Paul and Trumpy,
I too thought a 20W could never lead to any serious power consumption. But then I calculated it: Assuming ten hours of use per day, you will have used up a kilowatthour in five days. Sure, that still isn't much, but in a year it amounts to about 70 kWh.
Trumpy,
a 230/460V system seems to be the cheapest option. I don't think I need any overcurrent protection apart from the service limiter. I suppose you could put a limit in the reset function: If it trips three times within a certain period of time, it stays tripped until manually reset.
wa2ise,
the setup you descripe is not uncommon, although a diesel would be a more common power source than a hydroelectric dam. It works if sized by the locals. Foreign engineers and electricians (brought in by aid agencies) tend to oversize the systems.
[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 11-17-2003).]
