Comment on Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
BT_7274@lemmy.world 9 hours agoIdk man. It’s probably over my head but I still don’t think the wires themselves could take it. In my thought process you’ve got more electricity flowing around on the circuit and even if it gets used before getting to the breaker things are going to be heating up pretty quick.
To me it sounds like trying to hook up a power plant to a data center via an indoor extension cord. It’s gonna melt.
I do know, man.
even if it gets used before getting to the breaker
It would be both added and consumed after the breaker. Like if you had a 10A solar system connected to a dual outlet, and a 10A space heater on the other outlet, there would only be 10A flowing through the outlet, and nowhere else in the system
Yes, I was conceding that point. I was then worried about the actual romex in the walls entirely contained after the breaker. Are you able to pump as much power as you want at 15A on a 15A rated wire? There’s got to be some limit, right?
No. You can only pump 15A. But you’ll never have more than that.
Ok, cool. So if the romex is rated at 15A then I’m going to assume that’s the rated safety limit before things start to get sketchy.
This panel is going to provide 1200w at (I’m assuming) 120v which is 10A.
At that point I plug in something that pulls 1500w (120v for 12.5A total) like a hairdryer.
You’re saying the load on the circuit breaker will be 1500w-1200w for a total of 300w (2.5A), correct? The load on the romex in the walls after the breaker will still be 1500w (12.5A), correct?
What happens if I then plug in a space heater on that same circuit which consumes 1500w (12.5A). The breaker load should then be 15A (the net 2.5A + 12.5A) as it’s rated for and shouldn’t trip, but the load on the romex after the breaker would be 25A (12.5A + 12.5A), 167% its rated capacity.
Am I misunderstanding something? I’m honestly not trying to argue. I’m trying to understand.
BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml 8 hours ago
I think the warning you might be thinking of is that a breaker can fail to pop if an inverter/generator is on the same circuit as a high wattage device. Since some energy would go directly from generation to device, the breaker will only see the “net” energy consumption. So if the generator puts out 1500W and the device decides to draw 3000W, a 15A breaker only sees 1500, and won’t trip even though the device is pulling way too much. If the breaker was sized for the wiring, then the wiring to that outlet could catch fire due to the breaker not tripping. That’s the main reason I know of why a generator or inverter should be on a dedicated circuit, to force the energy out one breaker and in another, so that the breaker can see an accurate measure of energy and trip when necessary.