JoeyDaRench

Thanks RichCor,

I tried both places,  emailed what I wanted then called.  Both weren't able to help.  Can't find it on Alibaba either.  5 new ones shipped from the US is $137.00.  Looks like I may have to do that.

Wayned,  thanks very much.  I've been looking for some time on Aliexpress and haven't found them.  They have the tool to use with the block,  but not the block.

Jdietz,  Also thanks very much.  I can't really tell if that will work or not.  I'm not sure how many wires can be terminated to one connection,  i.e. can I connect 3 or 4 wires together?  It's very close though and thanks for the heads up.I may order one just to see.

I'm really trying to get the same thing as I have as these are 100 pairs per unit.  I need something that will allow lots of pairs in a relatively small space.  I can get them from the US but big money and even bigger shipping costs.

Thanks for the ideas.  Any other thoughts are welcome.

I need to buy 6 punch down blocks.  Normally used for "old" telephone systems.  Does anyone have any idea where I can get some here in Thailand,  preferably that I can order on-line or by phone to be sent to me here?

English would be very helpful as it's difficult to get my wife to understand what this is and how to ask for it. Here's what one looks like. New or used is fine.

Thanks for any ideas.

I opened one for my son at Bangkok bank. Very easy. Don't know the interest rate.

As always Crossy, thanks for your help.

I want to look into doing a solar system and need to know my KwH usage.

My current PEA bill shows 1109 "units". I had my wife call to find out the KwH but as she doesn't understand this, I really didn't get an answer.

So, are Units the same as KwH or is there a conversion factor?

Thanks for any help.

Thanks all for the good info. I'm still working on getting answers. It's very difficult to get answers here in LOS. I'm leery of the Chinese brands, although I don't expect to use it that often, so maybe that's fine.

I'll post more when I've made a decision.

Thanks all for the good info. I'm waiting to hear back from Mr. Bob with some ideas.

Thanks for the great info Kamalabob2. Do you have a contact phone number for the store? Do you know if they might have someone who speaks English?

RichCor, this will be permanent and depending on the generator I get, there will be an ATS or an MTS. Won't take any chances. I has to be right.

I'm trying to purchase a 15KVA backup generator. Can't seem to get anyone to answer emails or return calls. Only one place in Bangkok gave me information on Kipor generators (China) and I'd like to find out more. Being China, I'm leery.

Any suggestions on where to buy one? New or used is okay but mostly I want quality for years to come.

Well, it's 8:05pm and we at 180V. The PEA (who said to call and they'd come out) says "well there's really nothing we can do tonight". They say they know there is a problem, just not what is causing it.

Here we go. Round and round.

So now I'm beginning to wonder. I'm sure it's that I don't know what I'm looking at but.....

I just went out and looked at the transformer. On the poles coming into our village, at the very, very top center (actually extended up about a meter) there is one wire going to all poles. I believe this to be a grounding or common wire. Below that are 2 wires-I believe these to be the high voltage wires. From those, the transformer is connected and off the transformer, there are 2 wires running up and down the village and to our house. One would be hot, the other neutral. Now here's the question. I figure that the high voltage wires are similar in that one is hot and the other neutral. If that is the case, how did they "connect the transformer to another phase"? Maybe they did it at the main road where the high voltage wires are connected, but I really don't know.

But, it's now 7:00 pm and the voltage is at 199. One of my fluorescent bulbs won't lite. All else seems okay but I'm sure it's not good for our pumps. Last night, the trouble was at around 8:00. I'll keep watching it.

Any ideas on how they did their "phase change"?

Thanks again.

Spoke with PEA this morning. I was VERY WRONG. They were tremendously helpful. Actually sent someone right over. During our meeting at their office, they were clearly trying to say that we just have too high of a load. Once I explained the load at the time was less than 10 amps, and they figured they couldn't BS me (although all the talking was through my wife), they agreed to come by. Luckily, at the time they got here at 9:30am, the voltage as at 192 and we only had a 4 amp draw. They said they were going to raise the line voltage by adjusting the transformer. I didn't know they could do that. But, this afternoon, they were out again, the power went out for a half an hour and they came back saying they charged our transformer to a different phase to hopefully help. We are single phase (2 wires) coming down the 550 meters to our house so they did what they did at the transformer. Right now we're at 225 volts and things seem fine. I'll be watching carefully tonight.

Thanks all for the information. We are on single phase.

I will be talking with the PEA this morning, but I do suspect they will blow me off.

I've noticed at night mostly that the lights dim and the fans slow down. My AVR that I use for my computer devices will be clicking away. I knew all this was due to voltage fluctuations but I really didn't give it much thought.

Tonight, our main house pressure pump stopped working. It was extremely hot. This had happened once before and I cooled it off with a fan which allowed it to reset. Again, I didn't give it much thought. Tonight when it happened again,

I just figured it was a faulty pump. But, I also have an irrigation pump that is the exact same brand/model and I plumbed the system to easily switch between the pumps. When I re-routed the water and turned on the second pump, I noticed the

distinct sound of a VERY laboring pump. The light bulb in my brain lit up. I got the meter out and the mains voltage coming in was at 161 volts.

This clearly has been happening for quite some time (dimming lights, slow fans, etc) but I just didn't put 2 and 2 together. Now I know. Shortly later, the lights got brighter and the fan faster. I checked the voltage. 185 volts now. Still not right, but better.

The pump sounded better, but certainly not right.

Our house is at the end of the main line. We're about 550 meters from the transformer that feeds our village...I would guess maybe 50 or so houses. The line on the poles from the transformer to me is 35mm2. There are a few places (powered by the same transformer) that may use a heavy load such as a couple of auto body shops, but they really don't look all the high end. Maybe a compressor or two.

