beddhist

On 8/16/2019 at 7:57 PM, KhaoYai said:

I'm not convinced for example, that electric cars that use batteries are quite the environmental saviour we are led to believe.  Its just possible that in reducing emmisons from cars, we may be solving one environmental problem but creating another - namely the replacement and disposal of batteries. Not forgetting of course, that the electricty used to charge the car's batteries is very liklely to be produced at a power station that emits gases that contribute to climate change. I have no idea of the figures but I wonder how much we save (total environmental cost) by using electric cars? - taking into account the environmental cost of producing, replacing and disposing of batteries + the environmental cost of generating the electricty needed to charge those cars. They may well still be a better alternative but electric cars are not without environmental costs.

That is all true, but to keep things in perspective think about how the fuel in your car gets there and how each step damages the environment. Most EV manufacturers offer battery warranties around 8 years now and Nissan recently stated that they expect the battery to outlast the car in the new Leaf. After that the batteries have a second life for energy storage (another 10 years), after which they can be recycled. I find this Youtube channel an entertaining source of information.

I really tried hard to replace the family's old car with an EV, but in Thailand, outside of big cities we will have to wait a little while longer.

3 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Finding the money to retro fit a system would be difficult for a lot of Thai people - given the average salary but if its included in the price of a house, I doubt the mortgage payments would be drastically higher.

In the villages around here houses cost less than 100k to build, so you would be at least doubling the cost.

On 8/18/2019 at 4:48 AM, Crossy said:

 

Yeah, I'm sorely tempted to just install a small system and hope the meter reader doesn't notice the disc going backwards.

I did just that. When reading day approaches I make sure the meter reading is not lower than the last reading and I turn the back feed off. Can make for exciting times!

Thank you people. After wading through lots of Thai web sites and a few non-functional online shops I finally ordered the switch. You can tell it's a low-volume item: almost 400B for one.

The figures quoted would make any EU country look good right now. Double-digit growth rates are not sustainable - in fact, any growth has to end one day. But economists and capitalists can't get a handle on this simple fact.

Anecdote: a lady in our neighbourhood took out a personal loan - just because she could.

It looks like now or in the near future will be an excellent time to buy a car. We just did and while shopping around were offered discounts for cash at most dealers.

Use xe.com or xendpay. You send whatever currency you want and they will wire it to your bank in Baht.

If you use Transferwise they will send it as a local bank transfer, so that can't be used for the income method extension. All 3 should be a lot cheaper than WU.

15 minutes ago, HampiK said:

What I would like to know, as also a lot of this EV Stations are in Shopping centers or other public places.. how accesible are they?

They are all publicly accessible, otherwise why list them in an app? If you look on plugshare.com you will also see restricted/home chargers. Here you would have to make contact first to get access.

15 minutes ago, HampiK said:

I guess some of them are already full parked by normal cars. As long the people here not follow the rules it's not worth, as you never can know if your desired station is usable.

Call the cops and ask them to tow the car(s). I know - TiT - but that's what I would do, before I risk running out.

That article is an advertising feature...

Only a few days ago we reluctantly made the decision to replace our dying car with another ICE car. Mother-in-law needs to go to hospital in Bkk once a month, a 360km round trip. The cheapest car with enough range to make this trip is the Kona with the big battery, costing 2.3 MB. As far as I can see there are no fast chargers North of BKK, so the same problem as for fredob43 above. Plus, the inlaws were unwilling to go searching for a charging station in BKK before returning. I can't blame them.

EA Anywhere's web site needs work. There is no way to tell whether any charger is a fast charger or what type of plug it uses. I suspect the app will tell you.

Very sad to have to make this decision. Prices for EVs are still outrageous.

As for the batteries, e.g. MG will give an 8 year warranty. At the end of that they will still have 70-80% of the initial capacity, so I would have no concerns here. Some manufacturers are now saying they expect the batteries to outlast their cars. If a new battery is needed then the prices and capacities will have improved, so for some it will make sense to replace them.

Quote

Only HEV can run on gas alone and doesn’t require a charging station, while PHEV and BEV need external plug-in sources.

HEV run on gas alone, i.e. it's a car powered entirely by fossil fuels, just a lot more efficiently (mostly because of regen braking). PHEV doesn't need a plug, in can operate like a HEV. This would have been my preferred choice at this time, as most of our running would have been on battery only with the power coming from our rooftop solar. Alas, prices start at 2.4 MB (BMW) and 2.6MB (MB).

I'm still committed to buy an EV as soon as it is feasible.

Sorry, I meant where does the Panasonic diagram come from? Cause it's not in the brochure, nor can I find it on their web site. Makes me wonder whether there is a part of the web site I have not discovered.

????  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dagis

Thanks,

Peter.

Thank you very much. That is very helpful. That diagram is exactly what I had in mind. I managed to download a brochure.

But, where did you find the diagram?

I have wired a few lights with 2 switches, but now I have a location where I need 3 switches. I guess I need a DPDT switch in the middle with SPDT at either end. In Global House even getting a SPDT light switch is not easy. Staff didn't have a clue.

Plan B is push buttons with a latching relay, but that only got us blank looks. When I asked for relays all I got was the usual 'mai mee', even as I pointed at the rows of relays sitting in the display cases behind locked glass.

What is the 'correct' way of doing this and where can I get the bits?

Thanks,

Peter.

So, if one wants to avoid the agents and save about 450B you would need to bring a bicycle, get stamped out, cycle across, pay whatever and return. I can see officialdom making problems when their tea money is in danger.

