SOLAR FiRST STEPS The first step in figuring out how many solar panels you need and what size of off-grid solar power system will work for you, is to know how much energy you use on a daily basis. No matter how big or how small, the first step is always calculating how many watts per day you will need. For Each appliance to be powered . Calculate Quantity of Appliances ( Blender, lamps, fans, ovens etc) Watts - ( Capacity of each appliance e.g. Blender - 600W, lamps- 11W , fans- 50W , ovens- 1200W ) Hours of use per day - ( Blender - 1hr , lamps 5hrs , fans 6hrs , ovens 1hr) Watt hours per day ( Calculation of power rating of your appliances multiplied by the time ( hr) run.) Example : Lets you want to run an 11W lamp for 5 hours from the solar panel, then the watt-hour is equal to Watt Hour = 11W x 5 hr = 55 To calculate the total Watt Hour: Just like a CFL calculate the watt-hour for all the appliances and add them together. Example : lamp =11W x 5 hr = 55 Fan = 50 W x 3hr = 150 TV = 80W x 2hr = 160 ------------------------------------------------ Total Watt Hour = 55+150+160 = 365 Considering 30% energy lost in the system. So total Watt Hour per day = 365 x 1.3 = 474.5 Wh which can be round off to 475 Wh
I can say that you will never regret going solar. Actually, We have a 4 bedroom house and with just 2KVA and we went with a hybrid system and kept the kitchen and ACs off the solar. So we power the 70% of our house for over 1 week before the batteries run down. If you dont use fans a lot or watch TV, it keeps running for weeks on end. We already see a 30% reduction in our ECG costs.
you have made the right choice tbh, ive watched a lot of videos about solar vs grid but today ive made that decision to go solar. its expensive but its like paying for an instalments vs one off payment and the best part is you are dumsor free, what a life =D big up yourselves
The gel batteries 10 x the size of Lithium batteries you would have had to use a small room just to store the bulky gel batteries. At this point you should not be paying for any electricity board electricity. You may even consider selling some power to immediate neighbours.
Even though lithium batteries (LifePO in particular) has 100% discharge, I wouldn't personally recommend discharging it that much. Your battery will last longer if you limit it to 10 or 15 or 20 percent. Running it completely down puts pressure on it.
Yes the lithium ion phosphate batteries will last 3-5 times as long as lead acid and at least 3 times the length of deep cycle gel acid batteries. Well done guys. Love what you’ve done. True inspiration to self builders.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👊🏾🇯🇲🇬🇧
The 5Kw inverter is a good sign that means that a lot of things in your house can be on at the same time. However that invoice is terrible 😀 I think they played a quick one on you because they know you didn’t do the research. You need to know the Watt of each panel - the higher the better I’m shopping for 600W panels x 10 = 6KW so as long as the sun is shining I’m good. But it sounds like they are installing 100w panels x 5 which is not so great but is ok. The batteries charge during the day and are mainly for night time. You need to know the KWH capacity of the battery. KWH is like a bucket if I fill the battery with 6KWH then if I’m running 2ACs at 400W each and everything else at 200W - total 1KW then it will take 6hrs for my battery to die. However you only want to use around 50% of your battery before you start charging it again - so it will be 3- 4hrs before you have to switch to electricity. So you still need an automatic transfer switch. They are like savers in the U.K. they cost around £100. This will automatically switch to electricity power when your battery gets to what you want. That way your batteries will last many many years. Don’t worry it took me a while to wrap my brain around the whole thing 😀 All the best.
You need to look at the back of your AC and find out the Watts. If it is 1000W then your battery there can power it for around 4hrs if it’s the only thing on in your house. However I will still recommend a automatic Transfer switch and something like an app to monitor your usage. 2 months ago I knew nothing about this stuff 😀🤦🏾♂️
😀 what consumes power is heat things like microwave, kettles - I don’t know about AC etc But at night people usually use little electricity 5KW would be fine.
Let me help you with this final suggestion. I’m currently building a set of flats and I’m just putting 100 panels of each 600W on the roof. A few for the flats the rest for pumps lifts etc. Around 5 will be assigned to each flat And each property will have its own battery system point that they can just plug the battery into. However since your batteries don’t seem too expensive over there - maybe you can invest in them Here in the U.K. the battery is the same cost of your whole system. But our battery is all in one plug and play. Maybe that’s why it’s expensive. In summary Fix the solar for the whole building. Connect a quantity of solar to each apartment. And you can do the battery later or your tenant can worry about that. Hope that helps Blessings.
