The grid sucks in rural Madagascar. What do I need?

[Quattrohead]

Hey and tell us something about Madagascar and why you are there and what it is like. I'm sure there is not one other person on this form that knows anything about it. From your picture and posting here it seems like everyone has internet and satellite TV, throw in some beer and it's probably great right? LOL

 

[Dorosa]

Are you sure you can't get someone like sungoldpower to ship panels and inverters to you? The Chinese will ship anything to anywhere if you give them dollars LOL

Don't get me wrong. It's physically possible to get stuff imported and sent by bush taxi down to me. It's just prohibitively expensive, and actually the importing would require me to be in the capital (15 hour drive from me) to handle customs paperwork and pay bribes (the only way that kind of things gets done out here...).

There are companies here that will professionally install a full system. But again... It's ridiculously expensive.

I'm happy to use a couple of pwm controllers that cost $8 each instead of a mppt controller that costs $1000 (the last price i found one for in the capital) if it gets my fridge and freezer running.

 

[Dorosa]

I think you need to get yourself some good larger panels new or used and a good MPPT/AIO type unit.
Having 2-4kw of panels will cover shitty batteries for a very long time. Worth saving up for or risking the shipping to get them I would say.

That said, having a lot of solar panels is an interesting proposition.

How does it impact the battery if the panels can supply a lot more that what the load is pulling?

Is there a way for a controller to push excess power straight to the load if the battery doesn't need it?

 

[Dorosa]

Hey and tell us something about Madagascar and why you are there and what it is like. I'm sure there is not one other person on this form that knows anything about it. From your picture and posting here it seems like everyone has internet and satellite TV, throw in some beer and it's probably great right? LOL

Hey there! it's an interesting place.

I'm a consultant out here in Madagascar, helping a European manufacturing company get their Madagascar operations in order. It's like most places in Africa. Internet is mostly cell-based. There are good things and bad.