pdozie:


Thanks a lot Saipro. I've changed the configuration now to 3 X 3. One panel lying redundant. Will have to buy 2 more panels to compliment and get 3x4.

Distance from the panels to CC is about 15m. Funny enough even with old config, I never saw anything above, 30A in my CC LCD. Unless it did while I was not there.
Is there anywhere maximum current from the PV is recorded in the morningstar CC as historic data?
I've seen PV max voltage, battery ah, total watts etc, but nor max Amps

chris81964:

Yes you can info@atlanticwastepower.com

DUNKA:
please help me with your WhatsApp number

Pharyn:
House,

What could be done to help this set of 4 Trojan J185?
Soon after topping up with distilled water and proper equalisation, the performance dropped by almost half.
The remaining of the distilled water later tasted acidic to the tongue, and looks cloudy. It was bought (under pressure) from a marketer (I won't mention name).

Men, what can be done? Can we get the right sulphuric acid mixture, pour out the one inside and refill back? Would it revive the performance?

Thanks.

bellyjean:
Gurus in thee house, pls i'm a starter in this solar/inverter business and I have zero background in electrical engineering, that power, Voltage and current concepts confuse me but I believe when the resources are available, no mountain is insurmountable.

My boss asked me design a solar/inverter system (the inverter will be hybrid i.e solar + any other AC power source like NEPA and Gen) for a house that wishes to run 2500 watts for 12hours daily.
My calculations are: total watt-hour is 30,000Wh.
Assuming 85% efficiency of solar PV panels, it becomes 30,000 x 1.2 = 36,000Wh. This means my panels should be able to capture 36000Wh daily to be able to deliver 30,000Ah to the batteries. Assuming 6hrs daily of sunlight, that means the total capacity of my panels should be 6000W. If I plan to use 200W panels, then I will. Need 30 modules.
At this junction, I don't know if my calculations are right.

For the batteries,
My hypothetical battery bank is 48V (as would be that of my inverter too i.e @48V).
Amp-hour is 30,000Wh/48V = 625Ah
This would imply 4 pcs of batteries of 12V 200Ah connected in series to get 48V 200Ah.
I will need 4 strings of the above set to be connected in parallel to give me 48V 800Ah. (i.e 16 batteries in total)
If my batteries work at 80% efficiency, then they should deliver 0.8 x 800Ah = 640Ah and this is greater than 625Ah. So I think i'm safe. Now i'm stuck, how do I put the Depth Of Discharge into consideration here?

For inverter, my recommendation is 3.5KVa 48V Full sine wave Inverter. But I don't know the specs of MPPT CC + other accessories I will need

Pls I want your corrections/comments on this. I saw this thread today and I have gone through the 1st 10pages. I can only grasp this little.

Thanks.

chris81964:


Who is doing the installation? You or a third party. Getting the equipment right does not guarantee that the installation will be correct.
Use larger panels than 200 Watts Solar World 255 or 260 Yingli 250 or 300.

You calculation of 6 hours assumes that you have nepa a few hours a day. Use fewer hours. I use 4.5 to 5 hours.

Your depth of discharge should not exceed 50% if you want the batteries to last up to the design life or duty cycle.

Your inverter size is inadequate, if you are buying one of the cheap indian or chinese inverters. If they are running 2500 watts there is at least one fridge and freezer. Did you calculate a surge into your numbers. Your 3.5 kva is 2.8 kw.

You should use higher AH batteries 2V or 6 V to minimize the string.

We done you did more on your first try than many who have done it for longer.

I am no guru just Chris81964

DUNKA:
Oga Chris really appreciated your assistance in tweaking my system. Really grateful. A Guru is born not made

Saipro:


30A is fine. I wouldn't be much worried; you can check you logs to dispel your doubts. The truth of it, if you consider NOC (normal operating condition) values, your CC output should be limited to 33.5A (assuming a charging voltage of 57.6V; higher current when battery bank voltage is lower i.e. 37A @ 52V and 38.5A @ 50V). And here's the paradox: many CC would overstate the output (charging) power, mostly the current but occasionally both current and voltage. A good DC clamp or reliable voltmeter should set you right. My highest readings are typically on cool mornings during the rainy season or after brief showers with clear skies on rainy days. You might see the full charging power of your panels on such days.

To get more power out of a panel than its nominal rating would require either an unusually bright day (I've experienced "cloud edge" brilliance on occassion and was able to get full rating but not above it - and this has been independent of panel brand) or ambient temperatures lower than 25^oC (I saw this in two intallations in winter [USA]; not happening anytime soon if you're not in Northern Nigeria, in which case the dusty air lowers panel efficiency). Any way you look at it, NOC prevails and you typically get about 73 - 80% of the rated panel power. When in doubt, whip out your meter and take simultaneous readings. Trust your meter and not your CC display.

Regarding experience with MorningStar MPPT, ask Abunafiu. He "lives" with one.

All said and done, your system is working seemingly perfectly; don't go tinkering with it thinking something is wrong when nothing is. Beneath is a picture of cloud edge values from my 2.16kW of panels on a cool day while using a 24V config.

PS: I made offset adjustments so readout values could be accurate. Even the acclaimed Midnite was about 0.3V off on the PV and 0.2V on the battery bank. Previously, cloud edge gave 2,182W as an all-time high. Post-adjustment high was 2,152W

chris81964:


Who is doing the installation? You or a third party. Getting the equipment right does not guarantee that the installation will be correct.
Use larger panels than 200 Watts Solar World 255 or 260 Yingli 250 or 300.

You calculation of 6 hours assumes that you have nepa a few hours a day. Use fewer hours. I use 4.5 to 5 hours.

