Team-BHP - The Home Appliance thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 3722300)

If you have space, buy another 200-300L refrigerator. I have done that.

Yeah, this isn't possible as space is a premium. Otherwise, the idea makes sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 3722538)

We had a Zanussi three door (bought in the UK) for about a decade. We did not find the veggie tray that useful. What we loved (in India on some brands) is the freezer at the bottom. Saves a lot of bending down. My son's Panasonic has it.

Yes, I went window-shopping for fridges last weekend. Good that I went and your recco was correct - the 3 door fridge doesn't really make sense. But I saw some good Samsung models and even a Bosch one that seems to fit the bill perfectly. Any feedback on Bosch fridges?

Window shopping refrigerators here as well. Plan is to purchase one in mid-July.
So far, we've liked this particular EcoNavi Panasonic fridge. SHARP, Hitachi and Bosch were the other brands we checked out but none of them came close to our liking. Panasonic had the largest vegetable box of them all.

Anything else I should watch out for?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ::CMS:: (Post 3725333)

How can they blame on voltage fluctuation for their product to conk off unless it is a very high voltage and resulted in lot of other damages?

Ask him to prove that and if it is indeed due to power fluctuations then its the design flaw, how can somebody else than the manufacturer know what kind of power supply is required for the refrigerator to work unless it is mentioned in the manual? In all other cases its their fault to allow the power fluctuation to enter into their board, its supposed to have proper power supply. Ask them to replace under warranty if it is active.

In general you can argue till you are blue in face, but voltage dependent malfunction is a fact of life, and an excellent scapegoat for the manufacturers. When you design electronics to run where the voltage is stable, you skimp a lot of things and the cost is much lower. That is why consumer grade electronics is half the price of "Industrial Grade" electronics and 1/10 that of "Military Grade".

The long and short of it is if you are using "Foreign" technology consumer electronics in India, you better have a lot of protection against "normal" voltage fluctuations and spikes.

Its not always true, eg TV has its own powersupply with a pretty good stabilizer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 3728084)

a lot of protection against "normal" voltage fluctuations and spikes.

How? I am not aware of a reliable one than an inline ups which is pretty expensive, none of the so called stabilizers are not going to help, the ripples will anyway reach the circuitry before it detects / corrects. Its a myth that the stabilizers will protect always.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramki067 (Post 3725273)

Guys,

Power cuts are errant in our area which is in somewhat outskirts of the city where even Kaveri water is also not available.
Need to buy an inverter and battery to light up 4 tubelights and 3 fans. Kindly suggest good ones and also the capacity of inverter and battery i need to buy.

Thanks,
Ramki

Hi Guys,

Any help will be much useful.

Thanks,
Ramki

Quote:

Originally Posted by nareshov (Post 3726002)

Check out the Whirlpool refrigerators as well, they have a smaller freezer compared to other manufacturers, so more space in the refrigerator :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramki067 (Post 3728972)

Hi Guys,

Any help will be much useful.

Look at Su-Kam or Luminous inverters, they're good. For Batteries Su-Kam is good too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramki067 (Post 3729172)

Thank you NPV. For my requirement, how much capacity inverter/battery is needed?

I couldn't find the sheet I had prepared during my search for a home use Inverter/Battery but if I remember correctly I have a Su-Kam 850 VA Inverter and a Sukam 1800AH battery (Sumo) - your needs might be satisfied by 650VA Inverter and 1200AH battery, but not too sure on this :eek:

Also, I suggest you don't go for something much lower based on your present needs and find it is under-powered few months later since your requirements changed :D

I think a better reference would be the UPS/Inverted thread - here

On the topic of Batteries and Inverters, I have a question. I am using a Microtek inverter (850 VA I suppose) and a Exide tubular battery for the past 4 years.

These days since I have moved into the city, there isn't a lot of power outages and less need for the Inverter itself. But if for some reason the power is off for 30 minutes, the battery is getting charged for almost hours after power is restored.

Is this a sign of weak battery or issue with the inverter? 4 years, is it time to replace the battery? We add distilled water every time we see the float dropping below the red line. That is the only maintenance we have done so far with regards to both the battery and inverter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 3729245)

Don't batteries trickle-charge for the final few % to avoid over-charging? Your battery being 4 years old may well be on its last legs (depends on usage too), but you may want to test its charge-holding capacity before changing anything.

How about turning the mains power off and testing how long the battery holds up under usual load (fans, lights etc.)? That will give you a fair idea.

I am not sure of this trickle charge detail but considering the usage I had in my previous home and now, the battery does seem to get charged very slowly. We have not had a chance to test the backup of the battery for some time now (Touchwood :)). Maybe I shall do it this weekend to understand whether it is as efficient as before.

Thank you for the tip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SchumiFan (Post 3729231)

......the battery is getting charged for almost hours after power is restored........

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramki067 (Post 3728972)

Hi Guys,

Any help will be much useful.

Thanks,
Ramki

Go for 850 VA with a 150 AH Battery. My preferred brand is Sukam-have been using it for a decade. If you have frequent power outages then go for tubular battery otherwise standard battery will suffice. For battery I prefer Exide.

What light fixture would you guys recommend to light up a large 12X14 bedroom that currently looks dark and dim with TWO 20W CFLs on ? One of the walls is a dark color so it doesn't make matters any better either.

I'm contemplating fixing an additional tubelight in the room, hoping that it alone would be sufficient to light up the room under normal usage. The two CFLs could then be used for tasks requiring more lighting. Should I go with the traditional fluorescent tube or an LED tube fixture? What wattage should I choose?

I have a similar room lit up by a traditional tubelight + two LED bulbs (5W, 10W). Initially we had two 5W LED bulbs, but decided to upgrade one of 'em my dad reads in that area of the room.

Our room is quite well lit naturally also, so if yours is not please consider two 10W LEDs. But one tublight is a must since bulbs do not spread the light as much as a tube does.