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I have a Rolex Air King which was given to me by my father for my 21st birthday which was some 55 years ago. The watch has been a permanent feature on my left wrist since my father gave it to me. The only time it is taken off is when I take it for service, I intend to do some heavy work in the house/garden involving hammering or I needed an operation. Whilst I was living in the UK, I would have it periodically serviced by a Rolex approved agent. So when I moved to Thailand I decided to have it serviced by the Rolex service center in Bangkok. It cost me 35K THB and came with the standard Rolex 2 year warranty. Unfortunately after a year (almost to the day) the watch stopped for no apparent reason, so I took it back to the service center who agreed to service it again at no cost. Blow me down a few days after the original service warranty expired the watch stopped working again, but this time the service center advised that the warranty was out of time and I would have to pay to have it serviced. After some research on the internet, I discovered a company called Expert Watch based in Bangkok. They have several small shops located in various shopping large malls and their main base which undertakes the repairs is is in Ladprao. I took my Rolex to the shop based in the basement of Central World in Bangkok and asked them to give me quote for the repair/service. A week later they contacted me and advised what the fault was (sorry I can't remember the exact details now) and that the repair/service cost would be 15K THB. They guarantee their work for 1 year. The repair/service took about 3 weeks and I collected my watch from the shop in the basement of Central World. That was 3 years plus ago and the watch has been keeping perfect time - loosing only a few second per month, which is well withing the Rolex spec. I would have no hesitation in using them again, or recommending them. Their website link is https://www.expert-watch.com/ Obviously I would phone them first to inquire if they can deal with your watch. FYI... the guy at the Central World branch speaks good English his mobile number is on the contact page.

This is a worrying factor for me at the moment. Since our last meter reading on the 16th Jan. our small scale system has been enjoying the sunshine and more than meeting our daytime needs. As a result we have only purchased 10 units from our local PEA and with just over a week until the next reading we could be at a record low reading. Our panels are mounted on the carport roof and definately not visible from the road. But as @Crossymentioned, they are clearly visable from a MIC weather ballon. The photo is very recent. The white pickup parked opposite has only been there for about 3 weeks.

@p414 Please don't kill them. Golden tree snakes, and all of the whip snake family, are great climbers and basically harmless to humans. Yes, as @Liverpool Lou has indicated, they are venomous. But unlike cobras, pit vipers etc who have fangs at the front of their mouth and can easily puncture a hand/arm/leg when striking, the golden trees snake only has very small fangs at the very back of their mouth which makes very difficult for them to envenomate a human, given their relatively small size. The venom of the golden tree snake is very effective at quickly paralyzing its prey e.g. small frogs/toads/lizards/insects. However, if a human is envenomated by a golden tree snake (often on the finger), its affect is very mild e.g. stinging sensation and mild swelling. People who normally suffer from allergic reactions to stings/bites etc would be advised to seek medical advice as a precaution.

Ops.... Official meter reading on the 16th was 8172.... Self-meter reading this morning 26th = 8160. ???? According to the monitoring facility, our small scale GTI system has generated 74 units during the past 10 days. Obviously with the spate of reasonable sunshine recently, the system has been producing more than we have been using, so now we have a negative meter reading which is definitely something that I would not want our local PEA to become aware of. As a result my system is taking a 'forced holiday' for a few days to allow the meter to return into positive numbers. Our next official meter reading next month is on, or about the 13th, so time to rectify the situation. Good job that I check the PEA meter every so often.

@Encid As @Crossy mentioned earlier, those 450W panels are big, very big both in physical size and weight !!!! Most specs that l've seen for 450W mono half cuts are around 2384 x 1303 x 35 mm and they weigh a mere 38.5 kg each. Good luck with your proposed project it sounds mind blowing.

Are you really sure about that? Below is a picture of Elon's economy class launch system which he has purchased from the Bun Bang Fai (rocket festival). Photo = Getty Image

If I was in your shoes, I'd go for the 16mm x 240cm rod. The deeper the better. FYI.... A tip which I picked up from somewhere in the electrical forum quite some time ago when I was doing my research/design for my small scale system:- 1. Make sure that the ground where you intend to sink the rod is as wet as possible - I hosed the position two or three times a day for about a week before attempting to sink the rod as the ground was rock hard. 2. Instead of using a lump hammer to wack the rod into the ground and risk bending the rod or hitting my hand, I used my cordless electric drill. I put the top of the rod into the chuck and switched the drill into hammer mode (like using a masonry drill). The rod spins and hammers itself into the ground. Combined with the wet ground, as indicated above, this method worked a treat with minimal effort. ⚠️ Before sinking the rod, make sure that there are no utility pipes/cables buried where you're proposing to sink the rod. Good luck.

