fuzzyfirefoxEasy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
artyomI mean, it makes sense to me that consumers can’t be pumping energy into the grid with no way to cut it off, but I’m not a lineman or some sort of civil engineer or whatever.
But if I were a lawmaker, I’d be on the phone with the Germans, who have 1.2M of these connected, and figuring out if and how they’re doing it safely. But lawmakers seem to be somehow incapable of reaching out to people who know fuck all about anything.
It is more than just the concern around back-feeding the grid. These simple balcony setups connect to your home grid via a single outlet. Most US outlets/circuits are 15 AMP or roughly 1500 watts max capacity. These single circuits can only carry that much current total at any one time so if you have it loaded up with incoming power AND use anything else on the circuit at the same time … no bueno. To make this setup work best/safely you would ideally want a dedicated circuit for it which is basically non-existent today.
The safety issues really do need to be addressed because the folks most likely to use these systems are apartment dwellers and I don’t think anyone wants to increase fire risk in these scenarios.
His point was that if you’ve got 1200w incoming from the panel then you only have 300w of overhead on that circuit before the circuit breaker blows.
Sure, it’s within the limit on its own, but without a dedicated circuit for it you’ll be blowing a fuse pretty frequently when trying to use nearby plugs and lights.
As I said, that’s not how that works. If you have 1200w incoming to the circuit and 300W outgoing, then the circuit load is actually decreased to 900w
Idk man. It’s probably over my head but I still don’t think the wires themselves could take it. In my thought process you’ve got more electricity flowing around on the circuit and even if it gets used before getting to the breaker things are going to be heating up pretty quick.
To me it sounds like trying to hook up a power plant to a data center via an indoor extension cord. It’s gonna melt.
I do know, man.
even if it gets used before getting to the breaker
It would be both added and consumed after the breaker. Like if you had a 10A solar system connected to a dual outlet, and a 10A space heater on the other outlet, there would only be 10A flowing through the outlet, and nowhere else in the system
Yes, I was conceding that point. I was then worried about the actual romex in the walls entirely contained after the breaker. Are you able to pump as much power as you want at 15A on a 15A rated wire? There’s got to be some limit, right?
Ok, cool. So if the romex is rated at 15A then I’m going to assume that’s the rated safety limit before things start to get sketchy.
This panel is going to provide 1200w at (I’m assuming) 120v which is 10A.
At that point I plug in something that pulls 1500w (120v for 12.5A total) like a hairdryer.
You’re saying the load on the circuit breaker will be 1500w-1200w for a total of 300w (2.5A), correct? The load on the romex in the walls after the breaker will still be 1500w (12.5A), correct?
What happens if I then plug in a space heater on that same circuit which consumes 1500w (12.5A). The breaker load should then be 15A (the net 2.5A + 12.5A) as it’s rated for and shouldn’t trip, but the load on the romex after the breaker would be 25A (12.5A + 12.5A), 167% its rated capacity.
Am I misunderstanding something? I’m honestly not trying to argue. I’m trying to understand.
I think the warning you might be thinking of is that a breaker can fail to pop if an inverter/generator is on the same circuit as a high wattage device. Since some energy would go directly from generation to device, the breaker will only see the “net” energy consumption. So if the generator puts out 1500W and the device decides to draw 3000W, a 15A breaker only sees 1500, and won’t trip even though the device is pulling way too much. If the breaker was sized for the wiring, then the wiring to that outlet could catch fire due to the breaker not tripping. That’s the main reason I know of why a generator or inverter should be on a dedicated circuit, to force the energy out one breaker and in another, so that the breaker can see an accurate measure of energy and trip when necessary.