Bandersnatch

8 hours ago, thequietman said:

May I ask please where you got the air quality monitor? 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/digital-formaldehyde-detector-hchotvocco2pm25pm10temphumi-tester-aqi-air-quality-monitor-gas-analyzer-i563932223-s1033728676.html

There are cheaper ones if you just wanted air quality checking for PM2.5 but I wanted the CO2 as well.

I also live in Surin and the burning season seems to have just started near me.

I monitor the pollution levels and they seem worse in the mornings until about 10am after some sneaky night time burning.

I have a HEPA air filter running in the bedroom at night. I also have a whole house air filtration that I can run if I want to lock the house down tight.

I have recently finished building a house here in Thailand. Tiles were one of the last things that we fitted and we changed our minds several times about what tiles we wanted where and even what we wanted tiling.

I actually thought that tiles in HomePro and ThaiWatsadu are pretty reasonably priced and they can deliver them to your house. I wouldn't have wanted to deal with arranging shipment from China and import duties. We were also able to buy extra tiles as we needed them. 

We built with foam filled cavity wall with wide overhangs to shade the walls.

You can see more photos in my blog https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com

On 1/22/2020 at 9:18 AM, 4MyEgo said:

Could you kindly elaborate on ERV's.

I installed an energy recovery ventilator when I built my home here recently. You can read more about it in my blog https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com

The inter core of my building is a conditioned space, with windows that are sealed shut and doors with 4 frames and airtight seals around the top, bottom and sides. On the ground floor this includes the living room, office and master bedroom. On the second floor this includes the second bedroom, cinema and gym.  

So it is important to bring fresh air in and take stale air out. The fresh air is cooled by outgoing air-conditioned air, then filtered. Incoming humid air passes humidity to the dry expelled air. Filtered air is pumped into each of the rooms with one extraction per floor. 

The ERV will cool incoming air, filter it and reduce its moisture content.

I can recommend Ruben from H2O water systems in Buriram, he helped me me with my water system, which started with testing

https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com/water/

http://www.h2owatersystems.co.th/

http://www.buriramtimes.com/h2o-water-systems-clean-water-everyone/

I am surprised that nobody posted a thanks for this. So thanks  ireckonso 

7 minutes ago, longball53098 said:

And how much did you spend for this rig?

Difficult to give a price for the just filters as it was part of a whole house water system including the rainwater harvesting system. 

11 minutes ago, beddhist said:

Our 15A connection is a 15/45A and I believe that is standard in Thailand. The meter is calibrated at 15A, but you can draw up to 45A, plenty to charge your EV. Details in the electrical forum.

You could be right, but the MG home charger installer's first question when he did the site survey was did we have a 15 or 30A connection? When I told him 15A he said it would not support a 7Kw home charger. He only agreed to install after I showed him my 10 Kw solar system.

2 minutes ago, macahoom said:

Sorry to hear you had to cancel.

 

Can I ask: Is it a 7Kw or rapid charger in Robinson? And do you have to pay to use it?

 

I agree with you that the MG is the best value EV available here. In fact, because of the no excise duty, it's the best value EV by a long way.

According to the EV anywhere app it is a Type 2 (AC) charger probably around 7kw. There is also a CCS 2(DC) 135kw charger listed but it says Not Available, probably "coming soon" I think it costs 200 Baht per hour to use, but you do get a VIP Parking spot near the entrance. The MG dealer told me that the charger at their showroom was free to use.

I have not given up on the MG completely, but need to get the inverter problem resolved first. The reseller is now talking about trying to get me a different model as it he has been unable to fix it, but it won't be easy as it needs to be 10Kw 192v and will have to be specially made. 

I had to cancel the order I had for my MG EV, due to problems we have been having with our solar inverter. Unfortunately I lost my 5,000 Baht deposit, but I didn't want to have an electric car sitting on the drive and have no way of charging it. We only have a 15A grid connection, because I was only expecting to use the grid for backup charging of the batteries and according to MG you need at least a 30A connection to charge from the grid using their supplied 7Kw home charger.

There is a public charger at Robinson here in Surin, and at the MG dealers but I ordered an EV to use excess power from my solar system.  If we get the inverter sorted I will consider ordering again. I still think the MG is the best value EV available in Thailand.

5 minutes ago, wombat said:

er....im having trouble seeing ten year old trees in the pic ?

Where the swales are is the original teak tree field. Where the fence posts are is my land. The teak trees were planted and left to fend for themselves 10 years ago. The lines of trees on the path to the pond have been drip irrigated for 12 months and are now 3 times as big. They have grown more in the last 12 months than in the previous 10 years. 

I purchased a couple of rai to build a house and garden from a few rai of teak trees. I put in a drip feed irrigation system powered by a solar pump. There is a big difference between the teak trees on my land and the neighbour's teak field. He has dug some swales to save some water, but when they dry up the teak trees go dormant. All the trees you see in the picture below are 10 years old. The bigger ones on my land have really benefited from regular watering. 

1 hour ago, tifino said:

so, along with all the above, added to what @Bandersnatch started off with; Is there any (gps) related feature that points you towards convenient charging stations?  or do you have to ust relay on the google maps for that as well? 

Looking at Google maps, for 'EV Charging Stations' shows a bleak outlook currently for longer distance journeys.  

Apart from the multitudes around the Bangkok area, the pickings are slim unless you are aiming for SamutSongkhram, Pattaya, or ChiangMai if you are really daring fate in the eye 

 

Download and try the EA Anywhere and MEA EV Apps - they list chargers throughout the country with directions shown on Google Maps, which should appear on Apple Car Play/Android auto on the car's infotainment system.

