Solar energy

[beer monkey]

So Lee, did you purchase any of the small solar powered garden lights?

When I found out they were only two watt I didn't bother with them, I was hoping they were atleast 5 watt. Still they're not too expensive and would probably look good in the garden.

if they are the same as in the uk they are not very good, very little light, and the one's in uk had rechargeable batterys, (the sun charges them) ,and you , have to keep re-newing them, lights are about ฃ20 for 5 in uk, not a lot of cash but the results are poor. plus i think the plastic won't last long in the hot sun. did consider these a couple of years ago, but someone i knew brought them and i changed my mind soon as i saw them,or could'nt see them as the case maybe.

[Paul]

The only reason I was considering them is not to save on electricity costs- as its laughably cheap here anyway , but to avoid running electricity out into the garden - Looks like I might just do that anyway and get some decent lighting there.

[beer monkey]

just seen and advert 20 lights for ฃ19.99.
they are getting cheaper.
definatley stick with low voltage halogen though.

[wokkawombat]

As an avid camper up untill a few years ago I always had a few solar showers in the camping gear. They are a 20 litre capacity plastic bag, black on one side and clear on the other, with a sealable filling hole at the top and a tap, short hose and small rose at the bottom.

Step 1 Fill with 20l of water.
Step 2 Insert plug
Step 3 Place on ground in sun, black up.
Step 4 Use hot water 3 hours later


Caution, water temperature can reach 48C

I saw some in the el cheapo store at home so no more boiling up the big pot on those cold winter mornings at christmas in UT.

John

[Paul]

so when you get up on those cold winter mornings (yes even here) and your bag has been outside all night soaking up the night sun - I bet that would make you sing in the shower when you realise the water is minus 5 degrees

[wokkawombat]

Mr Paul, you are no doubt confusing me with someone else. I am a retired gentleman of leisure ( the less generous among us sometimes say 'Of ill repute") who does not let his feet hit the floor, (apart from visits to hong nam) untill the sun has been shining for at least 3 hours and my bag of water has absorbed enough ultra-violet, infra-red, x-rays and even ray23s to bring it to a temperature where it has to be cooled by the addition of -5C water from the tap.

It is not for the saved sitang but the greenhouse effect and all those lovely penguins.

John

[Paul]

Most excellently worded John

have you been taking lessons from Garnet

[parrot]

The parts store that is downstairs in Bic C is carrying a wide variety of solar panels. I didn't have time to rummage through them for details, but prices begin at 500 baht for small panels to 10,000 for larger ones.

[maaka]

for anyone who is still interested in this thread, my house is solar powered these last 13yrs..its a 12volt system, but it could be a 240v system if I had more batteries and an inverter..I have 2x70w solar panels, a Trace voltage regulator, and one 105ah battery..less then $1200 to install, and all I have replaced is the battery every 3 or 4 years..I have tv, stero , CD, lights, water pumps..(my fridge and stove and standby hot water califont are LPG powered)

if I was to want to run a 240v system, 2 extra 105ah batteries, 2 extra 70watt solar panels, and a trace inverter ( with built in battery charger ) would be all you would need..it doesnt have to be a sunny day in order to collect power, it will charge on cloudy days, heck I have heard mind click on under a full moon once..

living with solar is no more difficult than runnning your car, just got to keep your batteries topped up with water, and give them a bubble up once a month, and be careful not to run them flat..but you will have a meter on the wall to tell you how much power you have to play with...I will never go back to main grid power and pay electric bills even if living in the city, because it is so much cheaper...

cheap solar garden lights are a have and a waste of money, but their is nothing to stop you running driveway / garden lights off your solar house system..go for it I say, even if it is just a small standby system in case your mains grid power goes off..you will be surtprised after afew months of living with solar, and you will wonder why you didnt go that way before

[homer]

Maaka: This is definitely something I'm interested in. You mentioned that cost to install was under $1200 thirteen years ago. Do you have any idea what a person would be looking at cost-wise for a 240v system including installation? If I was going to do this, I would want to go the whole nine yards, with perhaps a small generator for backup.(just in case ) You seem to have an intimate knowledge of electrical terms and solar energy systems, are you(were you) a sparky by chance? Getting the bloody thing installed properly would be a key issue as to whether I went ahead with solar power or not. On my best day, I tend to be electronically challenged.

[Farang1]

Maaka, the question comes to mind not having 240v, do you have a gas (propane) refrigerator?

[maaka]

sorry chaps for the delay in replying to questions raised..I didnt think anyone was interested in this sort of thing...first one Homer, I am just an ordinary joe bloggs, and didnt know the difference between an amp, watt or a volt, but with solar you soon learn...now I could throw some modern day NZ prices for a 240volt system, like $2500 for a 3kw pure sine wave inverter ( pure sinewave better than modified sinewave) a modified sinewave is much cheaper, but will put a humming noise in your stearo speakers, and can damage laptops and such.. $1440 for 4x80w solar panels, and $800 for 4x105a batteries..then you have you lights (16a) and fixtures and wiring..so at a guess for a 240volt system 100,000baht

now before that scares anyone away here is an email address of a solar company in Bangkok, and they will give you a proper price, rather than my guessamation.......<palapol_n@solartron.co.th> ..tel. 66 2 392-0224 mob 08 92058766

remember it is a one off outlay of afew bucks, and you can have everything that every other house has including a fridge /freezer. but over time it will repay itself with minimal maintenance, and you wont get caught with your pants down when the mains power goes out..there are different size systems to different needs..heck you can even throw in a little windmill if you are in a good location....

YES Farang1 , my fridgerator is propane, also my oven/ stove as well...because my house is 12volt I cant run an electric frigde or stove, but if I had 240v welllllllllllll.....to cut down on costs of propane I have setup an outdoor cooking place using those concrete bucket type things and firewood..I could go the wood range stove but it hot enough in a thai house without a fire going in the log stove for cooking and hot water...

