curtklay

Thanks for that link, Pib. But after reading all 3 pages, my head hurts. A defective breaker was my first thought, and there is some question about Square D quality control in other discussions. But because my tripping issue is only occasional, and I am not an electrician, I'm going to let it be for now. I think the most likely cause is either leakage, "overambitious" RCBOs, or Thai ghosts. I will clean up the switches and sockets to eliminate the possibility of bugs, and also will "exercise" the test button, which does work. If the situation worsens, I'll call in some pros. But I'm happy to live with the knowledge that it's offering more protection than less.

My thanks to all who replied. If I find a definitive explanation, I will post it.

Thank you, Crossy. I was hoping you would reply. You are correct; the bathrooms are on that breaker along with the bedroom lights and sockets. You have put my mind at ease knowing that the breakers are correctly installed. I assume that the occasional tripping source is elsewhere as you suggest. I am not going to search for it, knowing I am over my head. My confidence is restored, and I take back my sarcasm regarding Thai electricians.

Hi All,

Attached are some pictures of the inside of my home’s breaker box with the front cover removed. My questions are about that one oddball 10 amp breaker on the lower right side, second from the bottom. The circuits from 2 bedrooms are on this breaker; nothing heavy duty, just ceiling lights and wall sockets. During the four years since the house was built, this breaker will occasionally trip for no apparent reason. Oddly, it usually happens late at night when there is no load on it at all. It resets normally, and will not trip again for several days or even weeks. It’s very sporadic. I have turned on every appliance in both rooms simultaneously to see if it could be an overload issue, but it stays on, and as I said, it usually trips when there is little or nothing on.

What strikes me as strange is the fact that it is the only 10 amp breaker in the box. All others are 16, 20, or 40. It looks like the so called “electrician” ran out of 16 amp breakers, and just threw this one in. So, my thought was to replace it with a 16 amp breaker. But after looking closely at the wiring, I see that there is one, and only one, red wire coming into the box, and it is attached to that breaker. Now I am puzzled.

My questions are, 1. Does replacing the 10 amp with a 16 amp seem logical to solve the tripping? (the wire size looks the same to all the breakers) 2. Is there any reason they used a 10 amp breaker in that spot? (other than TIT) 3. Why would they use a red wire for that breaker. (the close up shows the red wire attached to the front screw post, a white wire on the center screw post, and a black wire going into the back.

Any assistance from the TV experts will be greatly appreciated!

I had the same exact problem. You Tube used to show a download arrow that would open Real Player, then one day it was gone. The answer is "Video Downloader Pure 1.97.1". It's a free downloader for Firefox. Now my green download arrow is back, and I can download You Tube as well as most anything, and choose the format I wish.

I had similar problems after Google Earth updated to version 7.0. After numerous uninstalls and reinstalls with no improvement, I reinstalled version 6.2. All the problems stopped, and it's been working fine ever since. A lot of people have reported similar experience. It's worth a try.

BTW, yes it's GREAT that the 15 day income letter rule was scrapped so quickly. HOWEVER, just the fact that immigration did that in the first place is a symptom of a troubling reality that in my view should be well realized by retired expats here (and those considering the move) ... we are on a short leash and we are subject to being "jerked around" with things like the 15 day letter, at any time in future.

Is that any way to treat a "guest in their country"?

I have taken "Osteo-Biflex triple strength" for many years, and it definitely helps my arthritis. It contains Glucosomine, Chondroitin, and MSM. I have not found it in Thailand, but several Ebay merchants offer it. It's not cheap, but a little searching can result in the best price with a reasonable shipping charge. Make sure they ship by post office, not courier.

Check what version you have. Google Earth updated me to version 7 without informing me, and I had terrible problems. I went to their website, and reloaded version 6.2. All the problems went away.

Thank you, gentlemen.

My wife and I were legally married in the US many years ago. We retired to Thailand 3 years ago. She is a dual citizen of Thailand and US. I am a US citizen with a Non Imm type O visa extension based on retirement, which I renew annually, and report my address every 90 days. Our house and property are owned by her, and she has the blue book.

My question: Is there any need or benefit to having our marriage registered at the local amphur? We have not officially done this, and I'm wondering if it makes any difference.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.

I agree and think you were lucky to get it two months early. A friend of mine was told to come back in one month as he applied 2 months early in Nan, they would not do it. On the other hand I just did mine in Nan about 10 days before expiry and it took about 30 minutes including a re-entry

Hey Gerald,

I also do my retirement extension at Nan, and will be making my annual trip in June. May I ask if you brought a medical certificate among your paperwork? I have been getting one every year because I was told Nan is one of the few offices still requiring it. Just wondering if that is still true. It's a pain to get, and I'd rather skip it if Nan isn't asking for it anymore.

No medical certificate was needed.

