EcoFlow’s $200 PowerStream is so clever, you might buy a $4,000 solar generator - eviltoast
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.

  • towerful@programming.devEnglish
    101·
    6 months 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.

    • PlantJam@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      6 months ago

      insurance invalidation

      For clarity, if you do a stupid job at your DIY solar installation and it burns your house down, that is likely a covered cause of loss. There isn’t a policy exclusion for stupidity, unfortunately.

      There may be an exclusion for the panels themselves since you could argue that improper workmanship was the proximate cause of loss, but the ensuing damage would likely be covered.

      A similar scenario would be an improper plumbing repair flooding your house. Insurance won’t pay to redo the plumbing that was wrong, but it will pay to fix the water damage.