Due to the recent power outages and diesel problems, we decided that we should look at another alternative power source just in case the worse happened, no grid power, no diesel and tired and dead inverter batteries.
Plan A: Solar Power
We looked at solar as a means to keep our inverter batteries juiced up, but it's still very expensive to install. For what we thought we needed and was recommended, we would be looking at the better part of US$9,500 to get up and running, ouch! Of course the investment pays off in the long term, but it was a little out of our budget.
Plan B: 2nd Inverter
Install another inverter and batteries that we can fall back on just in case.
Being 11x cheaper than solar, it made the bean counter at the office very happy
Next... Who has Trace 1.5kw inverters, what do they cost and when can they install?
Our first choice, turned out to be the only choice we looked at, MrMike.
For those of you that don't know, MrMike that posts on the board has a business selling and installing inverters. He has offices in Santiago and Santo Domingo (Matthew) and pretty much covers the country from these two locations.
His prices are very good, actually I couldn't find anyone else that could match or come close to them. Mike sells "Real" Trace inverters built by Xantrex in the USA, not the "Mickey Mouse" Trace International ones you see a lot of here in the DR.
From the initial phone call to Mike about pricing, it took just two working days for the guy to turn up and install the stuff.
The Install:
I can be pretty picky when it comes to this sort of stuff, especially having a electronic/electrical background. I have seen a lot of bad inverter installs here, bad cabling, wrong cabling, no breakers etc etc.
Half way through the install I took a look. A couple of things didn't look right, nothing major, just me being picky. I emailed Matthew that looks after the office in Santo Domingo with a couple of digital photos so he could see exactly what I was being picky about.
He emailed me and phoned me back straight away. Told me not to worry, they would do whatever to make sure I was 100% happy. He also explained that they have just started having another installer double check and take digital photos of all installations. This way they have a photo record incase of problems/issues, plus their installers are always checking each others work.
Bottom line:
They did an excellent job and I was very happy with the customer service side of their business. When you live here, it's not easy to find people that know what they are doing and take the time and effort on the customer service side. If you need an inverter, go see MrMike!
Contact details:
Email: michael.albitz@descuentoelectronico.com
Phone: (809)-581-8431
Note: This post was made with the aid of a Trace Inverter.
Yep, you guessed it, we have no grid power right now :tired:
Install Photos:
Plan A: Solar Power
We looked at solar as a means to keep our inverter batteries juiced up, but it's still very expensive to install. For what we thought we needed and was recommended, we would be looking at the better part of US$9,500 to get up and running, ouch! Of course the investment pays off in the long term, but it was a little out of our budget.
Plan B: 2nd Inverter
Install another inverter and batteries that we can fall back on just in case.
Being 11x cheaper than solar, it made the bean counter at the office very happy
Next... Who has Trace 1.5kw inverters, what do they cost and when can they install?
Our first choice, turned out to be the only choice we looked at, MrMike.
For those of you that don't know, MrMike that posts on the board has a business selling and installing inverters. He has offices in Santiago and Santo Domingo (Matthew) and pretty much covers the country from these two locations.
His prices are very good, actually I couldn't find anyone else that could match or come close to them. Mike sells "Real" Trace inverters built by Xantrex in the USA, not the "Mickey Mouse" Trace International ones you see a lot of here in the DR.
From the initial phone call to Mike about pricing, it took just two working days for the guy to turn up and install the stuff.
The Install:
I can be pretty picky when it comes to this sort of stuff, especially having a electronic/electrical background. I have seen a lot of bad inverter installs here, bad cabling, wrong cabling, no breakers etc etc.
Half way through the install I took a look. A couple of things didn't look right, nothing major, just me being picky. I emailed Matthew that looks after the office in Santo Domingo with a couple of digital photos so he could see exactly what I was being picky about.
He emailed me and phoned me back straight away. Told me not to worry, they would do whatever to make sure I was 100% happy. He also explained that they have just started having another installer double check and take digital photos of all installations. This way they have a photo record incase of problems/issues, plus their installers are always checking each others work.
Bottom line:
They did an excellent job and I was very happy with the customer service side of their business. When you live here, it's not easy to find people that know what they are doing and take the time and effort on the customer service side. If you need an inverter, go see MrMike!
Contact details:
Email: michael.albitz@descuentoelectronico.com
Phone: (809)-581-8431
Note: This post was made with the aid of a Trace Inverter.
Yep, you guessed it, we have no grid power right now :tired:
Install Photos: