JoeyDaRench

Thank you for the excellent and well timed examples of what is wrong with this forum. It is clear who the rude and offensive posters are.

Yes, it is very clear.

I would agree with the comment that “Visitors just don't want to deal with the few obnoxious dogs who think they own the Soi”.

Even if I want to answer a post, I may not contribute, as any response given is likely to be “barked” at, referring to the above quoted soi dogs. And for the “They claim to be friendly positive people but they show no evidence of that on this forum”, Well I guess it’s true that “Every dog smells his own dirt”.

As to the “so few posts to read where they come from”, I think the OP was talking about this place, hence the need for the post.

IMHO, you could very well be correct. I just don't know. When I tested the battery, it was charged, but that was quite a while after I had the trouble.

But the trouble did happen again, as the computer had re-booted but I know we didn't have any power failures more than a second or so.

Who knows. Right now it's working. Hopefully that will continue.

Thanks for the help.

I've found, at least in Chiang Rai, that the land/houses are terribly overpriced and WHEN they don't sell (not IF they don't sell), they simply raise the price. Go figure.

Also, the rents here in NO way reflect the price (or at least the asking price) of the house. You can rent a 12 million baht house for less than 30K a month. From that,

the owner has expenses and costs. Probably lucky if they earn 2% of their investment price per year. Doesn't seem to be a good deal to me. And for being a landlord,

my personal experience having 10 houses in the US as rentals, over 85% of my tenants thought it was their God-given right to destroy my house. And don't believe

for a minute that it will be different here. Every house belonging to a middle class to semi-wealthy Thai that I've been in is filthy and terribly maintained. That's simply

the normal way of life here for most (at least that I've seen). The few homes I've been in belonging to wealthy Thais have been impeccable. But, I would assume

there are not too many wealthy Thais that will be renting a house. Yes, you could do all this and hopefully the property value will increase to offset all of the above.

That's what I believed in the US. Got my clocked cleaned, lost 30%. Bad timing on my part. It's the chance you take.

It's not a chance I'll ever take again.

Thanks very much for all the help Crossy. I probably won't do the car battery as I'm sure that the 15 minutes or so I'll get when the power is out should be good enough. But the information is good to know.

On a side note, it did it one more time. I came in and my computer had re-booted which tells me the power went out (at least coming from the UPS). I had forgotten about this and I'll be it's the trouble.

The power outlet in this room has had over 5 volts between the ground and neutral pins. When I say "has", that's because it does change. I was having trouble with another power supply (note a UPS) a while back

and found this. But I also found that when the power supply was having trouble, the ground was at 5+ volts. When it was working okay, the ground was around 1.5 to 1.8. I'm guessing that this trouble

is coming back as it does seem to be intermittent. Since I wasn't checking it when the UPS was having trouble, I can't say for sure.

As this is a rental house, and we're supposed to move in a little over a month, I'm not going to worry about it. And I know the landlord won't do anything. They won't fix the leaky roof.

We're just careful around the electric stuff.

Thanks again.

Well, I don't have an answer but this is a weird one. i was going to disconnect it and do the testing that Crossy suggested so I decided to unplug it one more time with my computer on. It worked correctly. Then I shut down the computer and restarted it. No trouble. All of the sudden, it seems to be okay. I had fiddled with it for quite a while before testing it with a blender and no matter what, it wouldn’t work with my computer. Who knows. It must have had a brain fart. Not sure why this happened and I hope it doesn't again. I do appreciate the help though.

On a side note, does anyone know if it’s okay to replace the existing battery with an external car type battery to give longer power when the mains are off?

Thanks for the reply Crossy. And yes, I'm using the backup output plugs, not the surge only one.

I will do some more testing and let you know the results.

Thanks for the help.

Joe

Hello,

I have a Zircon Galaxy UPS, 750-900VA. I use it for my Imac 27 inch. It is about 4 months old and has been working fine. Each time the AC compressor kicked in, it would beep and the power stayed steady, no trouble. Power goes out and the computer stays on. All good. Until last night.

