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Balcony solar power (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 1 month ago by [M] to c/wikipedia@lemmy.world
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A balcony solar power system (also called a plug-in solar panel, mini solar system, or balcony power station) is a small photovoltaic system designed to generate electricity for direct use in a home or apartment. Unlike conventional rooftop solar installations, balcony solar systems connect to the existing electrical circuit of a building through a standard power outlet or dedicated socket, without requiring significant structural modifications or professional installation in most configurations.

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[+] -15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

As someone working in power grid, this is quite horrible. There are reasons why PV panels are installed properly at the houses, which proper disconnects etc. If there is fire and this is just plugged in, there is no way to disconnect them. If there is maintenance on the electricity, it can be danger to the electricians, because even if you disconnect the mains, there is still power.

Also these panels had very poor cyber security, their IoT platform had a bug that anyone could control them remotely in masses. Bad actor could have caused serious issues in grid level with them.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I thought so too. Watched a review on youtube. The properly made ones got all the safety stuff. It turns off if the mains goes out, even if you got multiple of them (they put a signal on top of the sine). They are even limited to like 800W so you can plug them in anywhere without risk of fire, unless you plug like 3 in one outlet.

    I still don't fully trust them but they are safer then they look. Ofc they come with a lipo battery.. but it's at least not that big of one. I'd rather they come with salt or lead batteries.

    The bigger concern is the pannels themselves. A flying glass sheet is not safe. Then again many fix stuff themselves already, and not many die...

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    The funny thing about the feed cutting out when the mains are out is that if there's a power grid failure because too many solar panels are feeding the grid, you end up without power. It's happened to us a bunch of times.

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