Balcony solar power
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcony_solar_powerOpen linkView original on lemmy.world132
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For those that want a little more info: https://www.solar.com/learn/guide-to-balcony-plug-in-solar/
"Is Balcony Solar Safe? The UL 3700 Standard
The most common question from landlords and utilities is: “Is it safe to plug a power source into my wall?”
In early 2026, UL Solutions launched the UL 3700 certification. This is the “Gold Standard” for plug-in solar safety. If a kit is UL 3700 certified, it includes:
Hey there, seems like you used a code block (text between two lines of ```). This will prevent line-wrapping, so you have to scroll horizontally through the code block to read. For text that is supposed to be read it's better to use a quote (lines starting with > and a space):
This is very cool stuff! They are 10x cheaper and good for renters because you can take them with you when you move! DIY power is like the most solarpunk thing ever!
We installed four panels and generate 700W max, 3.5kWh per sunny day. Not much, but we got the modules at half price, so all this power cuts into our basic use. Any kWh we generate is one less we have to pay for. And as long we are below our baseline, we don't need batteries.
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.
These are literally certified to stop producing power under those circumstances. This isn’t the same situation as old solar installations.
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...
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.
Those DC/AC converters cut off within milliseconds if something fishy is happening on the AC side. And the cyber security is a matter of how well or stupid you manage your network.