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Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

brightsaver.org

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Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#31

Post by Aurornis »

epistasis wrote: post #28
Aurornis wrote: post #24

I don’t understand why this specific product is being upvoted. It’s not a good deal, it’s a very low power system, and it tries to get you to pay a subscription fee. This is an ad for a poor deal and I think some are upvoting before they click. I hope nobody buys it before doing some comparison shopping.

Edit: and there it is, the post has been flagged, to be kept off the front page and suppressed from discovery. Most people in the US don't know that things like this even exist, so it's novel, new, and interesting. Our media environment and politics have kept us away from broad understanding of current technology and possibilities. The US also has Stockholm-syndrome levels of subservience to HOAs, too, for example. W…

If you want to share information about balcony solar, submit a neutral link explaining it.

Don’t submit an admit for a product that comes with a subscription.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#32

Post by tencentshill »

Aurornis wrote: post #24

I don’t understand why this specific product is being upvoted. It’s not a good deal, it’s a very low power system, and it tries to get you to pay a subscription fee. This is an ad for a poor deal and I think some are upvoting before they click. I hope nobody buys it before doing some comparison shopping.

Plug-in solar is very new in the US. They just banned all chinese inverters so solar is going to get a lot more expensive anyways.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#33

Post by otterley »

epistasis wrote: post #13
otterley wrote: post #2

So that's what an old-school infomercial translated to the Web looks like: "We pass the savings onto you! [Just pay $29/year membership fee!]" (Seriously, though. 180W? That's not a ton of "help" for a typical refrigerator that draws anywhere between 300 and 800W.) (Also, seriously, though. Most apartment owners and condo HOAs won't allow their residents to put these on their balconies.)

Most places restrict HOAs and apartment owners from ridiculous rules. For example, Utah, which was a balcony solar pioneer: https://hub.utahcleanenergy.org/solar-power/for-policy-maker...

> Most places restrict HOAs and apartment owners from ridiculous rules.

That claim is too vague to evaluate.

> For example, Utah, which was a balcony solar pioneer: [link omitted]

The referenced Utah legislation (SB154) does not prevent HOAs from banning balcony solar installations. It restricts only certain bans on rooftop solar installations on detached dwellings. It's important to read the fine print.

The other legislation applies to restrictive deed covenants for new or renewed plats, not lease agreements. Even if they can't prevent condo owners from putting solar panels on their balcony, it doesn't prevent apartment owners from disallowing tenants from doing it. (Utah might have a different law covering that, I don't know.)

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#34

Post by Spunkie »

mooreds wrote: post #3

Anyone here done this? Either with Brightsaver or another balcony solar system? What was your experience if so?

I “installed” two APsystems EZ1-LV-NA microinverters at my house in Guatemala this year. It’s easy here because there is effectively zero regulation or monitoring by the power companies.

It was stupidly simple. I laid four giant ~700 W panels flat on my upstairs patio, plugged the MC4 extension cables into the microinverters, and plugged the microinverter into a normal AC extension cord running to a wall outlet. After less than 10 minutes of fiddling with wires, I was generating power.

Moving the giant solar panels was the part that actually took some effort.

---------------------------

I’ve been following these types of systems for a long time, since before people started calling them plug-in or balcony solar. For the longest time, I thought they were just stupid. Paying a premium for an inverter that has lower input and output capacity than a string inverter, can’t be connected to batteries, and can’t generate power when the grid is down seemed obscene to me.

To be honest, I still think they’re kind of dumb. Why can’t microinverters provide a DC tap so that I can also connect them to a battery system?

All that said, as a middle-aged man who has now had to deal with electricians more than a few times, the appeal has become crystal clear. Microinverters basically exist because electricians as a whole are downright awful and rip everyone off.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#35

Post by epistasis »

Aurornis wrote: post #31
epistasis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: and there it is, the post has been flagged, to be kept off the front page and suppressed from discovery. Most people in the US don't know that things like this even exist, so it's novel, new, and interesting. Our media environment and politics have kept us away from broad understanding of current technology and possibilities. The US also has Stockholm-syndrome levels of subservience to HOAs, too, for example. W…

If you want to share information about balcony solar, submit a neutral link explaining it. Don’t submit an admit for a product that comes with a subscription.

I don't want to submit information solar, I want to consume it, and in particular I'd like to know about this ad/sales page, whatever it is.

HN is filled with commercial sales pitches, and even encourages self-promotion.

I can't be certain why this one type of product suddenly gets people saying "no ads," but I have my suspicions.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#36

Post by Spunkie »

tencentshill wrote: post #32
Aurornis wrote: post #24

I don’t understand why this specific product is being upvoted. It’s not a good deal, it’s a very low power system, and it tries to get you to pay a subscription fee. This is an ad for a poor deal and I think some are upvoting before they click. I hope nobody buys it before doing some comparison shopping.

Plug-in solar is very new in the US. They just banned all chinese inverters so solar is going to get a lot more expensive anyways.

    > "They just banned all chinese inverters"
That's news to me, when did that happen?

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#38

Post by dlcarrier »

Spunkie wrote: post #36
tencentshill wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plug-in solar is very new in the US. They just banned all chinese inverters so solar is going to get a lot more expensive anyways.

> "They just banned all chinese inverters" That's news to me, when did that happen?

They banned importing internet-connected foreign-produced inverters. (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-423682A1.txt) They are perfectly legal to sell without built-in connectivity, and external monitoring methods aren't prohibited. The concern is that a coordinated network attack on solar inverters could bring down the power grid.

They don't go into details, but check out the Aurora Generator Test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Generator_Test Running solar inverters in opposite phase to the grid would likely not immediately damage them, instead they would draw the amount of power they'd normally provide. In some parts of the US, especially during peak summer demand, even a small percentage of solar power doing this could cause a cascading outage, knocking entire multi-state power grids offline. (See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003)

Granted, this could still happen with compromised US-produced inverters, but it's something we should be paying close attention to and planning around.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#39

Post by walrus01 »

epistasis wrote: post #28
Aurornis wrote: post #24

I don’t understand why this specific product is being upvoted. It’s not a good deal, it’s a very low power system, and it tries to get you to pay a subscription fee. This is an ad for a poor deal and I think some are upvoting before they click. I hope nobody buys it before doing some comparison shopping.

Edit: and there it is, the post has been flagged, to be kept off the front page and suppressed from discovery. Most people in the US don't know that things like this even exist, so it's novel, new, and interesting. Our media environment and politics have kept us away from broad understanding of current technology and possibilities. The US also has Stockholm-syndrome levels of subservience to HOAs, too, for example. W…

> Edit: and there it is, the post has been flagged, to be kept off the front page and suppressed from discovery.

it wasn't flagged because of some nefarious plan to suppress people from knowing about this, it was flagged because it's marketing bullshit. There's lots of really good material out there about DIY solar and this isn't it.

Re: Balcony Solar: $1.74/watt direct plug-in solar

#40

Post by SirFatty »

epistasis wrote: post #28
Aurornis wrote: post #24

I don’t understand why this specific product is being upvoted. It’s not a good deal, it’s a very low power system, and it tries to get you to pay a subscription fee. This is an ad for a poor deal and I think some are upvoting before they click. I hope nobody buys it before doing some comparison shopping.

Edit: and there it is, the post has been flagged, to be kept off the front page and suppressed from discovery. Most people in the US don't know that things like this even exist, so it's novel, new, and interesting. Our media environment and politics have kept us away from broad understanding of current technology and possibilities. The US also has Stockholm-syndrome levels of subservience to HOAs, too, for example. W…

"Most people in the US don't know that things like this even exist,"

Exactly how would you know that?

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