Updates from Nepal's Pilot Schools

[K. K. Subramaniam]

On Sunday 09 March 2008 2:16:02 pm Bryan Berry wrote:
> Sulochan Acharya and I are keeping journals of Nepal's pilot schools on
> the wiki and the OLE Nepal blog.
>
> http://blog.olenepal.org/
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Bashuki_Journal
You report that "We will install power inverters in the school to maintain power during power outages. We will keep the inverters in the same location as the School Server."

In such remote rural areas, voltage and frequency fluctations are high. This is why tungsten light bulbs are used instead of FLs or CFLs). Inverters fail to charge batteries fully under such extreme variations and cannot sustain power for long during an outage. Are you sure, your supply lines can take on inverters?

If the schools are not too far from a town, you may want to use a pair of battery banks and run a DC bus through the classrooms. Let one bank power the classroom while the second one is sent to nearby town for recharging. Whoever brings in meals or supplies to the school can help in transporting it. There are many more options for recharging batteries in towns than in a remote school.

FWIW,
Subbu
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