A plug-in balcony solar system for uncertain times.

Title reads like at ad, but this is a new way to reach energy independence. I actually have a small EcoFlow device and it’s pretty good for the price.

I hope this tech can be made available in the US soon.

  • greentreerainfire@kbin.social
    0·
    1 month ago

    Yeah. My grandfather (former electrician and electrical inspector) had a specific outlet he’d plug a gas generator in to back feed power into the house. This was in the 80s and 90s.

    He also pointed out that he turned the main off so it did not back feed into the grid and power lines that a lineman is expecting to not be live.

    • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Yeah my parents house had an rv/generator hookup and it had a huge bar across both the breakers so power could only flow in one direction. If you hooked up a generator it would cut the house off from the mains.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Your grandfather’s extra outlet for the alternate feed was the other half of a switch that flipped over when the mains power died. It shuts off the power connection to the house by flipping over and ensures no power goes back over the line, among other things. We have these - albeit the size of a washing machine - in really big datacenters.

    • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Thanks for the info, very interesting!

      I wonder if just plugging a power source in a socket would work in a more modern setting?

      Had all electricity redone last year, there was some crazy stuff from the fifties, a hot line going everywhere, just plug into it and ground it, power everywhere 😵‍💫. Guess I could have plugged some power in anywhere (cutting off the mains).

      Now there are differential and fuses for every applience etc.

      • towerful@programming.devEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        If you want to power your house independently from the grid, your house has to be independent from the grid.
        Anything where you sell your excess power back to the grid is in tight cooperation with the grid operators.

        Standard house wiring is not set up to accommodate back feeding the grid nor independently powering.
        So you will need a changeover switch professionally fitted if you want an independent power source, or your solar panel installers will fit the appropriate equipment to back-feed the grid.
        Anything else will likely involve deaths, fires, broken equipment, criminal prosecution, insurance invalidation and all that nasty stuff.

    • sugartits@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      From the article:

      And when there’s a power outage, the PowerStream will turn off automatically to ensure there’s no electricity in the wires in order to protect line workers from shock. The PowerStream will only turn back on when the grid power returns.