Do you have any directions where to go for this, traveler?
Comment on ‘Suddenly energy independence feels practical’: Europeans are building mini solar farms at home
perestroika@slrpnk.net 20 hours agoColleagues, please do not downvote the poster. Most solar poewr installations in use today are grid-following, so it’s correct to point out: if the grid drops, most solar inverters stop. Your average Huawei is not capable of operating in island mode.
Of course, the grid drops rarely, but this is a real risk for example if your electrical grid should get bombed, or pelted with ice rain.
Myself I have a different kind of a solar power system, and it’s not commonplace. It’s easy and doable, there is plenty of instruction available, but it’s less profitable.
panels -> DC -> charging controllers -> DC -> battery bank -> DC --> consumers, among them an inverter --> AC --> possibly the grid
To get a safe system, ask a specialist or learn about balancers, interrupters and fuses. Everything is DIY-able with a willingness to learn. Avoid dangerously high voltage if you aren’t certified to work with electrical power.
MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
perestroika@slrpnk.net 17 hours ago
It depends on the country one lives in, because to connect equipment to the grid, it has to be certified in that country.
As a good starting point, I would recommend to look at inverters sold as “hybrid inverters”, especially if the manufacturer advertises “off-grid” capability. Typically there’s a process of automatic switch-over and it has to take really few milliseconds (e.g. 10 ms).
Here is one, from the manufacturer whose devices (older version) I use. There are many others. If the user’s manual explains the process of automatic switch-over to off-grid (island) mode, then the inverter will provide autonomous power in case of grid collapse.
maximumsolar.online/product/hybridv2-6048/
…and here is another one, from a different company. Anything that becomes autonomous upon loss of grid freqency (disconnects from the grid and leaves only sensors to read its status) and then gracefully handles the return of grid frequency (does not connect before synchronization has been achieved).
eleitl@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
Do you have a pointer to such DIY home solar? I was planning to build my next system from Victron components, but this could be an interesting alternative.