HaraldvonBlauzahn5d ago

UK Government will allow "Plug-In Solar" Panels

https://feddit.org/post/27264515

UK Government will allow "Plug-In Solar" Panels - feddit.org

The original (very generic) title): > Government to go “further and faster” in becoming energy secure > >The Energy Secretary outlines measures to protect consumers and make Britain energy secure. They are speaking of panels in the 800W range which you can just buy , mount in front of your balcony or on top of your carport, and plug into a wall socket. These things are wildly popular in Germany. The do not generate a lot of power, but armotize in about three years and save real money. (Depending on how old the metering technology is, they can also make the power meter spin backwards, which I think is only fair considering how much households pay for kWh, compared to energy-hungry companies, which get most of the the massive cost savings from renewables but don’t pay for the necessary upgrade of the grid).

Show threadllothar5d ago

They are cool, although there are risk connected to using them. In some cases an appliance can draw more power than the circuit is rated for without tripping a circuit breaker.

They are not legal in Norway, and with all houses being made out of wood it makes sense, but I guess the risk in UK or Germany is lower.

Show threadwizzor5d ago
They also can pose a risk for linemen and electricians. A circuit can remain powered even if the breaker or load break switch is disconnected. That is, unless they have a feature which disables power output automatically when grid power is lost?
Show threadHaraldvonBlauzahn5d ago

A circuit can remain powered even if the breaker or load break switch is disconnected.

They are specifically designed so that this does not happen.

BTW part of the UKs standards for household wiring comes from a time where the idea was to heat with electricity from nuclear power. Which is one reason why each appliance also has an extra fuse in their respective wall plug - not a bad design.

Show threadTim5d ago

That is not why UK plugs have a fuse in them. UK plugs have a fuse in them because the wiring standards date from a time when the UK was trying to save money and copper because of the war, so they allow for the fuse in the breaker panel to be higher rated than the actual wiring in the wall.

The fuse in the plug is to prevent a broken device, or overloaded power strip, drawing the full current the breaker will allow, causing the in-wall wiring and/or appliance cables to burn.

It’s a terrible design.

Show threadInTheNameOfScheddi5d ago
Wouldn’t it be easier to have several fuses at the breaker panel?
Show threadTim

Easier, but more expensive. The driver for the ringmain system was to save money (& copper) by using less & cheaper cable in the walls than an equivalent radial layout (as used everywhere else in the world.) It has half as many fuses and uses less wire than radials, with the only downsides being risk of fire and some horrible undetectable failure modes - what’s not to love?

(e.g. Undetectable failure: if there is a break in the cable in the wall (bad DIY, say,) everything still works - because although you broke the ring, the other end of each half is still connected, and all your appliances still work. So now you have two 24A radials in your walls, connected to a 32A breaker, and nothing stopping one of those cables being overloaded (if the break is nearer one end than the middle, it’s practically guaranteed that the longer half is overloaded.) Horrible design.)

Mar 18 at 9:31amWeb
Show threadInTheNameOfScheddi5d ago
Oh… That’s… Not good😅