Crossy

Meanwhile I also had to fix our tumble dryer which we haven't used since we moved into the house in 2012. Madam says it makes the towels nice and fluffy and since the electric is now "free" ... A massive 88 Baht for a motor capacitor (and a YouTube search to see how to get the ruddy thing apart) and she's happy. I'm sure the logs will show increased local consumption on laundry days, there are only two of us, but every day seems to be a washing, drying, ironing day ???? Love her to bits ????

Soooo, this weekend was a spash of re-configuration. A couple of reasons for these activities:- Our Sofar on-grid hybrid has a maximum charge current of 60A (more like 52A in reality), with my planned additional batteries it may not be able to fully charge them from dead in a day. A less known issue is that when paired with lithium batteries with a BMS that has no inverter communications the Sofar only charges to about 53.2V which is only around 80% full, 54V is 99%. Nice for the cells but not for our overnight usage. It seems from posts in dedicated Sofar forums that the inverter software is optimised for lead-acid, Sofar themselves are not really interested in sorting this, they simply recommend getting a compatible BMS. Anyway, in order to address the lack of charge current I picked up a couple of PowMr 60A MPPT charge controllers, intending to move some panels over to them to bang extra amps into the batteries and, as an extra, top up the packs to 54V when the Sofar had gone to sleep. So I've set up one PowMr on 6 of our panels, we now have something like this:- The PowMr isn't weather resistant so it got a box to live in, it's really a bit small (it was in stock) but the panels are only about 60% of the maximum so with luck we will be OK without box ventilation. Things are spreading sideways, my lack of planning is evident in the somewhat random system evolution Testing has been a bit limited so far but it does seem to be achieving the objectives, the Sofar has stopped charging but the PowMr is still banging 10A (500W) or so into the batteries. The acid test will be when the new cells arrive, pretty well doubling our available storage. Watch this space.

Something worthy of note is that the devices mentioned in 722.411.4.1 iii (at 8:14 => in the 1st video) are in fact now available and an increasing number of EV charge points do now incorporate PEN failure detection.

Your inverter manual will tell you the maximum amount of PV per string input. You should not exceed this. Your inverter will have a maximum PV input voltage. The sum of your series panel open-circuit voltages (Voc) MUST NOT exceed the inverter maximum PV input voltage. Ignore this at your peril!!! The inverter will also have a maximum string current, the sum of your parallel panel short-circuit currents (Isc) should not exceed this value. Whilst most inverters and charge controllers will try to protect themselves against over volt/current they don't always succeed and the exit of the magic-smoke ensues ???? NOTE Over-panelling an inverter or charge controller is permissable under certain circumstances, but generally stick within the numbers in the manual and you won't fry anything.

Yeah, the site is dead and is not very likely to return any time soon, just way too much real work to do ???? You can use the WayBackMachine to check the archived versions.

Try turning off your modem/router for a few minutes to try and get a new Thai IP address. It's possible your current IP is on one of the blacklists used by CloudFlare.

My youngest in the UK (a keen trial and off-road rider) wants to know where it is so he can go. Looks like an old railway bridge that's been "re-purposed". Views would be spectacular on the way down! He gets his madness from my side of the family, my sister is fitness crazy (actually totally crazy), she doesn't run marathons because "they aren't long enough"!!

Yup, your EV charger should be a TT island unless the charge point (and the vehicle) is within the house equipotential zone. Loads of discussions on this subject in various electrical forums but generally giving it its own rod is pretty much guaranteed to be safe. Then along comes a user who plugs the "granny lead" into an outlet in the kitchen ...

For intial prep, run a 10kW (50A) circuit in 10mm2 to a junction box near where you want to put the charger. The charger itself will have the relevant instructions as to exactly what you need to put between the charger and the supply. Also ensure you have a 30/100 meter (the installers won't install your home charger on less). EDIT PEA are apparently offering a second 15/45 meter for dedicated EV use where a 30/100 isn't available. EDIT 2 The home charger installation instructions for a GWM (Great Wall Motors) charger, Thai of course. So installing to those requirements should be good to go for most chargers. home-charger-installation-gwm.pdf

Now running in News Let's continue there.

Merging with existing topic. A terrible loss to the world of cricket ????

Yeah, did that with the manual to get the beast set up, never bothered with the logs and stuff.

Yeah, I needs steps too although the regular 3 step kitchen thingy does the trick. My GTI menu is in Chinese so never bother looking at it (inverter is a mainland China only version).

We always knew that the Thai Parliament is all wet!! https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40012996

At least they are saving on running costs with the solar lights.

Which Sofar app are you using? I have SmartClient which logs every 5 minutes or so, but it definitely misses short duration dips. The only thing you see in the log is that the inverter status is "Wait" whilst it sorts itself out. The hybrid has a local log at the inverter, but I don't think the pure GTI has.

Yup, looks like it's behaving as expected ????

Our koi mansion is concrete and tiled. Tiles applied using pool tile cement and waterproof grout. If you just render you can get an additive to make it waterproof (ok less leaky). For concrete with no liner you will need a lot more re-bar than you think, the simple mesh isn't enough to prevent cracking, hence my comment below! If I was doing it again I would use a liner.

Yeah, opening your incoming breaker would be the simplest way of checking that your GTI does indeed cut off in the absence of a mains supply. Of course, if it doesn't cut off you have a potential issue! Both of our Sofar inverters are pretty enthusiastic about dropping off on grid disturbances, the current favourite being "under frequency". Check the inverter logs on your app, you should be able to see the power failure and when the juice returned.

Didn't Apple already get caught out slowing down older iPhone models to "encourage" users to update??

Actually, when I first move to Seoul and reading zero Korean I did like the lemon scented shampoo our local store had. I later learned that the label said "Sunlight"

I would lay odds that there's a back-door (or 10), I'd say a dead cert! Some years ago I worked for a UK company that made some prototype equipment for a German client. There was a relatively "secret" manufacturer menu accessed by a 6 digit code. The first version access code was 191418 - The client discovered this and for some reason wasn't very happy Version 2 used 193945 - Prompting a rather "cool" response. V3.0 used 421966 - By this time the client had either given up or failed to understand. Yes, we did get that manufacturing contract but the production equipment used a different code.

Which of course comes with its own set of "problems"