Glad to see the solar is working nicely. The measurements needed the following morning after using just batteries overnight with everything on and include 2 kettle boils. Then see what percentage or how many kWh left in battery before the sun comes up. This will give a closer indication of how well the system suits your families needs. The question I asked in last video about the panels matching the batteries and inverter. You can overclip the inverter by up to 15% to allow for autonomy (cloudy days or ant potential shading for trees), this keeps the inverter running efficiently and giving you maximum power. Please let us know after this monitoring? 👊🏾👏🏾👏🏾🇬🇧🇯🇲
@@lennieadi that will require a much bigger system... especially the inverter. It's why going solar can be discouraging to some. If money isn't an issue, i say to for 10kw+ inverter for complete off-grid installation
@@aberba that my reckoning. You can now see what I’m challenging? That dis say they’ll install another 5kwh system on the next floor tho. This is ok I’d loads are restricted.
Good video guys. I feel you guys picked a good system. ...also if you are on ECG you will have the expense of fuel for the generator when the power is down.
Solar is the wave of the future! Sorry to say this, but as long as global warning is an increasing phenomena, there is no other way to go but to integrate solar into your home comfort plan! Good video, Dela!
There is no need for your house to be off grid. Having the grid is a good idea. However it should complement your system. Ie use it only when needed and that is the use of the automatic transfer switch. We have our system connected to the Grid and sometimes grid power charges our battery. But then again you are in Ghana so maybe you don’t need any grid but that means you need very high watt panels.
Nice move on getting solar! Afraka's greatest natural resource is our 🌞. Let's harvest this power & get away from poisonous diesel/ gas. The timing is now, the price is right . Thx 4 this topic....inspiring.
plese also think another question ... if this batteries are running to dead... how you gonna deal with those batteries ... this one are special one ... their not allowed to throw by yourself ... case it will bring fire and toxid gas ... and heavey combination. I think probbly you will get Charged when you want to throw those battery。 and I also think ,it`s will somewhere give you the same price you buy a new one... around 5000$. maybe...
Interesting - so the voltage of your grid in Ghana fluctuates? That is very very bad for your appliances. Maybe someone needs to manufacture a grid controller to regulate the power from your grid similar to the way a solar charge controller works.
You will use over 50% because you are human - you are busy doing different things you can’t be worrying about your battery. That is why you need a auto transfer switch. You program it to switch over when the battery is at 60% and then you have nothing to worry about anymore. I think there is also a way to program the inverter but I don’t know.
The only advantage of the 5.5 is if you have loads of things on at the same time. I guess a few things on can also be powered for much longer. And you keep saying KVA 😀 It’s KWH ie KiloWattHrs for batteries. I guess VA is the same as W - KVA or KW is for generators and I guess your panels as well. Batteries store a limited amount of power so it’s KWH
But note your tenant will not need batteries in the daytime because the sun can power the house in the day. Through the panels. You only really need the batteries when there is no sun.
An alternative off-grid system is to fallback to generator when solar is down. Some generators have auto-start mechanism. But yeah, it requires some maintenance... fueling, changing oils, servicing and stuff. By the way, clean the solar panels occasionally. It's not 100% maintenance free.
Why do you have stabilisers per unit. The electricity is 120V or 240V. You just need what is coming in to be stabilised. I don’t know what that electrician is talking about 😀
If you run the batteries to zero which looks like what you are doing - they will not last more than 2 years. If you discharge them to 60% before recharge they will last over 20 years.
There are only 3 things you need from that invoice. 1 the power and price of the panels 2 the power and price of the battery 3 The power and price of the inverter Everything else is not very important.
Sorry to say that, but please pay attention for you might pay the 2 times cost for a brand new Lithem battery ... but maybe what you got in your house is a recycled cell from some bus or car which retired in China... the brand you show in your video ... located in somewhere famous of fake things factory.... and a if that is ture ... what you pay for your battery is actully not 2 times for a normal price ... it`s acturlly may over 15 times for the battery cost ...
