Crossy

Nope, sorry I'm far too stupid, please enlighten.

Actually, the global TV rights alone have apparently paid for the coronation! With all the tourist income generated it's definitely a net-profit event.

Apart from his encyclopedic and up-to-the-second knowledge of all things immigration, Joe was also one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet. He will be sadly missed by many! RIP Ubon Joe ????

In my continuing quest to ensure that Madam keeps me around, and spurred on by it being a tad warm, today was "fan fixing day". So, three wall fans have got new swing-motors so they now actually swing rather than making nasty grinding noises. One stand-fan has had the thermal fuse replaced (as did one of the wall fans). No, I didn't just short out the thermal fuses! I replace the capacitors as well whilst the beast is in bits. We always buy Hatari fans, they are reasonably priced and spare parts are readily available. If you are really skint then there are chaps in Ban-Mo who re-wind the motors sitting by the side of the road! Is it worth it? A new fan is about 1,500 Baht. A thermal fuse 5 Baht, a swing motor 75 Baht. Of course, it's worth doing, that's beer money! Rewind your fan Guv, best price!

Clever idea as it should need no setup and adjustment. Place it on fairly flat ground and turn it on. ???? 8,100Wh per day would equate to about a 2.5kWp array (9 * 250W panels). Of course, they don't tell us how much extra energy they get compared with a fixed array, just how much extra current, which really means nothing. A simpler single-axis tracker would be a lot cheaper at the expense of needing some setup. With a little more maths they could do it with only 3 actuators. And, of course, buying more panels would achieve similar effects.

There's the Elder Card which anyone over 60 can get (unlike the BTS where you need to be Thai), just need your ID to prove your age. Definitely worth getting for the 50% discount. There are (were) also some multi-trip passes available. Not sure exactly what, but if you drop your MRTplus card into one of the newer ticket machines (the ones that do value reload) it will tell you what you can get.

By the standard Thai guesstimate 35m2 would need around 21,000 to 25,000 BTU (600 -700 BTU / m2). Slightly lower if they are bedrooms. Trot over to HomePro and look lost near the A/Cs. Tell them you need two 21,000 BTU inverter aircons, if they ask the room sizes tell them but don't let them sell you over the upper end of the guestimate. You will be spoiled for choice and, depending upon which rep you choose will end up with something that will do the job. HopePro have dedicated installers, a certain length of tube etc. is included but if you have a long run or the unit is high up there's extra to pay. In my experience the HomePro installers are pretty good, but YMMV. Multi-split (one outside unit for several indoor units) are available, but the range is limited and unless space really is tight I wouldn't bother.

So that will rule out getting an extension based on marriage.

OK 13.2kWp is realistically going to provide 13.2*.8*4.5 kWh per day = 47.52 => 1,425kWh in a 30 day month. So, they are a little optimistic, but not too bad. Energy prices are definitely on the up, but I really don't see 7 Baht a unit any time soon. But ... If we say a "fairly realistic" 5 Baht a unit then that's 7,128 Baht per month! 85,536 Baht a year. For real-world numbers - Our 10.6kWp system generated 11,225 kWh in the year to May 2023 (935kWh per month)

If you've not already have a look at this thread https://aseannow.com/topic/1120934-how-about-a-solar-car-port-on-a-budget/ It's expanded "somewhat" since we started and now has space for 4 cars (not that we own 4 cars).

If you can get all your panels on the parking structure it would help with maintenance / cleaning and eliminate the possibility of leaks in your house roof.

From the Deye manual. Note the AC Rated current (per-phase) of the 10kW unit is 15.2A => 3,344W @ 220V with a max of 16.7A => 3,674W. The unit does seem to be able to handle a degree of imbalance but I'm not entirely sure what's meant by "Three-phase unbalanced output current", I don't think I'd want to go over about 3kW per phase.

One of the best covers ever? Is that a Texas Instruments Speak-n-Spell in there?

How can Hank look and sound the same now as 1962? 81 and going strong! OK Cliff does a pretty good job of being Peter Pan.

Sometimes things just pop back into one's consciousness ...

Yup ^^^, still readily available. It is the same as a printer, so that printer cable should work just fine ????

Got a photo? Unusual but 2-phases plus neutral isn't impossible. Part of our village actually has 5 wires, one is the feed for the street lighting (now unused as solar LED lights have been installed).

Yeah, I should have bought more panels in November 2021, 340W @ 2,890 Baht.

This spreadsheet may be of use for your energy audit. https://diysolarforum.com/resources/system-energy-audit-and-sizing-spread-sheet.12/

Addendum:- I note that the inverter is 3-phase, do you need 3-phase? That's only 3.3kW per phase! https://www.deyeinverter.com/product/hybrid-inverter-1/sun5-6-8-10-12ksg04lp3.html Two 5kW single-phase units running in parallel would be about the same cost and would allow the full 10kW on a single phase. An added advantage would be that if one unit fails you still have the other available.

The inverter is 98k on Lazada so your installer is marking up nearly 40% on an already close to retail price. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/solar-hybrid-inverter-deye-sun-10k-sg04lp3-euau-i4546733675-s18499916427.html I would certainly be getting other quotes. I agree, before doing anything else do an energy audit. You don't actually need to have bills but knowing just what you want to run is the starting point. A/C how many / how big? Are you really wanting to be off-grid totally, or are you looking at some form of grid-assist (so you use the grid when the solar is off due to no sun and drained batteries)? Soooo, many questions before diving in with a significant investment. As a quick and dirty guesstimate. Your system should generate about 47kWh per day = 1,400kWh per month. At 4.5B/kWh that's 6,300 Baht's worth of juice each month meaning a simple ROI would be 119 months (10 years). Energy prices will go up no doubt and reduce that. Do you plan to have an EV at some point? For a non-DIY system I suppose that's not too bad.

No, those are the 25kV distribution wires which have no neutral. The ones to check are lower down the pole and arranged vertically, there are usually 4 wires (3 phases plus the neutral) although some small branches may just have one phase plus neutral. Something like this, note the top wire is uninsulated, this is the neutral.

Checking if the neutral (usually the top wire) has a ground rod every 3rd pole is a good start.

PLEASE send them more!! ALL of it!

Yup, no problem. What you can't do is have two active re-entry permits at the same time. So, you can't buy two singles at the same time.