Comment on Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
shininghero@pawb.social 14 hours agoEasy check, grab a voltmeter and do it yourself.
Pull the plug, set voltmeter to AC, and read the voltage across the prongs. If you get anything over the usual float voltage you get from just holding the probes ungrounded, then you have a problem.
artyom@piefed.social 14 hours ago
By “you” I did not mean your personal solar system. I mean how does the utility know that other users that have systems connected are doing so safely?
ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
The PRODUCT is designed to stop feeding OUT the plug if it doesn’t detect VOLTAGE from the socket. AC is alternating current so it pulses on and off so the solar system is doing the same. It’s turning on and off quickly and seeing if it gets power back and if it detects no power incoming it shuts off the power from the solar. It’s quite simple and ingenious.
HubertManne@piefed.social 12 hours ago
ok I have to believe the guy replying is a shil at this point. Use of approved products is as old as the electric stystem. Its why the electric company does not have to come and inspect everything you have plugged into the grid and does not come out every time you get a new appliance. The standards are with the product as you correctly point out and the state does not allow on compliant products to be sold just like with refrigerators.
artyom@piefed.social 45 minutes ago
A shill for what, exactly? Linemen safety? The horror.
That’s because your appliances aren’t backfeeding to the grid. Anything that does requires inspections and permits.
artyom@piefed.social 13 hours ago
I am not asking how the technology works. I am asking how the utility verifies that people are using compliant products.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
The same way they do now.
You realize generators exist right?
WesternInfidels@feddit.online 12 hours ago
“The utility” has never had a way to prevent you from doing something dangerous with your wiring or with the electricity they send you. The best we’ve managed has been to encourage appliance manufacturers to design their products with safety in mind, through the UL program (which is voluntary). This is why the writer talked to the “vice president of engineering at UL Solutions.”