NiyiOmoIyunade:
These are golden words Bigrovar and very apt advice at this time.

I am sure Kiekie is seeing all the feedback both online and offline and working on improving his after sales support and customer service etiquette - in fairness to all, no one whether saint or demon wants to make a loss on a transaction as much as possible and this is often what honoring a warranty claim entails - someone somewhere ultimately has to bear the cost of making things good again and its only human to try to wriggle out of it sometimes or be slow to make things right.

In the last two weeks, I am personally aware of two warranty cases involving Kiekie and I can say that after mediation he stepped up and made things good - if this will be the trend going forward, then people will be happy dealing with him and hopefully the people with good experiences will come back and drop positive reviews again - it will be a happy world when he starts resolving warranty issues and claims with the same speed and efficiency with which he makes equipment supplies. With all the feedback and advice received, we should be seeing a new and improved person very soon.

pranil:
Peeps

Latest News from Tapeta street Home Project

A more machanically talented guy from my office helped me install ( actually he did the install I just watched � ) over two days this weekend the first wind turbine

I was also in parallel installing the BYD LIfepo4 batteries – 10 KWh 48 V

See video for turbine in operation -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI84Xa_9LA4

It is a cheap Chinese make horizontal axis wind Turbine rated 200 Watt /24 V DC connected to the drivers /maids room through an off grid setup of 3 KWH . It is also augmented by 800 watt of Solar PV
Cut in Speed 2 m/s - rated 11 m/s - Installation location - 9.078 7.482 , 492 m+ 14 meters
weather history - https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IABUJA3#history/tgraphs/s20171106/e20171106/mdaily

I have also on order a Vertical Axis 300 Watt wind turbine to compare. Will be installed next year

Now I have Four different RE models running in the same house


1. Pure Offgrid – 24 V DC Solar PV+ Wind – AGM batteries – 3KWH. 0.8 Kwp Solar
2. DC coupled Hybrid – Grid + Solar PV + Diesel, 48 V Flooded lead acid , 20 KWh( 10 KVA peak) – 2.5 Kwp solar
3. AC coupled Grid Tie ( normally running in islanding mode daytime) - Solar PV +Diesel Hybrid + Micro Grid inverter ,Lithium batteries – 10 KWh ( 5 KW peak) , 48 V DC – 3 Kwp Solar
4. Solar thermal – 120 Litters EV tube water heater with PV Solar assisted 1.5 Kwp heater and 100 watt water boost pressure pump


detailed specs – Horizontal axis

Model FT- 200S
Generator type 3 phase rare earth Permanent Magnet Generator
Rated power 200W
Maximum Power 230W
Rated voltage 12/24V
Generator net weight 12Lb
Service life 20-25years
blades Nylon fiber
Number of blades 3 or 5
Wheel diameter 1.3m
Rated rotor speed 400r / m
Start-up wind speed 2.0m / s
Rated wind speed 11.0m / s
Survival wind speed 60m / s
Regulating way Electronic magnet/yaw
Lubricating grease

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Oga Pranil - I hail o.

You have taken your RE journey to some impressive heights. I am truly in awe of what you have accomplished.

But on a lighter note in your absence, your house will need a thick user manual to navigate through all the gadgets and technology you have deployed o

I am truly inspired to see how you spare no expense to try out your ideas and share the knowledge freely on here.

Really really great one Sir.

Nielsek:
Please I'm in need of a complete solar set installation That can power My CCTV cameras 24hours, can anyone in d house help me with the watt rating of each of d equipment (devices) ...is there any expert or dealer in the house that I can contact through whatsapp?