What do you need 10KWH for? You are not running a manufacturing plant 😀 Again you are investing in the wrong thing. 😀 you need to be investing in the panels not the batteries. Panels are cheap and CREATE electricity Batteries are expensive and just store electricity.
SOLAR FiRST STEPS
The first step in figuring out how many solar panels you need and what size of off-grid solar power system will work for you, is to know how much energy you use on a daily basis. No matter how big or how small, the first step is always calculating how many watts per day you will need.
For Each appliance to be powered . Calculate
Quantity of Appliances ( Blender, lamps, fans, ovens etc)
Watts - ( Capacity of each appliance e.g. Blender - 600W, lamps- 11W , fans- 50W , ovens- 1200W )
Hours of use per day - ( Blender - 1hr , lamps 5hrs , fans 6hrs , ovens 1hr)
Watt hours per day ( Calculation of power rating of your appliances multiplied by the time ( hr) run.)
Example :
Lets you want to run an 11W lamp for 5 hours from the solar panel, then the watt-hour is equal to
Watt Hour = 11W x 5 hr = 55
To calculate the total Watt Hour: Just like a CFL calculate the watt-hour for all the appliances and add them together.
Example :
lamp =11W x 5 hr = 55
Fan = 50 W x 3hr = 150
TV = 80W x 2hr = 160
------------------------------------------------
Total Watt Hour = 55+150+160 = 365
Considering 30% energy lost in the system.
So total Watt Hour per day = 365 x 1.3 = 474.5 Wh which can be round off to 475 Wh
Very helpful🙏
I enjoy looking at the work you trying to complete to beautify your home.
Great you are using solar. Solar should be all over africa with all that sun.
Happy Birthday 2023🎂May You Enjoy Many~Many More B’day’s🥂🎉
I agree, I rather have solar system, it’s better and saves money! Awesome you guys❤️
Thank you for explaining how the solar, inverter, batteries, & panels work. Great video!!
I can say that you will never regret going solar. Actually, We have a 4 bedroom house and with just 2KVA and we went with a hybrid system and kept the kitchen and ACs off the solar. So we power the 70% of our house for over 1 week before the batteries run down. If you dont use fans a lot or watch TV, it keeps running for weeks on end. We already see a 30% reduction in our ECG costs.
You don't have a/c?
you have made the right choice tbh, ive watched a lot of videos about solar vs grid but today ive made that decision to go solar. its expensive but its like paying for an instalments vs one off payment and the best part is you are dumsor free, what a life =D big up yourselves
The gel batteries 10 x the size of Lithium batteries you would have had to use a small room just to store the bulky gel batteries.
At this point you should not be paying for any electricity board electricity. You may even consider selling some power to immediate neighbours.
Solar is definitely the way to go...take advantage of the beautiful but hot African sun...tfs..
Even though lithium batteries (LifePO in particular) has 100% discharge, I wouldn't personally recommend discharging it that much. Your battery will last longer if you limit it to 10 or 15 or 20 percent. Running it completely down puts pressure on it.
Absolutely
Nice one.....2022 is almost...Greetings to all the viewers.
Still hoping for peace and a happy new year.
Thank you for uploading, Content creator.
Your project is coming to completion. I'm very happy for you guys. Job well done.
Yes the lithium ion phosphate batteries will last 3-5 times as long as lead acid and at least 3 times the length of deep cycle gel acid batteries. Well done guys. Love what you’ve done. True inspiration to self builders.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👊🏾🇯🇲🇬🇧
It's really worth considering especially in our part of the world. A lot of solar energy goes wasted. We need to tap into it. 🙌👏⭐
The 5Kw inverter is a good sign that means that a lot of things in your house can be on at the same time.
However that invoice is terrible 😀 I think they played a quick one on you because they know you didn’t do the research.
You need to know the Watt of each panel - the higher the better
I’m shopping for 600W panels x 10 = 6KW so as long as the sun is shining I’m good. But it sounds like they are installing 100w panels x 5 which is not so great but is ok.
The batteries charge during the day and are mainly for night time. You need to know the KWH capacity of the battery.
KWH is like a bucket if I fill the battery with 6KWH then if I’m running 2ACs at 400W each and everything else at 200W - total 1KW then it will take 6hrs for my battery to die.
