- 4 months
Oh shit! My state just passed plug in solar!
Where the heck do I get some lol
- 4 months
Thats the problem: no one actually makes the devices yet, but there are official standards now, so I bet we’ll be getting the first devices before the end of the year.
- 4 months
Looked like the site was saying that Germany already uses this, so I have to imagine someone is making devices already.
- 4 months
They do, but they use different voltage and frequency for their grid, so you can’t just buy one of theirs and use it.
- 4 months
That’s what I’m talking about! This needs to be everywhere. Funny though, my local utilities already has it marked on their agenda to “discuss” these types of solar setups. They say they “may not be safe to use.”
Actually the reality is that utility companies stand to lose money from tech like this. So hopefully my community and others can stand up for this tech.
- 4 months
Well they are correct to a point.
If the solar panel don’t have grid failure shutdown for its inverter, it can shock (or with bad luck) kill workers working on a downed power line assuming the load side is safe. That is also why house installations also often only have a dedicated outlet during power loss and are not allowed to connect to the full house.
I agree everyone should be able to get off-grid solar system or balcony solar, but they should have to be certified to not shock workers during an outage when people inevitably get cheap TEMU balcony solar.
- 4 months
Another potential issue is the possibility of overloading a circuit if these are used incorrectly. Basically, having enough load on the same circuit as too many of these panels would cause over current that is not seen by the upstream breaker. That’s probably an unlikely circumstance but something to be aware of and to design controls to prevent.
- 4 months
They are typically reduced to 800W upstream. And you should plug only one into one current.
At the end it depends in the strength/ thickness of your power cable.
- 4 months
And you should plug only one into one current.
What happens when you plug in more than one? Is there some kind of safety circuitry that detects this and shuts it off?
- 4 months
I don’t think so.
Even the correct cable connection is essential - parallel or serial PV panels into the inverter.
If you do not read the fck manual, you should not play with power toys.
- 4 months
Seems like the safest thing to do is to design products to fail safely even if the owner doesn’t follow the manual. Relying on the competence of end users alone is, in my opinion, not enough.
- 4 months
Those systems are save. However, one can always crash it, if not used properly or fiddling around.
Same as you can refuel diesel in your petrol car. You can’t avoid dumb users entirely.
- 4 months
Good points. I’ll also admit I have a fear of electricity so I’d totally be scared. But my local utilities are not saying this because they are worried about our well being, they are worried about making less money.
