bigrovar:
thanks for the review. Which part of Abuja do u stay

harveyspec:
Saw this on coscharis website, they are the licensed distributor of mercury product

does it mean the the mercury tubular battery is of 2 variant? Acid & Non Acid type

does it also imply that the tubular without Acid is Maintenance free?

CC

Dmerciful
kiekie1
GeorgeD1
bigrovar
JUO
efuro

Javid4me:


Once PHCN goes, you hear my kids telling each other and everyone to switch to white lights...

mank1234:
Does anyone has link for a cheaper DC surge arrester 120V, 125V or 150V? The midnite series is damn too costly.

Konnektions146:



Yes, check below for contact, I have one , you could have a look

dapsyra:


Thank you for the nice words.

The battery equalizer ensures that the batteries are within 0.2v of one another. It is the only battery equalizer that I have installed that really works. Before I installed it, the differences between my battery voltages is as much as 2.5v at times. During the absorb charging stage, the weakest battery will quickly rise to 15.6v while the strongest is still at 13.1v. All the other batteries will have various values in between the two extremes. This rapid increase in voltage of the weakest battery raise the array average disproportionally and prevent the other batteries from charging properly. This issue was effectively resolved by the battery equalizer and my batteries are now always within 0.2v of one another.

The desulphator is used to desulphate my SMF AGM batteries. The AGM batteries are 4years old and are beginning to to show signs of old age.

For the Mercury 220AH batteries, I set absorb=57.8V, float=54.4V and equalize=62V. The Mercury MC5048E Inverter cannot handle battery voltages above 58V, so I was forced to set the absorb voltage slightly below that limit.

I always disconnect the Mercury batteries from the Inverter before triggering equalization from the Charge Controller.

cooldipo:


Pls we need more contributions to this issue of limit pose by charge controller rating. In my case, I have a 12V inverter set up and a 30A Epever Tracer charger controller with 3 units of 150watt mono panels. The Max Pv input power is 390watt(12volts) 780watt(24volts) for the cc..... I was tempted to add one more panel even though the Maximum Power current is about 8.5A per panel. I wanted one more panel if 150watt for obvious reasons......bountiful harvest on days with less solar radiation which my supplier gave a nod to but my installer here gave me the scare that I run the risk of blowing up my cc with the extra/over current...... Pls help me out with informed opinion. Thanks

GeorgeD1:
javid4me,
the difference is so dramatic! now you can really begin to harvest the true output
of your solar panels!!
congratulations once again and well done for heading to the voice of reason
despite initially being reluctant to do so.
be assured that the money you spend today, you will recover it many times over
the lifespan of your modules.

Barezzi:

Neat install bro...
I don't get what you mean in the quote above. Do you have 2 sets of light points?
If yes, you might consider placing them in a separate db powered only by PHCN.
That way your kids wont have to scramble for the LED bulbs whenever you experience load shedding.

See a rough sketch of my setup below. I have 3 DBs...
1. Main db: PHCN only loads.
2. Secondary db: Powered by PHCN or PV/Inverter depending on time of day.
3. Critical db: PV/Inverter only loads.

My secondary db is powered by Inverter/Solar from 9am to 5pm daily. It then switches automatically to PHCN if available from 5pm to 9am the following morning.

bigrovar:
So yesterday I finished series of updates I have been carrying out on my system. The upgrades include an additional solar panel (250w) to my 240w+240w+220w array. Due to the VOC limitations of my controller .. I had to switch to a series parallel setup. I had to improvise not having an mc4 y connector. Made do with wire joiner which I encased in a ip65 casing to prevent it from the elements.

Test showed about 35% increase in harvest. I was pulling 621w up from 420w (Harmattan had been very hard solar iridiance in Abuja. I project to get close to 850w pick power once the hazy sky is replaced by blue clear skies.)

Anyway.. next thing I upgraded was to replace my Tracer Bn series 30A Controller with a Chinese like for like direct clone of victron energy bluesolar MPPT charger. The clone is made by a company called fangpusun. The new controller is 45A, 150v MPPT. Got it because of the abysmal tracking of the BN tracer. It sometimes take 4 Minutes to find MPP with the bn.. a huge pain on cloudy days... I got the MPPT controll display for the bluesolar Controller, the Direct to USB cable which allows connection with PC. New CC has been a joy. Interestingly I get to update it using victron Energy firmware and Victron connect. Last update , I made was to replace my crudely put together battery monitor with victron Energy BMV 700 battery monitor. Comes with a shunt and display too.

