12-14 February 2018
Blow-by-blow account of How The Electrics Were Fitted:
Monday 12 Feb, am: the part expressed from Germany arrives. Hallelujah. Dave opens the inverter and fits it. We ring Tomas to ask him if he can come to change the wiring from the old system to the new. He says he can come in a few days. We put the phone down and feel the frustration rising like a kettle coming to the boil. Dave looks so hangdog I ring Tomas back and beg him to come sooner. He can't promise anything.
Monday pm: Tomas arrives and changes the wiring - I gush over with gratitude, he's made a special effort. We get Mark on the phone, he is amazed the part has arrived, as he's just had an apology from the courier saying they don't know where it has got to! Mark takes remote control of the computer and tries to make it work. The inverter won't recognise the batteries. We try all sorts. Turning everything on and off several different ways. Nothing doing. Tomas has to go. We have to rewire to the old system or we have no power. We suggest Tomas teaches Dave how to change between the systems - so we have some autonomy. It turns out to be quite easy (should've sorted this out a while ago). Mark says we'll try again tomorrow.
Tuesday am: early call from Mark. His small kids have brought home gastroenteritis from kindergarten and the whole family is prostrate, including Mark, can we postpone to Wednesday? Meanwhile, we should try everything we can think of with the wiring and the programming to make it connect, we can't do any damage!
Tuesday pm: as a last resort, Dave reads the manual (it was on CD and we forgot we had it) and tries the troublesome connection in a different socket - not the one that was expressed from Germany. It turns out we didn't need that part, the model has been updated and one of the sockets already installed was the one we needed. (Aaaaaaaargh!) Connection is established. But the solar panel inverter still needs to be programmed.
Wednesday dawns dull and overcast. The one battery currently talking to the system is showing 27%. We are an hour ahead of Mark in Germany, and Dave is champing at the bit. Simon arrives, to investigate what is needed to fit the bath. Tomas arrives, with the last few light fittings. Mark rings, he's good to go, so we start warming up the computers. The delivery driver with the washing machine rings - he's on the bypass and needs me to find him and lead him here. We are having a manic Wednesday.
In the kitchen, the washing machine and dishwasher are hastily stuffed into (luckily pre-cleared) spaces, Tomas is agreeable to fitting the cooker hood, and Simon tells us to level the bath and he'll be back to fit it next week.
In the utility room, Mark and Dave are making all the different parts of the system talk to each other - with some trouble - the stuff is so new, even the customer services people Mark rings have to check with technical and get back to him. Tomas finishes and leaves. We're on our own - Dave says, 'Throw the switch, Igor!', so I do. And it works.
Dazed and confused, beyond the point of celebration, we plug in the 2000 watt kettle and make tea.
Blow-by-blow account of How The Electrics Were Fitted:
Monday 12 Feb, am: the part expressed from Germany arrives. Hallelujah. Dave opens the inverter and fits it. We ring Tomas to ask him if he can come to change the wiring from the old system to the new. He says he can come in a few days. We put the phone down and feel the frustration rising like a kettle coming to the boil. Dave looks so hangdog I ring Tomas back and beg him to come sooner. He can't promise anything.
Monday pm: Tomas arrives and changes the wiring - I gush over with gratitude, he's made a special effort. We get Mark on the phone, he is amazed the part has arrived, as he's just had an apology from the courier saying they don't know where it has got to! Mark takes remote control of the computer and tries to make it work. The inverter won't recognise the batteries. We try all sorts. Turning everything on and off several different ways. Nothing doing. Tomas has to go. We have to rewire to the old system or we have no power. We suggest Tomas teaches Dave how to change between the systems - so we have some autonomy. It turns out to be quite easy (should've sorted this out a while ago). Mark says we'll try again tomorrow.
Tuesday am: early call from Mark. His small kids have brought home gastroenteritis from kindergarten and the whole family is prostrate, including Mark, can we postpone to Wednesday? Meanwhile, we should try everything we can think of with the wiring and the programming to make it connect, we can't do any damage!
Tuesday pm: as a last resort, Dave reads the manual (it was on CD and we forgot we had it) and tries the troublesome connection in a different socket - not the one that was expressed from Germany. It turns out we didn't need that part, the model has been updated and one of the sockets already installed was the one we needed. (Aaaaaaaargh!) Connection is established. But the solar panel inverter still needs to be programmed.
Wednesday dawns dull and overcast. The one battery currently talking to the system is showing 27%. We are an hour ahead of Mark in Germany, and Dave is champing at the bit. Simon arrives, to investigate what is needed to fit the bath. Tomas arrives, with the last few light fittings. Mark rings, he's good to go, so we start warming up the computers. The delivery driver with the washing machine rings - he's on the bypass and needs me to find him and lead him here. We are having a manic Wednesday.
In the kitchen, the washing machine and dishwasher are hastily stuffed into (luckily pre-cleared) spaces, Tomas is agreeable to fitting the cooker hood, and Simon tells us to level the bath and he'll be back to fit it next week.
In the utility room, Mark and Dave are making all the different parts of the system talk to each other - with some trouble - the stuff is so new, even the customer services people Mark rings have to check with technical and get back to him. Tomas finishes and leaves. We're on our own - Dave says, 'Throw the switch, Igor!', so I do. And it works.
Dazed and confused, beyond the point of celebration, we plug in the 2000 watt kettle and make tea.
Computers and camp stools in the utility
White goods hastily stuffed out from under foot
The bath - to be levelled. Two years up against a wall!
Everything open and being investigated
Tomas and Panos with Dave in the kitchen - fitting lights and the new cooker hood
At last, all the lights showing green - what a marathon!
The new kettle - which takes more power boiling two cups of water than we could supply in total with our old inverter. Hurrah for the new system. Happy Valentine's Day!
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