I only really post in forums that I feel I have some experience in, primarily Renewable Energy and EVs, however I still struggle to explain what can be complex topics.

If you want to know more about feeding corn to cars, then you should watch this video.

We have to watch it for an hour to learn what?

I can't help thinking about this.

Is it the hair??

The Addams Family was better!!

29 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I can't help thinking about this.

Is it the hair??

,

Grampa or Eddie?

When Universal Studios first opened for tours, the Munsters was one of the sets we got to see. The tour was pretty much a walk-through back then, and very interesting, and you got to see a working studio.

Later it became just another theme park.

2 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

We have to watch it for an hour to learn what?

The reason that this channel and his main channel Technology Connections have a combined 3.5M subscribers is I think because he is so good at explaining complex topics.

I posted this video for 2 distinct groups. Followers of this forum that understand the topics covered but are looking for ways to explain them to others that just don't get it yet. I was also hoping that some of these people might also watch it, but you're right an hour is probably too long.

20 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

We have to watch it for an hour to learn what?

yeah.. don't bother investing anything to further your education.

1 hour ago, gamb00ler said:

yeah.. don't bother investing anything to further your education.

Did you watch it? That's what I thought. And I invested a good bit in my education, and it panned out well. thank you very much.

I only asked what it was about, why the hate? Oh. that's right, your a leftist and have to bang on everyone that does not hate Trump.

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

I only asked what it was about

Title of the discussion:

"You are being misled about renewable energy"

Title of the video:

"You are being misled about renewable energy technology”

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

Title of the discussion:

"You are being misled about renewable energy"

How does the author of the thread know I am being misled? Did the author of the thread find out he was being misled?

1 hour ago, Bandersnatch said:

Title of the video:

"You are being misled about renewable energy technology”

In the joke thread there is a joke about renting a move called: "Snatch", and what a disappointment it was. I have no interest in spending an hour listening to someone banging on the evil oil companies, how great windmills are, harnessing the tides, thermoelectric power, hydroelectric power or any of that.

I am in the process of selecting a system to reduce my electric bill, with a less than five-year payback. You, as something of an expert from where I stand, could (if you watched it, and if you cared to) tell me if it was going to help me do that.

I am in no way against renewable energy.

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

How does the author of the thread know I am being misled? Did the author of the thread find out he was being misled?

In the joke thread there is a joke about renting a move called: "Snatch", and what a disappointment it was. I have no interest in spending an hour listening to someone banging on the evil oil companies, how great windmills are, harnessing the tides, thermoelectric power, hydroelectric power or any of that.

I am in the process of selecting a system to reduce my electric bill, with a less than five-year payback. You, as something of an expert from where I stand, could (if you watched it, and if you cared to) tell me if it was going to help me do that.

I am in no way against renewable energy.

The aim of the video was to explain the economic benefits of alternative energy technology like solar; batteries and EVs.

It sounds like you are already convinced of this so you don't need to watch the video.

I have had solar and batteries for 8 years. My house is off-grid and powers my 2 EVs and electric motorbike so I don't have electric bills or have to pay to drive if my journey is less than 600km.

I just got back from a solar and battery show in BKK and posted about it here: https://aseannow.com/topic/1385346-solar-and-storage-live-show-thailand

You can see my current setup from 2021 in that discussion as well as what I am consider are the best value inverters and batteries currently.

I recommend that you start a discussion in this forum about what you are looking for in a system. Ideally have your monthly electric bills available so people know how big a system you are looking for.

I have always found people in this forum to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

10 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

The aim of the video was to explain the economic benefits of alternative energy technology like solar; batteries and EVs.

It sounds like you are already convinced of this so you don't need to watch the video.

I have had solar and batteries for 8 years. My house is off-grid and powers my 2 EVs and electric motorbike so I don't have electric bills or have to pay to drive if my journey is less than 600km.

I just got back from a solar and battery show in BKK and posted about it here: https://aseannow.com/topic/1385346-solar-and-storage-live-show-thailand

I visited the show, and commented on your thread.

10 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

You can see my current setup from 2021 in that discussion as well as what I am consider are the best value inverters and batteries currently.

I saw that, and commented on it.

10 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I recommend that you start a discussion in this forum about what you are looking for in a system. Ideally have your monthly electric bills available so people know how big a system you are looking for.

I have always found people in this forum to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

I stated a thread a couple weeks ago, but thanks.

