Is the power situation better now? Noone has commented lately. . .

[Rocky]

Charge rate control

The other thing you can do, Chiri, is to turn up the rate at which your invertor charges. I know, before everyone jumps on me, this is not good practice & you should trickle charge slowly, but for a brief interim before MrMike's people get to you, it won't do too much harm. We have a 3.5 or 3.6 invertor with 12 batteries & only once did it go down entirely even in the very long hippo blackouts. Also put bags of ice in fridge freezer section, divided up into small bags, double wrapped.

Cheapo inverters rarely have charge rate controls, but if it does, you are correct, it should be turned up to full.

 

[MrMike]

Hey folks,

A few words about the maximum charge rate:

It's ok to use it as long as it does not trip your incoming breakers (should be at least 30 amps) and:

-The battery cables are of adequate size (1/0 or 2/0 for anything above 1 kilowatt) and tightened down securely (just imagine youre changing a tire - that tight)
-Your batteries are not dry (water completely covering the plates)
-Your inverter room has good ventilation (charging at a high rate can cause the batteries to give off a flammable gas which can be a serious fire hazard if it builds up in a closed area)

As far as damaging the batteries, there is little danger of that since most chargers, particularly the Trace will sense when the batteries are getting full and lower the charging rate to a trickle automatically regardless of the setting.

 

[Rocky]

A few words about the maximum charge rate:

It's ok to use it as long as it does not trip your incoming breakers (should be at least 30 amps) and:

-The battery cables are of adequate size (1/0 or 2/0 for anything above 1 kilowatt) and tightened down securely (just imagine youre changing a tire - that tight)
-Your batteries are not dry (water completely covering the plates)
-Your inverter room has good ventilation (charging at a high rate can cause the batteries to give off a flammable gas which can be a serious fire hazard if it builds up in a closed area)

As far as damaging the batteries, there is little danger of that since most chargers, particularly the Trace will sense when the batteries are getting full and lower the charging rate to a trickle automatically regardless of the setting.

Excellent and accurate advice, and although loose connections are highly dangerous, I would never tighten the connections like the nuts on the wheels of a car. The posts can break off with that much pressure.

 

[MrMike]

Excellent and accurate advice, and although loose connections are highly dangerous, I would never tighten the connections like the nuts on the wheels of a car. The posts can break off with that much pressure.

You're right of course, but the angle and the wrench size doesn't permit tightenning them that quite that tight anyway, just wanted to emphasize TIGHT.

 

[Criss Colon]

A refridgerator/freezer that is "FULL" will stay cold longer!

If your "fridge",or freezer,are not full,you can increase the time that they maintain their "cold" by placing some gallon size bottles of water in both the top and bottom compartments.The "fuller" the space,the longer it will stay cold.If "gallons" don't fit,use smaller bottles.If the power is off for 12 hours or more,put some of the frozen bottles in the "Fridge" section.A freezer with a gallon or two of frezen water will keep things frozen for at least 24 hours,if you don't keep 'checking" to "SEE"! Large containers(like blocks of ice) last much longer than "cubes"!Good Luck!! Cris Colon

 

[Snuffy]

My Inverter....

I hope I am not out of bounds here...but I looked for a long time to find an inverter. I was looking for the sweet spot. I priced them all and looked at installation options and maintenance. I talked to lots of people. I had spoke to two friends who owned a Unesf Inverter...they are red and white. Both friends had owned them for several years and swore by them. So I found one at Ferriteria Ochoa for 14,500 pesos when the dollar was 46 to 1. Ochoa installed it for free. It has four batteries. With a good charge it will run my two fans, two tvs, lights, computer, etc... for about 16 hours. I could not be more happy. It has run out of power twice when power was on and off so often that the batteries could not get a good charge. Other than that...all is FINE.

There is nothing more important here than that Inverter. It saves you from a lot of uncomfortable time. I notice that when we have power from the inverter we go on about our lives like normal. When we don't have it...everything seems to stop. We seem to be waiting for something to happen. It is like a switch. Very interesting. My point is that a good inverter is the best investment you can make here. And never believe that one day power problems in this country are going to go away...that is impossible...the alternate power market is to entrenched here. They will never allow a situation where people do not need alternative power.

And Do Not Buy A Made By Buster Down The Street Inverter. You are probably just setting yourself up for more headaches, you may damage your good batteries, and you will eventually have to replace Buster's inverter.

 

[Hillbilly]

To answer the OP's original question today

Here at the Hovel, which is in the central part of residential Santiago, near Mc Donalds and the Nacional....we have had 220 hours of blackouts since the 11th of September., and average close to 13 hours a day.

Good to read all of that advice on inverters...

HB

 

[Pib]

We are averaging about 10 to 13 hrs a day with power. However, I don't miss it one bit (well, maybe two bits) thanks to our kickass inverter to which we have connected pretty much everything and has not failed us one second even in the darkest hours (pun intended).

Now, if only MrMike paid me to do so I would tell you that I bought two inverters from him. Both places are powered 24/7 with no problem whatsover, but since I don't get a peso out of it I won't tell you.

 

[Big Steve]

We are averaging about 10 to 13 hrs a day with power. However, I don't miss it one bit (well, maybe two bits) thanks to our kickass inverter to which we have connected pretty much everything and has not failed us one second even in the darkest hours (pun intended).

Now, if only MrMike paid me to do so I would tell you that I bought two inverters from him. Both places are powered 24/7 with no problem whatsover, but since I don't get a peso out of it I won't tell you.

If you don't mind a little more free advertising for mrmike, what did you buy, and what did you pay for that perfect set up?
Just curious

 

[MrMike]

We are averaging about 10 to 13 hrs a day with power. However, I don't miss it one bit (well, maybe two bits) thanks to our kickass inverter to which we have connected pretty much everything and has not failed us one second even in the darkest hours (pun intended).

Now, if only MrMike paid me to do so I would tell you that I bought two inverters from him. Both places are powered 24/7 with no problem whatsover, but since I don't get a peso out of it I won't tell you.

How much do you want?

 

[Pib]

If you don't mind a little more free advertising for mrmike, what did you buy, and what did you pay for that perfect set up?
Just curious

Here we have a 3. something with 8 batteries and in the other place a 2. something with 4 batteries. Not very technical information I am afraid but I have both have memory and little knowledge about inverters.