Crossy

As predicted Mr PEA rolled up this morning, a little later than usual at 8.40AM. 183kWh from PEA, 790kWh from Mr Blue Sky ???? Of course the solar is now on full-bore export, unfortunately it's cloudy and we are just covering local consumption of 1,400W with only about 150W charging the batteries ????

If it's correctly sized then it should, or average even less if it's shutting down occasionally at night. The only way to really know is to get one of those clip on energy meters and monitor the beast over a few nights.

We are certainly in the market for an EV, the MG ZS is very nice and well priced but a tad small. If they come along with a 7 seat SUV with a decent range at a not too stupid price**, I'm in! ** Let's say "not too stupid" = 20-25% over the equivalent ICE model.

An important note for those re-filling at vehicle filling stations. "Cooking gas" is subsidised, vehicle gas (although it's generally the same stuff) isn't. So you are paying slightly more for your gas. The difference isn't much, but over the years every little helps. We pay about 350 Baht for an exchange bottle, it varies rather but I don't keep records, we use so little gas that it's not really worth it. Like @jas21 we have two bottles, when one runs out just swap over and get a replacement at my leisure.

Yeah ^^^, the actual minimum power consumption will depend upon your room situation but if the A/C is correctly sized for the space it should be less than 30% of the maximum power once the room is down to temperature. As @sezze notes, the unit you show has a minimum cooling capacity of 21,000 BTU so around 2kW of energy consumption. If your requirement is lower (cool day / oversized unit) it will simply shut off and behave more like a 21,000 BTU conventional A/C.

There's always a risk in spinning the meter backwards, but to go negative really is just taking the michael. When we first pondered solar we visited the local PEA office. When we decided not to go with the official system the supervisor told us in no uncertain terms "you can not spin the meter backwards!!!". On our leaving the office he quietly said "don't let the meter reader see it going backwards"

Are they in full sun? How about when they are babies and still in pots??

If the seller is in China ask if they can use "Thailand Special Line" which is all tax paid and no more costly than regular shipping.

February is an odd month for our man too, he usually rolls up on the 18th or 19th, it's been Feb 16th for 3 years. So I'm expecting him tomorrow, he usually arrives about 6.30 AM anyway so there wouldn't be export at that time, but I disable for 16th to 19th, if he comes early then export gets turned back on as soon as his motorcy disappears. I expect you'll be fine.

Yeah, I may have used the wrong term, I understand these are commercially grown "small trees". I'll have to have a look if they have been grafted. They are currently about 18" high and still in the pots they came in.

Of course, can you be certain the 260Ah cells really are "new". Far, far too many stories on other alternative energy fora of "new" cells out of China being anything but! At least with the used cells you know they are used.

If it's the good stuff I reckon you'll be fine.

150A and 35mm2 cable is pretty near the line particularly if the load is continuous (welding is by nature intermittent), bigger cable is better of course, or parallel up two lengths of 35mm2. Welding cable is generally a good choice, but much of the "35mm2" I've seen on sale would struggle to actually be 16mm2 ???? You could use 35mm2 THW-F (IEC 02) which is nearly as flexible but would be more $$$.

Yup.

Here in sunny Thailand you can guesstimate your realistic solar output by:- Installed capacity x 0.5 x 6 hours = Energy Generated. Solving for Installed Capacity = Energy Generated / (6 x 0.5). We have Sofar inverters, but they aren't particularly cheap either.

One tries ???? If you read the meter again at 4PM (second time) you can then estimate your daytime usage too. Your solar needs to generate the sum of the two.

You can actually measure how much juice you use in the sun-off hours. Read your meter at about 4PM and again at about 8AM, that should give you a ballpark figure for how much storage you need to go "mostly" off-grid. Obviously you still have grid power for backup if your batteries go flat over night.

Unless you are in an at-risk group for serious reactions then a booster cannot do any harm. I would go for it.

I have our data going back to July 2020 so it shouldn't be a major task to sort a best/worst table. I definitely need that round-tuit!

Yup, some very fat wires on pretty meaty ferrite torroids in there. The inverters we use on railway systems are significantly larger than anything with a few 10s of amps (think a few 100s of amps) and they output a very nice sine. They are also just a little bit more costly than anything we use for domestic.

Modern high-frequency inverters are well into the upper 90%s efficiency even "pure sine" which are really still digital synthesised sine, but the chop frequency is in the hundreds of kHz with output filtering so anything attached doesn't notice.

When you build your final pack ensure you clean up the battery terminals and bus-bars (sandpaper well), you need to minimise the contact resistance. I'd also recommend the use of an electrical jointing compound to minimise resistance and prevent corrosion https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i2156648662-s7185722295.html it's not cheap but one tube should last forever, you don't need much.

1200Whr @ 12.5V is about 96Ahr, not bad for 50% of 200Ahr. Of course a lot depends upon just how accurate your "50%" is. I see your Daly is reading -ve current on discharge. I have three 16S units, two read +ve on discharge the 3rd reads -ve. Apparently it's a common problem and can't be fixed even with a firmware update. When I get my round-tuit I'll make a simple ESP8266 based "flipper" so at least they all read the same.

Ditto. I'm fully jabbed and boosted (2xAz + 1xPfiz) if that's not enough for them then neither is my $$$.