Hope to do a product review on the BMV soon. (Fantastic product.)
Below are mandatory pictures

pdozie:


Hello dapsyra,
If you have 8 batteries in 48v setup whereby 2 strings of 4 batteries in series are paralleled, how would you connect the battery equalizer? Would you buy two of the equalizer or can you use one to connect all?

dapsyra:


Hello Pdozie,

It all depend on your battery configuration. Either one or two equalizers can work.

If you have eight 12v batteries in a "2 strings of 4 " arrangement, then your require 2 equalizers.

But you can make do with only 1 equalizer if you arrange the batteries in a "1 string of 2 batteries" formation. This arrangement require you to parallel two 12v batteries and then four in series. See attached image,

dejidotun2000:
How do you regulate DOD, I see that you use a Sukam inverter which hasn't got an option to adjust low voltage settings.

bigrovar:

Name of the battery equaliser that you use.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/battery-equalizer-battery-balancer-for-4pcs-12V-battery-connected-in-series-for-48V-battery-system-solar/32643622608.html

dapsyra:


Hello Pdozie,

It all depend on your battery configuration. Either one or two equalizers can work.

If you have eight 12v batteries in a "2 strings of 4 " arrangement, then your require 2 equalizers.

But you can make do with only 1 equalizer if you arrange the batteries in a "1 string of 2 batteries" formation. This arrangement require you to parallel two 12v batteries and then four in series. See attached image,

dapsyra:


Hello Pdozie,

It all depend on your battery configuration. Either one or two equalizers can work.

If you have eight 12v batteries in a "2 strings of 4 " arrangement, then your require 2 equalizers.

But you can make do with only 1 equalizer if you arrange the batteries in a "1 string of 2 batteries" formation. This arrangement require you to parallel two 12v batteries and then four in series. See attached image,

Barezzi:

Neat install bro...
I don't get what you mean in the quote above. Do you have 2 sets of light points?
If yes, you might consider placing them in a separate db powered only by PHCN.
That way your kids wont have to scramble for the LED bulbs whenever you experience load shedding.

See a rough sketch of my setup below. I have 3 DBs...
1. Main db: PHCN only loads.
2. Secondary db: Powered by PHCN or PV/Inverter depending on time of day.
3. Critical db: PV/Inverter only loads.

My secondary db is powered by Inverter/Solar from 9am to 5pm daily. It then switches automatically to PHCN if available from 5pm to 9am the following morning.

bigrovar:


I do not disagree with anything you have said. Only thing I added was for him to look at the economics of solar to consider if it is worth it. This was in response to the brother that gave a ball park figure of what it could cost to implement solar based on the energy figure he gave.

Go on Nigerian Twitter I am one of the biggest promoter of RE and solar energy. However RE should not just be about power generation it is about economy and conservation of energy. All three most go together to be viable. No point going solar if in your case the economics and opportunity cost won't favour your business. Especially if your business is AC and heavy machine intensive.. the start up cost might be such that it would be difficult to recoup back before your first financial maintenance usually the battery. Even if you could. That up front might just be too much to release one time.

For me I planned my system over a 12 months period.. making adjustments and creating efficiencies in areas like ensuring my house had natural cooling even during hot season.. this involved choosing what part of the city I site my house, type of window, where my window is facing etc. I took 600w off my power needs by outsourcing security and external lighting to external solar security motion sensor lights that cost less than $60. Invested in energy saving bulbs from Philips highest of which is 11w but most are 8 and 5w. Got an LED 43 TV that uses 35w. A freezer that can run even with 800w inverter (startup surge and all) all this I got 12 months before buying my first solar equipment.

And when I started buying, it was in piecemeal over a period of 10 months. 2 240w panel, charge controller, inverter, breakers, mc4 connectors, crimpers , wire lugs etc.. last thing I got was the battery which I got in may this year. System has since been live. My earlier activity at conserving energy has been a success.. my room is always chilled never used the AC there once and it has no fan. Just added a 3rd panel 220w panel to put my string at 660w. The result is here http://twitter.com/bigbrovar/status/757182083127185409?s=09

Still approach to solar should be from an economic point of view in my opinion. My investment made sense because I was spending close to 480k yearly on generator hence investing 450k on a solar setup with a battery rated at 1200 cycles at 80% dod (which is cycled daily at 35% dod) is a no brainier for me. Everytime I think of the money spent.. I remember the cost of generator and I have no regrets.

