DUNKA:
Then go for Prag as it had good user feedback. Search for Richmond previous post on this inverter. Good value for money. May God open more doors for you

Saipro:


Same goes for the PowerStar series. Dimensions, capabilities, features, whitesheet et al are so similar, I often wonder if they really aren't different flavours coming out of the same factory in China.

zeestone99:
Mr JUO man of the year, God bless you brother, keep up the good work.

As for the controller war, are we saying the classic beats the Tristar,cos according to oga George's review Tristar lost the fight. Can we rank controllers according to brand. Of course we ll need more reviews, over to the house pls.

Who ll giv us review on the schineider controller.

Saipro:


Pretty good controller. Sturdy. I have one. I will volunteer just three comments:

1. Pretty dependable but somehow tend to give issues shortly after expiration of warranty (typically 5 years). Customer service support is fair.
2. Performance-wise, it's just about another option out there. Nothing really outstanding asides coming in different flavours.
3. Pretty pricey. Not sure the cost justifies the performance. For roughly the same price, I'd rather you go for an Outback or preferably a Midnite. One would need a cost:benefit evaluation.

By and large, if your array is 1kW or less, generic brands are okay (marginal difference in power conversion; longevity is a different matter). If 600W or less, you could save money by getting a PWM controller instead (Midnite brat is quite versatile but has DIP switches - a minus of sorts for me).

GeorgeD1:


zeestone,
contrary to your speculation, the cc war is far from over. remember that i've just had the midnite classic
for about a month and i'm still putting it through its paces. monitoring is still in progress while i continue
tweaking and re-configuring its settings. the tristar on the other hand is what i've had for over 7yrs.
in another month or two, i will update the house on my findings. who knows? perhaps in this space of time,
a game changing happenstance might occur that could spin all that review on its head!

Saipro:


The problem is the cost. Once again, cost:benefit evaluation comes into play. Nothing black or white here. It's true when you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. At the same time, one must be shrewd.

I have two flavours of MustPower PowerStar inverters. Both 3kW (24V and 48V). Yes, they both have an idle consumption of about 100W (which curiously reduces as you load them). Both are remarkable performers and have taken everything I've thrown at them. Believe me, I've taken them to the limits and beyond. I did a little splurging on panels and batteries to compensate for the idle consumption difference (and still had money left over, had I gone with the option of a premium inverter). A win-win if you ask me. Sadly, I have no more than 2.5 years worth of experience. As the years tick by, I'll volunteer more info.

DMerciful:
@ Dunka,

if his reason for wanting to discard the mustpower inverter is high idle consumption, mind telling us the idle consumption of the premium brands you recommended?

I use mustpower but i also have a small inverter i use for light loads(lights & electronics) that consumes about 10w idle power. I only use the mustpower during the day or when powering refrigerator n microwave/iron

earthrealm:
So had a chance to pop into villa .
The setup up there aint doing too well.
After the last watering ops 3months ago..1 of the cells in my 220ah mecury fla batt did not go down.others went down.its still at max while others are already below halfway...any idea how to solve this?

2ndly the batt voltage jumps too rapidly.
It was 22.4v by dawn..even tripped off b4 day break..but as soon as sunlight came up as little as 2amps from the cc..it rapidly jumped to 25.7v within 10mins..and less than 2hrs later its already 27v.

Am suspecting the rise in voltage is due to the cc setting.cos boost is at 29.4v..while float is 27.6v

dsunmade:
Quick question. Can a Sukam inverter withstand the high equalization voltage of a charge controller ?

NiyiOmoIyunade:
In my experience No it cannot - as the high voltage alarm on Su-Kam and other indian inverters is set around 15v for 12v, 30v for 24v & 60v for 48v nominal systems.

I hear tell that Microtek (another indian type inverter) can both equalize batteries as well as withstand high voltages - the jury is out on that though as I never tested it.

Again new designs may have overcome this limit but last I checked what I said above is the status.

JohnKester:


Mine is actually on a new building and central hot water supply system was already provided for in the piping design.

I did not have much problem with the installation because the building has a concrete flat roof and I just installed it on the roof.

It can be installed anywhere you have direct unhindered sunlight to it even if it is not close to the tank stand. All that is required is to pipe inlet supply to it and pipe outlet to the house and the rest is for it to work. It can be on its own tank stand, which however, should be below the level of the water supply tank stand, so that gravity can still supply water to the water heater.

Note that having it above your tank stand would mean that you will require a pump to send water to it, or pump directly from the sumo to it. However, this may not function well as the tank may run dry, except of course you automate the pumping which may deplete your batteries if it happens frequently at night when there is no sunlight. The design of the solar water heater is such that once water is going into the house from the outlet, the inlet will automatically open to let in water to fill up the tank. You will achieve better result if water supply to it comes from your overhead tank that will not require power.

Cheers

NiyiOmoIyunade:
The symptoms you describe for voltage look like the classic signs of loss of battery capacity/beginning of battery failure.

