dont mind her, after enjoying all the DSTV movie line up for the whole day without interruption from PHCN.

Thank God for solar, and God bless all solar frontiers on this forum. May we continue to grow in PV arrays and battery BAnk.
Happy Democracy DAY.

Thanks everybody for your replies.
I will follow bodejohn's advice.

SORRY FOR MY FREQUENT QUESTIONS ON THIS, BUT AM ALIL CONFUSED.
MY MPPT CHARGER is 45amps morning star, my panel is 250w x 4, my battery bank is 200amp x 2 [thoughmy long term plan is to have 4 units of 200amp]........so still on this circuit breaker issue......what rating should i get...for the breaker btw the panels and mppt charge controller and 2, for the breaker btw the charge controller and my battery bank?..am thinking of a 50amp breaker both places....but a lil unsure..so pls advice.


nb: the setup is for my folks in the village, just lights and tv, fan and maybe a small fridge - optional]

earthrealm: SORRY FOR MY FREQUENT QUESTIONS ON THIS, BUT AM ALIL CONFUSED.
MY MPPT CHARGER is 45amps morning star, my panel is 250w x 4, my battery bank is 200amp x 2 [thoughmy long term plan is to have 4 units of 200amp]........so still on this circuit breaker issue......what rating should i get...for the breaker btw the panels and mppt charge controller and 2, for the breaker btw the charge controller and my battery bank?..am thinking of a 50amp breaker both places....but a lil unsure..so pls advice.


nb: the setup is for my folks in the village, just lights and tv, fan and maybe a small fridge - optional]

The CB between the solar panel array and your charger controller might not be straight forward because we do not know what plans of expansion you have and how soon the plans will be actualized. But since your charger controller can only handle 45amps, i will suggest you protect both the upstream and downstream of the charge controller with a 45amp DC circuit breaker, please note the stress in the dc circuit breaker, it is different from the ones commonly available in the open market. It has to be specifically made for DC voltages otherwise, just use a cut out as once suggested by Oga George.

Dear friends, i successfully hit a major milestone in my quest for sustainable green energy yesterday.
I grossed a total of 2366 Amps in the month of May bringing the total harvest now to more than 10,000 Amp-hr in the first 5 months of 2013. I have now received about 240 Kw-hr of energy from the sun.

Meters reset again back to Zero...it's a new month!!!
Happy new month folks.

@All.

Guys are not smiling oooo. Had to share this. I came to lagos yesterday on a work related visit. Then today, i had cause to travel down to sagamu, ogun state (sado G.R.A to be precise). Guess what i saw?

A WINDMILL IN A PRIVATE PREMISES!!!!!!!

I was like WHAT!!!!!

It was a pity i couldn't get a picture as it would look really suspicious and it was a very big compound with the windmill at the back. And as their was no wind then, i couldn't see it in action.

Peeps are really taking the green/self energy generatipn to a totally new level altogether ooooo.


Regards.

bodejohn,
microgiant,

this may be late already but point of correction! all (and i mean all) pure sine wave inverters are 'simulated'.

years back we used to have square wave inverters popularly called modified sine wave. now these are getting
phased out and we now have pure sine wave inverters taking over. the pure sine wave inverter in essence is
just a square wave inverter whose wave form are simulated into so called pure sine wave by means of mosfetts
and a transformer.


fast forward to present day inverter technology:

there is now an attempt to replace the traditional mosfett and transformers with solid state devices which
do a better job of transforming or 'simulating' the square wave into a pure sine wave. these are called

transformerless inverters.

sunnyboy, exeltech, ingeteam, solaredge and a few other companies are all at the forefront of this innovation.

while not trying to hold brief for cyberpower, i think what you should rather be more concerned with is the thd (total
harmonic distortion) of the sine wave produced by any inverter of whatever brand. this is what determines
whether the inverter will efficiently drive your motors and power your heavy electronics. and it is
what also determines how much useful energy per battery dc input is converted to real power for your household.
for example magnum inverters are known to have a better (or purer) waveform, i.e less thd than even xantrex
which is the unofficial industry standard for domestic inverters.

for more on transformerless inverters, you can read:

http://www.homepower.com/less-more-transformerless-inverters

edited

1

Finished installation on last friday. Its been raining since then. Will post performance data when am back in lagos.

simply solar-stic!!!, ride on bro..u too much @Akanniade!

Akanniade: Finished installation on last friday. Its been raining since then. Will post performance data when am back in lagos.

I saw some shadows on the panels by the trees. You should try and fix this because a considerable amount of energy download will be missed.

bodejohn:

I saw some shadows on the panels by the trees. You should try and fix this because a considerable amount of energy download will be missed.

