statman78

Sad news. RIP Joe. You helped me a number of times. You will be missed by many of us.

If the government wasn’t so self centered they would look at what other countries are doing to collect fees online. The USA has ESTA which is a $21 fee collected online from those travelers arriving visa exempt. Next year the EU is planning to charge 7 euro from non EU citizens for a ETIAS. While I believe there is no charge, Australia has ETA for travelers arriving visa exempt which needs to be applied for online. Since the airlines already said they cannot selectively charge the traveler, they could collect the fee from everyone and those who are except from paying can get a refund upon arrival. But of course this option will not happen since the government doesn’t want to inconvenience its own people. Unfortunately, they will probably set up a system that makes it harder to get through immigration upon arrival.

It’s on the agenda for next month. Of course the issue may be gone by then if the rains come.

I would love to to see red or yellow. This is what we have this morning. It’s better than it has been the last couple of weeks. We’ve had days where we approached 600.

Here in the north we’ve been living in worse smog for weeks!

Typical way of addressing problems here. Wait until the problem hits the critical stage, start discussing how to handle it then wait until it goes away. Of course nothing gets done and the cycle will be repeated next year. This happens with the annual smoke issue here in the north and the annual flooding issue around Bangkok.

Definite vote buying but not much different than what happens in other countries where politicians promise money to certain groups. Looking up the information, Thailand has approximately 58 million people over the age of 16. This would cost 580 billion baht. According to the big Bangkok newspaper, the fiscal 2024 Thai budget is 3.35 trillion baht with a deficit of 593 billion baht with the deficit being about 3% of GDP. This giveaway almost doubles the deficit.

I agree with the recommendation of Bangkok Bank. For my retirement extension I transfer money every month using Wise. The transfer shows up as a foreign transfer which is needed when I go in for my annual extension.

It is vary reliable. I’ve used them many times. Like cnx1204 mentions, I immediately go to the both to reserve a car then get my luggage if I have checked bags. Sometimes if you also reserve the return from the hotel to the airport you may get a discount. I doesn’t make sense to me but the SUV tends to be the cheapest.

As mentioned earlier, it depends on the office. Here in Chiang Rai I have a retirement extension. In December I returned from a 2 week trip to Egypt and came in using my re-entry permit. A TM 30 was not submitted. In late December I went in for my annual extension. No issues about the TM 30.

Have you checked your application status online? There was one occasion where I did not get a reply after several days which was unusual. I logged on and checked the status and saw that it was approved even though I n3ver got an approval notice.

You just leave it blank. I did when I applied for my extension a few months ago. Some people still get a TM 6 at border crossings but they are not issued if you arrive by air. If you are going to Singapore for Songkran your next 90 day report will be due 90 days after you arrive back in Thailand. I’ve also done 90 day reports and did not enter a TM 6 since I did not get one when I arrived in December

I’ll post a photo later since I am in Bangkok now and the system is on our house in Chiang Rai. The installer did a great job. It took 2 days to install everything.

We just had a system installed 2 weeks ago. No problems. We generate enough power so that we only need to draw from the grid when the sun goes down. We are now waiting for approval to be able to send our excess back to the grid

It varies but ranges from .9kW to 2kW depending on how much power my system is generating

Yes we have the same system as you have. Your top diagram shows that you are using power from the system and from the grid based on the direction the arrows move. Ours shows the same. The strange part is that while our diagram shows we are getting power from the grid, at the same time I can look at our meter and is running backwards so we are exporting power back to the grid. When the sun goes down the meter runs in the forward direction so we are using power from the grid. For the last couple of days I’ve been going out and checking the meter at the same time everyday. Overall we are using a little more power from the grid than what we are sending back since the meter reading is a bit higher everyday.

I have a disc type meter. Based on the great comments and suggestions I received today I went out a couple of times to check at saw that it was going backwards. As was suggested earlier the chart I originally posted looks like PV production is added to consumption which makes it look like I am consuming more than I’m producing. Since the meter was running backwards this is not the case. I also have a graphic that shows how much power I’m using from my system and how much I am drawing from the grid and any time. This graphic also must be wrong since it shows I am drawing power from the grid when I can plainly see that my meter is running backwards. As mentioned earlier I’ll need to watch this when it comes time for the monthly meter reading since I haven’t been approved to export my excess. Thanks to all who replied!

I’ll check the meter to see how it compares to the charts. Right now we are waiting approval for export. Ty our comment about adding PV production to consumption is interesting. when looking at the chart from yesterday I see that the gap between the 2 lines is larger during the time we are consuming more power due to the swimming pool pump being on. I’ll also have the installer look at all of the connections. Thanks!

Thanks again for the info. Great stuff. The installer did all of the paperwork. Our system does meet PEA standards. According to the installer it has been taking 6-8 months for approval to export for compensation.. I’ll make sure we keep an eye on the meter.

KhunLA, Thanks for the info. We can’t turn off the grid. So I will do as you suggested. We don’t have batteries for storage of excess. Also we are waiting for approval from the power company to export the excess back to the grid. Does this mean any excess power we generate is wasted until we can “sell” it back to the power company? Also, would the gap between the lines disappear during those times when we generate more power than we use and are approved to send it back to the power company for credit?

We just had 20 solar panels installed on our house in Chiang Rai. The charts showing how much power is generated and how much we use do not make sense. No matter how much power we generate our total consumption is always greater. See the 2 charts below from yesterday and this morning. From today’s chart it shows consumption of about 2kW at 9:00 am with consumption being under 1kW over night. Nothing has been turned on during this time. The only change is that the yard lights which are on overnight were turned off about 6:30 this morning. The spikes are when I was making breakfast. In the full chart from yesterday it can be seen that consumption follows the generation curve but is always above it. Why??? I studied mechanical engineering, not electrical and it was many years ago. The only reason I can think of is that we are drawing some power directly from the grid. I’m sure there are people who can help me understand this. We are also contacting the people who installed the system.

1. Fires are set 2. air becomes unbearable 3. government holds meetings 4. nothing gets done 5. the rains come and the air in breathable again wait 6 months then repeat steps 1-5 At least that what I have experienced the last 4 years living here in Chiang Rai

I have experience with a couple of hospitals in Chiang Rai. Sriburin is good. There is also a new Bangkok Hospital which I have not been to but 2 of my friends have been and speak highly of it. On the other hand for anything major I would go to Chiang Mai or Bangkok.

I had cataract surgery late last year at Rutnin Eye Hospital in Bangkok. The cost was about 90,000 baht per eye but I stayed overnight so that my insurance covered it. A friend of mine had it done as an outpatient but I’m not sure wants he paid

I have travelled back to the US and rented a car using my Thai driver’s license without any problems. No need to get an international driver’s license