babniyen:
Good morning house, I am being offered considering a 100ah 24v Lithium battery as a replacement for my 24v 200ah Lead acid. I want to know if it will standup to the same service levels.. Thanks

be careful bro, 200ah 24v lead acid is far higher in capacity compared to 100ah 24v lithium.
don't get sucked in by the lithium hype.

eleojo23:


@the bold
Did you really mean C100 or you meant to type C10?

yep bro. that isn't a typo. i meant exactly c100 as against c20.
if it was a c10 being sold off as a c20 battery, of course the customer would be the one at an advantage.
curiously, same trojan has a c100 battery with glowing capacity rating and non-savvy peeps might be tempted
to rush it thinking it is a good bargain. not so at all.

earthrealm:


Care to throw more light, as i had a different opinion as well, till i saw the trojan batt writeup.

bro,
firstly, we all know that c rating (as regards battery capacity) is the safest maximum continuous discharge rate the battery
will support.
a carefully calibrated load is applied until the voltage gradually depletes to 1.75v/cell (lead acid) or 1.0v/cell (nicd/nimh)
and 3.0v/cell (for li-ion}
having said that, while i wouldn't want to pick holes in trojan's claims, i do understand that battery c ratings and capacity
are not cast in stone.
for instance take the case of two batteries with 200ah c10 and 200ah c20 respectively. the first battery with a capacity and
rating of 200ah c10 may turn out to be actually 250ah when discharged at c20 depending on battery chemistry and quality
of materials used to produce it while at c100 it could go higher to 320ah in capacity as an example.
i do see most of our sellers here bandying all sorts of batteries for sale. they put out a lot of info but leave out the most
relevant which is the c rating of the battery. i guess they are either ignorant themselves or perhaps they are feeding fat on
the ignorance of potential customers. if i buy a c100 rated 200ah battery unknowingly thinking it is c20, i'm invariably
buying a 170ah battery. no wonder many peeps here keep complaining of dead battery after just a few months of usage.

earthrealm:


The difference is marginal though, a 220ah @c20 rating is almost same as a 200ah @ c10 rating

this is not entirely correct bro...

eleojo23:


Okay, after serving for 4 years, I think it died a natural death. Except for premium brands, most of the batteries on the market don't last up to 4 years.

brother,
batteries don't die a natural death necessarily by swelling up. i think op should carefully investigate why his battery
got swollen in the first place else any other replacement will suffer the same fate.

ojeysky:


The freezer is consuming less than what my Kazeem fingered 219L was consuming. I still miss the buzzer sound feature on my turbo 219L which was not in the 379L

lolz, bro!

i hope this your frequent reference to kazeem will not anger a few ones on here who might
actually have that as their given birth name

Digitman,
You're doing well bro. Keep the flag flying. One love

adubam:


I know a lot of names here that are in the Telegram Group. Compare the rate of activities before and now you would understand what I meant.

I am not here to give any link. Seun should try and either upgrade Nairaland or sell it to investors that will make it up to modern standard.

That was on a lighter note, bro.

I seriously agree with you. Nairaland is overdue for a makeover but I think Seun is trying to be overly conservative.
Recall that in 2014 the website suffered a massive attack that brought it nearly to its knees and I guess he is just
being careful not to allow that happen again...

ojeysky:


I hear custom now charges significant amount for international orders placed on Jumia, you will see the estimated cost on checkout though

the first time i saw the hefty charges i thought something was wrong with jumia servers and had to write them a note.
up till today, no reply and it has been like that ever since. imagine buying something worth 2,640 and using over 5k
to ship it. that means if you buy a product worth like 50k, just be prepared to use over 100k to bring it to your house.
how gross!

adubam:


Most people in this group have moved to Telegram answers are rarely given here.

Bro, are you sure about that?

I'm still part of the 'most people' but have not moved

arbourboateng:
Glad to see they are monitoring the forum...fta forever

Bro, we're still all together. One love

VIVA FTA!!!

ogbeh44:
Sorry for the late reply. This is the setup I used for one of my clients for the past two years now and it is still working fine.

