The Generator

This is a quick post about the generator. It is amazing how God works. The generator is a General Electric 30KW diesel generator from the 1980’s. It was purchased by the town of Yata (which is about a 10 minute drive from the school) new so the town could have power. After the purchase no one wanted to pay for the electricity (to cover the cost of the fuel), they all wanted it for free. As a result of this failed attempt to electrify the town of Yata this generator ended up sitting having been used very little. Over time someone ended up taking the starter off of the generator before finally being sold to the school. A previous director of the school heard of the sale and decided to take a look. He was able to purchase an approximately $20,000USD generator for $1,000USD! Granted it had sat awhile and who knew if it would start since there was no starter (which helped get the price down), but still, it was a steal. God provided a little used generator that only needed a new starter at an amazingly low price!

Ruan recently did a “temporary” hook-up of the generator, inverters, and a new set of batteries. Hopefully someday an electrical contractor or electrical engineer can come down and take a look at the system and help to wire a more permanent hook-up for the three phase system. Just the short time that the generator and batteries have been hooked up has been a real blessing as we don’t have to be concerned about losing electrical power so quickly. We can have our laptops plugged in at night! Don’t have to shower by candle light anymore either.

But before the generator photos:

Can you guess what this is?

This is a cashew. We won’t be eating the nuts, but we will eat the fruit. Do a little research on the web about cashews and you will find that there is a dangerous process involved in getting to the nut because the nut is surrounded by a toxic fluid.

The General Electric 30KW diesel generator. The battery on the ground is for the electrical start. At the time of the photo Ruan & Clint where doing some work on the electrical setup of the generator (hence the tube jutting from the left side).

Ruan hooking up cables to the electrical panel. This panel used to be in the electrical shack and used to provide the school with power from a solar panel. I think the inverter on the panel (the white and green box at the top) is a 2.5KW inverter. The batteries under the panel are the new heavy duty batteries. I cannot lift up one end! It took three guys (two pushing, one pulling) to move one of those batteries a couple feet and it took all their effort to do that much.

Yeah...

Behind the electrical panel is the ‘new’ inverter which is a 5KW inverter.

This inverter is really nice as it has a digital screen and a menu for different options.
You might notice a discrepancy in my math…a 30KW generator and only 7.5KW in inverter capacity. That would be correct. The school needs more inverters (or just a more capable one) which would really help with the recharge time on the batteries.





A wasp nest on the underside of the beam (made out of mud).