Could something like this ever be legal here?
I know most Saffers get solar to basically counter loadshedding or get electricity in difficult situations, and not to offset high electricity costs. And I know we generally keep people away from suicide cables used to connect generators to houses.
But I do like the idea - enough generation to offset your baseload, little enough power to safely travel through one outlet and the whole DIY solution around it.
Clever!
If it is ever NRS certified, why the heck not?
It’s not even going to make SANS compliance…
Maybe if you have a dedicated plug for it.
Concerns about DC currents and blinding of RCDs also needs to be addressed.
Absolutely love the tech, just cannot see how it could really be legal in all jurisdictions.
Any solar excess not used immediately by the home can be diverted into the solar generator’s big-ass battery for use later.
The suicide cable aspect is addressed in the article. The power stream is really a little hybrid inverter, and on the output (suicide cable) side it synchronises with the grid.
I’ve seen this style of Cable on PV inverters as well. I own an older ABB Uno, and a newer Solis, and they have exactly the same plug, but they have the male/female ends reversed. So one of them has a “suicide” style, I just cannot remember which one. And that is perfectly fine, precisely because it does anti-islanding. My main concern is you should not have a generator on the wrong end of an RCD.
Are European houses wired differently in terms of RCDs?
I know in the US / Canda they’re mostly only in bathrooms (and to be fair my info mostly comes from ElectroBOOM - YouTube).
No, South African homes are for all practical purposes wired the same as European homes, except we use the old wiring colours still. The UK is also pretty similar to Europe, except they have ring circuits. We’re all pretty consistent in requiring RCDs for all sockets. The Americans require GFCIs (the same thing, but at the socket level) in some places, usually kitchens or any place near water, and the same concerns would apply if you plug into such a socket (and also have other loads on that socket).
I bought a cheap nasty grid tie inverter along these lines.
It has never been permanently installed. I have used it for testing purposes though.
Take a single panel out to the meter box, trip the supply to the house and then you can find out what your meter does when you export power.
Depending on what your meter does may completely change your solar design.
They can manufacture really small grid tie inverters.
Are there any transformers/inductors in them? I opened mine and could not find one.
PS: I have the ones that have only one function.