Encid

Will do. I selected LVTOPSUN because that's what JAS21 has with a similar inverter and they are very cost competitive. If anyone has other battery recommendations I'd be happy to hear from you.

A regular spray with Chaindrite should keep them away.

OK so taking on board all the really helpful comments and suggestions so far, I have decided to do a small install on the guest house carport roof first. We will change the roof design to be a south-facing steel roof at an angle of 15° so no special supports will be needed for the PV panels. The system I am thinking of will consist of the following: 1 x Sofar HYD 5000 ES on-grid hybrid inverter (5kW) (PEA approved list) 2 x LVTopsun LV48100 5kWh batteries or maybe a single 10kWh battery 2 x 10S strings of 340W panels (total 6.8kWp) The Sofar user manual tells me for PV parameters that max DC power for a single MPPT is 3000W so do I have too many panels in my plan? The Sofar datasheet states that max PV array is 6.65kWp. Should I reduce the number of panels by 2 or should I upgrade the inverter to the HYD 6000 ES (6kW) model where max DC power for a single MPPT is 3500W? Or am I missing something? I am giving serious consideration to install the system from an approved supplier... with the future in mind.

My house has 50 working transformer driven LED downlights (formerly halogen). In 15 years we have only had 2 transformers fail due to rodents. I have had to replace the LV connectors maybe 6-8 times in 15 years due to rodents. We turn on/off all lights using wall mounted switches. Alexa or Google? And have to carry my phone everywhere with me all the time? Just to turn on the ensuite night light when I need to take a leak at 3am and wake the missus up? Not likely! You might be able to get 220v screw in RGB bulbs for about Bht 150 each, but they will need a light housing of some kind too won't they? At additional cost of course. I spotted some 220V LED downlights at HomePro... so to replace all my transformer driven LED downlights with these would cost me 17,450 baht. Not likely!

I must admit that I had to google the term "Homesteading". It appears to be a US-only phrase. I do like @Muhendis's suggestion above... ASEAN NOW Self Sufficency Forum. The forum description could also be modified to read "Discussion of all forms of alternative and renewable energy and off-grid living in Thailand".

That too sounds like it is well qualified to be another pinned topic.

Topics like that could be pinned at the top of the forum so it doesn't get lost.

I ended up using 3.5" 12V DC LED driving lights... supposedly IP65 rated.

Here you go... I'm really happy with the result.

Simple job right? Two of our 12V LED downlights went out and I finally got around to checking them out... it seems that we had rats in the roof cavity. I thought I heard the pitter-patter of little feet on the ceiling (uninsulated), and sure enough examples of their hungry teeth chewing through the plastic insulation on the LV wiring was evident. It's a good thing that most Thai houses have roof trusses made of steel... otherwise a fire could have resulted.

What kind of camera? Phone camera or DSLR with a telephoto lens so they can determine the make, model, wattage, and date of birth of your panels? Just kidding... And curious...

With all the recent comments on other topics in this forum I might have to ask for a topic title change to "Planning an on-grid hybrid solar system" Is it possible to install an on-grid hybrid inverter, but not an ESS immediately? Just thinking... if we retain our existing spinning disk meter we could use the PEA grid as our storage bank for excess power generated during the day, and claim it back during non solar producing hours. Of course we'd have to monitor it closely to ensure that our meter didn't go back into the black! I'm thinking of such an arrangement for our guest house... use the car port roof as the panels supports and install a GTI. Later (6-18 months) when we build our main house we would definitely need extra panels, inverters, and an ESS. So maybe I should be looking at a two stage install? Would it be difficult to link such a setup, with panels and inverters being physically 50m apart? If at any time the PEA decided to replace our meter with a digital meter, the ESS would then be required. Thoughts?

So they trespassed on private property just to get some photographs of your panels? It is not illegal to own solar panels in Thailand, so I would not be too concerned. Wild speculation... do you have a spiteful neighbour who may have dobbed you in to the PEA?

Probably the most cost effective but don't forget to ensure that the roof cavity is well ventilated. Whirly-birds are good.

Just out of curiosity what are you planning to grow in it?

I had to google that one!

Which show room is that? I've been through the Pattaya show room many times and never seen a sliding door display like that. Maybe I just missed it because I was too busy looking at all the other nice (but expensive) stuff they have?

That's good to know... I panned to install a Hafele digital door lock on the doors anyway so maybe I can get them to build the entire kit for me?

Mitsubishi Mr Slim inverters get my vote too... very quiet operation and very effective temperature reduction and control. For that area I'd recommend a 24K BTU centrally located ceiling cassette unit, however since you have an L-shaped area to cool perhaps you would be better off with two wall mounted units... one at either end of the L. Then you could probably get away with a 9K BTU unit and a 12K BTU unit. Have a look at the Mitsubishi inverter range of AC here.

One of the rooms in our new house will be a walk-in wardrobe, and rather than a standard swing type door we'd like something different... a space-saving double pocket sliding door like this. I understand that they usually require some special prefabricated cassette to mount the doors like this: But I have never seen them at any of the major hardware stores in Thailand. Has anyone seen them for sale here? If so, where? And what are the costs? If not, do you think that they would be difficult for a door manufacturer to fabricate?

The good thing about different plastics is that you don't get any galvanic corrosion like you do with dissimilar metals.

I always calculate the area to be tiled, then buy 10% extra to cater for offcuts and not-quite-90⁰ corners etc. The spares and off-cuts are then placed in a box and stored for the future, because you will never be able to match them again. It's a small investment for a little insurance...

The green piping is PPR (copolymerized polypropylene) and the blue piping is PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The safety and hygiene as well as the low thermal conductivity properties of PPR piping make it ideal for domestic hot water piping, whilst the PVC piping can be used for domestic cold water piping and drainage piping. PPR piping also has better UV resistance than PVC. Link If I were you I would remove that blue PVC plug from your green PPR hot water piping and replace it with a green PPR plug (or end cap as shown in your image above). I wouldn't bother with the extra and unnecessary expense of using brass.

Well... so much for "snake gaps" and Sod's Law... despite instructions NOT to fill the void between the concrete slat wall and the concrete ring wall, they've gone and filled it anyway! It would seem that the local that was hired to level out the land and fill the rings decided that he knew best and that nobody would want a gap like that so he just filled it! It just goes to show how important it is going to be to actually be there on site during the construction phase to catch variations to plan and well-intentioned but misguided actions... otherwise management by remote control is going to result in unwanted variations and possible rework. Anyway... jobs done!

We are only compacting it with the trucks at the moment, as we do not want to put any pressure at all on the concrete rings. We are happy to leave it to compact naturally over the next year or two, or three, or... then back-fill again when needed. Only 1 of the piles for the guest house is going to be driven into the back-filled area, and that supports the wrap-around deck.