Nielsek:
Please I'm in need of a complete solar set installation That can power My CCTV cameras 24hours, can anyone in d house help me with the watt rating of each of d equipment (devices) ...is there any expert or dealer in the house that I can contact through whatsapp?

totalgreen01:
my people,

pls i am looking for dead laptop batteries in large quantity
can anyone help

pranil:
Peeps

Latest News from Tapeta street Home Project

A more machanically talented guy from my office helped me install ( actually he did the install I just watched � ) over two days this weekend the first wind turbine

I was also in parallel installing the BYD LIfepo4 batteries – 10 KWh 48 V

See video for turbine in operation -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI84Xa_9LA4

It is a cheap Chinese make horizontal axis wind Turbine rated 200 Watt /24 V DC connected to the drivers /maids room through an off grid setup of 3 KWH . It is also augmented by 800 watt of Solar PV
Cut in Speed 2 m/s - rated 11 m/s - Installation location - 9.078 7.482 , 492 m+ 14 meters
weather history - https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IABUJA3#history/tgraphs/s20171106/e20171106/mdaily

I have also on order a Vertical Axis 300 Watt wind turbine to compare. Will be installed next year

Now I have Four different RE models running in the same house


1. Pure Offgrid – 24 V DC Solar PV+ Wind – AGM batteries – 3KWH. 0.8 Kwp Solar
2. DC coupled Hybrid – Grid + Solar PV + Diesel, 48 V Flooded lead acid , 20 KWh( 10 KVA peak) – 2.5 Kwp solar
3. AC coupled Grid Tie ( normally running in islanding mode daytime) - Solar PV +Diesel Hybrid + Micro Grid inverter ,Lithium batteries – 10 KWh ( 5 KW peak) , 48 V DC – 3 Kwp Solar
4. Solar thermal – 120 Litters EV tube water heater with PV Solar assisted 1.5 Kwp heater and 100 watt water boost pressure pump


detailed specs – Horizontal axis

Model FT- 200S
Generator type 3 phase rare earth Permanent Magnet Generator
Rated power 200W
Maximum Power 230W
Rated voltage 12/24V
Generator net weight 12Lb
Service life 20-25years
blades Nylon fiber
Number of blades 3 or 5
Wheel diameter 1.3m
Rated rotor speed 400r / m
Start-up wind speed 2.0m / s
Rated wind speed 11.0m / s
Survival wind speed 60m / s
Regulating way Electronic magnet/yaw
Lubricating grease

pranil:


Just finished putting in service BYD Pro 10 KWh 48 Volts - took 90 minutes to charge from 50 % to 100 % ( was charging at 70 amps)
Now sitting idle. will do a load test tomorrow but the battery is reporting 130 amps rating at 30 DEG which is not bad as my inverter is rated only for 5 KW .

Integrated nicely with my Victron inverter and CCGX with canbus communication and safety contactors

still a lot of cleanups to do so other photos will follow later-

JUO:
Flex max 80a fangpusun 155k
Flex max 60a fangpusun 135k
50a-12/24v 45k. 45k
60a-12/24v/36v/48v 100k.
70a-12/24v/36v/48v 120k
45a-12/24v/36v/48v 72k
30a-12/24v 35k. 32k
MPPT- CONTROL 16K
epever 30a+MT50 12/24v (CN) 46k
epever 30a 12/24v 43k
epever 40a 12/24v 53k
BMV 702 FANGPUSUN 42K
PROGRAMMABLE Digital timer 15/16a 5k din rail
PROGRAMMABLE Digital timer 25a 6k din rail/wall mount
DC/AC CEILING FAN 56' 12V/30W, REGULATOR, REMOTE CONTROL INCLUDED 25k
080-987-337-09

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Oga Pranil.

I am a bit of a noob when it comes to Lithium batteries having never installed them yet commercially - please educate us more on why you chose the BYD Pro offering vs. other options.

Did it come bundled with a BMS or you had to purchase BMS separately? Are you charging through the BMS or external charging source? How did you set the low voltage disconnect and charge voltage limits - I have heard of some people who use the standard charge controllers for charging Lithium batteries and set their target absorb voltage with an absorb time of 1 minute .

Do you have extra safety measures/redundancies built in in case of BMS or other failure?

Basically, please give the house the full purchase decision and install and configuration low down with reasons why you went with one approach vs. another so we can all learn.

