beddhist

I think the negotiations with customs are best left to the agents. From what I have heard Laem Chabang has quite a reputation for corruption and the sight of a farang trying to negotiate will probably just light up the $$$ signs in the wrong eyes.

IIRC your possessions have to arrive in a single shipment and within 3 months of you FIRST arriving with your new visa/WP. I was in a similar situation last year and everything had to be imported by my wife. I made sure everything was done in her name. You may have to bite the bullet and pay the duty and tax.

8 hours ago, gaviolit said:

1 2 call sim registered b4 March, I use 1 Mbps at 600 thb for 6 month (or 1,200 for year). Work decently, can videocall with line or whatsapp and can see streaming sports and YouTube. 

Same here, but video quality is limited to 360p. Any higher and it usually starts buffering. On the other hand, my wife and I can watch different videos at the same time. We use my phone as an access point and connect PCs and tablet via wifi.

If you can get a 4Gb connection in your location then you should be able to watch in HD. 1400B for 6 months, 2500B for 12m.

I got mine from the local immigration office.

Sorry, English is my 2nd language, but doesn't

Quote

dies at the hands of

imply he was killed? Sure, he was "in her hands" at the time, but...? Maybe I can learn something here.

I can't help the feeling that the headline was made deliberately sensational.

Thanks, but that is more a buggy than a car. ????

Quote

The term "FOMM" signifies "First One Mile Mobility.". We want to stress that the car we are creating is especially ideal for giving the close-range "Mobility" needed to move that "First One Mile" for example from your home to the bus-train station or from home to the car-share parking spot.

Thank you all. Toyota seem to have missed the bus, they don't sell any plug-in vehicles here.

Plug-in Hybrid (or range extender) would be ideal, but we are also considering a pure EV. For us electricity is almost free.

Are there any available here? So far I have only found a few and all way over 1.5M Baht. Even the Prius doesn't seem for sale any more. 

Like Chrome, Firefox lets you sync bookmarks between devices. Then there is Pocket.

No shipping, he wants to drive it to Europe. Insurance is available at EU borders, otherwise there could be no traffic in and out. Great site for info on routes, paperwork, etc. http://horizonsunlimited.com.

Then there is the subject of the Thai export permit: legally, you are not allowed to take a vehicle out of Thailand for more than a month. We had to find a way around that when my wife and I rode our bikes to Timor Leste. I think you can forget about ever bringing it back and you probably won't be able to sell it anywhere else.

11 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

If you're on Marriage or Retirement Extensions the insurance requirements don't apply to you.

From Chiang Rai Times:

Quote

According to Nattawuth, the new rule applies to both new applicants for the non-immigrant visa (O-A), which offers a stay of up to one year, and those wishing to renew their visa. Each renewal is valid for one year.

Since there is no such thing as a visa renewal I take it as read that they mean extension.

Oh dear, you are right, mine is the same. I wonder whether they leave it off, because there is no equivalent work for Moo in English? Makes it pretty useless...

Thanks for the document.

Yes, I got this certificate to get my drivers licences. It's in Thai only, so no use internationally. My DLs have the address on them in English on the back, but unfortunately they got the address wrong: they left of the 'Moo 10' part, both in English and Thai.

My bank in NZ have accepted my address change and I have a letter from them, so perhaps that will work.

Bump: I'm in the same boat. Need to prove my address to money transfer service. I was silly enough to advise them that I had moved to Thailand. They immediately suspended my account, saying Thailand is a 'high risk country'.

Excellent, thank you very much @ubonjoe. That's close enough to ride there and back in a day.

Kind regards,

Peter.

My visa expires in June and my current permission to stay on 23 September. If I remember correctly, I have to apply for an extension of stay a month before that date. The problem is, I want to visit my mum for about 5 weeks in August, so I will not be in Thailand at that point in time.

What are my options? Applying for a new visa in Germany is not really an option. I'm thinking of doing a border run to Mae Sot (I live 180 km North of Bkk). This will give me another 12 months permission to stay and I just need a re-entry permit to travel. Is this correct?

3 Pagodas Pass would be closer than Mae Sot, but I don't know whether it is open. Can I still walk across the bridge to Myanmar, pay to get their stamp, then walk back for my new Thai entry stamp?

Thanks in advance.

It turns out that EMS did deliver to our home. My wife was too pessimistic.

Thanks again for all the tips, Shaemus.

The panels are directly bolted onto galvanised steel using stainless bolts. Is that sufficient earthing? I guess the weak point in that earth connection will be how the frame is bolted onto the container (painted).

I can't find CE marks in the manual, in fact nothing at all about any conformity. Must be aimed at the Asian market...

Wiring the panels should be straight forward, 7 in series per inverter. The interesting part will be to splice it into the mains feed, 20m of trenching away on a power pole. I'm still not sure whether we do have to run separate cables in separate ducts underground. That would be 4 ducts.

The manual says that the inverter must be wall mounted on a non-flammable surface. The installs I have seen so far were usually mounted onto chip board, which is obviously the easiest to work with. Is this a no-no?

Kind regards,

Peter.

