hello, hello – it’s good to be back…

from a glam rocker who will remain unnamed due to his behaviour of late.

And yes, it has been a long time since my last post.  Not that I was away, but work flow was at the extreme end and by the end of each day, posting to the blog was the last thing on my mind.

So what’s been happening in my absence from cyber space?  An awful lot.  Isn’t that an odd expression.  It makes it sound like a lot of awful things have happened.  Which they haven’t – accept for the rain.

When not raining I’ve been out visiting caravan/RV manufacturers and repairers.  Pressing the flesh as it were.  And it’s been a rather successful exercise if I say so myself.  A lot of interest in our products – everything from solar to DC generators.

As a result, we are working on a smaller 12V DC generator, suitable for RV’s & caravans.  They have several advantages over their AC counterparts, some being ~ the fact that they are diesel powered means they can draw fuel from the vehicle/caravans tank;  DC generators are as much as 15% more efficient at producing power than AC generators;  by eliminating any gas powered appliances from the RV/caravan, you will be able to seal it, lesserning the exposure to dust; the fact that the DC generator automatically senses when your battery bank is low or there is a high demand and turns itself on to charge your batteries; and so on.

So just like our solar hybrid system, keep watching this space.  Talking about the solar hybrid system, our most recent delivery to outback QLD has been a real hit.  The delighted owner’s homestead has an 18km drive.  So you can imagine the cost of connecting to the grid.

For years they have relied on a noisy diesel generator that they had to turn on every morning and switch off at night if they wanted to get to sleep.  So lots of noise and even more diesel fuel to keep the thing going.

They now have a quiet stand alone system, based around 12 135W Kyocera solar panels that gives them more than enough power to run their household.  The high end Sonnenschein batteries store the power produced and the PowerMaker DC generator sits there quietly, just in case.

Which is probably this week.  We had dismal days all weekend, and right now it’s bucketing down.  They say this will hang around for a few days yet.  If they’re getting the same as us, there’s no real cause for concern.  The generator will flick in and do its stuff.  Just a couple of hours running is enough to restore the batteries.  A big difference from a clunky diesel generator that needs to run 24/7 if you want or need power.

Tomorrow, I’m on the road again (Willy Nelson).  Heading north this time – all the way to Hervey Bay.  Stopping at about a dozen manufacturers/repairers on the way so should be an interesting day.  As long as this rain stops.  NZ may be the land of the long white cloud, but it seems south east QLD is the land of the long wet periods.

Apparently, this is the pattern to expect this summer, as el nino become el nina or something like that.  Lots of rain and storms.  At least the dams are full and Brisbane shouldn’t be needing our water anymore…

Well, that’s about all folks.  But it felt good submitting a post again.  So this may be the start of a new love affair.  Perhaps we better wait and see…

Namlala unono