adibo:
Also, I am caught in two minds, between buying a 2.4kva 24v mercury hybrid inverter and buying a 1.5kva 12v Mercury hybrid inverter. I need it for lights, charging of laptops and phones, 120w fridge, 240w washing machine and 32 inch smart TV. I heard that 24v inverters are more efficient than 12v inverters. Also, I am just considering buying the 2.4kva in order to have extra space for more load in future. What is your advice?
cc mctfopt
cc isangjohnson
cc Obnoxious2001

Get 12V 1.5kva..
Parallel your 12V Lead acid batteries.
Better Idle Consumption..
Your continuous loads are under 300w

24V will force you to series and will eventually cause some issues in long run..
You will loss power to self consumption..

Your Next Future upgrade should be 48V or 24V.. 3.5kw and LFP batteries..

isangjohnson:

I'm not happy with the behavior of some installers.
Two months ago, dishtech whom I trusted was supposed to handle an installation for my client in Abuja but he went for outside work, which took him longer time to return to Abuja.
I came here and asked for an experienced installer and someone indicated interest and dropped his contact as well.
I called and linked him to my client. Instead of him to go and handle the job by himself, he sent his boys who didn't understand anything about the lithium battery, even as I was monitoring the installation through phone call to make sure all settings were done correctly.
I was surprised to receive a call from my client few days ago that the system had shutdown. I thought it was lvd disconnect. We called the installer and the installer still sent his boy, who went there and told me that the battery wasn't producing power.
I called Dishtech who went there and realized that the battery type was set to tubular battery and lvd was set to 40v. Meanwhile, I set the lvd of the lithium battery to 43.2v (2.7v each).
The installer has collected his money and the overall cost of repairs is on my head now.
SUBMISSION: We should be careful of those people we call for installations.

you and the installer ehn, he didn't confirm settings with his boys, and you also didn't confirm the battery profile while on call.
Like you said we just need to be careful.

dacool1:


You do think the CC regulates current flow at the initial stage especially when the battery is depleted? Keep on misleading him. Overtime his charging current would exceed the recommended limit. How do you think some of these batteries become swollen?

It does, provided you bought Orignal MPPT CC and Batteries.

With Good Charging Algorithm, where MPPT only pushes current based on Voltage.
Even LFP doesn't take Max Current unless you charge at very high Voltages which is out of recommendations.

The battery swelling was a result of the wrong charging Algorithm in some Inverters and Quack batteries.

icjunior:



What's a battery capacity metre please?

Check out this video.. Thats the device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5G0iR-kUr8

mikeayus:


You seem to be an installer, please what other things or accessories do I need to buy now to get it all up and running? a list of items would be highly appreciated. Thanks

You need Solar Cable, MC4 connector depending, if you are doing 2s or 1p, Roof Mount accessories.
AC/DC breakers, SPDs, change overs, Current limiters, etc.. Just call an installer closeby to carry out on-site assessment.
You already bought main things. Let the Installer recommend and buy the rest!

mikeayus:


Thank you, but I thought thats the work of using a MPPT CC that would regulate charge going into the battery.

Also, these loads mentioned would not always be powered on the inverter, It is planned to be a backup power system for few hours when no power from the mains

Boss, there is nothing to worry about, your set-up is perfect because you have enough PV and headroom for day usage.

Your batteries will charge adequately, forget about over-charging the batteries as the voltage goes up, charging current reduces, the batteries won't take much current from your PV. so your batteries wont swell. In bad weather condition you will be have 100% at sunset due to oversized array.

Go ahead and complete the installation. I have a similar set up for client.
Its even doing fine that I now have a new formula that its best to have enough Solar at least 1KW for 1 12V, 200AH Lead acid batteries.

I added Battery capacity meter for this client so he can see the SOC, he hardly goes below 50%.. and by 1PM he is at 100%.

1 Year plus running his Batteries did not overcharge, and batteries still have Full Capacity no loss.