Plug & Play Solar

[Stew]

Not watched the whole initial vid... So basically its none storable (directly, but can be used to charge devices/batteries), but useable solar power? If that makes sense?

So after watching it...You dont need to plug it into your house circuit... You can create a separate circuit for your house, thats not mains connected... just runs though all your appliances... get the input output sussed and the issues raised above are null and void right? It wont be connected to mains supply, it wont cause issues in a power cut for the repairmen... you'd just need to think about those things relying on the mains... Lights, showers etc...

It is storable. It's a battery that has connections to direct charge it via solar or mains. It has an app that can control if the panels are charging or changing to feeding into the house via the battery cable. It has to be mains connected to operate correctly but I'm sure your work around sounds possible.

If you're going to the hassle of running extra circuits, you would be as well to just get a correct isolator fitted, bidirectional rcbo, etc to install it correctly rather than just fitting it via a three pin plug back into your house.

With your work around would you have to decide if it was either mains or solar/battery? The beauty of this plug in idea is that you don't have to (ignore the extra heating benefits from a house fire at this stage....)

 

[TeeDee]

 

[Toddy]

I thought this sounded such a good idea, and I mentioned it to Son1......who promptly exploded at me and told me in no uncertain terms that it was an incredibly bad idea.......so I suggested he figure it out and make it work safely, because free once set up power is very appealling

I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see

 

[Broch]

I am inclined to disagree with Son1 - however, as far as I can determine, it's all down to the intelligence/quality of the inverter technology.

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

Provided the inverter is G98 compliant, and you know what you are doing, then technically you can do this. However, there are loads of gotchas.

The Gov announcement to allow for plug-in "balcony" solar generation will allow you to buy a complete kit that you will be able to just plug into the mains, and the appliance will provide up to 800Ws of power into your ring mains. But,

• you will still have to inform your DNO
• your electrical distribution panel needs to have a type A RCD - not the older type AC RCD
• you will probably need to tell your house insurer

 

[Toddy]

@GeraldTheBonsai

We're too close in age for you to be Son1, but that's pretty much what Jamie said when he told me not to buy it....just he was a tad more vehement about it.

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

I would very much like one, so that I could feed the solar panels on the shed into the house. But after looking into it, I would need:

• To have a new electricity meter installed
• Get a new distribution panel so that it can take a modern size RCD (or have a second panel)3
• Get a spur added to the shed, which means it would have to be buried, which means we would have to dig a trench across the drive to lay said cable
• The hardest bit - finding an electrician who understands all of this, including the regulations for micro-generation.

 

[TeeDee]

I thought this sounded such a good idea, and I mentioned it to Son1......who promptly exploded at me and told me in no uncertain terms that it was an incredibly bad idea.......so I suggested he figure it out and make it work safely, because free once set up power is very appealling

I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see

Just asking - Is Son1 someone whom understand the tech side / electrical side ? ( so sparky , engineer , some sort of techy based learning? ) or is his response from concerns / fears regarding the legal side of things? and it yet being given the governmental rubber stamp of approval?

 

[Toddy]

His degree is engineering, he works in IT, he also works with a friend who sets up huge lighting installations, from the Olympics to permanent things like bridges.

Basically it sounded like he didn't think it was safe, yet.

He's just about to buy a pallet load of solar panels to power up his workshops. He's hoping that even in our overcast skies it'll run a dehumidifier all Winter long.

Honestly, if J tells me something's not a good idea, I listen.

I still fancy this though

 

[GreyCat]

@TeeDee: , @Toddy : I would suspect that Son 1 knows that a feed plugged into a house in a power cut can back-feed the powerline and hence electrocute a power line worker.

Clearly, the plug-in system only works when there is a meter that can somehow mitigate the risk of power feeding from the house to the distribution system.

Whilst I am sure the proper systems work OK, the massive flaw in the govt's plan is that allowing this will spawn a bunch of cheap imports without the necessary safeguards, and this will go merrily along until someone in a DNO responding to an outage is electrocuted, then all hell will break loose.

GC

 

[Stew]

A real simple, clear video.

 

[TeeDee]

So if these are popular and used without concern in Germany - and I'm guessing other European countries , what are they doing that we are not?

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

So if these are popular and used without concern in Germany - and I'm guessing other European countries , what are they doing that we are not?

Ah, lot of history there...
In the UK we use ring mains. This is a carry over from post war shortages of copper - it enables you to provide more current using smaller cables. For most of the rest of the world, they use radial distribution - lots of single spurs coming from a distribution box. So in Germany, they have lots of individual circuits. They also have a high specification for how those circuits are protected, using more advanced RCD's than the common type AC we use in the UK. In Germany, they also upgraded the domestic wiring specification quite a while ago.

So the net effect is that in German (and just about everywhere else in Europe) the domestic wiring specifications means that it is easier to attached things like balcony solar, and have them protected in a more advanced and safer manner. We are playing catch-up but our legacy wiring standard will have difficulty. This is why the IET is recommending that anyone who wants to use balcony solar at the very least have their current wiring checked and have the RCD changed.

 

[slowworm]

For most of the rest of the world, they use radial distribution - lots of single spurs coming from a distribution box.

Interesting, to cope with our poor supply and large house area I was thinking of putting in radial circuits rather than rings.