I am in the process of getting my three-phase turned on, and want to get a few months data to help size my installation. I'd like to get a five-year payback.

45 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

stated a thread a couple weeks ago, but thanks

I have notifications about new topics but sorry missed that. It looks like Crossy was able to answer your questions. I am following your topic now.

I mentioned Chaweewan Group in the show. Did you get a chance to talk to them? They cover BKK. Christian, the boss is Norwegian and is a very nice guy.

Their systems are very good with good after sales, but they only work with high end equipment so not budget systems.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/300126774329850/

For 700k I can down pay the electric solar system for 10 years with my car charger and come at zero after that, and that means I can run two AC all day long pluss charge my car and my daily usage for elctric.

And if the kw price or unit price continues to go up as we expect maybe 5 years ? And my system will need very lttle maintenance for the next 20 years and some of the solar panels will last 30 years.

46 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I mentioned Chaweewan Group in the show. Did you get a chance to talk to them? They cover BKK. Christian, the boss is Norwegian and is a very nice guy.

Their systems are very good with good after sales, but they only work with high end equipment so not budget systems.

This was the link I was trying to post https://www.facebook.com/groups/300126774329850

Not sure what's going wrong with @Bandersnatch links although I can't find the video he was linking to.

www.facebook.com/groups/300126774329850

EDIT It seems that's a private group, you have to join to see what's in there.

Their actual website https://solarthailand.biz/

The mysteries of the internet

After I contacted @Bandersnatch about his solar installer I contacted Christian to come for a look and give us a quote, but he was busy at the time and also said he only used top equipment and a 3 phase system would start at around B500000.

He wasn't far wrong and we never got together.

I ended up getting a Thai Electrician I knew from my Pattaya house days and between him, me and electrical engineer in Ubontanie and the Deye consultant we have nearly finished my 3 phase installation B370000.

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I'd like to get a five-year payback.

Consider grid-tied, it's generally the quickest payback. I achieved 3 years on another house.

Do you need solar on all 3 phases? Maybe you can configure your phases to get maximum generation on the phase that uses most (all) power during sunlight hours.

5 minutes ago, carlyai said:

After I contacted @Bandersnatch about his solar installer I contacted Christian to come for a look and give us a quote, but he was busy at the time and also said he only used top equipment and a 3 phase system would start at around B500000.

He wasn't far wrong and we never got together.

I ended up getting a Thai Electrician I knew from my Pattaya house days and between him, me and electrical engineer in Ubontanie and the Deye consultant we have nearly finished my 3 phase installation B370000.

Thanks. I don't think I'll go with batteries at first, the justification seems much harder, I'll know once I get a handle on my peak and off-peak usage is,

I saw a vid. where the guy said just fill your roof with panels and go from there. Bit simplistic but I can see the point.

We design & build houses here.

My best advice is design the house for solar, don't design solar for the house.

34 minutes ago, carlyai said:

I saw a vid. where the guy said just fill your roof with panels and go from there. Bit simplistic but I can see the point.

I'm looking at shading a 13m x 4m balcony on the west side of the house.

I have one ballpark quote for ~B25OK that puts out about 11.5kW, so I would have to save over 4K a month for a five year pay-back, which I think is realistic. It looks like it might take 15-29 years to justify batteries, but I have not actually run the numbers.

32 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

five year pay-back

I don't recommend payback as an investment appraisal technique for solar. A 5 year payback is a 20% return on investment which is a very high bar to achieve.

If you used payback to decide whether to install custom double glazing in Thailand compared to using Thai off the shelf standard windows you probably wouldn't achieve payback in your lifetime.

The smaller your system the shorter the payback time and the lower the total savings you will achieve.

44 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

It looks like it might take 15-29 years to justify batteries

Batteries aren't expensive now and they help you get better value out of your solar production otherwise you will have too much solar in the middle of the day and it will be wasted.

Graph from one of my inverters:

LVTopSun 15kWh battery:

58 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I'm looking at shading a 13m x 4m balcony on the west side of the house.

I have one ballpark quote for ~B25OK that puts out about 11.5kW, so I would have to save over 4K a month for a five year pay-back, which I think is realistic. It looks like it might take 15-29 years to justify batteries, but I have not actually run the numbers.

Sounds a lot

3 x Deye 3Kw inverters 30,000 THB

21 of 450w Panels 50,000 THB

Fixings, cable 20,000 THB

100,000 THB and get a local sparky to fit it.