Bro, there will definitely be polarity conflict with this set up (like Digitman already mentioned above) except
somehow your client's choice of stations have been wonderfully so aligned that vertical and horizontal TP
channels come up simultaneously whenever both decoders happen to be powered on same time.
For this kind of set up, the usual convention is to use separate diseqc switches with dual LNBs for both
decoders. That way, you avoid all the hassles of V and H conflict.

eddyline:

thanks sir for your elaborate explanation. care to share a picture of what it looks like? sorry for the bother

You don't really need a multiswitch if you're not running a hotel or guest house. For individuals, except you're living
in a block of flats where you want each flat to have access to all channels in a particular satellite, what you really
need is a dual, quad or octa output lnb. Even for a 5 bedroom duplex an octa (8 ) output lnb would suffice.
The extra cost of changing a single lnb to a dual or quad and running extra wiring is way lesser compared to what
you would spend in purchasing a multiswitch with its attendant wiring complexities.

earthrealm:


The bolded are all hybrid inverters, what you posted is a CC, i dont know if that cc has equalization settings.
The old mustpower is no longer in the market, and i dont know if they changed their name to Must.
The sellers here would have been in a good position to clarify which device has what, but unfortunately most of them dont know/or are not interested in answering ...

i see a pattern unfolding on the thread where members are divided into two groups.
in one group are those that readily spend their time providing answers to questions
asked by solar newbies (no matter how difficult or silly). in the second group are those
who only come to the thread to offload their products. they give us a long list of what they
have in their warehouses, flood the whole place with pictures and disappear only to appear
next time and repeat same. no attempt to answer any questions, no attempt to weigh in
on any discussion. they are just so focused on selling...
my thoughts then would be that, if everyone else only come here to flood the pages of this
thread with adverts, post long list of wares and vanish into thin air, will it still be an interesting
place for folks to visit? will it still hold the kind of attraction it presently it has where people
come to seek knowledge and get enriched by sound discussion on solar issues?
if the answer to the above is no, where then would the customers come from whose
patronage these marketers desperately seek....?

spartacus11:

GeorgeD1 scatter everywhere. This was the calculation i was waiting for

With 5-6 million total Solar panels inverter and wires for a total package. Wow

Many big men dey craze for head when dey still dey wait for nepa and be burning diesel.

This is the way to go

One of their cars among their flet of cars will give them this.

bro,
you echo my sentiments exactly. and, this was part of my thought process more than 10 years
ago while preparing to take the plunge into energy freedom. i just couldn't understand why
someone who could afford to drive a car worth 1.5m or even 5m could not spend a fraction of
that amount to provide constant electricity for his household.
except for peeps who live in populated cites like lagos, port harcourt and abuja who spend up
to 2hrs or more in traffic jams, the majority of us spend less than an hour commuting to and
from work or business. so, imagine spending such a short time in an air-conditioned car only for
you step out into a dark, hot house where you will spend at least 12 to 18hrs every day.
Does that even make sense?

Saipro:

.... still bothered about how your supplier unceremoniously stopped stocking them before some of us could partake of the goodness named Zenith batteries.

So, my three and a half year old US batteries sprouted weak and dead cells within a weak of heavy usage with poor insolation. Enter panic mode. I cut down utilization to barest minimum for about a week; when that wasn't cutting it, I began daily equalization cycles after daily absorb termination. A week of daily equalizing seemed aggravate the situation with the weak cells seemingly dying too. I had begun doing the rounds of local lithium merchants when lady luck smiled upon with good fortune.

A routine check of a car in the yard before a trip revealed an item previously forgotten - an Infinitum desulphator! Every vehicle in the family has one installed and average battery lifespan has since been 3 - 4 years (even with abuse). I was bound to have a few in the store so I ransacked the darker corners and found one each of the 24V and 12V types. Immediately rearranged the batteries that night such that the sole battery without issues would be the one excluded from the desulphators (I run a primary bank of 48V nominal)

48 hours later and the weak cells began showing signs of life. Enter the dragon. Daily equalizations with end-of-week dilution of the weak and dead cells. After a week, the weak cells had sprung to life while one of the dead cells showed the barest signs of life. The other dead cells wouldn't even bubble nor change colour (healthy cells had electrolyte turned brown from vigorous boiling).

End of second week and all cells showed signs of life, however little. Middle of third week and all had resumed regular vicious boiling with equalization. Alternate day/once in three days equalization halted.

We are now entering the fourth week of desulphator use (remember I ran two weeks of conditioning without them and the cells went almost beyond salvage). From registering 47V within an hour of sundown and either dying before dawn or waking to 39V, I now have at worst 49V at bedtime (82 - 88%) and 48V at daybreak (73 - 82%). Batteries have inevitably lost some capacity over the years. My nighttime/overnight load is still 200W or less (typically about 150W nighttime, 100W overnight - inverter consumption added).