Thanks, but I'm asking specifically about the NAN office. Every branch is different, and Nan was still requiring the medical certificate last time I checked.

I agree and think you were lucky to get it two months early. A friend of mine was told to come back in one month as he applied 2 months early in Nan, they would not do it. On the other hand I just did mine in Nan about 10 days before expiry and it took about 30 minutes including a re-entry

Hey Gerald,

I also do my retirement extension at Nan, and will be making my annual trip in June. May I ask if you brought a medical certificate among your paperwork? I have been getting one every year because I was told Nan is one of the few offices still requiring it. Just wondering if that is still true. It's a pain to get, and I'd rather skip it if Nan isn't asking for it anymore.

I ordered 3 sets of D'Addario guitar strings from DealExtreme. I received them without problems, but when I tried to put them on my guitar, they broke. I thought I might have gotten a defective batch, and wrote directly to D'Addario. They asked for the name of the seller, and pictures of the strings and packaging. I was shocked to learn they were counterfeit, Chinese made fakes.

After a lot of communication, I got a refund from PayPal, and D'Addario replaced the strings in return for me sending them the fakes. PayPal did the right thing, and D'Addario Co. went above and beyond. It ended well, but I would never buy from DealExtreme again.

Try these guys. I bought a battery for my Dell about a year ago. Still working great. Very fast shipping from China, and no tax. Also had the best price I could find.

http://www.77sell.net/product_info.php?cPath=2_10&products_id=670

At small shops, when I purchase more than 1 item, each one goes in a separate bag, then all the bags go into another bag. Crazy. When they start going overboard with the bags, I stop them and put everything in 1 bag. If I'm buying just a single item, I tell them "no bag". It's excessive and wasteful, and someday they will catch on. (maybe)

And how about rubber bands? At the drugstore, they rubber band the pills together in groups before putting them all in the bag. I must have thousands of rubber bands in a drawer.

But the craziest of all is when they put on a plastic bag like a glove to handle the food items you are buying, and then take your filthy money with the gloved hand!

A drop in jobless claims does not mean people have gone back to work. People who have run out of benefits drop out of the statistics, and into oblivion. The long term unemployed are no longer counted, making the statistics very misleading.

iN 2009 while working in Kuwait, I applied for Social Security retirement benefits via the website www.ssa.gov.

all handled over the internet, never had to visit any embassy. It was very easy-took about 15 minutes. Just checked the website and you can still apply for retirement benefits online.

Good luck

Lefty

As Lefty said, this is the way to do it. If any further information is needed, they will let you know and you can submit the documents at the US Consulate in Chiang Mai. Foreign address makes no difference.

"Some times I think staff look for reasons to not complete tasks, as in "If I do this I might make a mistake, so better to be safe and deny the transaction; therefore, my superiors can not fault me for doing some thing wrong"

Ah TIT "

Bingo! I think they feel it's easier to just say "no" than to go beyond their most basic duties.

Do the "VIP day pass". Make 2 copies of your passport front pages, and give 1 copy to the Thai immigration with your passport. Make it clear to them that you want the VIP day pass. They will keep your passport, and you will cross the border, giving the other copy and 500 baht to the Burmese immigration. When you return, go directly to the Thai immigration. You will get your passport back with no new stamps, or any changes to your status. Re-entry permit is not required. I am told you can substitute a crisp US $10 bill instead of the 500 baht, but I have not personally tried it.

Run a small bottle brush through the tube. Back up flaming is usually caused by spider webs. I have had similar problem on several occasions, and a good cleaning always solved it.

As long as the 800,000 baht bank balance is not a problem for you, absolutely go for the extension based on retirement. It is much easier for you, and preferred by Thai Immigration.

If you get 10Mb download speed to an "in-Thailand" server, like using Speedtest.net and testing to Bangkok then your physical line is probably OK. If you get less, then you probably have a physical line problem (i.e., bad/corroded connection somewhere between your modem and the DSLAM which means you need to call 3BB). Now, if your in-country speed is 10Mb (or real close), then it appears the 3BB International Gateway or your Local 3BB internet circuits are just not giving you much "international" speed--a common problem in Thailand. With a 10Mb plan you should be getting around 2Mb speed to international sites like to te U.S....and 2Mb (or a little more) international speed is more than enough for smooth flowing live-streaming video, YouTube videos, etc.

I wouldn't use Speedtest.net to do any serious speedtesting, especially to sites outside of Thailand, because it's a Flash/OOKLA-based speed testing program that is easily fooled by in-Thailad cache servers....not uncommon to get the same, or nearly the same speeds, to servers on the other side of the world along with faster-than-light ping times....all bogus....and then a person wonders with such great speeds to the other side of the world why do my YouTube clips pause so durn much....well, it because you are not really getting that great speed Speedtest.net said you are getting....you are getting something much lower. Better to use a Java-based speed tester like found at DSLReports.com or Testmy.net for international speed testing which randomize the data download test files which greatly reduces the chance of the program from being fooled by in-country cache servers and giving bogus results.

