December | 2012 | Thompson Life & Travels

After receiving a power bill of $1400 three months ago, $400 more than our normal $1000 bill, it was time to look at alternatives.

Without going primitive, the only viable option was solar.

We have been looking at it for a while but it always seemed too expensive. But with most things, over time the prices do eventually come down and now was the time to take the plunge but I am sure it will be even cheaper in the future.

So after looking at a number of different options – Chinese vs German vs Italian inverters, Chinese vs German vs Canadian panels – it was decided to go for a German Sunny Boy inverter and Canadian Solar panels. Then what size system and this was a matter of matching available funds against available systems and ended up with a 4 kW system.

Today was installation day and of course it was cloudy.

The installation team started at 8:00 am and had it all finished and connected by 11:30 am.

Even with the clouds, It was putting out enough to turn the electricity meter backwards – haven’t seen that before. 🙂

At the time of writing, we have generated 8 kW in 5 hours and that is with cloud cover so cant wait until the sun comes out. 🙂

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Today was a special day, in that as well as being a 12 of 12 day it was also the 12/12/12 – this won’t happen for another 100 years and I don’t think I will be here for that one …

Wednesday is bin day and they came around early today – it was going to be a hot day with a top temperature of 37C (99F).

The pool was ready and with the kids on school holidays, it would get a work out today.

What wasn’t working was the airconditioning on the Nissan Patrol. It had died slowly last night coming home from work but had nothing but heat this morning.

After calling into the post office to check for the mail, I was starting to get hot under the collar by the time I got to work.

Called the Nissan dealer to explain the predicament and they said bring it in – great.

After lunching across from Unley Nissan, it looked to be taking a bit longer than they expected so back to work for a few more hours.

Adelaide was subject again in this time with more of the tropical weather we are becoming accustomed to, with more thunderstorms and floodings. High humidity and high temperatures soon takes it out of you.

The car was ready by the knock off time but there was no one around to drop me back to the dealer. Time for a new experience (not that new – just haven’t done it for a while) with taking public transport to pick up the car.

Being the 12/12/12, there is of course a geocaching event and tonight’s was in the Badlands (north of Grand Junction Road) – 12.12.12. – The end of the Flippen ‘Numbers. It was a good turnout with a BBQ and good company.

My plan today was to find 12 geocaches today but lost count and overachieved with 13 finds. 🙂

Made it home around 10:30 pm and that finishes a very different 12 of 12 ….