First confirm if your batteries have been getting a full charge at the end of everyday ... if so then ......

mank1234:
Hello gurus in the house. I had a discussion with a friend on keeping fridge on timer or not. Here is his opinion.

He said that given adequate battery bank to last night load, that it is better to leave your fridge on 24/7 for the following reasons:
1) normal power consumption when fridge has reached its optimum temperature is lower compared to defrosting input when temperature has gone up.
2) it goes off and on when temperature is maintained and the off period is very long at night since nobody is using it.
3) that he has used watt meter to measure and observed that, especially in this rainy season, his consumption is lower without timer than with timer.

Is this possible?

earthrealm:


thnks for the extensive explanations, guess the batts are undercharged.
the setup is in the villa, miles away from me/anybody who can perform the extensive tests wch can give a truer picture.
guess i wud hv to reduce the load on the system to maybe give the batta fighting chance in this cloudy weather.
its totally offgrid, no phcn.
4 x 12v 220ah mecury fla batt, 1.5kva 24v luminous inverter, 60amp epsolar CC


loads
190w fridge [130w energy name plate, but wattmeter says 190w...lol] runs for 8hrs daily
30w sec flood light runs for 11hrs daily.
about 8 x 18w bulbs......used at night say 6pm to 10pm
70w tv and 70w fan used intermittently, say 8hrs combined total daily [worst case scenario]

1500w panel..max harvest i hv ever recorded is 7.3kwh.
in this rainy season..average btw 3kwh n 4kwh

ahaha...i think i hv seen the problem.. with this bad weather, and the fridge +sec light beeing on timer switch...the batt is being drained below acceptable levels, its a rudimentary system n no tech savvy person around to monitor or effect intelligent load shedding.
need to reduce the fridge run time to 5hrs or4 hrs daily to allow the batts hv some charge, until the weather improves

GeorgeD1:


earthrealm,
you may want to consider replacing those batteries with maintenance free agm or gel batteries going forward. for your setup and especially for remote locations it's always a better option.

NiyiOmoIyunade:
In my experience No it cannot - as the high voltage alarm on Su-Kam and other indian inverters is set around 15v for 12v, 30v for 24v & 60v for 48v nominal systems. Since you will be equalizing above 15v per 12v battery the inverter would start beeping and go into overload and shutoff and perhaps get damaged from prolonged exposure.

JUO:
to say Happy new month and thank you
Flex max 80a fangpusun 150k only one offer
BMV 702 Fangpusun 35k only one offer
50a-12/24v 40k only two offers 50k with remote
30a-12/24v 28k only two offers 38k with remote
epever 30a+MT50 (CN) 40k only one offer
080-987-337-09
First come first served

dsunmade:
Quick question. Can a Sukam inverter withstand the high equalization voltage of a charge controller ?

earthrealm:
So had a chance to pop into villa .
The setup up there aint doing too well.
After the last watering ops 3months ago..1 of the cells in my 220ah mecury fla batt did not go down.others went down.its still at max while others are already below halfway...any idea how to sol e this?

2ndly the batt voltage jumps too rapidly.
It was 22.4v by dawn..even tripped off b4 day break..but as soon as sunlight came up as little as 2amps from the cc..it rapidly jumped to 25.7v within 10mins..and less than 2hrs later its already 27v.

Am suspecting the rise in voltage is due to the cc setting.cos boost is at 29.4v..while float is 27.6v

DMerciful:
@ Dunka,

if his reason for wanting to discard the mustpower inverter is high idle consumption, mind telling us the idle consumption of the premium brands you recommended?

I use mustpower but i also have a small inverter i use for light loads(lights & electronics) that consumes about 10w idle power. I only use the mustpower during the day or when powering refrigerator n microwave/iron

Saipro:


Kindly state the brand, model and capacity for the smaller inverter. Might need one for villa setup.

GeorgeD1:


actually the answer is yes. i have a sukam 3.5kva fusion series and
no problem at all with equalization voltages from my tristar cc. others
may have a different model but mine is not exactly a recent brand so
it's hard to see how more recent versions should have this problem.

DMerciful:
it doesnt have a charging system though since i charge with the big inverter or solar.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/inverter-24v-220v-500W-inverter-pure-sine-wave-input-24-v-output-220-v-inverter/32799481550.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.CnGRzR

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Oga GeorgeD1 - I always thought you had maintenance free/AGM type batteries and not flooded? - most likely you may not be 'equalizing' them above 15v per 12v battery - I distinctly remember setting off the high voltage alarm on my APC clone, Su-Kam & Sinergy inverters at voltages above 15v - again this was ages ago and my memory may be foggy

Again, people don't really equalize maintenance free batteries because most manufacturers say its unnecessary and also no easy way to replace the lost water if the battery starts to boil dry - I kind of just assumed the OP was using flooded batteries and would be equalizing around 15.5v. My bad