10 minutes ago our local PEA meter reader called and posted the bill in our letter box. This month has hit an all time low (in terms of purchasing from the PEA) since I installed our small scale system 15 months ago. We only needed to purchase just 47 units, which cost us a massive 236.68 THB, or 5.036 THB/unit. Our small scale system produced 81% of our household needs (198 Units) this month which meant a saving of 997 THB off our electric bill ????. I confirm from our current bill (as shown below), that as indicated by @MJCM in one of his earlier posts, the discount on the FT has been discontinued and we are now paying the full FT cost of 0.9434 THB/unit. Obviously this has increased the overall unit cost from 4.2 THB/unit last month to 5.036 THB/unit this month ????.

@Pink... I appreciate that your photos show your initial attempt at making an MC4 connection, but a serious word of warning. Always ensure that the colour of the input and output wires are the same. In your photo below you show a Red wire connecting to a Black wire. If that was for real, considering the potential power of your system, you are most likely going to encounter some very expensive 'magic smoke'.

Sorry, but two things don't quite ring right with this story. Firstly. According to the linked BBC article, Adam Davies "sustained a fractured skull, bleed on the brain, punctured lung, broken ribs, broken clavicle, broken scapular and a fractured ankle". Quite a tally of injuries and he's very lucky to be alive. But take a close look at the published photo of him. He looks remarkably well considering his recent trauma, relaxing on the beach, under the shade of a tree somewhere, enjoying a cool drink. OK he's still got a chest drain in, but it would appear that he's out of hospital and that might indicate that someone has paid his hospital bill. Secondly. Several forum members have commented on the need to read the 'small print' in the insurance policy. FYI... approximately 15 years ago the UK Financial Ombudsman, who also oversees the insurance business in the UK, directed all UK insurance companies to write their policies in 'Plain Simple English' and clearly state what is, and what is not covered by the policy. Adam doesn't look stupid and he shouldn't have had any difficulty reading the T&C of his insurance policy before he purchased it. It is noted that he's Welsh, so he could have asked for a copy in Welsh if that was his preferred language. So it's not a fault of the insurance company if he assumed that the policy covered him for world wide travel for 12 months instead of it being an annual premium that only covers him for short duration (e.g. 1 month) stays outside the UK.

I can confirm that there have been no leaks during the 15 months that the panels have been installed on my car port roof. This is possibly due to the silicone sealant which I applied to the feet of the mounting brackets before bolting the bracket down. Also it should be borne in mind that the top of the panels are almost at the apex of the roof, so when it rains, or when I clean the panels, the panels act as an umbrella for the mounting brackets. I took a photo a few minutes ago of the underside of the car port roof, as requested. Difficult to see the bracket mounting screws as they intentionally go into the horizontal steel framework of the roof supports. The only screws holding the mounting brackets which are visible from underneath are the brackets which I added mid panel to help support the panel's weight. One set of screws (marked by arrow) can be seen coming through the cement roof panels. You will notice no trace of water ingress. The photo below shows the layout of the mounting brackets on the car port roof before the panels were installed.

Thanks for your comment. Yes you do see silicon sealant. Before bolting the brackets down I gave the underside of each mounting plate a good coating of silicon sealant. This was to prevent any water getting under the mounting plates and causing leaks via the mounting screws. Has worked well as there has not been any water dripping through the car port roof.

FYI.... I've had my little MIC PM 2.5 cube now for about 2 years. Shortly after l purchased it, l stopped by the environmental monitoring van parked outside the entrance gate of Mahidol University, Salaya, and asked the technician to give me her opinion on the little cube. She confirmed that its output readings were PM 2.5, and she was somewhat suprised at its accuracy. Compared with their very expensive metering system, the cube was reading just a couple of digits above theirs over about 30 minutes. It may be small, MIC and relatively cheapish, but it appears to be fairly accurate. It was because of our concerns regarding the pollution possibly created by nearby factories, one being a coffee roasting plant which was using wood burning roasters and no filter system on their output chimney, that l purchased the cube. Fortunately the coffee roasting plant has changed to gas burners and they have installed a water scouring system to reduce pollution, but their system still occasionally belches soot out of the chimney when the plant starts up after a holiday, like last Tuesday. When the cube reading gets above 100, doors/windows get closed asap, and the ac is turned on until the numbers come down to below 75. Its just one of the joys of living in Thailand.

Yes my small scale GTI system has been great and as designed it is happily producing 75% of our daily electricity needs on most days for the past 15 months. Specifically designed the system so that it should not produce a negative meter reading. As l mentioned previously, using the price of electricity at the date of installation, it will have paid for itself in 2.5 years. Obviously as the price per unit is increased, that 2.5 years will reduce ????. Do l have a link to my build? No, l piggy backed onto @Crossy original thread Budget solar system on car port. l have a log of my design/install process and l have thought about starting an epic thread on how to build your own small scale GTI solar system, but a number of other issues took priority last year. May be this year. Watch this space.

