I have 2kW of panels on my balcony and 4kWh of batteries. I'm happy with the setup. I expect it to pay for itself in just a few years. The only thing I wish it had is open APIs to control the inverter and the batteries, ideally over bluetooth, so that I'm not forced to use an app.
The only negative thing I feel about all of this is that we're doing now. Once the glaciers are farked, the snow is going and the mass die offs are started. Better late than never they say, but why the hell didn't we just invest in this in the 1990s?
> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket.
Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.
I think this is why they're supposed to be limited to 800 W, but is that enough to avoid serious danger to utility workers when a whole apartment building or neighborhood is full of these?
Yes. Any system that’s UL 3700 (or more generally IEEE 1547 / UL 1741) compliant mandates anti-islanding by shutting off the power within two seconds of grid loss.
I have 2kW of panels on my balcony and 4kWh of batteries. I'm happy with the setup. I expect it to pay for itself in just a few years. The only thing I wish it had is open APIs to control the inverter and the batteries, ideally over bluetooth, so that I'm not forced to use an app.
If port 502/TCP is open you can probably access it via Modbus protocol. Implementing a Modbus client is trivial.
My rebranded Fox ESS hardware has it enabled and there's even official documentation of the so-called "registers".
Related:
Iran war sparks renewables boom as Europeans rush to buy solar, heat pumps, EVs
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47601310
The only negative thing I feel about all of this is that we're doing now. Once the glaciers are farked, the snow is going and the mass die offs are started. Better late than never they say, but why the hell didn't we just invest in this in the 1990s?
Solar panels were expensive and not very efficient then.
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I really hope these become legal in Canada.
Right now it seems Utah is the only jurisdiction in North America where they are
> They come with small inverters to convert the DC output of the solar panels into AC power, which plug straight into an existing home power socket.
Hopefully these inverters are smart enough to cut the feed if the AC mains power goes out, to avoid backfeeding utility lines that may be under repair.
Fortunately they do, and in fact the article makes that clear. +1 for reading to the end of the paragraph that was quoted.
I think this is why they're supposed to be limited to 800 W, but is that enough to avoid serious danger to utility workers when a whole apartment building or neighborhood is full of these?
Yes. Any system that’s UL 3700 (or more generally IEEE 1547 / UL 1741) compliant mandates anti-islanding by shutting off the power within two seconds of grid loss.