|
Post by cernunnos on Dec 3, 2022 18:18:56 GMT 1
All the previously mentioned caveats apply. A wind charger or solar panel will require a battery (or batteries) to feed into and some sort of regulator to avoid over-charging the battery. Then if you want 240v mains from that stored power you will need an appropriately sized inverter. If you want to run sensitive electronic gadgets it is best to have a pure sine wave inverter. All of this costs real money, especially if you desire a decent amount of power or backup time span. And don't forget, the 12 volt circuit will suffer heavy losses over longer runs if you don't wire it with much thicker (more expensive) cable due to resistive losses. The inverter also sucks up a percentage of the power fed into it, the conversion doesn't come as a freebie. Every time you convert one type of energy into another there is an efficiency loss. Ever notice how a battery charger or power supply gets warm when running? That is partial loss of energy throughput, converted to heat. Apart from needing to match all the components carefully to suit your needs, none of it is cheap. People tend to go for the simplest solution for a temporary power supply. A small petrol powered generator. Or if the power cuts are expected to be longer lasting and needs are substantial, a diesel powered generator. How intense is your worry? How deep is your pocket? The worry is not intense , the pocket is still good . I know bit about lots but not a lot about small sized wind turbines , but have been investigating and they certainly look a better proposition than banks of solar panels. A company called Tesup looks good, they also have regulators and inverters. I already plan to buy a diesel generator as backup anyway ( we have enough diesel )
Polar Ing.
I won't be building a tower , we have no neighbours and I know the Dutch !
|
|
|
Post by pcpa on Dec 3, 2022 18:49:03 GMT 1
We used to get quite a few power cuts as we are 'au bout du réseau, madame' as I was told by the person I spoke to when I inquired why us ? There is no reason why being at the end of the line should have more power cuts other than more cabling upstream to get damaged. Volt drop is the real problem of being at the end of the line. I am the 3rd to last house on our branch which is pretty much the furthest road from the village centre, I get volt drop if I use the electric heating in the caravan but that is from the hook up lead (maybe 30%) and more significantly from the insufficient house wiring, generally the voltage that arrives remains above the 230vac threshold regardless of the load being pulled on 2 out of the 3 phases but the phase which feeds my ballon is under 230v even when I'm drawing nothing on it, you can see it drop as the heures creuses kicks in and everyone else starts loading the newtwork. I will be moving from 9kva tri-phasé to 6kva monophasé and will make darned sure they dont connect me to the low voltage phase!
|
|
Nifty
Member
Posts: 4,986
|
Post by Nifty on Dec 4, 2022 10:12:55 GMT 1
Get some of this now
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on Dec 4, 2022 12:34:44 GMT 1
@ pcpa, end of the line problems ( en bout de ligne): only voltage drop? The legal limits for ENEDIS have stepped in line with the EU regs, +/- 10 % in monophasé. Not higher than 253 V and not lower than 207 V. Too low a major problem? Most of our external power supplies for laptops and mobile phones mention: AC input 240 - 100 V. A chauffe-eau électrique takes perhaps 10, 30 minutes more to heat up to 67 C. Equipment with electrical motors or compressors and microwave ovens are probably the first to not appreciate these low voltages. Dimming our old incandescent light bulbs: cosy under the Christmas tree, also in a caravan. LED-lights: perhaps time to get my old huge step-down transformer to do something more useful than collecting dust, see what happens. The producers use different technologies, so a quick lab test will not be conclusive for the many leds produced the last ten years. And the other problem, end of line? More important, voltage spikes. Someone upstream, a real power consumer, switches off or on amp hungry equipment. Interesting things will happen, in your case as if a great wave splashed up against a quay wall. I've lost two laptop powersupplies, measured the mains and it was surprisingly high at 255 V. If a spike rides on top of this keep your fingers crossed. And even at the lower end around 205 V these things happen. I remember the problems Tektronix experienced with their once brandnew line of low-cost scopes, the mid eighties 2213 and 2215 series, in Scotland. Many returns the first years, the modern switched-mode power supplies (voltage breakdown in semiconductors) didn't like the harsh voltage climate in the Highlands. A bit of gloating in the Philips laboratories in Nijmegen, always trying to get more market acceptance for their professional measurement equipment: Tektronix - the Rolls Royce of oscilloscope technology - had problems! We can do better...... To conclude: of course you can try to convince the ENEDIS technicians that they should get L1, L2 or L3 for your raccordement in single-phase, away from the problems of a 9kVA supply in three-phase. You could also have a look at surge protection, upfront in your tableau-électrique and/or surge protector outlets, downstream, low cost. Also helpful: a nice low earthing resistance, about 15 or 20 ohms.
|
|
|
Post by pcpa on Dec 4, 2022 13:11:42 GMT 1
Thankyou Robert, I had not realised that the tolerance was now 10% so all is well as far as Enedis are concerned.