Thanks. My GTI system is small when compared to what you are installing. Total cost of hardware 28,000 THB, no labour costs as it was a DIY install. ROI about 2.5 years, based upon unit cost of electricity = 2.4 THB. The research, design and install was a great experience and proves that your never to old to learn. That said, I had a great deal of encouragement, advice and support from forum members, in particular from @Crossy.

Sorry to correct you, but it is a PM 2.5 meter, and that was the reading at approximately 9 am on Tuesday morning. As I said, the air was really foul outside the house, and it was like a dense mist hanging around at ground level. The level was definitely in the Danger Zone, hence my comment about needing to get a new gas mask. Thankfully by around 10:30 am it cleared as the sun warmed things up. I've attached below a picture of from the instruction manual and you will see it clearly mentions PM 2.5. The label on the base of the device also indicates that it's a PM 2.5 meter. Below is a photo I took about 30 minutes ago which shows a reasonable reading.

During the initial design stage of my small scale system, I checked with the manufacturer of my panels (Sunpal) and they confirmed that drilling the aluminum side frame members to retain the panels would not invalidate their warranty provided that the drilling did not contact/damage their mounting board. You may wish to do the same with your panel manufacturer so that you have a recorded note confirming that it is OK, or not to drill the side frame members. As you will see from the photo above I've drilled below the mid point of the frame to ensure that there was good clearance with the actual panel mounting board. As @Crossy said, just be careful. FYI... The stainless steel panel mounting brackets were made for me by a local tin smith, so as to facilitate easy mounting onto the cement panel roof of my car port and allow a good air gap under the panels. Good luck with your project

Yep, the air is foul at the moment. I live on the western outskirts of BKK and the dust is noticeably accumulating on my solar panels. No signs of any actual burning locally, but suspect the local factories are starting up their processes. This morning at approximately 9 am my little PM 2.5. meter was almost off the scale as shown below. Time to get a new gas mask !

The thought of getting a 'local' to clean them every so often had crossed my mind, but again, who is responsible if they fall off? My better half has suggested getting someone to construct a 'walk-way' on the car port roof, similar to yours, which would avoid the risk of slipping on the incline. Good idea ????. I think that may be a project for later in the year. In the short term I'm seriously considering getting an electric solar panel brush system, as shown below. The motor is 24V (AC-DCconverter supplied), 300RPM. Water supply is connected to nearby tap in garden. Handle extendable from 2M to 7M. With this I can reach all of the panels comfortably from a step ladder. Cost about 10K, which is a lot cheaper than the hospital bills might be if I came a cropper.

As a proficient DIYer.. How about a few of these?

As per the OP... Under Solar Panels... so they will be in the shade/dark and little if any UV degradation is likely to occur, so colour is not important.

I just looked at my panels again this morning - less than 24 hours after I cleaned them - and already there is a fine layer of dust on them. It looks like I may have to do them again next week. The culprit is the pollution hanging over us because of the cold layer in the upper atmosphere. My little PM2.5 meter is almost off the scale, as shown below. (photo taken 3/1/23 @ 9:51 am) My problem is getting up onto the car port roof (approx. 4 meters above the ground). At 76 YO, falling through the cement roof tiles is going to mean a very expensive hospital bill, or possibly a cheaper trip to the local temple ????.

Yep, they are big and heavy. FYI... I've attached below the spec. SRP-(655-670)-BMC-HV_210_EN.pdf Good luck with your proposed project.

I'm not quite in the same 'boat'. Since the meter was read 14 days ago my small scale system has been satisfying most of our daytime needs, resulting in us only needing to purchase 13 units. I checked the panels yesterday and, as can be seen from the photo below, they are 'caked in dust' which must have a degrading effect on their efficiency, so I early this morning it was up on the car port roof with the hose and soft brush. They looked brand new when I finished. I'm not sure if there will be any significant improvement in output as its difficult to measure with so many variable. That said, if the weather remains the same until the next meter reading in 13 days, we'll have an extremely small bill, possibly the lowest since the system has been in operation.

@zappalot You are aware that these solar panels are big, very big! 2384 x 1303 x 35 mm and they weigh a mere 38.5 kg each. Looking at your roof pictures, I would beg to suggest that at that weight you are going to need to seriously think how you will get the panels up that roof. Also looking at the angle of the roof you're going to need some very substantial fixings to hold them down with that weight. The last thing that you want is for them to lift off in the wind and slide down and hit someone/something, as that would be very expensive.