On 5/16/2019 at 9:15 AM, bankruatsteve said:

I run all the fans, lights, TVs, computer, like that along with a fridge and freezer on a 2 KVA Honda.  It will burp and shudder a little bit when the water pump comes on (about 3.5 amp) but it handles no problem.  If I turn on anything else, like the toaster and kettle at the same time, it will literally go into a death roll.  IE:  most generators cannot handle their full rating.  And, at night when most things are off, it will also handle the 12K BTU aircon.  That said, I am seriously considering at least a 5 KVA diesel so I CAN run those things along with everything else.  Still no hot water though.

If the ambient temperature is so high you need the air-con ON, why would you need to heat the shower water? 

On 5/16/2019 at 9:09 AM, nycjoe said:

I recently put a 6.5 kilowatt generator in my workshop it powers the house and two aircons. But I have to turn the aircons off to use the shower heater. Where are you located?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

See my reply no 31.

On 5/17/2019 at 4:49 PM, djayz said:

My heart is telling me to go solar,

My heart has been telling me to go solar for years now - my wallet keeps saying NO - just not worth it - yet. I have a large South facing flat roof are that was designed into the house for solar panels, that was five years ago and its still an empty space.

If you do decide on Honda, there not as easy to find as you may think, they are sold through a different division of Honda, believe Do-Home are "agents, they were the only ones selling Honda apart from direct agents usually small businesses. 

Any of the open-frame gensets is going to be LOUD, even the Honda (75dBA is like a highway 7m away) so it's going to need a well ventilated box and careful positioning to keep the noise to acceptable levels.

 

We have the KwaiThong copy of the Honda 6500, costs 22,000 Baht (we paid 16k in 2012), now modified for full-auto. Bring on the wet season storms, we are ready!!!

 

If you are noise-sensitive it's well worth looking at the "silent" units, more expensive of course but a lot quieter less noisy.

Sorry but my UPS pics didn't upload with my post.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

2 hours ago, wgdanson said:

If the ambient temperature is so high you need the air-con ON, why would you need to heat the shower water? 

Well, I don't.  I thought I was saying that, when I get a bigger genset, I want something that will handle most of my stuff but don't care if that includes the water heaters.

13 hours ago, CGW said:

My heart has been telling me to go solar for years now - my wallet keeps saying NO - just not worth it - yet. I have a large South facing flat roof are that was designed into the house for solar panels, that was five years ago and its still an empty space.

If you do decide on Honda, there not as easy to find as you may think, they are sold through a different division of Honda, believe Do-Home are "agents, they were the only ones selling Honda apart from direct agents usually small businesses. 

I noticed them being offered on GlobalHouse's website too. 

On 5/18/2019 at 7:37 AM, Crossy said:

Total load 170W allowing for inverter inefficiency let's say 200W from the batteries. So that's 200 Watt/hours per hour of operation.

 

I just did a quick-and-dirty run-time test.

• No-name 850VA/320W PC UPS - with an external 7.5Ahr gel battery (fully charged)
• PC with one 19" monitor
• Stand fan
• 30W of LED lighting

Load measured at 180W

 

Run-time 8 minutes until the UPS shut down on low battery.

 

Some simple maths gives us 60Ahr of battery per hour of required run time which is rather less good than my guesstimate above. We were discharging the battery at about 15A (2C) which won't have helped, a bigger battery discharging at 0.2C would live rather longer.

 

On 5/16/2019 at 5:25 AM, Crossy said:

The only negative of being the only house in the area with the lights on is that it attracts the locals like moths to a flame. They will come and watch your TV, eat your food and drink your beer

Then again, there's always the old Aussie cockie's electric fence option, no?