Thread: POWER or the Joy of Living Remote.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

We are talking very hot, 48 degrees day after day & a big load.

PS I have no idea how people lived here before we had A/C?

Big verandahs, and a constant supply of stubbies!

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

interesting to se people questioning whether to be on or off grid. Is there some ruling here?

I was a diesel fitter in the 70's in the top end, most was for power generation but there were also a lot of water pumping requirements.

If a storm was imminent , apart from the auto-switched generators , just about every service had a changeover switch. So simple , fire up generator , change switch from mains to generator. You are now off grid.

Is there a law against this now? If not , what's the problem?

Problem is that Ergon et al will charge you a minimum fee, whether or not you use the power, so you're effectively paying twice. On top of that, at least in one case I know, Ergon would blame any outages on the changeover system, bill you for the repairs (even miles away) and make you fight them in court to get it sorted.

I have a feeling the temp in the sun out at Doomagie would be way , way above 40*c , try 50-60.

I worked in the desert on oil/gas in the 90's and many days the outside air temp was so high it was not believed by BOM in their little white box , but we called it in every day anyway.

BTW BOM would not publish our daily summer temperatures. Call the SW Qld Gas Centre at Ballera and ask them what outside air temp is.

Could probably do a cost analysis for you if you want. PM me your power price and KWH used per billing cycle as well as details of your largest loads - AC, how many bowsers, Kitchen equipment etc. Also need the details of the current solar setup -how many panels, etc. I could work out what sized gen, fuel consumption and maintenance costs if you want. Can get this quite accurate for you if you're serious on making a decision.

A pic of your main switchboard too if you can.

Originally Posted by bee utey

Beats me where you get solar panels that stop working at 40C. Most just derate by 20 to 25%. Explainer here:

The truth about Solar Panel performance and temperature

Just going on what I was told.
Once the Temp gets really high the panels loose efficiency.

Jonesfam

Added the missing pics in previos post

AM

We are pretty much at the end of the power line and we get 6-10 power outages each year usually it is only for one day But we have been of power for 3 days once, Probably not as bad as other areas But it is a PITA.
We have 2x 3kva gensets that we fire up to run the 3 fridges and 3 chest freezers along with the TV and fans for the Missus and the computer in my office.
We can run the 2x solar panels and batteries hooked up to a 3kva inverter if we need any extra power as well.
Isn't it handy to have all that power equipment that we bought for our trips away on hand just in case

It doesn't get as hot here as it does there, or at any rate, it doesn't stay that way for as long. But it still gets hot (mid forties in a Stevenson screen, higher on my verandah, and a lot higher out in the sun), but despite this, in nearly 25 years living off grid, I have not observed a significant reduction in output from the panels.

Have you priced adding a battery bank to your setup?