Still I will always recommend that people do their maths to see if the economics favours going solar. As much progress has been made. Solar is still not affordable. Battery tech is still background. Over 90% of off grid solar rely on Lead acid batteries which are highly inefficient when it comes to charging and discharging. New technologies in batteries are not mainstream yet and are very very expensive. When I can purchase a power wall battery for 150k that can will store at least 5200wh of energy and I can totally discharge it and replenish without worrying about dod. Then we would no that we have arrived. For now. Alternative energy is still alternative. It requires separate set of thinking outside how you approach grid power.

EnigmaticEnigma:
How much is a cheap solar installer?

Just have two small panels I wanna get on a roof, nothing major.

pdozie:


Nothing major? LOL. Really u can do it yourself. This is DIY forum. If you follow all the posts in here, you can pull it. But before you start, you need to size the system well, if not, you will never enjoy the solar and you will continue to spend more especially in changing batteries.

So first, calculate all the load u want to run on inverter and how many hours each will run in a day. The loads will be in Watts
. E.g Fan 50W x 7 hrs; TV 80W x 6hrs; bulbs 8 x 15W x 8 (8 bulbs of 15W each to run 8 hrs) etc. Do this for all the devices.
Then we get the total WH
From there we calculate and determine the size of the battery that will carry the load adding efficiency factor and DOD.
Then we calculate the amount of solar charges (panels) that is adequate for charge the battery bank.

If you get the figures right, then you can start mounting the panels and you will enjoy your setup.

pdozie:


Hello Barezzi,
nice setup you have there. Well done. Few clarifications:
1. What is the capacity of the Timer Switch deployed? because I noticed you have heavy appliances running on the DB controlled by the Timer Switch

2. The Automatic Transfer switch ... Does it auto switch to NEPA after 3pm? OR you have no change over? (Like knife switch)

Cheers

DMerciful:
From experience it is better to avoid series-parallel configuration for batteries. better to go with series and if higher capacity is required, go with higher capacity batteries. the complexities of current flow in series-parallel battery networks especially when it exceed 24v makes the arrangement susceptible to early failure

pdozie:


Hello Barezzi,
nice setup you have there. Well done. Few clarifications:
1. What is the capacity of the Timer Switch deployed? because I noticed you have heavy appliances running on the DB controlled by the Timer Switch

2. The Automatic Transfer switch ... Does it auto switch to NEPA after 3pm? OR you have no change over? (Like knife switch)

Cheers

EnigmaticEnigma:


Bros, soup wey sweet, na money killam

PDeezy, thanks for the quick rundown, but I'm already quite familiar with electricity, just not a hands on guy when it comes to using tools n shh.

I saw roof mount kit on konga for like 40k, I was like what!!

When d panel I want to buy is just 15k 50watt X 2.

I am el cheapo at the moment, I'm even using car battery sef, instead of all una deep cycle. who deep cycle epp

Actually, thing is, I have constant light for 12 hours with gen at night. I just need some el cheapo panel on the roof to get me through afternoon, so I don't put to much stress on my car batteries

I just need like an under 10k guy to come and put it when I buy it this week

teamsynergy:

wia is ur location?... if na lag and eno too far, we can work somfin out...

pdozie:


Hi Bigrovar,
I took interest in the Bolded.
You mean you purchased a security system that is solar powered and run it separately off you inverter? Can you share details of the external solar security motion sensor lights please?

Barezzi:
Nice one Bigrovar.
Where did you get your Victron energy battery monitor BMV700/702?
I need it as an additional permissive to the timer switch to control loads on my secondary dB.

dapsyra:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/battery-equalizer-battery-balancer-for-4pcs-12V-battery-connected-in-series-for-48V-battery-system-solar/32643622608.html

bigrovar:


Yes o. My outdoor security lighting are completely offgrid, separated from the inverter and battery bank. I got 6 for $60. each has its own battery and tiny solar panel. I just nailed them to the wall and that's it. They come on by themselves at night and go off in the morning. Besides saving me 600wh daily, the fact that they are dim by default and only brighten up when they sense motion adds a layer of security compared to bright outdoor lights. This is because a bright outdoor lights gives the potential criminal a good view of your house and stealable items.. however a dim light restricts view of your compound.. the sudden brightness of the light also acts as an early warning system that someone is out and about around your home.

Been using them going to 2 years now and they are still running sunset to sunrise and require zero maintenance. I have more than recouped my investment on those devices.