I will go to the PEA tomorrow, but I'd sure like any suggestions on how to best speak with them in a way that will get them to help me. I've checked the voltage during the day and it's around the 220 mark. I'm guessing that when/if they come over, that's where it will be.

Hard to show the problem when it's intermittent.

One last thing, I've noticed lately at around mid morning my AVR starts going nuts-clicking away. Again, I haven't looked at the incoming voltage as I really didn't notice any other trouble and the AVR was doing it's job.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

I wanted to post this in the classified section, but it says I can't start a new topic. So, here it is.

I've stayed at Meridien and Dusit. Dusit is just too old. Not worth the price.

Meridien is a nice hotel.

Never been to Legend.

Tremendous photos that certainly capture the differences.

Pointy eared green blooded hobgoblin.

RIP to Spock, McCoy, Scotty.

Thank you for your works.

Nienke, those are scary videos. Pretty stupid parents, but awfully good/tolerant dogs. That's what I've known in Rotts.

Konying, that's an interesting way of introducing them. I'm not sure I'd want to put my cat through the trauma though. Also, our "mutt" 9 month old was pretty scared of the dogs. That would probably work out. The cat, not so sure.

But, thanks for the tip. Very creative.

Dragonfly94, the quote you use and your statement show your fear. You fear something you don't know and are relying on an opinion of someone you've likely never met.

I fear people like you. Closed minded. I suspect you fear most things that are different than you.

As to 'Staffies' or 'Pitties' I can't attest. I've seen owners raise these dogs, as well as Rotts, Dobeys, etc. to be vicious. But I've known far more people who have raised these into loving pets. Myself included.

I would strongly guess that there are FAR more "humans" that have had their brain "triggered" to violence and murder than has ever happened with Rotts. My statement is only a guess, but really....look at the prison populations.

I feel that I can better "read" a Rott than a human. I'd probably trust them more also.

As to breeds I'm scared of.....Those tiny little Chihuahua's seem far more violent and "schizoid" than any Rott I've known. I'd bet they'd tear you up if they had the chance. Glad they're not very big.

I met these two dogs today and they're awesome. Very kind and loving. Clearly raised in a wonderful family. I'm not certain that can be said about some of the posters I've seen on just this thread. Very sad. We could learn a lot from the dogs.

I hope these two wonderful dogs find a good home. They deserve it.

I think Rottys are some of the best dogs ever. I've had 2 in my life and they were incredible.

I'd like to help. Let's see what we can work out.

You posted:

I speak the language, I don’t speak disparagingly about Thais or Chinese, I don’t believe in the conspiracy theories of some, I am not trying to make a buck off of other members, I am always polite and courteous with everyone I meet, I have never asked to have a member removed from this forum, I never raise my voice or hurl insults or profanities at others and even when I think someone is an idiot I am too polite to say so.

I moved here much younger than most, I have never found Thailand to be a difficult or confusing place to live, I don’t have food fetishes or baggage from a past life and have never been into manual laborer.

I have never been divorced, have no children, receive no government support and have no health issues. I don’t smoke, drink, gamble, cheat on my wife or physically or emotionally abuse others.

While I certainly cannot attest to these statements, many of your posts certainly show a propensity towards what you have written above. I applaud you. I personally cannot claim all of those. Does that make you better or worse? No. Do these accolades give you the right to diminish my opinion or beliefs? No.

I’m simply looking for a more pleasant environment (in this forum) to exchange ideas. People have bad ideas. I’ve had more than my share. But I truly believe that most people won’t share their ideas if they feel there is a likelihood of being demeaned or maligned. And isn’t this a forum designed to promote the sharing of ideas?

It was written:

As I said before, if the fear that somebody will disagree with you is enough to stop you wanting to post then you really need to get over that, because unless you start your own forum and have power to censor others' opinions, sooner or later somebody somewhere will disagree with you and you can't always run away.

I have no problem at all with disagreement. Disagreement is healthy bringing insight and change. Debate is good. What I am referring to (as have others) is more akin to harassment. I really don’t think anyone is running away. I suspect there are a tremendous number of people who continue to read the posts, but won’t respond.

As curtklay said: I have no problem with disagreements. I can enjoy a healthy debate without crying or running away.

I suspect most TV members feel that way. (and I enjoyed the non-typo at the end of the Post Script).

At the end of it all, my bottom line is that I don’t want to go away, I do want to post helpful comments as well as receive them. I do want to read good insightful ideas, as I have certainly seen from the member I seem to be sparring with, even if I don’t always agree with them. I simply don’t want to do it with the looming undertone of harassment.

Which brings me back to the OP:

I don't visit this forum often but it seems unusually quiet. Is this forum dying? If so, what's up with that?

While my writings are only my own personal opinion, I believe that many others as well as myself have outlined “what’s up with that?”.

I would like to post my opinion about this but I am scared somebody might disagree with me or be rude to me so I won't bother.

In all seriousness, this echoes my feelings about all the forums on TV, not just Chiang Rai. I used to love the informative exchanges, but over the past few years it has just become a battleground. It's not worth the time or effort to comment, knowing you will be attacked for your thoughts. Lately, I've been wondering why I even bother reading such crap.

I think these are the most accurate posts about the trouble with this forum. The other forums on TV do seem to have plenty of "attackers" but they are mixed in with plentiful good posts. Many posts, but not all, get disparaging remarks by different members. On this Chiang Rai sub-forum, there really only seems to be one major attacker, but that member is relentless. I, and I'm certain many others also, don't want to post here because it's almost guaranteed they will be knocked for it by this member. It's really too bad as this could be a great place to exchange ideas. As they say, "One bad apple...".