[parrot]

I have a 24/7 source of water that comes out of the ground and is held in a tank that I use for irrigation. When the tank is full (usually the case), it overflows into a distant reservoir. I gravity feed water from that tank into a pond where I raise catfish. We have a second older pond that is slightly higher than the top height of the water in the tank. I'd like to use a small solar cell to pump water up, perhaps 1 meter, to flow into a pvc pipe which would feed into the older pond. Daytime replenishment of 50-75 gallons or so of water into the older pond would be more than adequate to keep the pond full.
Any ideas out there?

[homer]

Maaka, Your NZ bucks must go a lot farther than our Canadian dollar. Adding up your figures I totalled it out at $4740.00 plus installation of system which would probably bring it closer to $6000.00. If I use that figure in Can.$$, coupled with a sh#tty exchange rate, it works out closer to 180,000Bht.
Still, as you say, it's a one time outlay of cash and I don't see electrical costs ever coming down. I know I paid almost 3000Bht for electricity in April, and at that rate it wouldn't take long to recoup the initial investment. Of course, I was running the AC a lot more that month with the sweltering heat.(Canadian :-" )
My main concern is keeping my expenses to a minimum once I'm in LOS fulltime and on a fixed income.

By the way, I checked out that website you posted and they must have gone out of business as I tried it several times and couldn't bring up the page. Many thanks though.

[maaka]

it was a guessamation Homer, and you are right in some matters, but $4740.NZ today is 103000 Baht, so I rounded off at 100,000..yes our economy have recovered well..anyway back to solar. Sorry about the number I gave out, its 2yrs old, but I am sure there are other companies on the net, as I went to a solar exhibition in Bangkok 2yrs ago where there was umpteen companies..

wiring is standard in any house and will cost you anyway..my house has no special wiring, in fact it 240v wired, but I run 12v thru it..I do alot my wiring myself as it is quiet basic with 12v solar, so that cut my costs..

yes why I went solar in the first place was to keep my overall living expenses to a minimun, because of lack of work, and only a small govt allowance at the time. A power bill every month was not what I could afford, but solar did away with that..

Parrot you would only need a 12volt water pump, (flowjet, parmate brands) a 12v car battery, and a 15watt panel, and a Trace charge controller..The Parmate water pump is what I use, and is about the size of a tennis shoe, they use them in big sailing boats..its simply connects to a 20mm plastic pipe..you could have a stand alone system for your pond..I post in the ground next to your pond ( the closer the pump to the water to be sucked up and pumped the better..stick your solar panel on top of the post at an angle, and point it not at the point of sunrise or sunset, but midway where the sun might be on a winters day, as in winter the sun is in a different tragictory..

build a small rainproof cabinet box around your post, maybe alittle concrete floor, and in there nail your charge controller to the post, ( charger controller regulates the power coming from the panels to the battery, and automatically cuts the panel power, once the battery is fully charger, and comes on again when the battery uses power) and set the battery not on the ground but on two small blocks, so that air can circulate beneath it..

wire panels to control charger, and wire control charger to battery, and wire battery to water pump..all you need now is to decide how to turn the waterpump on and off..either put a normal on/ off switch in the battery to pump wiring, or simply have crocodile clips on the pump wiring, so all you have to do is clip the pump to the battery terminals and your awayyyyy. just wrap red tape around the postive wire so you not make a mistake of clipping them on wrongly...you just got to remeber to come back when the pond is full and unclip the pump leds....dont need to have this all connected to the house or anything, works abit like a farmers electric fence...the pump I use is 15ft below my roof tank so a simliar pump should handle your situation no problem..and you should be able to do it all yourself..its just finding the pump and charger controller, ( a controller for this system only needs to be about the size of a cigarette package.., sorry I had one here somewhere but have misplaced it, so cant give you the amp size, maybe next speel )

[maaka]

Parrot.. a Trace Charge Controller C12 - 12 Amp would do your water pond thingy..

any anyone wanting a 12v/24v house system ..a Trace Charge Controller C35-35 amp will do ,

but for 240v full monty systems, then a aussie made "Outback" Brand Inverter of 2400amps or bigger is the way to go..

note , that batteries or the plates inside batteries gum up from time to time, so it is best to over charge your batteries and let them bubble away at least once a month, so that the buildup between the plates fall off and gives you better battery life..I would NOT use car batteries for a house system, but for Parrot yes as his requirements are small, indeed, once in a while he can throw his battery in the car and give it a good charge up...

[maaka]

interested parties check all my comments

PARROT..you could just go the cheap way and just have the 12v Parmate waterpump with battery clips, and a car battery...could forget the solar panel and solar charge controller, but you would have to charge the car battery either with a standard workshop 240v / 12v battery charger, or failing that, start your car engine up, connect some jumpers leads to the pond battery, and run the car engine until charged...it means lugging the battery back and forth from the pond, whereas the other way I suggested with a post and cabinet, sort of looks after itself, but costs that little bit more..I would stick a filter in the 20mm plastic pipe between the pond and the pump, even though the Parmate has a small filter, as over time the pump will suck up debris and insects and finally stuff up the pump..

[parrot]

Thanks for the tips. I'll do some shopping for a pump and solar cell.

[maaka]

your welcome Parrot...if you want me to come have a squezz at your little project, and toss some ideas around, I will be parachuting back into town next week.

[parrot]

The sun has long set on this thread.......but if someone's still interested:
In Udon, advertising as the "largest solar shop in Isaan"
https://www.facebook.com/udonthaniupdat ... 9357785122
https://www.google.com/maps/place/ASola ... 02.7964782