The AC clicked and my computer went dead. The UPS indicated it was still on AC power. I restarted the computer with no trouble. Then, I unplugged the power to the UPS and again, the computer went dead. I assumed the battery was just junk. I took it apart today and the battery was showing over 12 volts so I plugged in a blender to the UPS, and it worked fine. I put my Imac back on it, and it won't turn on unless the power is on to the UPS. I checked the Imac and it's maximum draw on startup (and running) is .8 amps. It appears that the UPS will run things and is working, but it won't run my computer if the power is out. I know it used to work as the power has gone out. Any suggestions? I had a question about it when I first bought it and called their hotline. The English was so poor that I just couldn't communicate with them. And my wife just doesn't understand this at all and therefor, can't translate. I don't believe this is a problem with my computer, but with the UPS.

Thanks for any help.

Hello,

We've drilled a new well and are installing tanks and filters. Everyone seems to have (and the shops say I need one) a filter type device that sits on top of the first holding tank that the incoming water from the well goes through. I'm sure you all have seen them. They are like a square 3-tier funnel looking thing. The top two levels have multiple holes in them to allow the water to filter downward. The bottom one just seems to be a funnel to direct the water into a smaller tube allowing it to drop into the tank.

I was told this is for oxygenation and would help the solids settle to the bottom of the tank. It looks to me as if it's only for filtering out big rocks. My question is two fold. One, what is the actual purpose of this device and two, how necessary is it. I don't mind spending the 2500 baht if it has a good purpose. If it's just because "that's how we've always done it", then I don't want to waste the money.

Thanks for any suggestions.

VF said "avoid arguing with the umpire or telling him he is stupid "

Boy, that really says it all.

I suspect the umpire status is self proclaimed.

I hope I'm not " advised to return to that place ".

Hi All,

I need a (what I call) trailer hitch for my new Fortuner. I have heard some here call it a tow bar. In the States, it's also called a receiver.

Bottom line is I need a way to put a tow ball on the car to pull my trailer.

I'm coming down from CR later this week and would like to purchase one.

I'm okay with ordering it and having it sent by post up here, so Bangkok would also be fine. Better yet, just buy it and take it with me. I can install it.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

Hello All,
I need a forklift for 1 day around the end of this month (May). Not sure of the exact day yet.
It has to have side-shift in addition to normal operation. Maximum lift will be around 700Kg and no more than 2 meters high.

I found a place called Chiang Rai Payawan Co. Ltd, which is South of Thai Watsadu on the other side of the street. They will rent one for the day (including driver) for 6000-7000 baht.

If that's the going rate, then so be it. If possible, I'd much rather find a better price.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be great.

Thanks!

Thanks for the idea Sceadugenga.

Hello all,

Can someone recommend a water testing business here in Chiang Rai? Someone I can take a sample to that can test it for...well....whatever it is they test it for. I'd also like a company that can inspect a water storage and filtration system. Any recommendations would be great.

Thanks.

Hi all,
I'm planning to purchase a house in the area (about 6-8km from city center) and would like to find a knowledgeable person to give it a look over. Mostly want someone to go on the roof to check the hot water tank, crawl in the attic to check for unseen stuff and simply to "clue me in" to any items I may overlook.

And I would believe this is separate, I need to find someone to test the water and look at the water tanks to make sure there is not mold or other contaminates I should know about.

Thanks for any recommendations.

Thanks Sceadugenga,

I think I've got all the information I need.

Thanks for the help from this forum!

Thanks for the help Mario2008.

Do you know if that can be done 2 or 3 times successively?

Hi,

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I did look but didn't find the answer.

With a US passport on a 30 day upon arrival visa (Tourist I believe), If I do a Visa run at the Mae Sai border,

do I get 14/15 days or do I get a 30 day stamp?

Thanks for the help !

Thanks for the info Meatboy. I'm still working on the best way to go.

Thanks again Sundrenched

Thanks Jesse,

They are one of the companies that I'm speaking with.

Thanks Sundrenched.

I'm beginning to get a better feeling about this.

Hi wym,

The problem is the unpredictability. My wife is Thai returning after 6 years here. I understand, more or less, what that allows.

Would I pay 50K baht? Not for a couple of bicycles or other piddly stuff that seems to be prohibited. If I am going to get

dinged 50K for legitimate household items (that are deemed acceptable) because the guy got up wrong, that's where I have a problem.

I also understand that's what I'm paying a Thai handling company for but I also know it could still happen. That's why I'd really like to

find someone who's gone through this somewhat recently.

Thanks for your response. I do appreciate it.