We appreciate your time.

pranil:


My decision was based on mainly two factors ( reliability of both battery and BMS) and availability in Nigeria for off-grid use as Lithium are temp sensitive. I started the process way back in May before coming to the final conclusion that building your own battery was fraught with many issues such as canbus integration and component failure risk as well as the jungle of wires and constant babysitting required which is pyscially not possible by me.

Pls. see attached excel where I have contacted each supplier for both commercial offers and technical details to ensure proper integration.
Suppliers who refused to support Victron and axpert ( zinox/voltronic) inverter were dropped out .
The BYD won the race mainly because - Availability off the shelf ( I wanted to finish before December beginning), Low per cycle cost ( comes lower than Trojan). It also helped that BYD is the largest manufacturer of LIthium batteries and Electric cars ( including JV with Mercedes EV's) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Company and best of all one of the few batteries apart from PYLON which can be added in stacks of 2.5 KWH as your system grows without affecting warranties. BTW The warranties on Lithium are 10 years as general practice


I also have an order a relatively new company called herewin which will come in January. They cannot support canbus but the price was only 3000 USD so I decided to take the risk and will try to use it with PRAG 5 KW ( yet to get hold of PRAG BTW ) to clarify the absorb times

On the issue of the BYD the biggest advantage is that BMS of every 2.5 KWH unit ( called B- PLus 2.5 ) is integrated. But the BMS does not talk to inverter but their own box .( BMU- battery management unit) This BMU can be upgraded anytime for the firmware to support more inverters or models without changing anything in the battery which is a big plus point the battery and BMU connect over RJ 485 and located away from each other if required . The BMU is also cheap 69 USD compared to other brands like sonneh which cross 2000 USD

The charging the B- BOX is through Victron inverter at 70 Amps ( inverter limit ) as well as my 2.5 KWp solar 48 V , 45 amp CC and 500 watt Grid-tied ( together max 136 amps) which is the exact limit of the charging normal 0.7 C max between 12 to 50 DEG C

The BMU informs the charger /inverter when to switch off charger through CANBUS including the current limit for charge and discharge based on battery temp.
It is actually fun to see the battery charging as it reaches 99 % at full 70 amps in then in next one minute the current drops to Zero
As a added safety precaution additional Allowed to charge and Allowed to discharge contacts Hardwired to inverter which are NC so in case BMU fails the inverter stops charging( allowed to charge off) and also switches off ( allowed to discharge) The battery has also it's own safety contactors built in per 2.5 KWh with LOw/Over voltage and current limit .

Th technical details are too many to elaborate as the forum format is not very user-friendly ( limits attachment per post) those who are interested can contact me for more details directly on interested models and use case scenarios/recommendations.

pranil:


My decision was based on mainly two factors ( reliability of both battery and BMS) and availability in Nigeria for off-grid use as Lithium are temp sensitive. I started the process way back in May before coming to the final conclusion that building your own battery was fraught with many issues such as canbus integration and component failure risk as well as the jungle of wires and constant babysitting required which is pyscially not possible by me.

Pls. see attached excel where I have contacted each supplier for both commercial offers and technical details to ensure proper integration.
Suppliers who refused to support Victron and axpert ( zinox/voltronic) inverter were dropped out .
The BYD won the race mainly because - Availability off the shelf ( I wanted to finish before December beginning), Low per cycle cost ( comes lower than Trojan). It also helped that BYD is the largest manufacturer of LIthium batteries and Electric cars ( including JV with Mercedes EV's) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Company and best of all one of the few batteries apart from PYLON which can be added in stacks of 2.5 KWH as your system grows without affecting warranties. BTW The warranties on Lithium are 10 years as general practice
...
On the issue of the BYD the biggest advantage is that BMS of every 2.5 KWH unit ( called B- PLus 2.5 ) is integrated. But the BMS does not talk to inverter but their own box .( BMU- battery management unit) This BMU can be upgraded anytime for the firmware to support more inverters or models without changing anything in the battery which is a big plus point the battery and BMU connect over RJ 485 and located away from each other if required . The BMU is also cheap 69 USD compared to other brands like sonneh which cross 2000 USD

