hello butoneday,
top of the day to you. the deka batteries may be hard to get in these parts unless you're
prepared to order direct from the usa. i think the guy selling knows this and that's why he's
selling at such an exorbitant price. if you really need them go for the offer but really i think
that price is on the high side.

@pofolo,
No not at all. My Multi-Tv signal is still as high as can be at 97%.

Better check your set up. Maybe your dish has shifted.

pdozie: @George: Thanks for the info. I already placed the order for the MPPT and the meter. Many thanks to Akanniade. Sent him mail for clarifications and he did call me and explained.
I already spoke to Titus. Hopefully by the time the orders arrive, i should have enough fund to buy 2 of the 250W 24 panels for a start. Then I should be part of the Hybrid league.

Oh! I have also ordered Battery Life Saver BLS-48A 48v Battery System Desulfator Rejuvenator. Hopefully it will help desulphate the batteries and give them long life.

pdozie,
the morningstar ts-60 and ts-mppt-60 look alike from the outside except in the weight and internal components. while the ts-60 weighs about 2.8kg, the ts-mppt-60 weighs about 5.4kg. i'm sure akanniade would have explained to you other aspects which differentiates a regular charge controller to an mppt one. this holds true irrepective of the brand - whether xantrex, outback, morningstar, etc. i'll be quick to add however that as with any other product, performance efficiencies are not the same. morningstar mppt charge controllers have been proven to be one of the best industrywide in terms of ruggedness, durablity and conversion efficiency.


and, yes, the battery life saver is a very good piece of equipment to have for any person working with a battery bank.
i will soon buy one too.

bodejohn:

Roger that.

One more issue came up after connecting 3 of the panels in series, the Vmp from the panels is now 60V but the battery quickly runs into absorption, where less of power is required from the sun. Yesterday i got only 23Ah from the panels but battery only got charged to 26.1V. It is beginning to look like i will be needing another pair of batteries pretty soon, otherwise i will only enjoy more power from the sun when i am at home during the day.

What do you suggest is the ration between the battery bank size and solar panels?

bodejohn,
your battery bank goes now goes quickly into absorption because your charge controller is now making full use of
total power output from your panels therefore pushing out more charging current into your batteries.

for optimal use of your panels always you should consider sizing your battery bank to at least 3 days of autonomy.
that way it will have more redundant capacity whereby it is able to accept more charge irrespective of daily usage.

with your present battery size, you will only be able to enjoy more output from your panels when you are at home
whereby you're using your inverter simultaneously while batteries are charging.

when your batteries are full, the charge controller goes into absorption and ultimately to float. any excess power
from your panels remain unused from that point onwards unless there is a power demand from your house load.

odilibe: Twin Aliens are coming soon 12-14 january 2013... keep your eyes open

@odilibe,
Looks like you're upping the game once again?

I may be tempted to follow suit with the Amiko SHD!

nothing yet!

bodejohn,
it is better to connect your panels in three to take full advantage of its mppt functionality. if you install them any other way, your charge controller works just like any plain type controller with no boost.

pdozie: Oga George,
is this the controller you use?
http://www.amazon.com/MorningStar-TriStar-TS-60-Battery-Controller/dp/B004N3U74Y/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1357419699&sr=8-8&keywords=mppt+solar+charge+controller

pdozie,
that link is for the ts-60 which a pwm (or regular) version of the morningstar charge controller.i am currently using the ts-mppt-60 which is the upgraded version. here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Morningstar-TriStar-MPPT-Charge-Controller/dp/B0052UIPIC/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1357722791&sr=8-31&keywords=mppt+solar+charge+controller

funny enough, none in spain voted for him

olenyi,
that was a good one.

honey + coffee

all,
the next phase of my systems upgrade is already in full swing.

details will be posted very soon - as promised.

