www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I think the solar idea would be good. I have seen kits on the internet that explain how to hook it up to your home. Wether it works, otr the kits are worth it, I don't know.

PURA VIDA!

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Livin' & Lovin' in Key Largo....oh....And the one in The Keys, too!

I would like to hear about experiences with solar power in CR. Any experiences?

Generators make good practical sense if you need cheap backup power. The downside is there is a lapse before it kicks in or the other stops - which kills your home theatre and/or office or sensitive stuff. I want seamless power. No blips. Consistent. Plus the noise of the generator ain't too good on young ears.

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Okay, here is the final tab or estimate to make this work:

Xandrex Power Hub 1800 = $599.99 (via internet, reg price is $999)
2 marine batteries from Pricesmart $121 each
Shipping via Jetbox Economy $25

Installation - I will use my handy guy at $5 per hour.

So, for about $900 you can have seamless backup power in CR. With two batteries, you get 220 amp hours. So, depending on what you want to run, you could get a lot of backup time.

I figure with my house.. office, kitchen and everything else which is 120 volts, I will get 6-8 hours of clean UPS backup. I can also add two more batteries to double that up to 16 hours.

FYI...

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

If I had seen this thread I would have weighed in sooner.
I own an island in the Bahamas, and am completely self sufficient electrically.

I use solar panels and a small wind driven generator to keep a 12 v bank of batteries charged. You could use city power to charge the batteries, and just use solar panels for the backup.

The generator is designed for a sailboat, and cost about a $800 if my memory serves me. All electrical items in the house are 12volt, also RV items. (radio, stereo, TV, all lights).

I use propane for cooking and have a LPG refrigerator that works great. If you are not familiar with this technology visit a RV dealer for a demo.

Heated water is from solar cells on the roof.

If you leave 110 volt accessories out of the mix, or just limit their use to when you have city power life is easy.

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It is cheaper to pay now and get it over with.
It is also easier to get them to leave.

I have been looking at alternitive power
Yes it is green and I like that but for just one house it is cost way to much.
One thing I just found out is the batteries cost a bundle and they do not last 3 years tops panels wear out as well but they should be good for 30 years if you buy top shelf.
I know you would like to not have a switch over for all your stuff?
With a gen set which is what I have ..power out... gen starts power back on takes about 15 seconds
Runs on propane not overly load and runs the whole house 12000 watts but that is over kill
This is not CR wisdom but NH can be as backward at times

one wouldn't know by the inhabitants thanks for clearing that up for us

I think you have something seriously wrong with your calculations. You think you're going to run your whole house on an 1800 Watt UPS? And two marine batteries will give you 8 hours? Try 80 minutes if you're lucky and if you don't fry it by putting too much strain.

Also, bear in mind that the capacity of batteries decreases as the load increases. So 10 amps at 20 hours (200 Ah) is not the same as 5 amps at 40 hours. So, if your math told you 220 Ah at your discharge rate should give you 8 hours, it's more like 5.. 5.5 hours. Assuming the rest of your calculations are correct.

My Liebert UPS has 3 high capacity batteries. This lasts for about 75 minutes with an 1100 W load. That doesn't include my refridgerator, TV, Oven, A/C, etc...

You may be right. Its all an estimate. I'm planning to run 4 rooms, which are all 110 voltz. I plan to be able to scale to 4 batteries if the basic concept works.

So, you are using 200 AH batteries? Where did you find them in CR?

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

You should get deep cycle batteries.
Something like this should do well.
http://www.trojanbattery.com/Products/27TMX12V.aspx

They have a dealer in Costa Rica.
Their dealer info number (in USA) is 1-562-236-3000 .

IMO the inverter idea is a poor one for more than an hour or so.

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It is cheaper to pay now and get it over with.
It is also easier to get them to leave.

The big problem now is finding a good deal on batteries in CR. I'm looking for 200 AH and up. Any ideas?