Your depth of discharge should not exceed 50% if you want the batteries to last up to the design life or duty cycle.

Your inverter size is inadequate, if you are buying one of the cheap indian or chinese inverters. If they are running 2500 watts there is at least one fridge and freezer. Did you calculate a surge into your numbers. Your 3.5 kva is 2.8 kw.

You should use higher AH batteries 2V or 6 V to minimize the string.

We done you did more on your first try than many who have done it for longer.

I am no guru just Chris81964

bellyjean:


Thanks bro. God bless you.

I guess my calculations are on track. At least i'm on right track.
My calculation is now based on 5hrs sunlight daily. Solar panel 300W @ 24 modules. (though my client can start with 6 or 9 modules and increase them in future)

Using a 48V battery bank, my Amp-Hour is 625Ah. If this 625Ah represents a 50% D.O.D then I should be looking to get a total battery capacity of 625Ah x 2 = 1250Ah.
If I go for 12V 200Ah batteries, I will be needing 24 batteries in total (6 sets of 4-series connected batteries connected together in parallel to the inverter)

But to go with ur recommendation, how many Ah will 6V or 2V batteries give (I don't know other variants of batteries from manufacturers). It is true I need to reduce the strings of batteries, 24 12V 200Ah batteries might be too much.

Also I am thinking of a 12V battery bank system. But I guess this will be affected by my solar array. If my panels are 24V panels, then that's a problem for my 12V battery bank.

I don't know if my reasoning/theories are good.

Oga chris and @all gurus, can u pls show a detailed calculation for the same 2500Watt load? Recommend ur panel sizes and numbers, appropriate inverter size, MPPT size, number of batteries with their capacity.

Thaank you.

pdozie:


Is the i-power inverter same as the axpert in terms of AC charging amp for a 48v 3kv

Pharyn:
House,

What could be done to help this set of 4 Trojan J185?
Soon after topping up with distilled water and proper equalisation, the performance dropped by almost half.
The remaining of the distilled water later tasted acidic to the tongue, and looks cloudy.

Men, what can be done? Can we get the right sulphuric acid mixture, pour out the one inside and refill back? Would it revive the performance?

Thanks.

Optimixim:
When we talk of using distilled water service a flooded battery, many installers get confused on. The concept, what is a distilled water at first? It is the purest form of water which was purified by a laboratory process know as distillation . Pls forget the grammar abeg let's go to what I know too well sir. Some go about searching for where to buy distilled water. Pls stop the search cos if you don't , the man at the battery shop will give you acid that will damage the battery . Pls go and buy a pack of "EVA" water . Eva water seems to be the purest water out there that will do the miracle on your batteries sir. Don't use cway or any other I warn you. Kindly use eva as I stated here. Thank you

Optimixim:
When we talk of using distilled water service a flooded battery, many installers get confused on. The concept, what is a distilled water at first? It is the purest form of water which was purified by a laboratory process know as distillation . Pls forget the grammar abeg let's go to what I know too well sir. Some go about searching for where to buy distilled water. Pls stop the search cos if you don't , the man at the battery shop will give you acid that will damage the battery . Pls go and buy a pack of "EVA" water . Eva water seems to be the purest water out there that will do the miracle on your batteries sir. Don't use cway or any other I warn you. Kindly use eva as I stated here. Thank you

Optimixim:
I think you need to watch a video on how all these flooded batteries are produced.
Enter www.youtube.com
on the search portal, enter "deep cycle battery manufacturing 101" its a video from our beloved USbattery a rival to trojan battery. Feel free to watch and enjoy sir.

At the end of the surfing, you will start repairing even short batteries or open circuit batteries provided the plates are still ok. Good luck


Optimixim the electrical guy

tivta:


There is no were on the Eva bottle where it is written "distilled water"

Saipro:


Eva water is dangerous as far as batteries are concerned. It might be free or particulate matter but have you considered the dissolved impurities such as ions? Ask your battery guy for distilled water and if you're ready to pay the price, you'll get the authentic stuff.

Konnektions146:
Water from Air conditioner discharge hose can suffice

Optimixim:
. You are absolutely correct, I did the experiment with air con water 2013 and it worked like kilode! Sir you are there I love you for that. I used it for diamond bank branches federation when we handled their installations sir. Correct keep it up. But make sure impurity never enters the water. Enjoy but eva remains the best for it sir

chris81964:

Dangerous assumption. Bacteria and dust exist in the water coming from your AC. I have used it in a pinch. I have seen sediment and stuff in the collected water

Optimixim:
the trojan battery is only in solarshop nigeria plot 273A kofoabayomi, richmond74, and kiekie knows me wella and I can't deceive you sir, I was trained by the usa trojan guys 2012 when they came to our company then at ikeja and took us on 2weeks training on the battery technology, the eva water was tested and confirmed! You don't need to see distilled water written on eva before you certify it as distilled water

Optimixim:
When we talk of using distilled water service a flooded battery, many installers get confused on. The concept, what is a distilled water at first? It is the purest form of water which was purified by a laboratory process know as distillation . Pls forget the grammar abeg let's go to what I know too well sir. Some go about searching for where to buy distilled water. Pls stop the search cos if you don't , the man at the battery shop will give you acid that will damage the battery . Pls go and buy a pack of "EVA" water . Eva water seems to be the purest water out there that will do the miracle on your batteries sir. Don't use cway or any other I warn you. Kindly use eva as I stated here. Thank you

chris81964:


This is from the NBC site
Water is vital to the health of all humans. NBC offers Eva, processed water which is subjected to filtering and purification treatments before being bottled. All of the waters produced are in full NAFDAC compliance

JUO:
No need to fight please. We are here to learn. How do I wake this battery, the owner used acid on it?