foonshur:

2014/2015 pages, na work you wan give me so o. I think I'll just imagine it. Or better still whenever you are cleaning your panels, you can use the opportunity to take pictures. I think I'll prefer that wait. BTW, you nt showing off, you answering a dude that requested for something.

anidat77:
When you see GeorgeD1's installation and you want to start yours during recession.

earthrealm:
lets not be carried away by panel qty, but by total combined wattage.
some installers like buy and installing the 80 or 100w panels...saying its more efficient..blah blah blah, my pal has 33 panels of 100w each..totaling 3300w, my 6 panels of 250w is almost half of his installed capacity. i prefer higher wattage panels, i setttled for 250w. and not 300w cos i wanted to strike a balance btw weight and size.

@georged1 and other pros.....whats ur take on the installers talk abt 80w n 100w panels being more efficient?
if u do the maths sef...they are more expensive!

earthrealm:
lets not be carried away by panel qty, but by total combined wattage.
some installers like buy and installing the 80 or 100w panels...saying its more efficient..blah blah blah, my pal has 33 panels of 100w each..totaling 3300w, my 6 panels of 250w is almost half of his installed capacity. i prefer higher wattage panels, i setttled for 250w. and not 300w cos i wanted to strike a balance btw weight and size.

@georged1 and other pros.....whats ur take on the installers talk abt 80w n 100w panels being more efficient?
if u do the maths sef...they are more expensive!

Saipro:


I have a potential generation capacity of 6kw (current installed capacity is half of that). I use almost exclusively 250W panels. I've used them so often, I know most specs as well as the dimension (which is uniform as an international convention, by the way).

Why 250W? For most manufacturers, 200W - 250W is the sweet spot regarding Energy cost/Watt. And since they're large, fewer connections and fewer installation accessories. I'd generally recommend not going outside those panels unless you have other (space, utility, etc)

earthrealm:
lets not be carried away by panel qty, but by total combined wattage.
some installers like buy and installing the 80 or 100w panels...saying its more efficient..blah blah blah, my pal has 33 panels of 100w each..totaling 3300w, my 6 panels of 250w is almost half of his installed capacity. i prefer higher wattage panels, i setttled for 250w. and not 300w cos i wanted to strike a balance btw weight and size.

@georged1 and other pros.....whats ur take on the installers talk abt 80w n 100w panels being more efficient?
if u do the maths sef...they are more expensive!

GeorgeD1:


javid4me,
this is really impressive. i'm glad you finally summoned the courage to take the plunge and
you have done it in such grand style!
i also like that you decided to throw in a wind turbine into the mix. it's an area i would like to
take a little more than passing interest in.
congratulations! a fitting way to end an eventful year, if you ask me.
i also like your fully illustrated schematic diagram. it gives me an impression of a mind with attention
to details.

two things to note however:

1. your may consider splitting your solar array into two strings and having two charge controllers.
i know chris81964 already touched on this and i saw your response but no matter how much you
try to equalize the voltages of both sets of panels, you will keep having one set of voltage being
higher than the other, tilt leg or no tilt leg. this will be more apparent in the mornings when the sun
is just beginning to rise and in the evenings when the sun is setting. the money you think you're
going to save now by avoiding the purchase of an extra cc may well be lost many times over in the
next 25 yrs when you keep losing valuable power as a result of this discrepancy of panel voltage.

2. you may also consider getting a stand alone charge controller for your wind turbine. i'm a bit
doubtful of the reliability and efficiency of the inbuilt cc of that wind turbine. depending on the model
you want to buy it may not be anything sophisticated or expensive. just a simple solid state cc like
the tristar prostar:

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/prostar/

for a 600w turbine, you don't need a 30a or 45a cc besides a stand alone type will be more flexible
for adjustments.

just my two cents.

STOP BUYING FUEL, SAY YES TO SOLAR RENEWABLE ENERGY, LEARN HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN SOLAR ENERGY TODAY BEFORE YOU ATTEND ANY TRAINING, don't forget to subscribe to get all future updates http:///MyYoutubeChanneL

rajo4real:


low wattage panels r advisable when using pwm controllers

Barezzi:


Thank me later
https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/10
https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/14
https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/17

earthrealm:
lets not be carried away by panel qty, but by total combined wattage.
some installers like buy and installing the 80 or 100w panels...saying its more efficient..blah blah blah, my pal has 33 panels of 100w each..totaling 3300w, my 6 panels of 250w is almost half of his installed capacity. i prefer higher wattage panels, i setttled for 250w. and not 300w cos i wanted to strike a balance btw weight and size.

@georged1 and other pros.....whats ur take on the installers talk abt 80w n 100w panels being more efficient?
if u do the maths sef...they are more expensive!

Barezzi:

Thank me later https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/10 https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/14 https://www.nairaland.com/georged1/posts/17

GeorgeD1:


earthrealm,

generally speaking, the higher the wattage, the better for solar panels.
saipro and dmerciful are both on point. rajo4real too.
my next set of panels will definitely be higher than 200w.

abunafiu:
Time to review the performance of Trojan batteries. Installed mine in June 2014. I just retired 2 units out of 16.
I now run a 42v system. Had to tweak my cc to effectively work at this level (thanks to Saipro).
My inverter now beeps Low Battery alarm for almost 24hrs.
Considering all I have read about Trojans especially about maintenance, I feel it's too early (abi na recession cause am).
Brothers in d house, let's see how well your Trojans have served or is serving you.