The charging the B- BOX is through Victron inverter at 70 Amps ( inverter limit ) as well as my 2.5 KWp solar 48 V , 45 amp CC and 500 watt Grid-tied ( together max 136 amps) which is the exact limit of the charging normal 0.7 C max between 12 to 50 DEG C

The BMU informs the charger /inverter when to switch off charger through CANBUS including the current limit for charge and discharge based on battery temp.
It is actually fun to see the battery charging as it reaches 99 % at full 70 amps in then in next one minute the current drops to Zero
As a added safety precaution additional Allowed to charge and Allowed to discharge contacts Hardwired to inverter which are NC...

jazzman2:


Nice setup. How do you regulate the charging of the lifepo4 unit from the solar CC and 500w grid-tie side of things? Same CANBUS?

jazzman2:


Nice setup. How do you regulate the charging of the lifepo4 unit from the solar CC and 500w grid-tie side of things? Same CANBUS?

pranil:


Sorry, I missed the CC - the CC is through Canbus to CCGX/Venus GX and then by .Ve direct cable to CC. the CC stops charging in few seconds if it loses communication - It's a standard implementation for Victron Nothing special there

Nielsek:
Please I'm in need of a complete solar set installation That can power My CCTV cameras 24hours, can anyone in d house help me with the watt rating of each of d equipment (devices) ...is there any expert or dealer in the house that I can contact through whatsapp?

jazzman2:


Thanks Pranil for your explicit explanation. Basically you charge to approx. 100% and all forms of charging will cease. You will then be running off your battery pack until a pre-determined SOC before the charger engages again.

There is no floating arrangement on your CC, hence your PV cannot supply load power when battery is fully charged.

Which micro-inverter are u utilizing? I only know of the magnum MicroGT 500 that can throttle its power with frequency shift control. The rest of the micro-inverters in the market will NOT gradually reduce their output power with frequency shifting, rather they get knocked offline completely when a pre-determined frequency is reached. Unfortunately the magnum MicroGt 500 is yet to made available for european 230Vac 50Hz systems.

jazzman2:


Hi Makoavele, don't be misled by the 240Vac in the specs: it is the voltage between the split phases North American 2 hot legs, L1 and L2. L1 or L2 to Neutral is 120Vac, 60Hz, while L1 to L2 is 180deg out of phase to give u 240Vac peak to peak. Don't confuse it with European single phase L-N of 230Vac, 50 Hz.

jazzman2:


Thanks Pranil for your explicit explanation. Basically, you charge to approx. 100% and all forms of charging will cease. You will then be running off your battery pack until a pre-determined SOC before the charger engages again.

There is no floating arrangement on your CC, hence your PV cannot supply load power when battery is fully charged.

.

pranil:


Exactly that is intended operation. The grid is not available( intentional islanding mode) to sink the variation in power and you do not want battery voltage to spike with a large load is switched off or something trips

For reasons debated earlier on the forum in Nigeria, theoretically, you cannot run grid tied AC inverters till all regulations are in place.
See this interesting video - For the layman this video explains it better ( start at 40 Sec to get past marketing stuff) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq1ShAgw5no?t=40s


Although I have 5 contractors in series - One input Quattro, 2 output quattro, 3 - Power contactor for grid-tied, 4 , Ziehl islanding relay, 5 ( Auto changer of gen and NEPA( German standards require 1 and UK 2) to avoid all possiblities of malfunction

E.g. for Nigeria what should be the ROcof ( df/dt) nobody knows. There is no standard and no practical knowledge.

I am eagerly waiting when the net metering takes off and I can actually put a large PV inverter coupled with my Victron. Till that time we are at the mercy of clever gimmicks to get around the technical problem the politicians should solve.


BTW. the Ziehl islanding relay setting options are attached - if you look at the settings you will realize the importance of having values from regulators

totalgreen01:
my people,

pls i am looking for dead laptop batteries in large quantity
can anyone help

DMerciful:
You want to make your own DIY lithium battery pack as shown on u-tube