SunshineHarvey7

A little follow-up: An electrician friend was visiting from America, and he was rather determined to eliminate the tingle. He suspected possible issues with the grid power (faulty incoming ground, etc.), so he bought a cheap generator and connected the video cameras. The cameras were plugged into it using their two-prong plug (thus no grounding connection), and the generator had no earth/grounding wire. To our amazement, the camera's still put out a significant voltage (around 50? volts), but not enough voltage/current to feel it. He wasn't satisfied, so he purchased an isolation transformer. It was a bit spendy, ias the only one he could find came from the UK. (Couldn't find any for sale mfr'd in Thailand!) The isolation transformer had a weird European(?) plug that has two round prongs, and the ground connection is on the side. I found a grounded adapter for it in a shop in Chiang Mai. At first, I connected the isolation transformer without the grounded adapter. It reduced the camera's voltage leak the same as the generator--from 80+ volts down to 50+. Then I connected the grounded adapter so that the isolation transformer's ground would be connected. I expected no improvement since the camera had a two-prong (non-grounded) plug. However, the camera's leakage reduced to 30+ volts. (Surprising to me!) Thus, short of adding a ground wire to the camera, an isolation transformer does the most to reduce the leakage.

Did you switch because you heard 3-phase is cheaper? Let us know how your bills compare, keeping in mind that last month was cooler (so you might have used less power for A/C).

That’s what I would expect. I guess I’m going to ask if I can see the bills before and after they switched from 2-phase to 3-phase. Of course, the best comparison is with two months that had similar weather.

I have had more than one friend say they converted to 3-phase power and their bill went down. Can anyone explain that? When I looked for PEA rates, there seems to be no mention of lower rates for 3-phase power.

We are open to “hybrid” options, as the village has recently added hydro power (which has its down times).

I have a friend who has a 24v solar system. After a few years, the non-branded inverter quit. Fortunately they had a smaller backup inverter. It seems that 24v inverters aren’t so popular, which is understandable, as most off-grid people want more power than a 24v system can offer, but these people have minimal demands. Any suggestions for a brand with a good record / reputation? Any thoughts on “Applegreen”?

I have friends who live where there might be 1 bar of cell signal—just enough for a text message to drift in occasionally. Other than that, they have to take a motorbike to another location 10 minutes up the mountain. Does anyone have experience with a 3G/4G router or cell phone repeater that could actually function with such a weak signal? Any suggestion for the highest gain antenna for 2G/3G/4G bands? i purchased a cellular repeater, and it seems to make a negligible difference. And I have 2-3 bars of signal at my house. One friend has the same repeater at his remote location, and it is useless (Though it has an antenna, it always says it has no signal.) Any suggestions?

The tingle alerted us to the leakage, and then I used my “Uni-T” digital volt meter to measure voltage between me (or the “ground” in an outlet) and a piece of bare metal on the camera body.

Yes, I may screw a ground wire to each camera tripod.

That’s very helpful

What makes a shock hazardous? I suppose it’s combination of sufficient voltage AND current, as even thousands of volts (as in static electricity) isn’t fatal if the current is small enough. (Just wondering if there is a way that I can satisfy myself or others that the “leaky” voltage may be annoying but isn’t hazardous.)

Yes, it seems likely that we will do that.

You asking me or @Crossy? I can feel it, and I’ve measured it using my digital volt meter.

So far, that’s the best solution we have found.

Nice. I don't know about you, but in the last 10 years or so, it seems like the quality of outlets and light switches available at most hardware stores has gone DOWN. Kinda disappointing.