Inverters & Mr Mike

Rocky

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I am dead beat from a long day of going out to buy a new Trace/Xantrex inverter and batteries, pick up my car from the body shop and help a buddy buy a new SUV, so I'll keep this short & sweet.
Mr Mike not only gave us a spectacular price, but he and his staff bent over backwards to get us in and out of there in a jiffy to accomodate our busy schedule.
I have been living here for 13 years and I have not encountered better service and value from any business in this country.
Bravo Mike ! May you be as successful as you so righteously deserve.
Thank you, Marco.
PS: For those who may be interested, his number is 581-8431 in Santiago.
 

El Belga

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Hi, Mr.Mike, do you sell plantas ?

Hi,

I am going to buy a power generator next week. I live in Santiago as well and need something between 3.5 and 6 KVA. Can you propose me something ? I already have prices form new or second hands plantas but, I am still not sure about what to buy...

Thanks in advance
 

MrMike

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I only sell inverters for right now, no plantas. The only thing I can really recommend is that you try very hard to get a diesel and not a gas one. I have a gasoline planta, 7.5 kilos and I have spent more time fixing it than running it. (If you are mechanically inclined I will sell it to you, but only if you promise you know what you are getting into)
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Plantas

The better of the small diesels are the KUBOTAs 6.5 kw . After reading the Classifieds in the Listin Diario and checking them out, I would suggest Amaro Motors for good service and good deals. They are in the book.

HB
 

miguel

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Jul 2, 2003
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Vaya!!!

Rocky said:
I am dead beat from a long day of going out to buy a new Trace/Xantrex inverter and batteries, pick up my car from the body shop and help a buddy buy a new SUV, so I'll keep this short & sweet.
Mr Mike not only gave us a spectacular price, but he and his staff bent over backwards to get us in and out of there in a jiffy to accomodate our busy schedule.
I have been living here for 13 years and I have not encountered better service and value from any business in this country.
Bravo Mike ! May you be as successful as you so righteously deserve.
Thank you, Marco.
PS: For those who may be interested, his number is 581-8431 in Santiago.
MrMike, don't forget Rocky's cut, :laugh: :laugh:

He and others have me sold, I will use your services when installing a inverter when I move to the DR.
 

El Belga

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MrMike said:
I only sell inverters for right now, no plantas. The only thing I can really recommend is that you try very hard to get a diesel and not a gas one. I have a gasoline planta, 7.5 kilos and I have spent more time fixing it than running it. (If you are mechanically inclined I will sell it to you, but only if you promise you know what you are getting into)

Hi,

Thanks but I know NOTHING about mechanics :-(. I think I'd better buy a new one with a serious warranty (if such a warranty exists here)....
By the way diesel generators are much more expansive (I know the diesel costs less thant the gasoline but the difference of price is really important, can be 80,000 RD$ for the same power- I could buy round 700 gallons of gasoline with that money).I know that "lo barrato sale caro", but as I have an inversor, the planta will mostly serve to charge this one, so I do not plan to do an intensive use of it (at least I hope so...)
 

BushBaby

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El-Belga,
Were you in Puerto Plata taking photos on Friday? 08.00 until 3.00 pm or so??

Re diesel against Petrol, I think you will find that the diesel engines will work more effeiciently & for longer periods without maintenance. I shall be going to Santiago w/c 21st (most likely on 22nd) to check out Plantas of 12 KW or greater, if you want me to check things out for you too, just let me know. Probably be better to do that by PM to avoid upsetting people by chit-chat!! - Grahame.
 

MrMike

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According to the manual I've been studying this week, you actually need alot more power from a generator to charge an inverter than what it would seem at a glance. Apparently not all of the amperage coming out of a smaller planta is usefull for charging batteries (smaller = less than 15kw).
 

gringo in dr

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I don't currently have any problems but tomorrow is another day :)

I just like to have the number of a good electrician, that I can trust, on hand.

I bought a trace invertor, 3.6 kw, 8 batteries, about 8 months ago. I haven't had any problems with it. I should have looked you up. I think I got screwed on the price.
 

El Belga

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Thanks Escott...

Escott said:
Just stop asking for info if you are going to ignore it! You are doomed to failure.
I 'd like to thank you for your wise answer. How stupid I am to ask if someone is selling a planta. I did not realize that one should be a wizz to buy a planta.

I really hope for you you are a good cook , a wonderful housekeeper, a great photographer, a genious in chemicals, etc. otherwise, there is no point buying food, housekeeping products, camera, or Baygon...
 

El Belga

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BushBaby said:
El-Belga,
Were you in Puerto Plata taking photos on Friday? 08.00 until 3.00 pm or so??

