17055: Jhudicourt: Re: 17023: Taylor: Power struggle in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com

"Reply to:

From: Nick Taylor <nick@binaryheart.co.uk>

I am heading out into the Haitian countryside in about three weeks time.
There is no electricity where i am so i want to buy a generator and inverter
with enough power to run a laptop some lights and charge batteries. Could
anyone on the list advise me of a good place to buy in Haiti or should i buy
in the Dominican republic on my way over. And is there any other factors
that anyone knows that i should consider in my purchase such as fuel type?"

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There is no reason to buy your electrical equipment outside of Haiti.  If you
buy it in Haiti you will also be buying the chance to have it installed and
serviced by the company you buy it from.  Haitian companies don't like to
service and sell parts for products they did not sell.  You may be able to work
with only solar panels and batteries if your electrical needs are limited.
Otherwise diesel fuel is more accessible and cheaper than gas and regular gasoline.
  If you will need refrigeration you may want to consider having a gas
refrigerator rather than trying to run a refrigerator on solar power.  Some people
also choose to run a small freezer on solar  power and do without a
refrigerator. There are many vendors of electrical equipment in Port-au-Prince.  Some of
them are Valerio Canez, Maison Fequiere, Soged, Automeca, Solar Energy
Products, Maxime Castera.  One of my friends had Valerio Canez install Solar Panels,
an inverter and Batteries last summer all the way in the Northeast area
between Cap Haitien and the Dominican border.
Before you make your decisions you should know where in your area you will
find fuel to buy.  If your budget is low you may want to have a small solar
system, a 12 volt system for lights running directly from the batteries, and your
inverter for the computer.  12 volt lights are sort of an underused old
fashion system but I bought some very good 12volt bulbs at Maison Taluy that look
like neon energy-saver bulbs.  They were good enough for reading and they did
not attract bugs (a definite plus if you have no screens).