However you only want to use around 50% of your battery before you start charging it again - so it will be 3- 4hrs before you have to switch to electricity.
So you still need an automatic transfer switch. They are like savers in the U.K. they cost around £100. This will automatically switch to electricity power when your battery gets to what you want.
That way your batteries will last many many years.
Don’t worry it took me a while to wrap my brain around the whole thing 😀
All the best.
Happy for you. You guys made a good decision 👏🏽 👌 ❤
You need to look at the back of your AC and find out the Watts.
If it is 1000W then your battery there can power it for around 4hrs if it’s the only thing on in your house.
However I will still recommend a automatic Transfer switch and something like an app to monitor your usage.
2 months ago I knew nothing about this stuff 😀🤦🏾♂️
$10,000 is on the cool side....
But guess AC's can't be used at all times....
All good 👍
Thanks for sharing (catching up on your videos).
😀 what consumes power is heat things like microwave, kettles - I don’t know about AC etc
But at night people usually use little electricity 5KW would be fine.
Wow that's my companies products. Galaxy Solar. Am Glad you enjoying Solar.
Let me help you with this final suggestion.
I’m currently building a set of flats and I’m just putting 100 panels of each 600W on the roof. A few for the flats the rest for pumps lifts etc.
Around 5 will be assigned to each flat
And each property will have its own battery system point that they can just plug the battery into.
However since your batteries don’t seem too expensive over there - maybe you can invest in them
Here in the U.K. the battery is the same cost of your whole system.
But our battery is all in one plug and play.
Maybe that’s why it’s expensive.
In summary Fix the solar for the whole building.
Connect a quantity of solar to each apartment.
And you can do the battery later or your tenant can worry about that.
Hope that helps
Blessings.
Both the batteries and inverter have a shelf life of 10 years but overall it's a great investment.
Glad to see the solar is working nicely. The measurements needed the following morning after using just batteries overnight with everything on and include 2 kettle boils. Then see what percentage or how many kWh left in battery before the sun comes up. This will give a closer indication of how well the system suits your families needs. The question I asked in last video about the panels matching the batteries and inverter. You can overclip the inverter by up to 15% to allow for autonomy (cloudy days or ant potential shading for trees), this keeps the inverter running efficiently and giving you maximum power. Please let us know after this monitoring? 👊🏾👏🏾👏🏾🇬🇧🇯🇲
Did you say kettle? Oh no. That is power hungry 😂.
@@aberba 🤣🤣. Gotta fully test the system right. 2 boils plus a microwave for up to 4 minutes will tell you how adequate your system is?
@@lennieadi that will require a much bigger system... especially the inverter. It's why going solar can be discouraging to some. If money isn't an issue, i say to for 10kw+ inverter for complete off-grid installation
@@aberba that my reckoning. You can now see what I’m challenging? That dis say they’ll install another 5kwh system on the next floor tho. This is ok I’d loads are restricted.
Good video guys. I feel you guys picked a good system.
...also if you are on ECG you will have the expense of fuel for the generator when the power is down.
Thanks Dela for sharing the cost . So some of us who don't have provisions for solar what are our options to make solar possible
Are you talking in terms of installation? The company you get to install should be able to provide you with possible solutions to make it happen.
@@moretodela thanks love.
I love your dreads, I just got rid of my 16 years old dreads, I followed you on Instagram, I cant wait to move back home.
Thank you 🙏🏾
Solar is the wave of the future! Sorry to say this, but as long as global warning is an increasing phenomena, there is no other way to go but to integrate solar into your home comfort plan! Good video, Dela!
There is no need for your house to be off grid. Having the grid is a good idea. However it should complement your system. Ie use it only when needed and that is the use of the automatic transfer switch.
We have our system connected to the Grid and sometimes grid power charges our battery.
But then again you are in Ghana so maybe you don’t need any grid but that means you need very high watt panels.
Nice move on getting solar!
Afraka's greatest natural resource is our 🌞. Let's harvest this power & get away from poisonous diesel/ gas. The timing is now, the price is right .
Thx 4 this topic....inspiring.
Kool info sis.
You need an app on your phone to monitor it. Those batteries look good what is the capacity of the battery?
After the battery is charged you can run at least one AC unit in the day, the battery charge won't last long running the AC when the sun is down.
