- #1
apeman
- 1
- 0
Hi everybody... I'm new and was hoping some one could suggest reasonable options for electrical transmission over 1.5 km
I live in costa rica wilderness off grid . Electrical power lines are 1.5 km away...
brief history... I have electrical lines running 1.2 km to my helpers house ... but it is typical costa rican style ... cables attached to the trees lining the road ... 4 ga. /3 conductors ... 240 vac ...hot legs insulated , neutral bare aluminum cable ... this not good but is common practice here ...and it was meant to be only temporary... until the government controlled electrical company finally brought out electricity to my neighbors and me ... well we are 8 yrs waiting... I knew when I put this cable up... there would not be much amperage at the end ... but at the time if it was enough to run a fan, lights and a refrigerator it would be sufficient ...
since installing this I have built me a garage and now a house 300 m from the end of the electrical run ... there is not enough power at our helpers house... let alone thinking of sharing... and we are still getting the runaround from ICE( gov. elect. co name ) bringing us real power... I believe it will happen if we can get our message or embarrass the right person in ICE... but that is still yrs away I believe ... so I'm trying to find a reasonable means of getting power to our house in the mean time ...
right now we have a small solar sys... small bank of batteries powering an inverter... all lighting and is 12vdc ... but we have to crank generators to pump our well water up to water tower... and charge batteries when the sun is not sufficient and to operate tools to continue building our house ...cooking , refrigeration and dryer operate on propane ... not inexpensive but only option at the moment
we are close to finishing the house and was hoping by this time electricity would have been brought out here... and we could live with some amenities ... ... now we are looking for the most reasonable means of providing electricity to at least have sufficient power to run washing machines , refrigerator , water pump ect...30 amps 120/ 240 vac probably would be sufficient ..
other expats who have installed decent solar system have paid $20,000 plus...
I have some knowledge of electricity from my yacht building days and wondered if there is any way to install some kind of transformer or several to reduce the voltage drop over the 1.5km ( approx. 5000').. i know some of step up transformers to higher voltage but feel that could be more dangerous than the existing set up ... unless installing tall polls... insulators... different cable ... not to mention cutting and maintaining all the teak trees along the route!
this is where I'm at ...and don't know what affordable options are out there for this kind of application ... i suppose larger cables would help some... but not much ...and would be very costly to get any significant improvement as cable here is pricey and the distance is not short ... I wondered if there is some kind of booster type transformer to install along the run to maintain voltage / amperage ... are there any practical options for my situation ... appreciate any input .
I live in costa rica wilderness off grid . Electrical power lines are 1.5 km away...
brief history... I have electrical lines running 1.2 km to my helpers house ... but it is typical costa rican style ... cables attached to the trees lining the road ... 4 ga. /3 conductors ... 240 vac ...hot legs insulated , neutral bare aluminum cable ... this not good but is common practice here ...and it was meant to be only temporary... until the government controlled electrical company finally brought out electricity to my neighbors and me ... well we are 8 yrs waiting... I knew when I put this cable up... there would not be much amperage at the end ... but at the time if it was enough to run a fan, lights and a refrigerator it would be sufficient ...
since installing this I have built me a garage and now a house 300 m from the end of the electrical run ... there is not enough power at our helpers house... let alone thinking of sharing... and we are still getting the runaround from ICE( gov. elect. co name ) bringing us real power... I believe it will happen if we can get our message or embarrass the right person in ICE... but that is still yrs away I believe ... so I'm trying to find a reasonable means of getting power to our house in the mean time ...
right now we have a small solar sys... small bank of batteries powering an inverter... all lighting and is 12vdc ... but we have to crank generators to pump our well water up to water tower... and charge batteries when the sun is not sufficient and to operate tools to continue building our house ...cooking , refrigeration and dryer operate on propane ... not inexpensive but only option at the moment
we are close to finishing the house and was hoping by this time electricity would have been brought out here... and we could live with some amenities ... ... now we are looking for the most reasonable means of providing electricity to at least have sufficient power to run washing machines , refrigerator , water pump ect...30 amps 120/ 240 vac probably would be sufficient ..
other expats who have installed decent solar system have paid $20,000 plus...
I have some knowledge of electricity from my yacht building days and wondered if there is any way to install some kind of transformer or several to reduce the voltage drop over the 1.5km ( approx. 5000').. i know some of step up transformers to higher voltage but feel that could be more dangerous than the existing set up ... unless installing tall polls... insulators... different cable ... not to mention cutting and maintaining all the teak trees along the route!
this is where I'm at ...and don't know what affordable options are out there for this kind of application ... i suppose larger cables would help some... but not much ...and would be very costly to get any significant improvement as cable here is pricey and the distance is not short ... I wondered if there is some kind of booster type transformer to install along the run to maintain voltage / amperage ... are there any practical options for my situation ... appreciate any input .