A plug-in balcony solar system for uncertain times.

Title reads like at ad, but this is a new way to reach energy independence. I actually have a small EcoFlow device and it’s pretty good for the price.

I hope this tech can be made available in the US soon.

  • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Plug-in systems are built around a microinverter that feeds solar energy back into the home via a standard wall jack.

    What the actual fuck?

    The PowerStream has three proprietary ports: one that connects to your MC4 solar panels

    Disqualified.

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      Plug-in systems are built around a microinverter that feeds solar energy back into the home via a standard wall jack.

      What the actual fuck?

      What’s wrong with that? That’s how basically any balcony solar system works.

      • Sleepkever@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        The cables in your walls are designed for a certain maximum current before they start to heat up. This current is limited by your breaker.

        Now if you introduce a plug in solar setup your current is limited by your maximum breaker capacity + whatever your solar setup can generate.

        So if I’d use the specs from the article and apply it to a normal dutch home situation: 16A breaker, + 800W at 230V, which means ~3.5A = 19.5A max. which is probably still fine for short durations.

        But now some genius doesn’t read the fine print and hooks up 2 or 3 on the same circuit. There is no electrician that tells him that’s dangerous because it’s all self installed and he doesn’t know any better. And all of a sudden you are up to 26.5A and you got glowing, smoking wires in your walls…

        • Randelung@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          Also, emergency service hazard. The PV won’t turn off if firefighters take out the mains, which makes a house potentially inaccessible during an emergency.

          • Sleepkever@lemm.eeEnglish
            0·
            5 months ago

            Surprisingly, no. Most inverters in the EU must come with island protection. Meaning that if there is no AC from the grid it immediatly switches off the inverter or the battery, there is no stand alone operation.

            There are some systems that allow it but they are rare here and require the mains side to be fed trough the inverter itsself ensuring it’s never back feeding into the grid when there is no power with the same island protection, or less commonly there is a transfer switch of some kind also eliminating the issue. And either should obviously have a main kill switch on the breaker board for emergencies that also switches off the in home power with 1 action.

            But most importantly, either of those options is not plug and play and will require an electrician that hopefully does know what he’s doing.

            • Randelung@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              5 months ago

              Does the island protection with if you have two inverters running independently? (legally or not)

              • luckystarr@feddit.deEnglish
                0·
                5 months ago

                Yes, because the frequency of the grid is also a trigger for shutting off the inverter. Inverters generate a frequency which indicates a “non healthy grid” that trigger the shutoff of connected inverters.