27 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Sounds a lot

3 x Deye 3Kw inverters 30,000 THB

21 of 450w Panels 50,000 THB

Fixings, cable 20,000 THB

100,000 THB and get a local sparky to fit it.

If you live near the boarders or outback Isaan, most of the local sparkles (I think) are used to installing solar water pumps and bangging in an earth rod or two not used to tying the earth's together. Anyway that's what I found. Also not much experience with Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) and fused Metal Oxide Varisters (MOVs).

Also don't use crimpers for the cable connectors or torque wrenches or thermal cameras. And, don't like drawing schematic circuits.

Maybe just my guy. :)

5 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I don't recommend payback as an investment appraisal technique for solar. A 5 year payback is a 20% return on investment which is a very high bar to achieve.

If you used payback to decide whether to install custom double glazing in Thailand compared to using Thai off the shelf standard windows you probably wouldn't achieve payback in your lifetime.

The smaller your system the shorter the payback time and the lower the total savings you will achieve.

Batteries aren't expensive now and they help you get better value out of your solar production otherwise you will have too much solar in the middle of the day and it will be wasted.

Graph from one of my inverters:

LVTopSun 15kWh battery:

I do not really see a better way to justify capital investment than how long it has to pay for itself. As with any capital investment justified using cost savings, nothing is actually "saved" until after the investment is fully paid off, including whatever investment income is lost on the funds used.

If I invest 100,000 in a project to save money, after 20 years:

At 5% interest, I have to have saved about 266K just to have broken even.

At10% interest, I have to have saved about 673K just to have broken even.

That is assuming there are no additional costs for repairs or cleaning and whatnot.

The reason I think the justifying batteries is such a heavy lift, is because my MEA off-peak rate looks to be about 40% less than my peak rate. To provide night (off peak) power, I have to have batteries, plus, I have to have additional panels and inverter capacity to charge the batteries, to provide power that is already much cheaper.

If I lived where the power was a little sketchy, I would feel differently, but our power is great in Bangkok.

55 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

I don't recommend payback as an investment appraisal technique for solar. A 5 year payback is a 20% return on investment which is a very high bar to achieve.

If you used payback to decide whether to install custom double glazing in Thailand compared to using Thai off the shelf standard windows you probably wouldn't achieve payback in your lifetime.

The smaller your system the shorter the payback time and the lower the total savings you will achieve.

Batteries aren't expensive now and they help you get better value out of your solar production otherwise you will have too much solar in the middle of the day and it will be wasted.

Graph from one of my inverters:

LVTopSun 15kWh battery:

@Bandersnatch I've one of those batteries. :)

Not corn to cars but there is always cutting down trees in the US, pelletizing them, shipping to a power station in UK while collecting subsidies because it is "renewable"

Good gig if you can get it.

49 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Sounds a lot

3 x Deye 3Kw inverters 30,000 THB

21 of 450w Panels 50,000 THB

Fixings, cable 20,000 THB

100,000 THB and get a local sparky to fit it.

I thought it was high, but the 250 was budget quote was turn-key, and it included the structure and sandwich panel roof and gutter.

Just now, VocalNeal said:

Not corn to cars but there is always cutting down trees in the US, pelletizing them, shipping to a power station in UK while collecting subsidies because it is "renewable"

Good gig if you can get it.

Or growing corn to make ethanol to mix with gas/petrol to make it "renewable"

On 2/1/2026 at 6:35 PM, Bandersnatch said:

The reason that this channel and his main channel Technology Connections have a combined 3.5M subscribers is I think because he is so good at explaining complex topics.

I posted this video for 2 distinct groups. Followers of this forum that understand the topics covered but are looking for ways to explain them to others that just don't get it yet. I was also hoping that some of these people might also watch it, but you're right an hour is probably too long.

Theres nothing complex about the ethanol requirement in our fuel.

Its simply a way to make more money. Always follow the money.
Corn is easy to grow so our gov. subsidizes the crop, growers get paid, the mill makes money selling to the refiners, the refiners make money adding it to our fuel.
We get screwed by getting less BTU's per gallon of gasoline.
We get screwed because Flex fuel vehicles cost more to buy
They cost more to operate (less mpg)
Modern engines do not idle or run correctly. While you may not notice, the computers try to compensate for it constantly
They cause MUCH, MUCH more in repairs because the ethanol isn't compatible with current fuel systems

Not to mention that the cost to produce the gallon of ethanol is over 1.00 usd per gallon.