Team-BHP - The Home Appliance thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3645020)

1. Big idea: Use the sun to generate as much power as I use in ACs during the day

or

2. Small idea: Use to sun to generate at least the 150-200 Watts that me and my computer corner is using all day.

I don't think that either is financially feasible with the current cost of technology.

Search for SuKam Solar Conversion kit. A 16 amp solar controller will cost ~ 3000 in ebay. Add 100watts solar panel and you can charge your inverters using solar to an extend. This should take care of your small idea.

Running AC on solar though possible is not at all cost effective as of today.

I am running a low cost setup for my router and other small 12v accessories using a chinese 10A solar controller (Rs 700) directly connected to battery. No inverters or ups involved since my requirements are 12v.

I did look at the Sukam stuff a while back. They have this setup called a brainy: a hybrid mains-power/solar inverter. Nice, but if I remember right, I'd need to add one more panel to meet my needs, and that put it beyond budget.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diyguy (Post 3645165)

I would think charging inverter batteries should be possible and is probably available now. We have two inverters at home and not sure how much power they consume to keep them going. Chennai is kind of blessed offlate with almost no power cuts. A friend of mine disconnected his inverter to save power.

Hee hee, our power was off for the whole of yesterday afternoon! But no, it wasn't a power cut, but a cut cable.

Beware of speaking "too soon" about the power situation. We are still in the easy part of the year. Let's see how things are as next month brings us higher temperatures, more AC use, etc etc.

Both my projects would be possible. To support one or more Ac machines using solar power would probably cost about the same as a diesel generator of similar capacity (guessing here, although I have looked at prices of both in the past). One would not have to buy diesel, but then it wouldn't work at night without a stack of batteries.

I wonder how much an inverter costs just sitting there keeping the batteries charged. I have a feeling it may add as much as 5% to the bill?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3645261)

I wonder how much an inverter costs just sitting there keeping the batteries charged. I have a feeling it may add as much as 5% to the bill?

I hope not 😟
I have a plug watt meter, will hook it up and check.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3645261)

I wonder how much an inverter costs just sitting there keeping the batteries charged. I have a feeling it may add as much as 5% to the bill?

I guess it may be more like 5% of the inverter rating and not overall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diyguy (Post 3636126)

Have you tried, as a practice to change the program every time you start? I.e start with a dummy program and then do what you usually do as above? Does it work consistently? Sounds like a logic board issue to me. Try and get a second hand board and attempt a replacement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 3637276)

Sounds logical. Will try this and check.

Tried this and it worked. Problem recurs but not as often as earlier.

This brings me to the next question: repair or replace?

The IFB has served us well for 7+ years. This is the first issue we had. Recent buyers of dishwashers, please give your inputs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 3645725)

A 7 year old washer is probably not a good idea to spend too much on. In Chennai there is a second hand spares market for Washing Machines and Refrigerators etc. Here you get all used spares really cheap. Find a mechanic who can get you a spare easily for a few 1000s. Alternately IFB are notorious for paying AMC and they will replace the spare for you, free. My friend just did this recently. They claim the spare against some other customer who is in AMC and redirect that to you. Its a win-win for all, except IFB I imagine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3645020)

See this video about running an AC on solar power https://www.youtube.com/embed/SnL4YCIEiTc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pallavi (Post 3645725)

Alternatively if you can find a way to update the firmware on the board, may work too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by manim (Post 3645825)

My 800va APC Sine-wave UPS consumes 20 watts at trickle-charge.
I measured this with the digital energy-meter fitted recently in my house.

This is less than half an unit per day so a small price to pay to keep the battery fully charged and on standby.

Thank you.

I think I got confused between the standby cost and the drain/recharge cost. The former is very small, whereas the latter is much more than I thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 3647190)

Does any washing machine have an over-load indicator ?

eg: If the machine has a 6kg capacity, will it indicate that the capacity has been reached ?

I checked the manual of my LG - F12B4ND25 (6kg direct drive). There are two codes for "Motor Over Load" - CE and LE.

Though I have not encountered the codes, it can mean that the Machine will not start if the codes are displayed. Reducing the load will clear the codes.

The machine does a startup check to detect the dry load and to redistribute the clothes evenly. Only after that does it display the total was time. For normal wash the time varies from 1 hour for a light load to 2.5 hours for a heavy load, every other setting being same.