Utility-scale solar might be cheaper but doesn't make my house resilient to grid failures. It also only benefits me when the grid is upgraded enough that ... well, it benefits me.

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gizmo686 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Plug in solar doesn't make your house resilient to grid failures either. You would need an inverter that can generate an AC output without having an existing one to follow; a disconnect to isolate you from the grid during an outage, batteries to smooth the output, an electrician to install it, and an inspection to certify that it was all done correctly.

If you are going through all of that, there is not much benefit to plug-in solar instead of traditional.

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bryanlarsen an hour ago | parent [-]

Most of the balcony solar packages already include what you need. They include a battery and on that battery is a receptacle that will supply power if there is no mains. The dogtail that you insert into your house outlet only supplies power if there is mains, but the receptacle on the battery supplies power regardless.

So when the power goes out you unplug your fridge from the wall and plug it into the battery. In essence it operates like the standard camping battery/"solar generator", a la Jackery et al.

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conductr an hour ago | parent [-]

To gp’s point, if you’re going through it all just implement it at your panel/subpanel. Mine does auto switch over to power the entire panel and I only know about it from an app notification. Then I can decide if and where I want to power down usage in the house to conserve battery.

Having to plug in individual appliances seems to defeat the entire purpose. What happens if you’re away on holiday? Come home to a fridge full of trash? If power is back, do you even know how long the outage lasted? What about other devices that generally should have nonstop power or are typically hardwired? Sump pumps, HVAC equipment, water heaters, etc.

	▲	bryanlarsen an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Spending $3000 to add auto-switch to a $500 battery is not something most people are going to do.

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gebruikersnaam 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

These panels do not work without the grid.

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gpm 2 hours ago | parent [-]

(And this is intentional to avoid electrocuting line workers who are working to fix the grid when it breaks)

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SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Line workers ground everything before they touch any conductors, except in some cases where they intentionally work "live."

	▲	adolph an hour ago \| parent [-]
		This is the truth. Aside from solar there are plenty of folks with backup generators that automatically come on whenever grid power fails. When maintenance crews came through my neighborhood to upgrade the old pole fixtures, they grounded out each block to keep any backfeed off what they were working on.

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Analemma_ 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

No, it's more than that, it's not just a safety feature that you could disable: the plug-in panels need an existing waveform to synchronize to, if the grid is dead they can't produce an AC voltage signal on their own.

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gizmo686 2 hours ago | parent [-]

We know how to make inverters that can produce an AC voltage on their own. It is not particularly difficult or expensive. The reason why we do not put those inverters in plug-in solar units is entirely because we don't want them to have that ability.

	▲	bluGill an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Those are a different design inverter than cannot plug into a wall. It isn't hard to design either type, but they need different designs in some critical areas. (you can design one that will do both as well, but it would be more complex)
	▲	dylan604 an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Nobody claimed we didn't know how. You're misunderstanding the point of these panels.