I did a study on Trojan and their presence is in Florida, not CR. The problem is shipping. Its considered to be hazardous material... my shipper won't accept it.

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Chi, 1800 watts is one hair dryer running and nothing else. That is the max output. You can set it up to put out 1800watts for days. But at 1900watts it will fry. I saw earlier where it was pointed out that you need more wattage for out put. I agree. A small generator puts out 3000 to 6000 watts. 3000watts divided by 120volts = 25 amps. 3000watts divided by 240volts = 12.5 amps.

The 1800watt hair dryer draws 15amps at 120volts. that is enough to keep your computer running or a sump pump running, Or a refrigator running. You can add battery life up to weeks. But you can not change the fact that max output will always be limitted to 1800 watts.

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Take a walk on the wild side.

Well shit!!! Here is what I ordered:

Example Applications
Home Backup Power: Will run a refrigerator fridge, freezer, sump pump, microwave, air pump, fish
tank lamp, home alarm system or garage door
Emergency Power: Will run essential electronics such as a 20” TV, radio, fan, mobile and
cordless phone, and a 40 W emergency light
Small/Home Office Backup Power: Will run a laptop, desktop and 20” LCD or CRT monitor, 600 W
office lamp, inkjet printer, 4-in-1copier/printer/fax/scanner, internet modem, VoIP phone, mobile phone
and cordless phone
Product Features
• Delivers up to 1800 watts of 120vAC electrical power
• Delivers up to 2880 watts of surge capacity
• Automatic Transfer to/from backup power
• Automatic Charger and Battery Monitoring System
• Directly support wind and solar up to 1330 watts
• Four 115vAC power outlets for operating multiple devices simultaneously
• Digital LED display indicator, displays battery capacity status and total wattage being
drawn from the battery bank.
• No emissions, no exhaust, no moving parts, silent operation

I hope I can run my dam office on this.

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.

Note that it says "or". You may run any 1 of these things.



That's not a lot of stuff. The TV is about 400w, the rest is probably about 200w total.



This seems like a lot. Laptops are designed to run on pretty broad power requirements. But a desktop with 20" LCD or CRT is about 400-600W. And that's for a lower end destkop, not used for gaming or transcoding DVD's or anything like that, which would increase power draw.



This is good. It means you can run 1800w consistently and still have some wiggle room for surge. But remember that powering on electronics is often a huge drain, and that's where surge is needed.

I hope I can run my dam office on this.[/quote]

You can probably run your office, assuming it's one computer and some supports stuff. But I wouldn't expect to run your whole house.

Oh, and the batteries for my UPS came with the Liebert. So i don't now where you'd find them here. I've seen some at EPA, but that was a while ago.

The Mad German is right. You can run your office. Just do not exceed the 1800 watts. You see you can plug 4 ext cords into it. Then do not put anything on the end of the cord and you will not overload it. Or 4 rooms. Just do not turn anything on.

The spec's look good. It probally does not run across the battery's. They are on the charger and switch on. Just read the name plates on the stuff you are plugging in. Do not exceed the rating of the ups. You will be fine.
The spec's look good enough that you might beable to hook the computer up to it and when the ups gets to low power it will tell the CPU to turn off in a controled way. Who cares about the printer or monitor. You will not loose info. Just do not over load it. Actually buy a surge arrestor that has a 15amp overload trip on it. And that will protect you from overloading the ups. Do not forget that there are a lot of brownouts in CR. When your UPS see's low voltage [ 104 or so it will go to battery ] Which is good because your equipment life is shortened by brownouts and UPS's protect agaisnt them also.

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Take a walk on the wild side.

For my motor home I just purchased some deep cycle six volt batteries which are sealed. A company in Azusa, California makes them. They are supposed to be maintenance free and last three years longer than Trojans which came stock with my RV.

Chi, I think you live at the beach. Did you look into one of the small wind powered systems? You should have a nice daily breeze. There are a couple of islands in Boston harbor that have huge windmill systems that light the entire town.

Just a thought.