Refa:
I have been following you guys for some time now (since 2013 0r 14). I am in GH and we don't have this camaraderie among the solar community. I have been off-grid since 2010; The cost to buy 12+ poles and pay arm and a leg to get power, prompted me to go solar and it made sense. You guys are doing such a wonderful job helping each other, answering questions. Dmerciful, GeorgeD1, Kiekie1, Abunafiu, earthrealm just to mention a few names that come to mind.

Refa:
I have been following you guys for some time now (since 2013 0r 14). I am in GH and we don't have this camaraderie among the solar community. I have been off-grid since 2010; The cost to buy 12+ poles and pay arm and a leg to get power, prompted me to go solar and it made sense. You guys are doing such a wonderful job helping each other, answering questions. Dmerciful, GeorgeD1, Kiekie1, Abunafiu, earthrealm just to mention a few names that come to mind.

abunafiu:
Time to review the performance of Trojan batteries. Installed mine in June 2014. I just retired 2 units out of 16.
I now run a 42v system. Had to tweak my cc to effectively work at this level (thanks to Saipro).
My inverter now beeps Low Battery alarm for almost 24hrs.
Considering all I have read about Trojans especially about maintenance, I feel it's too early (abi na recession cause am).
Brothers in d house, let's see how well your Trojans have served or is serving you.

foonshur:

I think it boils down to space and affordability when choosing the type of modules to purchase. once the modules are in the tier 1 category in terms of efficiency, a 100W panel will give you a 100W worth of power so does the 200 and 250 as the case maybe (of course, under standard conditions).

abunafiu:
Time to review the performance of Trojan batteries. Installed mine in June 2014. I just retired 2 units out of 16.
I now run a 42v system. Had to tweak my cc to effectively work at this level (thanks to Saipro).
My inverter now beeps Low Battery alarm for almost 24hrs.
Considering all I have read about Trojans especially about maintenance, I feel it's too early (abi na recession cause am).
Brothers in d house, let's see how well your Trojans have served or is serving you.

Refa:
I have been following you guys for some time now (since 2013 0r 14). I am in GH and we don't have this camaraderie among the solar community. I have been off-grid since 2010; The cost to buy 12+ poles and pay arm and a leg to get power, prompted me to go solar and it made sense. You guys are doing such a wonderful job helping each other, answering questions. Dmerciful, GeorgeD1, Kiekie1, Abunafiu, earthrealm just to mention a few names that come to mind.

samnaija:
first i want to thank the gurus in house that took time to assist. it took me about a week to effect what most of you suggested. ..

@earth realm & durodee.
day1
you guys suggested cleaning my panels again. my panels were baked with dust my area the streets are untarred. i cleaned the entire 12 panels. i saw an improvement in harvest 2.8kw/day.

@dapsyra
you were right about my overnight consumption being low. i stop using that system by 7 pm and switch to another system.. determined to carry out what you suggested . i pushed my system till 11pm . my batteries were crying red soc was 5%. i downed my system at 11pm. experiment don end for that day. dont want to lose batteries d
during recession. although fear don dey grip me.

day2
with the sparkling panels and partial night consumption of my batteries to drained level . to truth must come out about the panels.
my panels start working around 7am by 11am battery full..
@ Ath your suggestion about my battery state comes here. my system 12v (200ahx 4).
measured the batteries indivdually was getting 15 and 14.8v. at about noon. loaded the system with all the arsenal in my house. washing machine, fridge,2 tvs, 4 ceiling fans, pumping machine. being it was a bit cloudy i was exiting float charge regularly. but still detrmine to find out my panel strenght i occasinally added the microwave that completely placed me in under voltage. experiment don finish. so left the usual appliance fridge and tv and pumped water again. by 7pm. moment of reckon checked my harvest .. from 1.7kwhr/day to 7.5kwhr/day. i wwas a estatic my panels brought this out. i don dey fear say my panels and connection bad. with this happy thought i now faced the inevitable which i already know the answer. i measured my batteries.... battery 1and 2 passmark 12.4v, 12.5v the bad egg na battery 3 (10.5v). for recession my guy i wan slap battery. the battery sef warm on touch. thnks a bunch to you guys i know the part of my system that needs fixing. solar for life.......

GeorgeD1:
refa,

welcome on board. i'm happy you found a home here.
please tell us a little about your system. array size? battery bank size?
charge controller type? successes and challenges with going off grid? etc
after all, we're all here to learn.

Refa:
Thanks to you all. I really feel at home here. I started with a 2000W 24V cotek inverter, a 30A Stecca PWM CC, 4X410AH (6V) battery, and 1400W mix solar panels. I need only lights and a few fans at the time for the place since I was living there less than half there only half the year at the time. It worked out well till battery maintenance started giving me issues. I had a few guys I had trained to do the maintenance, but neglected to do as long as they had lights. I sold most of my items to friends and family, used some to batter trade for building materials and when I replaced it with my current system; 8x430AH Crown Batteries, 3xMorningstar 60A MPPt CC, 1 Magnum 4448MPAE, 15x435 solar panels (these are rebranded Sunpower panels). I use the batteries for only Funs, TV, Lights in the night. The AC can be used during the day for about 4 hours and I do washing and ironing only during the day. The Fridge and the Freezer are on timers so they come on at 6:30 in the morning and go of at 7PM. The batteries are always are always between 50.8 and 51.2V in the morning. 2x35w flood lamps are on through the night and 6x35W flood lamps with motion sensors and photocell on all the time. I wired my place 110V since am not on the grid and most if not all my appliances are from the States. The 110V appliances also deters theft in my absence.