That is correct. I already cut off the offending branches.

@akanniade, congrats. The panel setup looks very professional. The battery bank looks good too. What the ah rating?

@George_D,

Long time how are you doing?

I can see you migrated from Sukam to Cyberpower Inverter. Whats the experience like with the Cyberpower?

And which will you recommend having tried both. Thanks as i await your response.

Cheers.

ile naira: @akanniade, congrats. The panel setup looks very professional. The battery bank looks good too. What the ah rating?

@akanniade : very nice...

akanniade,
i'm seeing your final installation pictures for the first time today. i've been so busy with work.

men, you're too much! this is simply beautiful!

congrats!

i'm sure your folks would really appreciate your going this extra mile to put a smile on their faces.

and, this is a gift that keeps on giving for the next 25 yrs!

cheers!

baba_egun: @George_D,

Long time how are you doing?

I can see you migrated from Sukam to Cyberpower Inverter. Whats the experience like with the Cyberpower?

And which will you recommend having tried both. Thanks as i await your response.

Cheers.

baba egun,

yes, its been quite a while.

ok, i've been going back and forth with cyberpower and sukam inverters for a while now. i did a six month
test run on cyberpower but now i'm back to sukam. i discovered i didn't really need the extra power that
the 5kva cyberpower was pushing out and decided to stick with sukam. maybe in the near future when i might
have a need for expansion then i could consider going back to the higher capacity cyberpower.

if your power needs are within the 2.5 to 3.5kva range, then i'll advise you to go for sukam inverters.
from my experience, they are more economical with battery power and seem to charge more efficiently. but if
your power needs exceed 3kva, then go for cyberpower. they are more power consuming and their cooling fans
seems to run endlessly unlike sukam which only runs intermittently when needed thereby saving much needed
energy.

hope this helps?

all,
over the weekend i installed additional solar modules to my existing array just to make up for the sub-optimal
orientation and quality/performance issues plaguing some of my old panels.

also i'm already indirectly preparing for the thick of the rainy season when cloud cover will be at its heaviest.

pictures to follow soon!

ile naira: @akanniade, congrats. The panel setup looks very professional. The battery bank looks good too. What the ah rating?

Thanks. This time I used scaffolding for the main support legs and clamped aluminium profile with U-bolt for the crossbars.
It was 50% cheaper than using welded metal work.
The battery bank is 24 x 2v/600ah, although its not new. Arthur gave me guarantee it would be ok. Am still waiting to see how well it performs. I have space constraint and cant stack battery cos the room is top floor. So battery of that form factor works best for me.

George_D: akanniade,
i'm seeing your final installation pictures for the first time today. i've been so busy with work.

men, you're too much! this is simply beautiful!

congrats!

i'm sure your folks would really appreciate your going this extra mile to put a smile on their faces.

and, this is a gift that keeps on giving for the next 25 yrs!

cheers!

Bros na so o, we have to spread the joy.

George_D: all,
over the weekend i installed additional solar modules to my existing array just to make up for the sub-optimal
orientation and quality/performance issues plaguing some of my old panels.

also i'm already indirectly preparing for the thick of the rainy season when cloud cover will be at its heaviest.

pictures to follow soon!

I hope you are choosing similar panels to the existing ones.

TotalGreen:


@akanniade : very nice...

Thanks.

Yesterday, i added 2 more 24V @ 120W panels to my existing panels. I now have 10 panels. My charging current increased to 33A from 28 to 29 average maximum charging current.
Observation: the temperature of my 6mm wire starts to rise which means am loosing current. I need to double the wire to achieve 12mm and then buy similar wire double it (12mm). Which means i'll use the old one as NEGATIVE and the new one as POSITive.
Am i making any sense at all.

oooh the panels are 120w 24v....wondering y u dont prefer the 250w 24v panels..they would take up less space...or is there any particular reason peeps are avoiding it?...i hv already ordered 4 units o!

earthrealm: oooh the panels are 120w 24v....wondering y u dont prefer the 250w 24v panels..they would take up less space...or is there any particular reason peeps are avoiding it?...i hv already ordered 4 units o!

am avoiding 250watts due to cost and secondly my supplier told me i cant get 250w mono crystalline. Transportation is also a major constrain as my car can easily carry 10 pieces of my 120w but i doubt if it can carry a single 250. I also think in future i'll have a car park space like akinade so these plenty panels would be useful.
But please, let me know if there is no harm if i eventually add 250w, are they compatible wit my existing 120w.