>the light hits it and the electrons jump the gap

Yes, but the circuit is way more complex than that. You're dependant on the OEM for spare parts, support, software and whatever else, not to mention the problems inherent in putting this junk on the internet (which it will be). I am not fond of the idea of giving the CCP access to our infrastructure.

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mattlondon a day ago | parent | next [-]

Software? For a solar panel? Likewise spare parts? What?

I am pretty sure a solar panel is just a solar panel, a frame and some wires?

The inverters and all that sure whatever just buy local. Those have not been the bottleneck - the panels have been what has been enabling the boom.

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overfeed a day ago | parent | next [-]

Sadly, this is not the first time someone on HN ignorantly assumed solar panels come bundled with scary Chinese firmware in their comment.

It's a failure-mode only those not familiar with the basics of solar can come up with, but are readoning it out from "first principles".

	▲	deltoidmaximus a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It could happen I suppose, but most likely it would be an American company adding unnecessary spyware/rentware to a commodity product that didn't really need software in the first place and then lobbying to make the bare product illegal somehow.
	▲	dzhiurgis a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Panels obviously no (tho technically everything feasible, to a point where it can start a fire with a "backdoor"), but inverters have been found with secret modems. Just last week I started blocking my Deye from accessing internet since I've implemented local logging.

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encom a day ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

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Guid_NewGuid a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For battery storage systems sure, but for panels, not really. The panel breaks you just throw it away and buy another. And sure China can cut us off from buying another, but we have 15 years with most panels to use them while we build out local manufacture if needed. (even beyond that point you likely get usable output)

A panel is just a dumb slate of crystals that shoots out electrons, the wires and inverters and rest-of-system are up to us to design if we're indulging our China-panic. But we're basically being paid to take as many dumb panels as we can warehouse. Whether you believe that oversupply is a weapon, a mistake, or just normal industrial strategy is basically irrelevant.

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triceratops a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> You're dependant on the OEM for spare parts, support, software and whatever else

China also manufactures and exports ICE vehicle parts and fossil fuel extraction equipment. No one thinks that's a dangerous dependency.

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cyberax a day ago | parent | prev [-]

You can have completely autonomous systems.

Also, really? You think that Internet-facing software in inverters is a big deal?