Very good information, Pib! TOT broadband has been really up and down for several weeks, but seems better today. Those international speed test sites you mentioned were new to me. After testing them and reviewing the results, things make a lot more sense now. I knew I wasn't getting the 6Mb that Speedtest.net showed. Both international sites tested at 1.6Mb, which seems about right and agrees with their estimates of what should be expected. Thanks for the tips!!

Have you ever tried any of the "tune up" tools offered on those sites? I have tried others, but they only caused more problems. Kind of gun shy to try any others without some credible feedback.

Yea, when BoA implemented their SafePass policy in transferring money it made it a lot harder unless you still lived in the U.S. with cell phone service or got a SafePass card at a cost of $20. And although they do offer low cost ACH transfer at $3 for a 3 business day transfer, it still ain't free like all my other bank accounts that offer free & easy ACH transfer capability. Then BoA got an even worst name durng the recent financial crisis and even tried to start charging a month fee for debit card use which they backed off on. Yea, while I was still living in the States BoA met my banking needs, but after moving to Thailand their policies & fees are not really that friendly and of course use of their debit or credit cards ouside of the U.S. comes with high foreign transaction fees.

Preaching to the choir when I say a bank that may meet a person's banking needs when living within the home country may not meet and be fee-expensive when living outside the home country. I know I sure learned that when moving to Thailand but have since opened expat friendly accounts with USAA, State Farm, Schwab, Captial One, and Pentagon Credit Union, with each having it pluses in terms of online banking, debit cards, and/or credit cards. And the key pluses when I refer to debit card is "no foreign transaction fee" with ATM fee reimbursement and for credit card with Capital One and Pentagon the no foreign transaction fee and cash back (up to 2% on the CapOne Visa card). I wouldn't have this many different accounts/cards if I still lived in the States because I really didn't need to transfer money between banks/overseas nor worry about foreign transaction fees. But since I know live in Thailand I needed to open these accounts to cover all my banking needs with no fees and to have redundancy in case of policy changes (like one bank deciding to start charging a foreign transaction fee).

Yeap, I'm a firm believer in shopping around and changing as necessary for banking and cards needs. I think when it comes to changing banks the great majority of folks just think it will be too hard, when it really ain't in most cases especially if you also still have a home country address...just takes a little bit of planning during the account transition period. And actually, there could be very little planning needed if the first bank account is being kept...it's just a matter of starting to use the second account once opened....then if wanting to shut down the other account a person can do it with piece of mind they have the new bank account already up and running.

Capital One is great, except for their quirky policy of not sending renewal cards overseas. But they do accomodate me by sending them to a US friend who forwards it to me. I'm going to check into the other banks you mentioned.

I can wire money from my BoA account to Kasi, $ 45 to wire in USD, then Kasi does the exchange rate for a much better rate for me. If BoA does the exchange it's only $ 35 fee but I lose almost 1 % ! Must have a BoA SafePass card to do it all online. Maybe too late for you but just FYI.

I was doing this too, and it worked well. Recently my SafePass card's battery died, and BofA will not send a new one to Thailand. They also refused to send it to a friend in the US to forward it to me. Without a SafePass, they limit you to $1000 at a time and a maximum of $2500 per week, and charge $45 each time! Have you run into this yet?

How old was your SafePass card?

I received a SafePass card in Dec 2009, which was first shipped to my U.S. address on record with BoA and then my sister remailed it to me here in Bangkok. You are right in that they will not mail a SafePass card to an address outside the 50 states; no even to a military APO/FPO address which is an official U.S. Postal System address, but a U.S. address outside the 50 states. However, every other mailings comes to my mailing address here in Bangkok which is a military APO address....almost monthly I still get junk mail from BoA like those checks to write yourself a credit card loan, transfer credit card balances, etc.

Now, although for some reason I still have a BoA account which I probably should close but since I keep enough in it to avoid in monthly fees I haven't closed it...maybe I keep hoping for a BoA turn around from being a evil bank to a not-so-evil bank. Anyway, my SafePass card now lives in my safe but a few minutes ago I took it out pressed the button twice and got codes displayed each time...so it's still working after 2 years and 9 months.

PIB: My card is just under 3 years old. I complained to them that they send me credit cards, ATM cards, and plenty of mail, so what's the problem with the SafePass card? They would not budge, or give me any logical reason for not sending it. Their restrictions on wire transfers without SafePass are ridiculous. I told them I would have to move my money elsewhere, which I did. They didn't seem to care. Citibank will transfer up to $50,000 at a time for $30, online or by phone. I have a 35 year history with BofA and have always been happy with them, but no more. I hope your SafePass continues to work, but be aware that it may quit. If you still have a US address on record with them, you should have no problem getting it sent there.