Where I am noticing it is the caravan heater, I run on gas, no heating at night but have a 1 hour boost of the 2kw electric heater for one hour before I get up to take the chill off things, unless it has been a very mild night then the thermostat will not kick in as it will not get up to the temp I have set.
I have it controlled by a Domotique timer relay with energy monitoring set by and monitored by a phone app (Tuya) so I can see how much power it is using, it is never the 2kw it should be due to the supply voltage and subsequent volt drops on my installation, at best it consumes 1.75 KW hours in the 60 minutes, today being a cold night with more demand on the réseau and lower supply voltage it only consumed 1.6 KW hours, it had heated to 10.8 degrees, were it able to deliver the full 2kw it would have been warmer.
I could set the timer for a longer period but its other function is to awaken me when the fan speeds up so it would be too early.
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on Dec 4, 2022 13:23:04 GMT 1
The old ERDF limits didn't change too much: it used to be monophasé/triphasé not higher than 244 /423 volts and not lower than 207/358 volts. Nominal voltages of 230 and 400. Which explains my surprise when measuring 255 volts with these old limits still in mind.
|
|
|
Post by cernunnos on Dec 4, 2022 13:46:12 GMT 1
When we arrived here , more than 30 years ago now, there were major problems with the power supply . We lost a lot of electrical equipment and bought a belkin to protect our computers. Many complaints later ( all disregarded by the EDF ) they upgraded the high tension lines and decided (probably the cheapest route) to provide our house with it's own transformer.
Remembering that nearly the whole village was uninhabited then.
Since then, no further problems.
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on Dec 5, 2022 13:06:17 GMT 1
@ ppcpa, voltage drop, energy losses and (re)wiring. Perhaps the ENEDIS has to upgrade your existing cables, type 1 or type 2 raccordement to the local grid. From four thin cables in three-phase to two in single-phase They have to respect these voltage limits. Cable sizes, information provided by Promotelec.Inside the French NFC 15-100 regs apply.
|
|
|
Post by spectrum on Dec 5, 2022 13:45:45 GMT 1
Thankyou Robert, I had not realised that the tolerance was now 10% so all is well as far as Enedis are concerned. Where I am noticing it is the caravan heater, I run on gas, no heating at night but have a 1 hour boost of the 2kw electric heater for one hour before I get up to take the chill off things, unless it has been a very mild night then the thermostat will not kick in as it will not get up to the temp I have set. Why are you in a caravan? if I may ask, we spent 11yrs in one on our field, no water and no mains electric, we did eventually get connected for about two years, then EDF cut us off as they would not supply to temp homes ie caravans, motorhomes, cabins etc, it was a local (English) that reported us. As for off grid I have recommended this firm for information before. (Barden-Uk.com)
|
|
|
Post by pcpa on Dec 5, 2022 13:51:26 GMT 1
House too disgusting to even consider camping inside, priority is land clearance and workshop facilities before the renovation, I do now have a kitchen in the unheated uninsulated sous-sol, next step is to create an insulated shower room, at present for number 2's I have to use the loo on the first floor and it makes me sick each time just to touch a light switch, the flush handle etc or to sit amongst the grime.
|
|
|
Post by robertarthur on Dec 6, 2022 11:41:48 GMT 1
@ pcpa, after many years (10+?) of renovating your house in the north of France back to square one in the south? A house with a view, more sunshine and an opportunity to insulate as much as possible to lower your heating bill?
|
|
|
Post by pcpa on Dec 6, 2022 12:17:38 GMT 1
Yes, yes, yes and yes!
|
|
Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Dec 6, 2022 12:24:45 GMT 1
And masochistic tendencies.
|
|
|
Post by pcpa on Dec 6, 2022 13:23:06 GMT 1
It's what I enjoy and gives me fulfillment.
I am as happy as a pig in s**t!
Just as well as that is how I am living!
|
|
|
Post by houpla on Dec 6, 2022 19:22:15 GMT 1
Living in a caravan while renovating is very much like childbirth Once you've been living in a beautiful, warm, dry house with all facilities for about ten years, you forget the pain and look back at the 'camping' without whimpering or nightmares
|
|