5 hours ago, acenase said:

Completely lost me after you paid the normal 950 Baht to haul you across no mans land while everyone waits at a liquor/snack shop while their passports get stamped and then back to the Thai side to stamp back in. That is the normal procedure for everyone going into Burma there.

 

 

Sorry, which part of my ramblings do you not understand?

To clarify: everybody else, incl. one farang, got hauled to Burma while I waited on the Thai side. My passport went across, I never did. My guess is that 'Batman' Agency's bus was full, so it was cheaper for them to pay a little extra tea money to Burmese Immigration, rather than run the bus with me alone. It would also have meant even more waiting for me. But I'm guessing here...

Today's exercise had two goals: get a new 12-month entry stamp, just before my O-A visa expires, and obtain a single re-entry permit. I have done the former a few times in Mae Sot and it was a straight forward affair. Today was different.

First, we got directed to a car park at a "resort". Pay for parking amid piles of rubbish everywhere. Ok.

Walking towards the passport control we were intercepted by an official who explained that I needed a visa to enter Burma. That was news to me. But, no problem, he handed us over to an agent to take care of us. I had to hand over my passport and 950B. An agent in a cabin then presumably organised an e-visa, probably online and filled in a new arrival card for me. "Purpose of visit: Non Imm O-A". The card had a Batman symbol stamped on it, presumably to identify which agent was handling me. After waiting some time amongst the sweet smell of sewage he handed me back my passport and his colleague then sent me through departure. I was then directed into a cafe/waiting area to sit down. After watching mini busses arrive, take on board all passengers, except me, and leave, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to Burma at all.

Right: one of the first van drivers to return called out to me. I was handed back my passport with Burmese stamps and proceeded to Immigration. The officer mumbled something about O-A, checked with her colleague and then radioed for help. Boss arrived and explained it all to her. So far, so good, mission 1 accomplished.

Asking officials where to go for the re-entry permit caused a lot of confusion. I expected this, as I guess most people get the permit to do the border run, whereas I wanted it afterwards for my next trip. Another agent got involved, but my wife assured me that he told her that his help was free of charge. ???? Really??? Yeah, right!

There was much pointing to the new "permitted to stay" date. Apparently it was wrong, out by one day. This had to be corrected first.

Many photocopies and thumbprints later we were asked for 1000B and a photo. I told my wife "wait for it, the officer will ask us for more dosh for the extension". No, she insisted, we will get a receipt. Yeah, right...

Some more time later the officer returned and handed me my passport and a receipt for 1000B! Nobody held their hand out. Oh dear, pass me another piece of that delicious humble pie.

The date in question had not been changed; apparently, the computer said it was correct. Mission 2 accomplished. The whole affair took about 2 1/2h.

PS: apparently, most of the people crossing here are heading for the casino. My wife overheard some interesting conversations. One woman had already lost 50000B yesterday. "Can you lend me 30000B?" "Go away! You can't pay it back. Even if I did lend it to you it would be at 20% PER DAY."

Quote

The PEA will open 11 vehicle charging stations around the country along major tourism routes and will launch an app to allow electric car owners to learn details about the stations. The stations will be open from 6am to 1pm.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/user/eChargeWork/comments/abrte7/the_government_of_thailand_plans_690_charging/

We have taken a bike out of the country and it cannot return: when you leave you are given an export permit (looks pretty much the same as the import permit travellers used to get at the border). This is valid for 1 month and can't be extended. I can't remember what was written on it, but it goes along the lines of: overstay=fine, after 6 or 12 months it will be confiscated. Then there would be the fun of importing into MY...

Forget it.

14 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Pardon my ignorance, but why bother? What use is the yellow book once you've got it?

 

We did the rounds of all bank branches here and they all agree on one thing: no account without yellow book.

If you use LiFePO4 batteries they are safer than lead-acid (no acid or gas). You can discharge them a lot lower, so you need only a little more than half the rated capacity. Depending on how reliable the people are you leave in charge: lead batteries like in the picture must have distilled water refilled regularly.

As far as I can see Transferwise is the only one to say they pay from their Thai bank a/c into the recipient's. I cant figure it out on Xendpay and I know from experience that XE do NOT, meaning they wire the funds to the destination bank. The last time we did this we lost only 0.11%=1500B, presumably in a receiving fee to SCB.

Interestingly, TW quotes me above the mid-market rate as per XE. The rate you actually get with XE varies; higher amounts get a better rate. XE charges no fees.

I will have a use for this. If you don't I'll take it off your hands for the 150 you paid for it.

On 5/23/2019 at 4:18 AM, yodsak said:

 

Makes a lot more sense when you know an elder ghost lives there.

 

 

Now, after reading the above you would think that this sort of thing could never happen in a modern western country. Then you read how a motorway in NZ had to be diverted for a "taniwha", a mythical monster.

Yesterday, in these very pages here, were several prominent advertisements by a visa agency with headlines of "We provide the 800,000 B" and "Retirement visa, no income needed". They also claim to be able to get extensions up to 60 days before the current one expires, forward dated.

I don't think any of this is in the official rule book.

There is no drama in that video. Check out how it's done in Pakistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoUGmr7N2HY&t=5s

+1 for the DeWalt. I bought one in NZ a few months before we moved here, simply because it was the only affordable one available in both countries. No problems so far.

I also have a 12V AEG that let the magic smoke escape just out of warranty. Made in China and the chuck wobbled, although that may have been my fault.