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EcoFlow’s $200 PowerStream is so clever, you might buy a $4,000 solar generator (www.theverge.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

117 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Thanks for the info, very interesting!

I wonder if just plugging a power source in a socket would work in a more modern setting?

Had all electricity redone last year, there was some crazy stuff from the fifties, a hot line going everywhere, just plug into it and ground it, power everywhere 😵‍💫. Guess I could have plugged some power in anywhere (cutting off the mains).

Now there are differential and fuses for every applience etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

As your own story shows, even in today’s modern times, there is planet of aging wiring still out there and in use.

If you’re asking whether it’s possible to build a home that can work this way, it’s been possible forever and it doesn’t require anything fancy, just a properly rated input outlet (not the same as a regular old bedroom wall plug) and a switch to disconnect from the mains so you aren’t electrifying the grid while workers are repairing it. Whole house generators have been a thing forever. You just have to take some elementary precautions. You don’t just plug some dynamo you bought off Amazon into any old bathroom outlet and say “tada!”

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 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.