Comment on Why Balcony Solar Panels Haven’t Taken Off in the US
Dojan@pawb.social 17 hours ago
I’ve never heard of balcony solar panels, much less ones you plug right into an outlet? Asked my German roomie and he’s got no clue either.
How does plugging a power source into an outlet work? I’m no electrician, so that sounds bananas to me.
varyingExpertise@feddit.org 16 hours ago
I detects a voltage connected to the plug and starts feeding with slightly higher voltage, done.
These are really common in Germany, even being sold as sets at supermarkets occasionally.
polle@feddit.org 17 minutes ago
Dojan@pawb.social 16 hours ago
Huh, the wiring just supports power spontaneously coming from an exit point rather than an entry? Is that commonplace?
Either way, that’s fascinating! Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me!
varyingExpertise@feddit.org 15 hours ago
Why wouldn’t it? Electrical wiring isn’t a one way road, electricity (this is an extreme oversimplification, especially when it comes to AC) will always flow from points of high voltage to points of lower voltage. That’s how solar inverters feed into the grid. Raise their voltage a tad bit higher than the grid and match the frequency and phase of the grid until the outflow matches their maximum available power.
That is a hard question, because this isn’t a feature, it’s how things are. Only thing one needs to take care of is that the solar inverter doesn’t deliver so much power that the circuit can consume beyond the circuit breakers capacity, otherwise the breaker would be rendered moot. That’s why these small plug inverters are limited to 800W in Germany, that puts the entire possible load on a 16A circuit into the general upper limit that is still within the safety margin fro 16A circuits.
Dojan@pawb.social 14 hours ago
I guess I’ve pictured electricity a bit too much like water. I still don’t quite get how or why this works, but it’s really cool that it does!
That said I’ve no plans on messing around with that kind of thing as I’m terrified of electricity. I electrocuted myself as a kid and that experience stuck. Rather like I did to the dough hooks I stuffed into an extension cord.
j4yt33@feddit.org 16 hours ago
My parents recently bought a couple and put them on the shed, you plug it in and magically, it feeds electricity into your home power network. No idea how bit it definitely works!