Comment on Balcony solar is all the rage in Germany. Why not in the US?

Concave1142@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• TwiddleTwaddle@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s a regular German outlet, but they would be more comparable to a drier outlet here in the US, although without being rated for such high loads as an american clothes drier.

  As another commenter said, They’re used to cover the base load of lights, fridge, small electronics. Most all of these systems won’t have any battery storage so the power either gets used in the moment by the home, or exported to the utility. That part isnt really any different from a typical solar installation in the US. They’re just smaller systems so it’s more accessible to lower income people and people that live in apartments.

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  • mosiacmango@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    US utilities often have anti islanding rules, so power is not allowed to be fed back into the utility without specific equipment designed to stop power flowing back when the grid is down.

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    • Cort@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The systems don’t output power until they sense a grid connection, and cut power immediately if the grid goes down.

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      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Sounds like they are almost ready to go for most US requirements then. Some voltage tweeks and a plug change and we got something cooking.

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• Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Actually it’s quite smart and simple l: you take any outlet in your house!

  The ac/dc transformer those things simply feeds it’s energy into your house - after all a plug doesn’t care in which direction power flows. .those systems have an upper cap though to prevent people from overloading the net.

  It’s really neat and simple! You basically lower your lower consumption by whatever these things produce.

  I don’t know or have seen anyone using these small balcony cells with a battery though - while technically not a problem I think there’s simply not a use case: they don’t overproduce that much at any given time anyway.

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  • deur@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Holy fuck delete this shit. You’ve described a death plug, and this shit kills grid workers and innocent people who don’t know the plug is live. You absolutely NEED a proper system set up for this with a PROPER PLUG and the proper safety disconnects to avoid backfeeding the pover grid and KILLING PEOPLE.

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    • 4am@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Jesus fucking christ, take your meds

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    • Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      But this is exactly how they are designed to work.

      I didn’t say that you should diy this but the sets described in this very article works like I described.

      Here’s a random one with data sheets and installation guide.

      www.bauhaus.info/balkonkraftwerke/…/31970796

      Perhaps you should delete your shitty and wrong rant instead?

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    • AllPintsNorth@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      No, he’s not described a death plug. The inverters only produce was it sees the sine wave from the grid.

      If the grid goes down, break trips, or it’s unplugged, then it stops producing.

      Calm down.

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• UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s a normal outlet, and the power is limited to 800 watts.

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• Asetru@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The pv panel just provides the electricity to your house. Essentially, if it provides electricity, your devices use that before using the grid. If it provides excess electricity beyond what you use, it feeds back into the grid. There’s nothing to it, just plug it in. Just remember that if you disconnect a circuit to work on it, you may also have to disconnect your panels because the wires may still be “hot” (they shouldn’t because the PV usually stops providing electricity once it loses the grid frequency, but better safe than sorry).

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