T_Dog

I switch in live.

Arjen... Have you verified this with a voltmeter referenced to an independent ground probe? We just had our rental house fixed as the NYT cable from the meter was reversed at the main breaker. Whole house had the neutral hot and line at neutral. Our fluorescent lights also flashed at night which was the first clue something was amiss. One the incoming connection was corrected, no flashing or glowing when lights are turned off.

How long are you seeing 300 volts last after a power outage? That would be a concern I would bring up with the utility company. Our supply was always 242 volts at night with minimal load and none of our stuff had any problems. We did occasionally suffer from regional faults that put the line voltage to 160 volts which had us unplugging the refrigerator and water pump. Most electronic equipment we have use switching power supplies rated from 100-250 volts AC so you can check those ratings yourself. I wouldn't worry about the 237 volts at all but that 300 volts is worrisome. In other words, find the reason for the 300 volts before going the AVR route and don't sweat the 237 volt measurements.

Now my eyes hurt! What did I miss?

Truth in Thailand is elusive, but for those that seek it out, Marshall's insights are a definite prerequisite. He is a rather experienced journalist.

This article speaks of arrests in Bangkok that never happened after the big switcheroo.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-free-bar-owners-and-look-for-ex-village-hea-30243997.html

All I hear there at 4:30 PM is a lady telling stories in Thai and now a Northern Thai song. Oddly enough, 88.0 Mhz is playing American Country Western and Classic Rock.

You guys have really brought up the quality level of these photos! Greatly appreciate all the posts and this is much better than reading any bird book.

This fellow must have just seen that last post!

This would work with Mavericks. The software is well done and easy to use, but I have not tried the phone interface. The motion detection is highly configurable so you don't get any false alarms.

http://www.bensoftware.com/

Thanks all and things are good now. The guys didn't want to tackle the tight routes at the main breaker either so they swapped the NYT wires at the meter. Not much of a color code (grey and light grey) on that cable so no issues there. They also put in an earth rod and I've checked things out and all looks good. Nice to not see the bedroom light glowing and flickering all night long!

A lot of the info on the exalted internet comes from the west where grey water is put in the same tank as human waste, which does not apply to Thailand. The Thai system of having separate systems for human waste and grey water is very efficient as it gives the human waste much more "dwell time" to decompose. Those plastic tanks with two chambers are designed to optimize that process. Eyecatcher.... Is your shower water and sink water going to a separate system? Would be wise to follow the Thai convention as it works well.

Besides the exotic stuff, don't forget to get a proximity alert tool to let you know when things are live. They sell similar units to this one at Amorn.

http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-2AC-Alert-Voltage-Tester/dp/B004I9J4DI

Meanwhile on the highway . . .

A hard working 61 year old . . . .

There is an organic restaurant here in Chiang Mai that was just built with square steel pillars holding up the roof and it is very nice. They put brick up about a meter and large windows above that to the roof line so it is very bright inside. Steel will be more expensive and you also have to consider corrosion in Thailand's humid and hot environment, along with watering plants around that steel. Not sure if many crews would know how to properly mate up windows with the steel but they certainly know how with concrete beams and brick walls. Steel will eventually rust, whereas concrete lasts for decades.

We found it at Rimping up here in Chiang Mai, but the importer likely distributed it to other higher end grocery stores.

We used a 1600 liter Hero tank feeding a 4 ring tank open at the bottom for three people. The output of that went to a drainage field which was about 80 cm of 1 inch round stone with a plastic sheet cover and earth on top of that. Never had a problem in six years. The drainage field was probably overkill but it was easier to put it in at the early stage rather than later. PM me if you want photos.

I think we just bought the last bottle of this nice Chardonnay at our local Rimping. Excellent stuff, and the only good white wine I have found in a decade here. Thought I would pass the word in case there might be a few bottles left somewhere in the country as it is a good buy at 399 baht.

