Thanks guys for the info, much appreciated.<br><br>@Mutinda, I am not sure where @Kuria got his quote from, but one time I was walking along parliament road and had a chance to see the name of the company on the underside of the solar street lights there. Unfortunately, I forgot it, but it was something like *Powerlight*<br>
<br>I think Davis &amp; Shirtliff also have a rather well developed solar power department based on comments their MD made on tv a while back.<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 3:32 PM, Nicholas Mutinda <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:mutindah@gmail.com" target="_blank">mutindah@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p>Where did you get your quote from @kuria</p>
<p>Sent from my android mobile device</p><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 22, 2012 8:16 AM, &quot;Gichingiri Kuria&quot; &lt;<a href="mailto:gmail@gichingiri.com" target="_blank">gmail@gichingiri.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">

A solar set up totally independent of Kenya Power is a costly set up. I got a quote of about Ksh. 300,000 for my place where I spend about Ksh. 1,500 per month on elec bills. Power outage incovinences aside, the investment will take over 15 years to pay itself back.<br>


<br>The solar guys gave an option of building up the solar system in phases:<br><ol><li>For starters, get batteries and inverter that charges from Kenya Power as a power backup.</li><li>Add solar pannels to charge from solar as a power back up</li>


<li>Increase pannels and batteries for longer duration power back up</li><li>Migrate to full use of solar</li></ol><p><br></p><p><br></p><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 22 June 2012 08:02, Philip Musyoki <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:pmusyoki@gmail.com" target="_blank">pmusyoki@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>


<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Peter,<div><br></div><div>Those solar powered lights, in the most basic configuration, have 3 components:</div><div><ol>


<li>A solar panel,</li><li>A solar charge controller,</li><li>A battery,</li><li>An inverter.</li></ol>

<div><br></div><div>The panal charges the battery during the day, and solar charge controller controls the charge rate to the battery to make sure it is not over-charged.</div><div><br></div><div>During the night, the inverter converts the battery charge to either AC/DC power that then power the lights.</div>




<div><br></div><div>The lighting units must have a casing somewhere,probably high up in the pole to deter thieves to house these systems.</div><div><br></div><div>About charging you laptop, I guess it is possible. Most inverters can handle loads of upwards of 750 W, which should be sufficient for your laptops.</div>




<div><br></div><div>Right now the most costly part of a solar system is the panels. Good, quality panels of around 150 W would costs around USD 1000. And fully charge a battery system to power your laptops or office all day and night, you will need to do a load calculation and see how large of a solar system you need,considering the amount of hours of charge and so on</div>




<div><br></div>Suffice is to say Kenya Power may end up being cheaper, albeit unreliable in the short term. But costs for solar systems are coming down, owing to Eastern manufactures, so maybe in a couple of years you will be able to bypass Kenya Power altogether.</div>




<div><br></div><div><br></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Skunkworks mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke" target="_blank">Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke</a><br>
------------<br>
List info, subscribe/unsubscribe<br>
<a href="http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks" target="_blank">http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks</a><br>
------------<br>
<br>
Skunkworks Rules<br>
<a href="http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94</a><br>
------------<br>
Other services @ <a href="http://my.co.ke" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Gichingiri Kuria<br>_________________________________________<br><a href="http://www.website.co.ke" target="_blank">www.website.co.ke</a> / <a href="http://www.sokoletu.co.ke" target="_blank">www.sokoletu.co.ke</a><br>



<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Skunkworks mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke" target="_blank">Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke</a><br>
------------<br>
List info, subscribe/unsubscribe<br>
<a href="http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks" target="_blank">http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks</a><br>
------------<br>
<br>
Skunkworks Rules<br>
<a href="http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94</a><br>
------------<br>
Other services @ <a href="http://my.co.ke" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke</a><br></blockquote></div>
</div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
Skunkworks mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke">Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke</a><br>
------------<br>
List info, subscribe/unsubscribe<br>
<a href="http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks" target="_blank">http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks</a><br>
------------<br>
<br>
Skunkworks Rules<br>
<a href="http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94</a><br>
------------<br>
Other services @ <a href="http://my.co.ke" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Regards,<br>Peter Karunyu<br>-------------------<br><br>