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First of all thanks to both you and Crossy for your answers... all is clear to me now. What I meant (and I should have elaborated more on it, but sometimes what is in your head doesn't quite make it to the written word) is the expected production from a fixed panel in a 24 hour period here in Thailand. Both of you have given me similar answers... Crossy said panel rating x 0.8 x 5 (80% of panel rating over 5 hours), and you said panel rating x 0.75 x 6 (75% of panel rating over 6 hours). So if I plan to use 450W mono panels, on average I could expect daily production of between 1.8kW (using Crossy's formula) or 2.0kW (using your formula) per panel. Correct? I am also aware that there will be an approx 2% power degradation from the panels in their first year of operation, with an expected further degradation of 0.5% per year after that, so I am definitely an advocate of the "More is Better" theory.

On the subject of solar panels, I note the current prices from Global House are as follows: My questions are related to the power rating (340W or 450W respectively). I understand that this nameplate output wattage is under ideal (laboratory) circumstances, and does not take into account real life diminishing circumstances like dust, bird droppings, cloudy conditions, rain etc... so in sizing a system I would need to apply an efficiency rating... say an average of 2/3 output per day (say an 8 hour period). Does this sound realistic? What is the timeframe for the nameplate output wattage? 1 hour? 8 hours? 24 hours?

This video from LG showcasing their panel-integrated microinverters make installation look so easy!

Off-topic and I do apologize if anyone takes offence but I find the Indian sing-a-song accent absolutely hilarious...

I seem to recall someone saying that MUST inverters were very noisy... ? /Edit - Found it! See here.

In my opinion the only way to repair this type of damage is to excavate the broken sections, vacuum clean to remove all dust/debris, then refill with a similar sand cement mix. You would have to try to find a sand aggregate of a similar size and colour in order to match the original as closely as possible, and it may take a few trial batches before you get the mix right. For your countertop, it might be worth ignoring the small pits and scratches and using a product like HG natural stone protector, which is a polymer emulsion that forms a wafer-thin glossy yet extremely protective coating. Having said that I would not rule out any suggestions made by the polished concrete specialist Contractors I referred to earlier.

Whatever you do make sure that it is properly earthed or grounded. I bought a Mex (made in China) water heater from HomePro about a year ago and it worked quite well until recently. A couple of months ago we went away to visit the family up-country for a week or so, and upon our return discovered that the hot water outlet hose from the heater had burst (it was located underneath the sink to supply hot water to both the sink mixer faucet and the shower) and was leaking profusely and our bathroom had about 20mm of warm water on the floor and it felt like a sauna. Luckily the floor drain took most of the water away so the flooding was confined to the bathroom only. I turned the water supply off and electrically isolated the water heater at the breaker. Over the following couple of days after drying everything out I replaced all the hoses, turned the water supply back on again, and reenergized the water heater. I tested that it was working OK by turning on the mixer faucet to hot and checked that nothing was leaking. All seemed OK. However later that day my wife used the bathroom to have a shower and whilst she was showered she yelled out to me to come quickly. She said he had received an electrical shock from the hot water tap in the shower. I was dubious as I knew that all the hot water piping inside the wall from the heater to the shower was PPR and therefore unable to conduct electricity, so I tested it myself. Sure enough... I got an electric shock from the hot water tap too. No shock from the hot water mixer faucet in the sink, just the shower. And the shock only occurred when the heater was operating, no shock in standby mode. After that I decided to replace the Mex water heater with a British built Redring water heater (also from HomePro) and have not had a problem since. Perhaps the Mex heater was damaged from the steam from the hot water leak? I don't know, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

From the aggregate size in the photo (it's a bit difficult to determine the scale) it would appear that the leveling was done by a cement/sand mix, not concrete (which would have a cement/sand/crushed rock or stone mix). Can you tell us what the aggregate size is? Is that broken section from the floor or your counter top? Underneath the broken sections is the aggregate size in the concrete larger?

Because it looks like polished concrete to me. And the topic title refers to "cement". From the image in the OP it would appear that the kitchen floor and both counters (top and sides) are polished concrete/cement. Perhaps the OP can clarify?

I don't think an angle grinder would be necessary but I'd do a lot of research before trying anything... there do not seem to be many responses here so maybe no (or limited) experience from forum members. Have a look through the Sika Thailand website here... they might have a product and an application method that may be suitable for your repair. There are several Thai polished concrete specialist Contractors who may be able to offer suggestions... try any or all of the following: Singlong Engineering Reentech CrystalFloor RepFloor Failing that, I do think that an epoxy based product could be your solution.

According to one news source "Nok Air said it decided against evacuating passengers via slides immediately because the ground had many puddles due to heavy rain. Also, it said, it was worried about their safety as it was dark outside and there may be dangerous animals lurking in the area." Sorry I cannot post the link to the news source because of forum rules but it was in one of Thailand's English language news sources.

Polished cement or concrete does provide a surface that is more durable than tiles, easier to clean, and surprisingly affordable. Depending on the diamond grit you use to polish a concrete floor, you can achieve different ranges of aggregate exposure and different levels of sheen, from matte to a glassy mirror-like finish. I have seen repair work to concrete floors and it is relatively easy as it is a horizontal surface, but your kitchen bench has vertical surfaces too so I'm not too sure how best to repair that. To repair the horizontal surface that you show is damaged I would be looking for a polishable overlay product like a sand/epoxy mix, followed by grinding and polishing to achieve a suitable finish. I found this YouTube video that might give you some ideas on what you can do...

My sister-in-law uses a simple 220v fluorescent tube light mounted on a pole above a bucket. She goes out to the farm on the motocyc at dusk for an hour or so. She always gets a good catch...

Tony Robbins Is An Even Bigger Jerk Than You Thought, But You Can Still Learn From Him

Same here

Currently we are paying between 6K and 9K per month (1260 kwh to 2150 kwh), so if we take an average of 7.5K that is 90K baht per year. We do have a lot of family and friends visiting seasonally and that also drives up the consumption (additional AC usage and water heating for showers). Also our current house is not at all energy efficient and that is one of the reasons why we want to sell and build new. That's why I am following your topic with great interest... as I think my future needs will be similar... a 5kw system with a 10-15kw ESS. Not wanting to ambush or hijack your topic but I would appreciate any replies/suggestions.

My wife is the opposite... she is looking forward to the "free electric" that a solar PV system plus ESS would provide. Currently our biggest electricity consumers are the AC and the pool pumps (grid only electricity supply). With "free electric" she is demanding that we install a pool with our new house build and 24/7 AC is a given.

They are indeed Chinese... https://www.drive.com.au/news/ora-good-cat-everything-you-need-to-know/

Wow! They are not cheap... about 22,000 baht on Shopee. How long have you had it? Any problems? Do you think is would be as good or better than this one from Mitsubishi for about 17,500 baht?

Just out of curiosity what kind of pump do you have?

If you look at the YouTube clip from the Sanook article it looks more like a turtle head than a snake...

You can read that or obtain a pdf copy here.

Are they free? Do you have a choice of vaccine?

Thank you. My initial vaccinations were both Pfizer, done by BPH at Central Festival.

Thanks for the clarification. Even Google couldn't find Royal Festival Mall...