34 minutes ago, beddhist said:

Then make your solar system smart. Use an Arduino or single board computer to operate an appropriately rated contactor to cut the power off when not enough solar is available. A simple switch bypasses that, in case you want to charge regardless.

sounds a bit beyond my abilities ???? I would need a device to record the state of charge of the battery bank, then write a program to interface with power cut off switch.

I will try the MG app first. If that doesn't work, I could source a smart charger or maybe just set an alarm on my phone to remind me to unplug.

51 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

I have had my car for over three weeks.

 

Have you any specific questions?

 

Re. the manual. It is unnecessarily over-complicated in my opinion. 

Thanks macahoom. I will be charging mine at home and want to make the most of my solar production, so ideally I would like the car charging when I have excess solar between 10am and 4pm. The MG home charger does not appear to be a smart charger ie the ability to set time of charge and set maximum charge level. So I assume I will have to plug the car in and set a reminder to unplug it.

I understand that there is an app which works with the car, have you tried it?

I made a list from the manual of all the features that are not on my current car:

Any comments on any of these?

Hill Descent Control (HDC)
Hill Start Assist
Hill Hold Control (HHC)
Auto Hold - hold the vehicle at lights or stopped traffic 
Pedestrian Alert Control System
Energy Regeneration (KERS)
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
Alarm System
Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)
Electronic Brake Assistance (EBA)
Active Rollover Protection (ARP)
Emergency Braking Hazard Warning Lights Control (HAZ)
Electronic Parking Brake (EPB)
Start Assist
Stability Control System (SCS) 
Traction Control System (TCS)
Ultrasonic Sensor Parking Aid
Blind Spot Detection (BSD) 
Lane Change Assist (LCA) 
Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Speed Assist System (SAS)
Lane Departure Warning System (LDW)
Lane Departure Prevention System (LDP)
Lane Keep Assist (LKA)
MG Pilot System
Forward Collision Warning System (FCW)
Automatic Emergency Braking System (AEB)
Automatic Emergency Braking System for Pedestrians (AEBP)
 

I would be interested to hear any feedback from MG ZS EV owners. I am expecting delivery of mine in a couple of weeks. I just downloaded the English Manual from the UK site. At over 300 pages, there is a lot to get to know.

Hi JaiLai I have lived in many houses in Thailand over the years, they all have big picture windows and Glass doors. Too much light and too much heat and no privacy. I tended to keep the curtains closed. I now have small high up windows and no curtains, in fact more light and no heat. My third floor has a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside, I love to have my coffee up there in the morning or watch a thunderstorm in the evening. 

I don’t understand why houses are build with large glass windows and glass doors that offer no security. I am not paranoid, I just want security when most people are clearly happy with none.

I am building a house in Isaan and Security was a design criteria. I think it is far easier to design security in, rather than retrofit it.

So I don’t have sliding glass door. Doors are made of stainless steel with “zombie bars” 

https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com/

On 8/10/2019 at 4:08 AM, MisterBKK said:

For anyone who has experience with House Building in Thailand

Hi MisterBKK I have covered most of your questions in my build blog: https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com/

but I will try to summarize 

architects: I spoke to several architects before starting my build but they only wanted to design houses that they were familiar with and my ideas were to “crazy” for them. So I had the ground professionally tested to determine foundation requirements and I took my designs to the amphur where I was able to pay an engineer to covert my drawings into the format for approval as well as ensuring that design was structural sound. I paid 15,000 Baht.

Septic tank: See the answer by sirineou above

Ethernet: I used Cat6 which is good for 10Gig up to 55m. One reason was due to availability or cables and components.  I ended up running over 300m in my house. Remember you have to cat 6 compatible jacks, patch panels and switches. Category 7 is not recognized by either TIA or EIA.

Video Cameras: I outsourced the outdoor video cameras to a camera company, they provided their own POE enabled switch which will go in my network rack. I am using Ubiquiti UniFi for my networking, so will be using 3 of their camera inside the house.

Ring Video Door Bell. My brother has one in the UK he says that you need to pay a subscription to view stored videos. I have not seen it for sale in Thailand. I saw the Panasonic one at the architect show in Bangkok, that allows you to unlock a door or open your motorized gate from the screen inside your house. It is not cheap, so I might go for The Xiaomi version as I have several Xiaomi smart home products and they work well.

Hi notagain, like all things in Thailand, I am sure the answers for Surin province will be different to answers elsewhere in Thailand.

It seemed to be a very complex procedure if you wanted to sell electricity back to PEA, lots of paperwork and you can only use equipment on an approved list. So I have decided not to sell back. With the hybrid inverter electricity only flows one way, from the grid into my system if I need a top up and never back into the grid. 

I went to the PEA head office in Surin, but had to wait to speak to the one man who could answer my questions. He said because my system was "small domestic" and I was not sending electricity back to the grid, I did not need formal approval. This is not what I have heard from other parts of Thailand, but my Surin based solar guy has confirmed what PEA told me.

This a system I installed for a local primary school, when I saw the students trying to water by hand. A more elegant solution is under soil drip irrigation. You can buy the pipes at any DIY store.

You don't need to use solar, a regular ac pump would work.

On 2/27/2019 at 8:55 AM, Thainesss said:

What shop is this in Buriram?

http://www.burirambuildersmerchants.com/

On 2/23/2019 at 10:20 AM, kamalabob2 said:

Solar DC deep well submersible bore hole water pump

I agree with Bob, Solar well DC pumps are a good way to start and I am very happy with mine. The last price I paid for solar panels was ฿3,900 for 320w.

I will be installing a full solar PV system on my new house build this year, but I agree with previous comments, if the only reason you are doing it is to save money, you are probably better to wait for more components to be manufactured in Thailand and avoid costly import duties.