Blackouts??

Peter & Alex

Bronze
May 3, 2003
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www.rainbowsenddr.com
It's the end of the month again!!! Yep! It's been off all day here in Cabarete but back on now!
It must be a case of lack of money as it always goes off near the end of the month!
Who's not paying their bills??? As if we need to ask??
 

Bolt

New member
Jun 12, 2002
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www.wireless-alarms.com
Blackout Log

Actually, i noticed from time to time that posts appear on blackout status. In veiw of the electric situation here (as always) would it not be useful to have a sticky post on blackouts so we can all see trends forming in different parts of the country? So if you had a blackout out for more then say 4 hours then post it here. Not less then 4 hours though otherwise i think it will fill Roberts server with all the posts......hehehe

That we we can be better prepared for when the blackouts are targetting certain areas more then others and make sure we have enough fuel for the planta etc. and of course will let us know what the real situation is on the ground.

With all the hype and rumours of virtually pulling the plug on the entire network when the Pan Am games finished I was convinced that blackouts would become an epidemic! So i rushed out and bought a 2.5 K invertor to back up my planta but have not used either here in Juan Dolio for over 3 weeks now! Still nice to have though and much quiter.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
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Hey Bolt? How about a small favor..

Please watch your electric bill and tell us the extent to which your bill rises as a result of the inverter charging those batteries? This has been an on-going debate (argument at times) for the past few years..

Thank you very kindly, if you can do this..

HB
 

NV_

Bronze
Aug 4, 2003
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I've got a Trace 4.5k inverter with 16 batteries in an apartment and havent noticed my electric bill go up anymore than "normal". I'd say the difference in monthly cost is anywhere from 200-500 pesos extra... with the cost of electricity going up every month its hard to tell what is the cost of inflation vs. added electrical use.
 

lhtown

Member
Jan 8, 2002
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I've got a Trace 3.6 with 16 batteries. I haven't noticed a difference either except that 1. I have to pay for power 24/7 since I use it all of the time. 2. My refrigerator consumes les because I don't have to turn it so cold to make up for the power being off for hours on end. 3. I estimate that between battery efficiency losses and inverter efficiency losses that I pay roughly a 20% premium for the electricity that goes through the inverter. I think Trace's website would pretty much back me up on that. 4. All inverters are NOT created equally in terms of efficiency. Not that many years ago, they were only about 50% efficient compared to the 90%+ of today's Trace inverters.
 

Bolt

New member
Jun 12, 2002
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www.wireless-alarms.com
Your correct on the power consumption of an invertor. They will draw from the "grid" later what you used during a power blackout plus about 10% to 20% in heat due to charging losses then plus a little to keep the batteries topped up which is less then keeping one light bulb on all the time after the batteries reach a full charge.

Actually the only reason i got a 2.5Kw invertor is to make sure i have enough surge capacity to run my fridge which it does easily otherwise it runs a fan, TV and computer and table lamp with power saving 12w bulb so i only have 4 Trojan T5 batteries just now. If I need any more power then i start the planta.

By the way a quick conversion to dollars works out to $998 for the invertor, cables and batteries and its a Dominican made unit but very well designed using modern QUASI switching MOSFET technology so its a lot lighter and more effecient then the older units.


I still be interested in a blackout report log though so we know whats happeining!