all,
as promised, here are the testing pics for my solar array.

i'm currently getting up to 1.2kw in bright sunlight.

505kwh so far and still counting!

out with the old chinese inverter and in with the new digital version.

here i get a clear picture of my usage time, load percentage, system
voltage all in digital form.

solar and battery circuit breakers (highly recommended)!

the complete back up system:

more testing pics.

over 10,000 amphere hours produced since installation and still counting! 

simply put:awesome

thanks freshp. these are just the initial pics. more to follow later.
cheers!

@ Oga George
Have been following this thread from the first page.
I must commend your achievement.
I have an inverter rated 1.2kva that i use with an 100amp battery
and I will like to change the source of power to solar.
I want you to help me calculate the rating of
900w load for 24hrs. can you please state the capacity of solar panel
and the amount of battery amp needed.

geefivez,
i'll go straight to the calculations:

at 900w for 24hrs you'll consume 21,600watt-hours

always start from your back-up before proceeding to the solar array.

so, at 21,600 watt-hours you need a 450ah battery storage for a 48v system which translates to

5 sets of 4pcs 100ah batteries connected in series/parrallel.

now for the solar panels, since you live in nigeria, we take average sunlight hours to
be around 6hrs daily so you will need a minimum of 3,200w. if your using a 200w panel you will be
needing about 18 panels.

ugeh,
let me try and reply you again. hopefully this time the post stays:

never make the mistake of charging your battery bank directly from your solar panels. as you have already experienced, you risk losing your batteries to overcharging and overheating. besides it's very dangerous!
always connect your solar array to your battery bank through a charge controller.

now to your question: how will an mppt charge controller increase the output of your array?

to answer this question, you need to know how a solar charge controller works.

a normal charge controller charges your battery bank at battery voltage irrespective of its rated output. for example, a 200w panel rated at 32v, 6.25a charging a 24v battery bank, you will get

24v*6.25a = 150watts. but your panel is supposed to be 200w, so (200w-150w) you lose 50w! on any given day no matter how bright the sun is in the sky. it even gets worse if your battery voltage is low.

lets say you used your inverter heavily overnight and your battery bank voltage dropped to 18v. in the morning your panels will only be outputting:

18v*6.25a = 112.5watts. you lose about 87.5watts! suddenly your 200w panel is only as good as a 100w panel, half what you paid for!
now, with an mppt solar charge controller, the charge controller looks at the output of the panels, and compares it to the battery voltage. it then figures out what is the best power that the panel can put out to charge the battery. it takes this and converts it to best voltage to get the maximum current into the battery. most modern mppt's are around 93-97% efficient in the conversion. you typically get a 20 to 45% power gain in cloudy weather and 10-15% in bright sunlight.


first of all, what is an mppt controller?


an mppt, or maximum power point tracker is an electronic dc to dc converter that optimizes the match between the solar array (pv panels), and the battery bank. to put it simply, it converts a higher voltage dc output from your solar panels down to the lower voltage needed to charge your batteries.

for example using the same 200w solar panel above,

assuming your battery is low, at 24 volts. an mppt controller takes that 32volts at 6.25amps and converts it down, so that what the battery gets is now 8.33 amps at 24 volts. Now you still have almost 200 watts, your money's worth.

24v*8.33 = 199.92 approx 200w.

assume your battery bank voltage is low, it even gets better:

18v*11.1 = 199.8 approx 200w
where with a normal charge controller you lose power the lower you batter voltage,
with an mppt charge controller, you get more current and your panel's rated power
when you need it most.

Thanks for your prompt reply. With my calculation, 18 solar panel will be on the high side.
I will look into reducing some of the load and the hour.
Thanks all the same.

geefivez,
your exactly right. one way to make the most of solar power is to reduce your load
and usage. you should also look at getting more energy-efficient appliances.

ugeh,
never make the mistake of charging your battery bank directly from your solar panels. as you have already experienced, you risk losing your batteries to overcharging and overheating. besides it's very dangerous!
always connect your solar array to your battery bank through a charge controller.

ugeh,
i've been trying for almost a week now to post my reply to your enquiries. everytime i post my reply the antispam flags it and labels it spam. maybe there are some key words that triggers the spambot or maybe there's a problem with nairaland's configuration. to go around this, i've decided to post the reply as an attachment. maybe this time it will evade the spambot. so here it is:

@George
Thansk 4 d reply and sincere apologies 4 all d trouble.

@George D

is it possible to use solar panel for Apc 600w UPS?

@George_D thanks a bunch & also sorry for the late reply here as well. I had followed ur previous calculations & taken the d.o.d into consideration. I arrived at 15 pcs of 200AH batteries which basically means d 2 calculations are within tolerance range, but i'll be going with your results because of the cost. Hopefully as the project kicks off the office will be encouraged to expand the battery bank. thanks a million once again!

