The author doesn’t explicitly dissuade people from plugging in another multipoint/powerstrip/plugstrip into the end of the extension cable you’ve run into the other room. So I will. Don’t do that. There are plenty of low gauge, cheap extension cables out there which will degrade fast in this setup, and may cause a fire.
Also, if your landlord is okay with seeing this setup they probably don’t have insurance they’re worrying about, and are simply making sure you’re not actively destroying the property (rather than potentially destroying it with the fire hazard).
First of all, let's assume less than ideal conditions so base our calculations on 115V. 2,500 watts is going to be 21.7 amps; assuming a continuous load (which is pretty reasonable for a whole house) is going to need a breaker and wiring that's rated for 125% of that, or 27.2A.
That means the supply needs to be #10 wiring and should be fitted with a 30A breaker at the disconnect. A temporary power tap is not a suitable disconnect. And I highly doubt it's got 10 gauge wiring.
But I used the highest gauge I could find! I looked hard, but I couldn't find any with more than 16 ;p
Show HN: My $1k self-install, off-grid solar backup build for renters - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40025195 - April 2024 (229 comments)
That's thrifty; changing a panel/building a subpanel probably needs a permit, but shouldn't need utility approval. A transfer switch is an option too, but not so thrifty, and if you an automatic transfer switch, they usually work the other way (use grid if available, fail to local generation), but you could probably make it work.
[1] https://www.geninterlock.com/product/generator-interlock-kit...
Victron multiplus ii cx could be a good option.
I've wanted to build something like Roald Dahl's writing shed: https://youtu.be/AsxTR09_iWE?t=294 for a while.
I live in a climate with cold winters though, so I hate to invest in something like this and not be able to use it for a significant part of the year. I guess I could put a small pellet or wood stove in it..
When the battery is depleted, you, I suppose, just pull the plug from a battery-fed power strip, and push it into a regular socket.
All the commercial solar setups out there spend a lot of effort pushing power back to the grid, when all I really want is this configuration to all my outlets.
Does anyone know of a setup like this? Basically a power bank that charges primarily from solar, secondarily from the grid, and provides my normal panel with power through an inverter (or panels/inverters, I actually expect). Feeding back to the grid seems more trouble than its worth...
Like, yeah, there's some sketchy stuff with connecting those loads to this over extension cords snaked all around the house, but this setup is basically what you're asking for.
Finally, from the settings you can stop the unit(s) from sending power back on the grid so that you don't have to deal with that hurdle of changing the meter, permits, ... .
I linked an example wiring here [2]. I don't work for Victron, but I am just an happy customer :)
[1] https://www.victronenergy.com/inverter-charger-mppt/multi-rs... [2] https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/Multi_RS_Solar/en/app...
You can DIY a system like that in the article, using better and/or cheaper components as needed for your use case.
* Fire insurance or well, potential no-payout if your installation creates a fire.
* What about grounding? Does it also feed back over the invertor to your breaker panel
* How about power fusing... I doubt that he has individual fusing to his different rooms. So yea, electricity compliance is a mess. See fire insurance.
* Hanging cables with plugs hanging on them.. yep, very code compliant...
* A yes, 2500w rated distribution box with then multiple heavy loads on them.
This is one of those, interesting but big risk of burning down your own home, and neighbors in the process. It needs a ton of improvements for safety, what drives up the costs. Imagine everybody doing this, ...
This is pretty much a myth. Insurance pays out even if you cause a hazard, as long as it's not intentional (i.e., not insurance fraud). Talk to any insurance adjuster: undisclosed DIY is not enough to deny a claim.
What happens instead is that if you make a claim and the damage is by some stuff you didn't tell the insurer about, they will drop you right after they pay. Another possibility is that if they do any proactive inspections (e.g., drone fly-bys), they can decline to insure you or drop your policy.
A more substantial problem is that this page sort of oversells what they're pitching. 1.2 kW of solar power is a fraction of typical household usage. 2.4 kWh battery storage also isn't a whole lot. And yeah, it's cheaper than paying someone, but if your roof starts leaking, it's gonna cost you and you have no one to sue.
This is also a pretty bad outcome.
Power distribution centers are not made out of plastic (the power strip labeled "Main 2,500W power distribution strip") and there's a reason for that
Yes, we are on the cusp of self-pluggable home solar solutions.
No, this is not the way.
Generally speaking, you're just not supposed to do permanent electrical wiring with extension cords and power strips, especially not for stuff that goes into or through walls. This has nothing to do with plastic - you have plenty of plastic in electrical boxes, outlets, PVC conduit, etc. It's more about making sure that the connections can't come apart, that wires aren't easily crushed or abraded, and so on.
This project definitely isn't done the way you should do it if you had a real budget dedicated to it. Is it a death trap? Meh, I've seen far worse extension-cord contraptions in US homes.
But it is absolutely normal for petty electrical stuff to be made out of (fire-retardant) plastics and specced for single-digit-kilovolts withstand voltage. In Europe, with 230 V nominal mains voltage, it is also normal for outlets and power strips to be rated for 16 A or 20 A (residential wiring is higher than that), and you can accordingly get a 3 kW electric kettle in your friendly neighbourhood kitchen appliance store. (NB: Current ratings in the US are about the same, meaining all power ratings for 120 V wiring and appliances are cut in half.) All of this can be made of plastic no problem.
Still, yes, you are in fact approaching design limits for residential electricity. So it is time to stop and review the specs for your components, including power ratings, whether they (and their surroundings) are made out of fire-retardant materials, etc. Also grounding. Also your local laws and whether it’s actually legal for you to rewire things like this. Also, like, maybe talk to an actual electrician and see if they run away in horror?..
With that said... a few hundred more dollars, and this could be a proper setup with a proper load centre, breakers, and so on. Simply replace a lot of your home's existing wiring.
Seeing as the entire project is by and mostly for renters, that's not feasible.
There a many problems with this article, but the fact that it includes a battery charger is not one of them.
A 3kW inverter powering a fridge through extension cords (fridges/compressors can have serious inrush current). You can't just snake "yolo" cables through a house for anything drawing serious amps (say, more than 5).
I'm willing to bet zero impedance or insulation/continuity tests were done. I hope the inverter has the RCD protection included.
This "works" 99.9% of the time. Now multiply 0.1% by every person who sees this and thinks it's a clever hack.
Update: He's attaching an extension cord directly into the inverter's output terminals? A 3kW inverter at 120V can push 25A continuously. That can melt a 10/15A cord. The inverter's own breaker (say, 30A) is there to protect the inverter, not the cord. The cord may "become" the fuse long before the breaker trips on an overload (it doesn't trip at 30A instantly, more like at 100-200A if it's equivalent to EU class B/C).
Where this is potentially going to cause trouble is people who don't understand how electricity works, or that different wire gauges exist, or how many watts various appliances use. The kind of person who takes a tiny lamp extension cord and plugs a power strip into it, thinking that more sockets will provide unlimited power.
The photos in this article are scary. A 2500W power strip with a bunch of crap plugged in? Exactly the kind of scenario you don't want to see. And talking about running a fricken induction cooktop off that, along with a fridge? The photo and text imply that you have near-unlimited power.
The main thing I would be nervous about is the panels are claimed to be "rated for 120km/h winds". Presumably thats if they are bolted down? Just laying them down loose on the roof seems like a bad idea.
Like others said not sure about that wiring though
At least this particular setup uses a somewhat dignified 24-ish volt setup instead of the usual awful “12V” that is often seen in this genre of battery.
leakycap•1h ago
pinkmuffinere•1h ago