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.
Hello Sir, thanks for your observation. All you said has been duely noted . Nevertheless, thanks for the recent patronage and we hope doing more business as time goes on ...
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
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
Congrats Sir , you are indeed a brave man ! You inspire a lot of viewers and prospective clients here.. It also amazes me the way you take time to detail your write up's as I personally know how "very busy" you can be at times.. My regards to the family .. I remain loyal Sir !!
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.
Thank you for the compliments - You echo my wife 's sentiments - she claims that my house needs a user manual. My next project is to simply the usage. first step is to allow MQQT control but no more projects this year too many weekends spent
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?
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?
Good morning Sir , feel free to WhatsApp / call us :
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
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
oh men, this is fantastically fabulous... the sky is your starting point and the sun is your limit.
more grease to your elbow... more sun to your roof... more wind to your compound... more money to your bank account...
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.
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-
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.
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.
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.
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?
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...
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?
The Victron has a PV inverter assistant you have to load which increases the frequency of steps from 50 to 51 HZ . The Micro PV inverter regulates it's power in response to change in frequency and completely disconnects above 51 HZ . In addition, the grid tie is connected to ACout to on the Victron which has its built-in 100 AMP ( AC) contractor. The contractor is designed to open through another setting /assistant at 55.8 V ensuring fall back protection. IN addition, normal connection and disconnection of the PV power ( only 500 watts ) are done through another power contactor controlled by the Victron through it's auxiliary contactor. which connects only when SOC at <90 % and disconnected at soc >97 % only when the inverter has no AC input ( in islanding mode though hardwiring from my Ziehl Islanding relay ) and the load is above 800 watt - *The Generator in the picture actually means PV inverter
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?
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
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
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.
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?
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.
DC breakers 10-63a ....N3-4k DC breakers 80a double pole....... N7k
Hello, if you are a flooded battery fan, contact me for USA trojan battery 12v 200a -N130,000. If you are for agm SMF battery : - Hoppecke 12v 90a N96,000 -Long battery 12v 200a N115,000 -Gennex 12v 200a N105,000
Note: USA trojan sealed agm batteries will soon be in stock !
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.
[quote author=makavele post=62203512][/quote] USing a Clone of APsystems Micro Inverter 500 Watt - The company EVpower sells a customized version under their own brand name. They agreed to test the new unit with me as it has modified firmware - Hence the reason for so many protections and interlocks as the inverter is not commercially implemented and neither supported by Victron
The only inverter supported by Victron is fronius which allows power control. But the smallest unit is 3 KW with 600 K NGN price tag and attendent requirements of 10 panels in series to have good effcienecy
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.
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.
.
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
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