I should mention the bank had HA02 balancers installed from inception. I said it a few years ago and would like to reiterate now : snake oil or not, reliable desulphators work!

bro,
i think the zeniths were available in the market for a while before they eventually disappeared.
at that time, it was common sight to see solar installers marketing them although as you can imagine,
they were not without their usual fakes and look alikes. i was only fortunate to have gotten the originals
because i sourced it directly from the supplier in lagos.

as for battery desulphators, i still wonder why they seem to have such a bad rap with guys here.
when i hear statements like "snake oil" being used to describe them i just shake my head in disbelief.
my zeniths were on desulphators (battery life saver) from day one of installation and even when i had
issues with thunder strike which affected the bls, you can't imagine the speed with which i used to
order a replacement.

i see a hype of battery balancers in place of desulpators and i'm like, what is going on?
for the almost 8yrs i used my zeniths, i never bought or used a single balancer but my batteries were
always in top shape, so much so that my friend who bought off the zeniths from me when he learnt
they were available promptly installed them and has been using them now for over 3 months without
complaints. i'm sure if i had sold off the zeniths to him as dead batteries or scrap, claiming they were
good, my phone would have been ringing off the hook by now.

babaegun:
So if you are like me with affinity for hot water bathe, you will agree that, there is no greater joy like having it flow directly from you tap non-stop for a couple of minutes just to cool your body.

Everyday after returning home from a hard days work, I retire to my home and quickly take a hot shower just to ensure my body system returns back to its normal setting. I enjoy hot water therapy everyday as a pain reliever which makes me feel better. I sleep well and wake up energized. This is like a luxury which i couldn't enjoy as my 30 litres Ariston heater could not give it to my heart desire. Also, since I started solar, I have moved the Ariston heaters in my house to it and the effect on my solar setup is not nice at all as it could be cloudy for days. Also, I always turn off power from the Ariston heaters then too as I wouldn't want any electric shock as you may not know when things can go wrong.

So with the desire to achieve that (after saving some coins anyway ), I quickly put a call to JUO to supply me with a Solar Water heater, let me just give it a try as I have seen the wonders it did to GeorgeD1 few years back. Without delay, the package arrived all the way from Warri. I didn't hesitate to set it up despite the fact that it is still raining heavily in Abuja. And my plumber was able to re-route the pipes to conform with the new solar water heater connection. It is a non-pressurized one so I added Pressure pump to it and its been amazing. Hot water gushes out like hell fire

My brothers and sisters, that's how I have been enjoying unlimited hot water in my house. Morning, Afternoon and Night. My kids self are not left out. Enjoyment. But really, the technology is amazing. It is amazing that the hot water could stay overnight and still stays hot. I still have to use the mixer to regulate it else, the hotness is enough to scald bodi ooo.

So what I also noticed was that, when you turn it on, you will first experience cold water and it depends on the length of your pipes before the hot water starts rushing out. It is worth giving a try. Am enjoying it.

Now my batteries can float for more than 3 hours daily . If you have the space and coins, then you can give it a try. Am sure you will wonder why you didn't start all this years.


*coins - money ( )

brother,
welcome to the world of endless hot water supply without tears.
congratulations you finally did it!

Trippledots:


Boss, pls at what average C rate did you charge and discharge those zeniths with while they were in service?

charge rate hovered between c5 and c10 in some instances and discharge rate was between c12 and c50
all depending on the time of day and equipment in use.

funshyboi:


Bros is it the same lead batteries vehicles use

nope. automobile batteries are different. they are called starting batteries while these ones used for renewables
are called deep cycle batteries but they are same lead acid even though there are now other battery types
including lithium.

ojeysky:


I have a feeling you really got the batteries at a great deal that is way lower than the 130k

lolz

ojesymsym:
This type of battery connection always confuses me when I see it. Each battery has 6 terminals, how does that work?
Do you have a drawing for it?

i see that essegis already answered you earlier.

in addition, you can always check the product data sheet for the correct battery terminal connection
sequence. where i had issues personally was how to connect both ends of the curve, since i had mine
in a double row fashion. for this i spent countless hours searching youtube videos of different types
of 2v battery connections without success until i eventually figured it out by myself.

essegis:


You have them in your house already so leave the detective work for batman. Congratulations on the upgrade though.

lolz brother, tanx. i guess i was just stomped by the offer price when compared with what the actual market price
was supposed to be. plus the fact that all were brand new (in crates) as opposed to more common
fairly used telecoms batteries sold off as scrap by gsm base stations.

mctfopt:


I see these batteries in industrial application, it is great to see someone use it in a domestic setting. Good job here. These batteries have the right to cost an arm and a leg plus two eyes

A popular marketer was marketing this product last year

https://www.nairaland.com/390522/solar-energy-complement-fta/602#83420592

you're right bro, but i didn't get mine from him. i guess other guys (probably not on this forum) saw the great bargain
and quickly grabbed them. by the time i made contact, they were long gone.

so, yes. those batteries are actually industrial type off-grid lead acid batteries (if you check the specs i posted earlier on).
they are the type you find at telecoms base stations, bank ups rooms, remote sites for weather monitoring equipment, etc
given their size and weight, they are an "install and forget" kind of investment. nobody expects to be changing out such
massive size of batteries every two, three or five years. it's really back-breaking work aside the financial outflow.
how they suddenly became available to the public as "project left over" is still a puzzle i'm yet to resolve...

ceaser:


I believe your long courtship with the Zenith lead batteries boils down to usage. When I was "lead acid", the low discharge cut off for the batteries were 12.1v, but I wasn't impressed with the two years plus I got before I felt they needed replacement, although I admit they were not "high premium" brands.

