[quote=tom_boy]I am looking to use Lithium Iron batteries for solar system. Any leads on how I can get these?

It is very easy to set up once you work from output needed backwards.

For me and my 150W output (from the inverter) system, my 30A charge controller and recently upgraded 75Ah battery (from 40Ah) and 80W solar panel are working perfectly. I simply need to power TV, laptop and 3-4 very low watt LED bulbs during blackouts and the total wattage of all those devices is well below 150.

And nothing beats practical experience when dealing with solar. You can read all the manuals in the world but once you connect and start using the system, you will learn more in two days than from a month of book research and videos.

Connection is basically Solar panel to charge controller to battery to inverter to devices..which is not rocket science since you are just connecting negatives to positives and the charge controller instructions in the box tell you everything.

Almost a year in of use of this cheap but very effective back system, this is my advice to those interested in the same;

1. There are a LOT of scam compenents in the solar market. If you are naive and green you can easily get conned. Please avoid any charge controller that looks like this. They are super cheap and come in thousands of different brand names but i suspect they are all made by one Chinese conman company. I have never met person who has anything good to say about these types of charge controllers. It will go kaput within months (or even days) of use, trust me.



2. Raggie PWM charge controller at no more than 3k kshs is WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD. As i have said before this thing is a workhorse! Easy to use and no issues whatsoever with it so far.



3. Get these types of inverters. They too are a blessing! Dirt cheap and very efficient. Should cost you no more than 3-4k for 300W and below. No overheating issues (they have an excellent fan) and give sweet consistent 220V output.



4.AVOID AT ALL COSTS any inverters that look like this



They are terrible and the wattage they say they deliver seldom matches. They also conk out easily

5. With batteries, even so called deep cycle solar batteries, there are no guarantees. Car batteries sometimes work even better than so called deep cycle solar batteries yet are dirt cheap. As long as you are not drawing down your batteries to less than 50% during each use, any battery works fine. I am told Wanda solar batteries are bure and Ritar are good...on this ni trial and error tu.

The Oushang panel amazes me..it works even under low light conditions so these days I just lean in on the inside part of the window and it charges my system nyweee bila shida yoyote In fact I need to switch the charge controller off for days at a time because it charges up my battery fast!

6. Keep your system mobile. Do not hammer the components to the wall unless you have a huge system powering the whole house or one floor. That way you can move it to any room you need and can also carry it on a road trip easy. Moving it is a breeze. I highly recommend battery clips (below) from charge controller to battery and inverter to battery. Makes for easy set up and movement. You just disconnect the clips..carry the battery to the other room, then the inverter, then the panel with cables connected to the charge controller and set up again in seconds.



Bottom line my mini system has paid for itself interms of convenience and peace of mind many times over. As I said the only change I have made is to add kidogo battery capacity in case a blackout lasts more than a day and so far that has not happened. In fact i have too much power for my system and am very happy with it as of now.

But seriously, do you know why its impossible to import lithium batteries to Kenya from China, yet USA and Europe easily import theirs from China, even by air?

back-up muhimu, I started mine with the vispra 1000 watt inverter charger and the 200ah gel battery from sollatek, I charge with kplc, I will not interfere with that system which I think is under used it powers tv 70 watts, ceiling fan 75 watts, router 7 watts, bulbs 40 watts hifi 35 watts.
I am getting the vispra 2000 watts inverter charger and 2x 200 ah gel batteries and 2x 350 watt Schneider solar panels, this will keep my freezer, fridge, 4 ceiling fans, an induction cooker can continue running, also the 1000 watt set-up will charge from this, only my oven, microwave, shower, iron and kettle will be on kplc.

4000 watts per day consumption. Assuming largest batteries I have seen around are 12v 200ah, 2 batts will give you 4800 watts worth of storage. Of this storage, only 2400watts is available for use. Again, you do not want to drain those batteries by 2400 watts each evening otherwise you will soon look for new batteries in 2 yrs.

4 275w panels may also not be adequate to charge 2 12v 200ah batteries. Make sure you get an mppt charge controller. With a pwm charge controller you may never fill those batteries unless on a very sunny day. Undercharged lead acid batteries = shortened lifespan.

Good stuff...

My 'solar consultant' has suggested to me this for a mansionnette with avg use of 4kWh/day, heaviest appliances being 3 shower heaters, fridge, iron box, water pump and microwave:

1. 4 pannels of 275 watts
2. 2 batteries (cant remember the specs)
3. 2.4kW hybrid inverter (to be done in a way such that it can automatically draw power from KPLC once the batteries go lower than a preset figure)

This comes closest to near total off grid with KPLC as the back up during periods of heavy use (which he advices I do during the day at full sun glow - like water pumping and ironing... and try to stagger usage so that I dont have the heavy users running at the same time... otherwise I require a 3kW inverter which pushes the cost by another 45,000

Your consultant gave you excellent advice. Hybrid MPPT inverters are a man made wonder and can save you loads on KPLC. The system seems adequate to me...keeping in mind that during blackouts you will not be using 100% of daily usage...solar during blackout is just a stopgap measure if you have KPLC so no need to get a huge costly system which you will not use optimally. Good luck and update us on how things go.

As a back up system in case kplc fails, its ok. As the main system its not adequate to provide 4000 watts daily. You will fid yourself using kplc for a portion of the time and this will greatly reduce your battery life because each day you will fully discharge your batteries to maximum.

Also note that a 2400 watt inverter cannot run any of those mentioned items simultaneously, it will have to be one by one. A water heater instant shower alone can be 2500 watts, microwave alone can be 2000 watts. So you may not manage to have 2 people shower off solar or have someone switch on microwave while another is ironing etc etc. So judicious use of appliances is called for here.

As a lights only backup, it is adequate. To run those appliances, I highly doubt it.

DHL is a beautiful thing. No hassles whatsoever and they are at every port of loading in China and have branches in Kiinya.