Back in 2005, Inverters R Us (our source for inverters) had a contest for the most interesting use of their products. Pete sent in this letter. I found yesterday and thought I’d pop it up here.

———————

Dear Inverters R Us,

I run the AIDG, an NGO working in Guatemala to train Guatemalan engineering students how to build low cost wind, hydro, solar, and biogas, systems. I brought 4 of your inverters down with me in my luggage at the start of the project. All of them were modified sine wave, 2X800 watts and 2X400 watts. They have been here and are well used. We have used the 800-watt to run a small rock hammer from our truck battery to drill base rebar attachments for windmill towers we have installed in rural communities. In two different test windmill installations we left a 400 and 800-watt inverter. The 400 was for a small 300-watt water pump for the family, as well as TV and compact florescent lighting. The battery bank is 4 car batteries, charged by the windmill we put up. The 800 is on a 6 car battery bank and is for a small dorm style fridge, sewing machine as well as TV, and fluorescent lighting, also charged by one of our windmills. They use the sewing machine to make soccer jerseys for local teams, income which greatly subsidizes their agricultural incomes.

During Hurricane Stan, the inverters were of great use in the shop. Except for the worst points when the rains and flooding were most intense and we weren’t working for safety reasons (landslides came down just 2 blocks from us), the inverter gave us the ability to work while the power was out in the city. I put the battery bank and inverter system in the shop due to numerous brownouts and short blackouts here. During the storm I was especially grateful. We charged laptops, cell phones, ran lighting, did some cuts with the reciprocating saw to put some braces in to reinforce the waterlogged and sagging roof. We ran our small circuit board drill for some charge controller circuits we were building for a hydro project. I took a car battery and 400-watt inverter back to my girlfriend so she could keep running her laptop and working on her thesis for the duration of the storm.

The prices here for most electronic and electrical goods are much higher than they are in the states. A 30 USD sander or drill in the sates can run 120 USD here. Inverters are no exception.

Here, a 100-watt inverter costs as much as your 800 watt inverter. Having a low cost high quality emergency power is something that has been indispensable for us here. Attached is a picture of one of your inverters in a traditional Guatemalan home when we were first setting up and testing at the windmill site with the sewing machine.

Peter Haas
AIDG, Inc.
www.aidg.org

Bookmark blog post on:
Del.icio.us    digg    FURL    reddit    Stumble Upon