Re diesel against Petrol, I think you will find that the diesel engines will work more effeiciently & for longer periods without maintenance. I shall be going to Santiago w/c 21st (most likely on 22nd) to check out Plantas of 12 KW or greater, if you want me to check things out for you too, just let me know. Probably be better to do that by PM to avoid upsetting people by chit-chat!! - Grahame.
Thanks Grahame,
No, it was not me taking pictures in Puerto Plata last Friday. Did you meet another Belgian resident there ?

I really appreciate your help, but I think that now I have found what I was looking for (a 4.5 KVA gasoline Honda power generator at 45,000 RD$). I went with an mechanician, friend of my wife's family and he told me I could buy it, he will do the maintenance.

And sorry if peole are upset when someone is asking a piece of info. I hope these same peolple will never need anybody's help (at least mine...) !
 

gringo in dr

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El Belga said:
Thanks Grahame,
No, it was not me taking pictures in Puerto Plata last Friday. Did you meet another Belgian resident there ?

I really appreciate your help, but I think that now I have found what I was looking for (a 4.5 KVA gasoline Honda power generator at 45,000 RD$). I went with an mechanician, friend of my wife's family and he told me I could buy it, he will do the maintenance.

And sorry if peole are upset when someone is asking a piece of info. I hope these same peolple will never need anybody's help (at least mine...) !

Depending on the size of your invertor, 4.5 kw might not be enough to charge your batteries. Being a gas generator, it's going to have to run at high rpm's under load. That means it's going to make alot of noise.
 

Rocky

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To Belga

Do you also have an inverter, or are you choosing to go mechanical generator as your power option?
If you do have an inverter, which one and how many batteries?
If you don't have an inverter, why not consider that as an option?
Marco.
 

El Belga

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Rocky said:
Do you also have an inverter, or are you choosing to go mechanical generator as your power option?
If you do have an inverter, which one and how many batteries?
If you don't have an inverter, why not consider that as an option?
Marco.

Hi,

I have a 1.5 K Trace invertor with 2 batteries. It really works very well. Once the batteries are charged, we can stay more or less 6 or 7 hours without power (without playing the fool and switching on every light and fans of the house of course) The main problem is that we have between 2 or 3 hours of power every 12 hours... So this is not enough to charge the batteries (I think a 8 batteries invertor would even need much more time to charge). With such a generator, I will at least be able to work (did I mention the fact I was "workolic" ? :classic: In fact I don't want to be obliged to tell my clients I could not do their job because I had no light) and to have a few lights, TV and fans.
 

Rocky

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Got it,

El Belga said:
Hi,

I have a 1.5 K Trace invertor with 2 batteries. It really works very well. Once the batteries are charged, we can stay more or less 6 or 7 hours without power (without playing the fool and switching on every light and fans of the house of course) The main problem is that we have between 2 or 3 hours of power every 12 hours... So this is not enough to charge the batteries (I think a 8 batteries invertor would even need much more time to charge). With such a generator, I will at least be able to work (did I mention the fact I was "workolic" ? :classic: In fact I don't want to be obliged to tell my clients I could not do their job because I had no light) and to have a few lights, TV and fans.
Knowing that, I would guess that a 6K (minimum) generator would do the job of both recharging your batteries and operating the electrical devices that are presently hooked up to your inverter.
Although we are very short of street power hours, it can be done with additional batteries. I am operating exclusively with an inverter, despite the lack of street power and I manage to get enough charge to not run the batteries down.
To accomplish this, I have energy efficient bulbs (16 watt with 70 watt luminescence), I turn off all unnecessary electricals during power outages, set my PC to go into standy within 10 minutes of non usage, monitors to shut off after 2 minutes and I keep my inverter's charge rate to the maximun.
This solution would save you a lot of money, noise, fumes and grief.
Bear in mind that you may not be able to add batteries to your existing ones, if they are more than a couple of months old, as the old ones would constantly drain the new ones and reduce the efficiency of your set up.
If you had to buy 8 new batteries at an approx cost of 4,000 RD apiece, (or less) the total cost would be less than 50,000 RD and I do believe that would be the end of your problems.
I operate the bar, restaurant and five rooms with 12 batteries. I act like Scrooge when the power goes out, but it works and I'm tickled pink that I don't have to dick around with a mechanical generator, run around buying fuel, listen to the noise and breathe the fumes.
It's not a bulletproof system, as the power could go out for 2 days and mess up the plan, but you could keep the 2 old batteries with an occasional charge for exceptionally long outages, so that you can at least run your PC.
Marco.
 

Escott

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El Belga said:
I 'd like to thank you for your wise answer. How stupid I am to ask if someone is selling a planta. I did not realize that one should be a wizz to buy a planta.

I really hope for you you are a good cook , a wonderful housekeeper, a great photographer, a genious in chemicals, etc. otherwise, there is no point buying food, housekeeping products, camera, or Baygon...
You were advised to buy a Diesel Planta. You should have listened to the advice. You didn't listen and bought a Gas Planta for 700 gallons. Please post 1 year from now if you are happy with your purchase.