buksida wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 7:46 am
A basic solar kit will suffice if all he wants to do is power the lights and a couple of fans. I built one sourcing parts online for about 5,000 baht that does the job as a backup during the outages (which are every other day at the moment).
If you want more juice its going to cost more naturally, bigger panels, more batteries etc. The Hua Hin solar companies will charge the earth which is a deterrent to most, but it can be done on a budget and built up in modular fasion.
The only thing I can build are sandwiches. Other than that, I can change lightbulbs. I once built a bookshelf that fell over on it's side.
You can actually buy those kits prebuilt on Lazada/Shopee ... but you have to do a little math to calculate your power needs ... and know how to plug it in.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
I have had a generator since I moved south (9+ years ago) with all the power outages we have here outside of town. First generator was some off brand and it worked but would not generate stable power causing some things not to work right in the house.
Two years ago I bit the bullet (paid the price) and purchased a Honda Generator and plugged it into the old circuit to my house. It was quieter, more fuel efficient with power stability. Go to Global House and pay the price for a Honda Generator. You will never regret it!
handdrummer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:31 am
The only thing I can build are sandwiches. Other than that, I can change lightbulbs. I once built a bookshelf that fell over on it's side.
buksida wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:34 am
You can actually buy those kits prebuilt on Lazada/Shopee ... but you have to do a little math to calculate your power needs ... and know how to plug it in.
I have a calculator for math and a great deal of experience ( 3 children) plugging things in.
brianks wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:00 am
I have had a generator since I moved south (9+ years ago) with all the power outages we have here outside of town. First generator was some off brand and it worked but would not generate stable power causing some things not to work right in the house.
Two years ago I bit the bullet (paid the price) and purchased a Honda Generator and plugged it into the old circuit to my house. It was quieter, more fuel efficient with power stability. Go to Global House and pay the price for a Honda Generator. You will never regret it!
Went to Global House website, looked for Honda generators, nothing, looked for Honda, nothing.
I think I'll practice suffering, it will do me good and help with my repentance for all the times I've gone off subject on the forum.
Global House had Honda generators displayed in the Honda products display by the Power Tools section in all the Global House stores I have been into. Buy it and have them load it into your car. There are many of other brands and models in Global house too but HONDA's are the best.
Just checked Big Boys links to Honda Generators. First one is too small at around 25 KVA but the EZ6500CXSR on the next line is 5,500 max KVA and is the rating mine has for the house. I can run everything in the house on it at the same time except the instant hot water heaters. At 6,000 watts they overload the generator and will stop it. Price of 47,000 Thb is high. I've seen same model at Global house for under40,000 Thb range. You will have to purchase a motorcycle battery for it at a motorcycle shop as it has an electric starter. Global House doesn't have the batteries.
It would be a good idea for someone with experience and who has done it, to explain how you hook up an external generator to your home's circuitry?
I think at minimum there would need to be a separate control/hook-up box where the city electricity is bypassed in favour of the generator produced electricity. Then some switch mechanism for the generator to cycle on and off automatically depending upon the available electric feed from the city?
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
First you have to remember most generators for home use need to be started manually, fuel on, choke on, pull start cord, warmup engine then close out going circuit breaker. If you want to go fully automatic it will cost a lot more for an auto start generator and house wiring mods to incoming supplies. Also remember that you may have been running a lot more appliances on normal mains power (possibly 3 Air Cons, Pool pumps etc.) when you trip supplies, so the generator will probably need to be larger rating than a manual operated system to prevent the generator tripping on overload on change over.
Next option with a manual starting generator, is to wire its output into a newly installed circuit breaker next to the mains power incoming circuit breaker, both the new generator and and original mains breakers have a mechanical interlock mechanism that only allows either the mains or generator power to feed the household circuits at any time or both off, if this system is used you need to switch all household circuits off after mains power lost, in a controlled manner switch the circuits on one at a time ensuring you don't overload the generator supply.
Personally I have a generator enough to supply the house essentials and run a couple of extension leads to kitchen and lounge which give us enough power to run what we need to be comfortable, cold beer, hot food and TV, a couple of minutes to start generator and get lights on, no big deal
With a simply wiring mod I could get an Air Con unit running but no need for the yet.
My generator is wired into a control box mounted just over the electrical panel. The control box has a switch to allow the electricity to the power panel to come from the main power line OR from the generator. When the power goes out I go back to the box and switch the power to generator, go outside and uncover the generator, turn the fuel switch to the ON position, pull the choke and turn the key on the generator to start the generator (just like you start your car). Push the choke lever in so the gas flow is normal then flip the switch to allow the power to go to the house. USES ITS battery start but you can also start it manually if the battery is dead.
I have a buzzer on the incoming power line that I turn on so will know when the main power is restored. When the power is restored (and the buzzer is driving me bonkers) I flip the switch above the main panel then go outside, turn off fuel switch to the motor then the key switch to the generator to kill the engine.
I let the engine cool for a while before replacing the cover over the generator.
PM me if you have any questions as I will then be able to take and send pictures for show and tell.
I also run the generator for 30 minutes every month if it has not been on during the month. This is to insure the motor is working properly and to keep the battery charged up. I also have a 1 amp trickle charger connected to the battery that I turn on periodically to also keep the power up in the battery.