Idk buh just wondering how my five bedrooms 'll cost me, any info abt it
Im at wiring level and wants to do them both together?
plese also think another question ... if this batteries are running to dead... how you gonna deal with those batteries ... this one are special one ... their not allowed to throw by yourself ... case it will bring fire and toxid gas ... and heavey combination. I think probbly you will get Charged when you want to throw those battery。 and I also think ,it`s will somewhere give you the same price you buy a new one... around 5000$. maybe...
Wonderful!! I have been following you for a while. Great job.
Happy holidays, happy Kwanzaa!
Happy New Year
Diesel. Generator 😀 that is like throwing money away. And noise.
Haven’t even watched yet that title made me LOL! 💕🌸
😂😂😂
Interesting - so the voltage of your grid in Ghana fluctuates? That is very very bad for your appliances.
Maybe someone needs to manufacture a grid controller to regulate the power from your grid similar to the way a solar charge controller works.
What is the watt for each panel?
50,000 ghc is around $4,550
Solar is great n case the grid goes down, ase
You will use over 50% because you are human - you are busy doing different things you can’t be worrying about your battery.
That is why you need a auto transfer switch. You program it to switch over when the battery is at 60% and then you have nothing to worry about anymore.
I think there is also a way to program the inverter but I don’t know.
Happy New Year to you Madam.
Same to you!
The only advantage of the 5.5 is if you have loads of things on at the same time.
I guess a few things on can also be powered for much longer.
And you keep saying KVA 😀
It’s KWH ie KiloWattHrs for batteries.
I guess VA is the same as W - KVA or KW is for generators and I guess your panels as well.
Batteries store a limited amount of power so it’s KWH
But note your tenant will not need batteries in the daytime because the sun can power the house in the day. Through the panels.
You only really need the batteries when there is no sun.
Good content. Please how can I contact the Solar company you used?
You can google search them. They are called SPS (strategic power solutions)
Can you give the name of the company use for the solar.
SPS
An alternative off-grid system is to fallback to generator when solar is down. Some generators have auto-start mechanism.
But yeah, it requires some maintenance... fueling, changing oils, servicing and stuff.
By the way, clean the solar panels occasionally. It's not 100% maintenance free.
We do clean them every now and again
YES OH SOLAR IS THE BEST WAY TO GO 👉FREE👉🌕
Please is the Net Metering program in Ghana a myth or truth?
I don’t know what that is
Why do you have stabilisers per unit.
The electricity is 120V or 240V.
You just need what is coming in to be stabilised. I don’t know what that electrician is talking about 😀
Payback time= the savings made per year/ the cost of installation
Very clean system 😍
£6000 is cheap but it depends on the power of each panel
More homes and offices should be using renewable energy
Is the work guaranteed for X amount of months/years
The panels are guaranteed for 25 years
If you run the batteries to zero which looks like what you are doing - they will not last more than 2 years.
If you discharge them to 60% before recharge they will last over 20 years.
There are only 3 things you need from that invoice.
1 the power and price of the panels
2 the power and price of the battery
3 The power and price of the inverter
Everything else is not very important.
Oh Sister Delali 😂was that clickbait? Not to worry i fell for it oo.
Haha no, watch the video 😉
@@moretodela pls I did thks. God bless all of you.
Solar👌🏾👍🏿👍🏿👏🏾👏🏾
❤️
Sorry to say that, but please pay attention for you might pay the 2 times cost for a brand new Lithem battery ... but maybe what you got in your house is a recycled cell from some bus or car which retired in China... the brand you show in your video ... located in somewhere famous of fake things factory.... and a if that is ture ... what you pay for your battery is actully not 2 times for a normal price ... it`s acturlly may over 15 times for the battery cost ...
💕🔥
First sign of Omicron is the husky voice, please don't assume it's the harmattan, get tested for Covid-19.
Tempting Caption.....lol
What do you need 10KWH for? You are not running a manufacturing plant 😀
Again you are investing in the wrong thing. 😀 you need to be investing in the panels not the batteries.
Panels are cheap and CREATE electricity
Batteries are expensive and just store electricity.
Idk buh just wondering how my five bedrooms 'll cost me, any info abt it
Im at wiring level and wants to do them both together?