@George. Great pictures!

segunfms:

@George D

is it possible to use solar panel for Apc 600w UPS?

the apc 600w ups serves as a standalone combined battery bank and inverter meant to used with ac or mains power. you cannot connect a solar panel directly to it as a solar panel is dc not ac. i will advise you get a regular deep cycle battery and a charge controller to use with your solar panel. that will save you the stress of re-engineering your apc just to serve your panel.

hope this helps?

litaninja,
the important thing with alterantive energy is to make the initial move. when you start, the instant rewards in terms of stress-free power will encourage you to go further.

by the time your people begin to experience a totally new world free from the frustrations of phcn, they won't need any further persuasion before increasing their battery bank.

besides, theoretical calculations though useful only give you a rough idea what to expect. you need to practicalise it to get the real thing.

all,
i'm getting close to the 700kwh mark on my solar array and still counting. pictures to follow shortly.

Sharp as stopped making the 80W and we need to get ride of this stock. I currently have huge stock of this SHARP 80 Module(NE-80EJEA) for OFF GRID applications. Each module cost 50K. Minimum order of 20 panels. There is only 700 of these panels available. These are originals all manufactured in the US. email me at pecorns1986@gmail.com for datasheet and pricing on controllers, inverters, batteries. All the products are manufactured in the US with warranty.

good job

pecorns,
forget about the 80w panels. give me some info on 200w panels and any mppt charge controllers you have in stock.

@George_D

I reduced the prices on some from my previous pricing yesterday. If you are looking for large quantities like more than 20 let me know and I will email you the prices on those.

Sharp 115W Thin Film PV Module---Price 48K
Sharp 121W Thin Film PV Module--Price 50K
Sharp 135W Thin Film PV Module--Price 55K
Sharp 208W PV Module-- Price 120K
Sharp 230W PV Module -- Price 130K
Sharp 245W PV Module -- Price 156K

Yingli Green Energy 175W PV Module--Price 70K
Yingli Green Energy 225W PV Module--Price 100K
Yingli Green Energy 230W PV Module--Price 108K
Yingli Green Energy 235W PV Module--Price 110K
Yingli Green Energy 280W PV Module--Price 130K

Charger controller
Morningstar ProStar Charge Controller, 30A, 12/24 VDC, w/ LCD Monitor, PS-30M--Price 30K
Morningstar SunLight Charge/Lighting Controller, 10A, 12 VDC, SL-10L-12V--Price 18K
Morningstar SunKeeper Charge Controller, 12A, 12 VDC, SK12--Price 14K
Morningstar ProStar Charge Controller, 30A, 12/24 VDC, PS-30--Price 25K
Morningstar ProStar Charge Controller, 15A, 12/24 VDC, PS15--Price 18K

pecorns,
thanks for your reply. i will reach you for further discussion on the sharp solar panels 200w and above.

your list of solar charge controllers did not include morningstar ts-mppt-60 controller.

kindly give me pricing for that too.

http://www.affordable-solar.com/morningstar-tristar-ts-mppt-60-charge-controller.htm

Morningstar TriStar MPPT Charge Controller, 45A, 150VDC, 12 to 48 VDC,---75K
Morningstar SunSaver MPPT Charge Controller 20A ,12-24VDC---45K
Morningstar TriStar MPPT Charge Controller, 60A, 150VDC, 12 to 48 VDC, w/RTS & Ethernet, TS-MPPT-60 ----90K

pecorns,
does your 90k price for the Morningstar TriStar MPPT Charge Controller, 60A, 150VDC, 12 to 48 VDC, w/RTS & Ethernet, TS-MPPT-60 include the tristar meter?

Yes it does, Here is the link for the full specification
http://www.dcpower-systems.com/uploads/products/24886_1.pdf

I am still waiting for you to contact me about the solar panels as well,

pecorns,
looks like we can deal ok. please reply to the email i sent you.
thanks.

Oga George, Waow!

I can c dat d Steam is really ON. I tot u're thru wit d solar installations but guess wat am dead wrong. U neva seize 2 amaze me, if only fellow naijas can av such zeal, belief and commitment 2 day-2-day things, dis naija go don beta o. I SALUTE YOUR COURAGE. As much as i like d solar project d cost 4 me is jst 4 much bt wit people like u going thru it, IT WILL SERVE AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME THAT IT CAN BE DONE.. So far so good Oga George. WELLDONE.

Thanks I got your email.

Here is a link for pricing on Solar panels. I look forward to your respond to my email.

http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_panels.htm