I asked my 15 year old step son a while back if he had heard of Hitler. I told him his internet privileges depend on his answer on whether Hitler was a good guy or a bad guy. He did the research and he knows. Thailand needs to stop working with North Korea in regard to the educational system here, but I doubt there will ever be any improvement.

Bit more information for those interested. Got a good fellow from Dante's recommendation coming tomorrow so hoping this will be resolved soon. Some more background:

The incoming lines from the meter, as referenced to ground should be 230 VAC (LINE) and zero VAC (NEUTRAL) . I have verified this is the case at our place with the incoming cable from the meter. The NEUTRAL is tied to ground back at the transformer, and also at neighboring houses that have a N-Ground tie in the box used with an effective ground rod which is the preferred method.

The Incoming LINE at our house is wrongly connected through the main breaker to the house neutral bar in the main breaker box. The incoming NEUTRAL line is connected to the main breaker LINE connection which then goes to all the individual circuit breakers. Our house also has 3 terminal receptacles, but the ground line terminates in the main breaker box with no connection to an earth rod. In other words, the INCOMING WIRES from the meter are reversed at the main double pole breaker. Luckily, there is no NEUTRAL-to-ground tie in the consumer unit box.

This reversal of those incoming connections is dangerous because:

-If you turn off all the individual circuit breakers, the house "neutral" wiring is still connected to the Incoming LINE 230 VAC as referenced to the earth. Only switching off the main breaker removes dangerous potential from the house which could be lethal to anyone working on the wiring.

-Every outlet in the house has the LINE and NEUTRAL connections reversed.

-All lighting circuits and bulbs with switches turned off sit at LINE voltage, not zero volts AC. (This will cause fluorescent lights to glow slightly in some cases as in our bedroom.)

-If you expect the NEUTRAL bar in the breaker box to be zero volts AC, you will be in for a surprise.

Simple solution is to just switch the incoming lines to make them correct, and to install an effective and connected ground rod. We have already had one electrician look at it and said Mai Pen Rai, all is fine. Got another recommendation from here on TV coming tomorrow. As I said earlier, I would do this myself but being a rental, and seeing how poorly routed the incoming cable is at this point, I would rather leave it up to someone else. The wiring in the consumer breaker box is an ugly mess, with telephone lines spiced in there as well.

I wonder how many chickens and sleeping dogs they will capture in the outer villages!

Have relocated many tukkae after they started making a mess at a rental house in the way past. Have a basket handy, and hit them with the garden house. As soon as the water hits the wall they lose traction and you can catch them as they fall or put the basket on top of them and then slide a sheet of plywood under it.

By the way, the tukkae trade must be one of the best urban legends in Thailand. Everyone talks about it in the villages, but no one has ever been able to sell one to a real buyer. Been asking about that for nine years and still no first hand knowledge.

Please PM me or post here if you know of a good electrician in the Mae Rim area that is capable of reading a voltmeter. (In other words, more than just a wire puller.)

Just determined this morning that the Line and Neutral coming into the rental house are reversed which is a dangerous situation to have. (230 volts AC from neutral to a ground probe.) Earth line in the house is also not connected to a ground rod anywhere so it just floats at whatever voltage based on appliances plugged in. I would correct it all myself but the wires from the meter are in a position difficult to manage and it's a rental.

Hopefully they will forget about enacting that law as it appears it would apply to RC aircraft as well as the multi-rotor drones. Would put a lot of limitations on thousands of Thai hobbyists.

Who, on earth and in their right mind would invest anything in Thailand in these troubled times? Would anyone investing in Thailand today be rewarded, or at least offered, very large returns to offset the massive risk involved?

Take time to consider the multifaceted mess that is today's Thailand. 0% local investment seems very attractive to me at the moment, and that would be my recommendation.

Actively managing an investment is always a good idea, and I have gotten out of the stock market and into cash and then back in the USA several times. Right now, looking at the situation and upcoming years in Thailand, it certainly does not look attractive. Military controlled states don't have a good track record of stellar economic performance.