Very interesting read about the Ufer grounding. Funny thing is, when we went with our builder to buy some electrical stuff I showed him the latest requirements. He just shrugged and bought a 1m copper rod instead.

Perhaps I just wait until we get Tot to put up the aerial for wireless internet. It's taller that a 2 storey building. I'll connect the pole to ground.

I had another read of ginboy2's topic and noticed that there are 2 different surge protectors used. Where and what do I buy for the DC side?

Thanks again! ????

Update: the post did deliver the boxes today, despite what they told us on the phone. I have installed the parallel communication circuit board and have struck the first case of the manual not quite describing what I have got. Fiddly, but not difficult in the end.

Yes, our site and until the horizon our area is flat. There are currently no trees on our 2 ha, so if lightning is looking for a way to ground it will be either our car port roof or the frames of the solar panels. I'm worried if it hits the panel frames it will go right through and fry everything. Hence me thinking about a lightning rod.

That must have been an awful experience with these accidents. The CU has a proper grounding connection and RCBO. The container is welded to the rebar of the columns on which it sits. Is that sufficient, or does the cement insulate it too much from the soil?

Update for anyone thinking of importing inverters: duty and tax on the total value (incl. freight) came to 23.4%, plus 400B payable up front to Transpeed for processing, plus 1084B for EMS Bkk to the nearest PO. No home delivery for 25kg parcels.

There is one thing worrying me, though: lightning. Do I need a lightning rod and how do I go about installing it? I know nothing about it, other than that it needs to be tall, thick and well grounded.

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

You need to ensure that your string voltage is within the limits of the inverter! and i would aim to the higher end.

That's exactly what I was aiming for and why there was a very limited choice, limited as in zero in Thailand.

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

the info i found on your inverter was not detailed and didn't show the max input A and only has 1 MPPT. which means you will have to parallel up the strings before the inverter.

The details are here: http://www.easunpower.com/content/?991.html

I had to order two inverters to handle the 4.5 kW from the panels, so two strings it is.

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

I am not sure who is going to install your System. But i will warn you that They will need to be a proficient electrician or you will need to be a VERY competent D.I.Y.er 

I am and the panels have been up for a few weeks:

I have wired 1.5 houses. Does that qualify?

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

i would suggest that you buy your self a solar marshalling Junction box, from aliexpress to save your self a load of hassles with a multi string array you should really be able to isolate each string before it is paralleled down .

Hmm, neither Google nor Ali can find this, but Ali offers me lots of junction boxes for low-powered panels. Anyway, it looks like I won't need to join the strings.

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

you can't get away from the fire risk and also different the water proofing issue of penetrating your roof, you

Fire from...? Luckily, I don't have to worry about the roof or wind. 5 cm square section pipes bolted on with 10 mm bolts should hold.

I will have to learn about how to attach it to a roof later, when the system is expanded.

17 hours ago, shaemus said:

if you want to PM me and have a chat please do.

Thank you, very kind. But if we talk here then others can learn, too. ????

Regards,

Peter.

Thanks for the pointers, @shaemus. I know the basics, that's why I wanted to avoid a low-V configuration, which would have forced me to high A and thick cables.

In the end I ordered 2 Easun iGrid SV II 3 kW inverters. They are now in Customs. They do everything I wanted (I hope), except I may have to install batteries to run them in parallel. Easun aren't saying that, but MPP sell an identical one and they make that very clear. The operators manuals are identical to the last full stop. I think they are made by Voltronics.

I haven't seen any solar shops in our area, nor any rooftop installations. I think Central T is quite backward technologically, except there is excellent fibre internet, just not to our place (yet). If all else fails, all of what I need now is available online.

Regards,

Peter.

Taking into consideration my 7x2 array I have come up with a modified feature list:

1. Easy control whether export to grid or not.
2. Batteries optional (I may add them later)
3. Keeps going when the grid goes down during the day.
4. From a reputable manufacturer with a decent warranty
5. PEA approved
6. Voc > 327V

After combing the net for the last 10 days I have found three that seem to fit the bill:

MPP Hybrid V2

But it's only 3kW, so we need two of them

Easun IGrid SV II

and again, we would have to use 2 of them

and

Must PH1000 series

This looks like a perfect fit.

The only problem: I can't find any vendors in Thailand so far. However, Must Power have been quick to reply to my queries and offered to buy direct from them. I have also emailed OffGridThailand, who claim to be official resellers.

Cheers,

Peter.

I'm still researching my options, but I have a technical question:

From the panel specs:

Max power voltage Vmp 37.6V

Max power current Imp 8.66A

Open circuit voltage  46.7V

Max system voltage 1000VDC

Max fuse rating 20A

If I put 7 in series Voc is 326.9V, well within the system limit for the panels. I need an inverter that can handle this voltage.

However, if my choice of inverter stops me from doing that (many inverters have a Voc of 145V) I will have to wire 7 in parallel.

Imp will be 66.2A. Does that mean that every panel will require its own fuse? It will also require very thick cables.

Thanks again,

Peter.

Indeed, that one is on my radar. However, I'm a bit wary importing one, as I don't know how much excise I will be charged.

Thanks to all.

Peter.