Cause this is the land of freedom /s
Comment on New Jersey legalizes plug-in solar panels that could trim up to $50 from monthly
Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How was it illegal before…?
winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Kind_to_Everyone@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Or maybe because fire codes were written due to all the deaths.
Now with safe shutoffs and requirements for dedicated circuits, we can allow it.
winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I thought it was because of risk to linemen but either way I was just making a crappy joke about murican freedoms and the lack thereof despite claiming to have so many of them
Some of it is probably cynical lobbying from the utilities, but there are legitimate safety concerns with these plug in panel systems, especially if your home has older wiring. If you don’t plug the panels into a dedicated circuit you can end up in a situation where the wires in the wall are passing more current than they are designed for, which is a fire hazard.
Panels that also put power back onto the grid when there is a power outage can also be a hazard for utility workers and linesmen. Reputable plugin systems should have protection against this, but alibaba/temu tier systems may not.
huquad@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
This is it right here. Firefighters also have to deal with hot voltage. When responding to a house fire, protocol is to kill the power. That works for external, but solar panels will keep the lines hot. Many standard solar deployments include shutoffs right alongside the main breaker shutoff.
eleitl@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Grid-tied solar inverters are designed to switch off within some 10 ms upon loss of grid voltage.
I don’t think this helps in that situation. My battery system will continue powering the house on loss of power from the grid, it just will not feed power back to the grid. That shutoff isn’t that helpful when firefighters are probably worried about the power in the internal wiring.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
fortunately this is an eminently solvable problem, hence why it’s legal anywhere. The solar panels can simply have circuits that detect the grid going offline and instantly cut their own power output.
pticrix@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
wait - I’m assuming what you say is true ; so shouldn’t electronics that feed electricity to the box have a different plug than things that leech electricity from the box? Just so you can confirm that the circuit is dedicated and also recently built?