Akanniade: Happy new year all.
@George D,I was just wondering why this thread has not made the front page or better still,be directly under the technology section. Can we request the moderators to do that?

akanniade,
a happy new year to you too. you echoed just my thought too on the front page issue.

i guess i'll have to talk to twinstaiye on the possibilities of pushing out to the
open. solar power is a must for all who want to enjoy technology at its best.

bing,
sorry for the late reply but you should always charge your new batteries to full charge
before first use. that is because usually the manufacturers don't complete the charging
process before shipment so they rely on you the end user to give the batteries an effective
full charge that will ensure the batteries attain their full capacity.
using the batteries before they are fully charged on first use may permanently prevent them
from reaching full potential. hence if your using a 200a battery it may end up giving you
150 - 180a from day one and so the decline in performance has already started.

but again, why the hurry? your going to be enjoying power from those batteries for years to
come so why not just take the time to charge them properly so as to bring them up to their
full capacity from day one?

bodejohn,
wao! i say welcome to the club once again!

now you can see why i keep doing all these upgrades?

once you go the solar route, you never want to look back!

hello pidzo,
congratulations on your success. i hope you keep up the good work into 2013.
past experience has shown that most members having won the poster of the year award shortly thereafter
fade into oblivion. no more posts, no more contribution. i hope your own case will be different?

let's keep the fire of fta burning brightly so as to keep this thread the best in nairaland.

once again, congratulations and a happy new year to you.

cheers!

happy new year to all food lovers in da house!

bodejohn,
i hope you're still basking in the light of
your first 24hrs uninterrupted power supply?

all,
a happy new year to you once again.

just to inform the house that starting later this month (january 2013),
i'll be commencing my next phase of systems upgrade. its been on pause
for a while now but everything is now almost ready to proceed.

i will post details (and pix) as usual when the time comes.

stay tuned!!!

olenyi, microgiant,
happy new year to you. i have visited the aliexpress site and even went ahead to register.

however, i was disappointed when i realized that all their inventories are from china.

i had thought i could order a few items from the usa and canada through them but i could
find none. all my searches came back dud.

all,
welcome to 2013! may this year be filled with lots of sunshine and may all our solar panels reap enough
energy to make our homes independent of phcn!

may our inverters work without breaking down and may they be free from power surges.

and, may cloudy weather never force us to become hopelessly dependent on noisy generators!

amen!

@All,
A happy and prosperous New Year to all good men and women in da house.

May our tracking experience be a pleasant one this year.

May the God of FTA smile on our dishes with many, many out-of-footprint signals.

May all hitherto difficult to get satellites b a piece of cake for every one of
us. Amen!

hmmmmm! this is certainly a new twist to this ugly tale.

is this how the nigeria police is going to fight crime in 2013?

bodejohn,
you're now firmly in the grips of solar enjoyment.

as for gen sets now being idle, i think alongside akanniade and yourself that makes the three
of us. i sold my yamaha generator over three years ago when i discovered it was being underutilized.
later on i bought a 5vka sumec genset as i reasoned perhaps i may still need a standby black start for
those once in a blue moon occasions when weather becomes severe. but funny enough the reality is that i
seldom have any need to run it to the extent that the provided auto-start battery has now run down.

now i'm wondering whether it may not be a good idea to sell as well!

bodejohn,
no sweat. forget about brand names my brother. as long as it's working ok, is all we need.

congrats once again.

@olenyi,
Aye, I never realized you also visit that thread. You know, FTA on an empty stomach
is a rather unhealthy proposition so I tend to try and balance the two.

A little time in the sun tweaking the dishes and a little time in the kitchen trying
some wonderful recipes - if you get my drift.

@all,
The countdown to 2013 is in full swing. May God keep us alive, hale and hearty to
cross over. Amen.

bodejohn:

Oga George and all,
I finally received my charge controller from DHL, it came with a serial port to connect to a PC, although my supplier initially told me he was going to send one without pc communication. I will upload the pictures of the setup tomorrow after I have reduced the size.

Oga Geroge, I don join the league of independent power producers like play like play o.

bodejohn,
you're welcome to the solar league - where the possibilities are endless.

what is the brand name of your mppt solar charger?

looks like i'm seeing this for the first time.

Fhemmmy:

My Brother, the run around from buying cars, and phones and making sure kids are happy and spending quality time with madam, no chance for "one" pack oh

bros, you got at least 15mins in a day? yes? then you can still work out.

running around and being busy is no substitute for a good work out (i'm sure you know that already)

Missy_B: Merry Christmas to you too, and congratulations once again.

welcome back missy_b.

i didn't see you at my victory dinner.

you really disappointed me!

this is more than poverty my brother.

you don't have to be a murderer to show that you're poor.

Fhemmmy:

So nice, i could not even move after the meal . . . .

o boy, you better take it easy with the bulge!

at this rate you may end up spending extra time in the gym to burn off those jolly, jolly calories!