An AC gate opener (idle consumption of 3 watts+6 watts idle of the 300 watts inverter) I used always ran down the two pieces 12v 12ah batteries by morning if the sun does not come up as early as 8am and within 6 months the batteries usually needed to be replaced. The solution then was to switch off the inverter at night and back on in the morning, which is not always done since I'm away for weeks at a time. But ever since I changed to a DC gate opener on two pieces 12v 7ah batteries 10 months ago, the headache is no more.

Your 12 pieces 260ah lead acid battery bank is massive, so I won't argue if you say you don't go below 12.5v DoD in most cases within the 8 year period. This undoubtedly will earn you more years of beauty from the battery. The popular consensus here is that lead does not forgive too much and too frequent high DoD at all, but lithium gives you more at higher and more frequent DoD. One of my lithium pack has rarely gone below 13.0v by morning in the last 4 months even though the LVD is set at 12.3v. If it continues like that, I see myself getting 12 years use out of it.



Sonnes what?... Sounds like something out of Hitler's Germany I almost bit my tongue pronouncing that. Woah, massive beasts by the way; literarily, "I kill drum for you" (I doff my hat for you). Abeg which of your kidneys did it cost you? Just wondering ni o

With this renewed acquisition and rekindled romance, I don't see Mr GeorgeD1 courting lithium for probably the next 15 years, a time majority of us here as AE enthusiasts might already be using lithium-powered electric cars. The only reason he might be forced to use lithium at that time will be in his own electric car. Lolz.

i tend to agree with the dod bit as part of a wider range of factors that helped prolong the life of my zenith batteries.
right from day one, my battery lvd was set at 48v cut-off. This translates to 12v for each of the 12 batteries in the pack.
and for the almost 8yrs they were in service, i can count on my fingers the number of times inverter tripped due to
low battery voltage (it rarely does).
in my experience, i have come to see lead acid as a "if you do me well, i will pay you back handsomely" kind of battery
chemistry. provided you don't abuse them, they are ready to give their life, their all for you. and the zeniths seem to have
done this in grand style in my own case.

as for lithium, the good news is that i wouldn't be waiting another 15yrs before i jump on the bandwagon. i know the
value of keeping abreast with technology so i intend doing a little experimenting in that space. maybe a little lithium
bank side-by-side the massive lead acids might not be out of place. but first i would need a little time to recover
from this huge dent the sonnenscheins have inflicted on my balance sheet.

mcTrinity:


We all know that Lead-Acid remains the winning team...
Just that the few Lithium users are more or less like Chelsea fans... IfYouKnowYouKnow

I come and go in peace.

Congrats grand patron!!! More grace

tanx my brother. i believe no one battery chemistry is better than the other.
it all depends on application and how much you're ready to pay for quality.

ojeysky:


2100AH of 48v wow! See storage capacity! yes lithium will be a hype in those kind of lead acid you've now installed but when it comes to equivalent in space and weight it will still be lithium. For the zenit batteries however I think luck and doing something right happened there. Let's think about it, there were not so much low quality/fake batteries in 2012.

However Bros I no envy you o, else this one go cost me multiple organs! But with this you should be set-up for another 10 years+ journey

lolz. in terms of space and weight, lithium rules obviously.
but those were the least of my worries when i was considering biting the offer.
for a cost to amp/hour ratio, it was a no-brainer for me because clearly the price
was better than anything on the market at the time.

specs says design life is for between 15 to 18yrs. i guess time will tell but if my zeniths
could last me almost 8yrs, i expect these to exceed that feat.

mcTrinity:


Wow... Very good option. And German brand, if I'm not mistaken!
Kudos patron!!!

u're right bro. it's a german brand
tanx.

adrusa:


Wow! Huge. So, how much battery capacity are we talking about?

48v 2000ah battery bank, although nameplate says 2190ah at c10

tanx brother, i appreciate

in conclusion, while i'm reluctant to change a winning team (obviously lead-acid has served me well),
i'm open to new technology and definitely lithium will have a major part to play going forward as a
next steps towards acquiring even more storage as i continue adding power guzzling creature
comfort equipment to the house.

new batteries, a new bracket

diy copper bus bars. that's how we make them.