EcoFlow’s $200 PowerStream is so clever, you might buy a $4,000 solar generator
EcoFlow’s $200 PowerStream is so clever, you might buy a $4,000 solar generator
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.
Yeah, non-USA for this atm, as much fun as it would be to plug such a system into an apartment.
I believe that the US requires that a direct-feed system has to plug into a physical kill switch setup to prevent back-feed of power during an outage.
Still pretty neat, though!
Also in the US regular 120v outlets are fed from 1 of 2 transformer legs. If you back fed power through a 120v outlet, roughly half of the circuits in your home would function and the others would be dead.
And disclaimer: no one should do this, but when the transfer switch disconnects from the grid, would it work to jump say a breaker across the L1-L2 hots to share that 120v backfeed over both?
Clearly the 240v appliances won't work in this configuration, but the fridge on one leg and the internet on the other will still work ok, right?
Again, no one try this - it's just a thought exercise.
According to the article this system also detects power outages and shuts off when they happen. Just like full-scale solar power systems. But yeah, no physical kill switch.
I hate technologies that limit cannot use with another manufacturer's battery". Smells monopoly.
I would, but i'm not allowed by the HOA the hang shit on my balcony.
Fuck'n HOA assholes.
My balcony is also on the right side of the building too, it would be perfect.
Vote.
I ran my small HOA for 1 term and people came at me, bitched about stuff and I got them to come to a meeting where the other homeowners could express their concerns about the proposal and we'd come to an agreement and write up a change. It was no big deal. We even negotiated group rates for shared services and made it so that the costs of the HOA were offset by the savings from the services.
On the other side of the coin, when I left my position to give somebody else a turn at the process I largely automated, they ran it into the ground and bankrupted it while chasing a personal grievance against the city.
Somehow, the HOA attracts power hungry nobodies but they can be voted out if you're willing to work at it. Also, talk to your neighbors. My guess is that there are others who would back your proposal.
HOAholes
Worst Santa.
Aren't you supposed to be the land of the free?
That's just what our fascist oppressors tell us.
Wow that’s interesting. I hate how much power my pool eats up in the summer, I’ve been looking for something economical to help run it off of clean energy since the pump runs during peak solar hours anyway.
You can do that today with their setup I think. You would need to plug the pump into one of their batteries and run their solar panel to the battery. You’d also put the battery on grid power.
The article is focused on an inverter that pushes energy back to the grid, something we don’t have yet at this market level.
Energy saving tip: you can turn off pool water heating in the summer.
I don’t have a heater for it besides the sun. Figure it’d be nice to run the filter pump on the same thing
Just get solar then. Seems like the solution you are looking for, no?
Yeah, but between federal and state credits, different types of systems, etc. I’ve had a hard time determining what makes the most sense for me. Doesn’t help that trying to do online research quickly funnels you into sales bs.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
These DIY systems from EcoFlow, Anker, and others became very popular around Europe over the last few years as energy costs soared amid steadily decreasing solar and battery prices.
I also have six EcoFlow smart plugs attached to things like the washing machine, coffee maker, and home theater projector that tell the PowerStream to send more or less power.
But importantly, I learned a lot about my family’s energy consumption habits and how much power 800W of haphazardly installed solar panels can produce under a weak northern sun.
Importantly, I have gained a degree of energy independence in this uncertain world — and making regular use of an expensive solar generator that was otherwise just waiting for the next road trip or natural disaster.
The hardest part in setting up the PowerStream is doing the math to ensure your solar panels are wired up properly in series or parallel, especially when maxing out the system like I did.
So I should just feed enough solar power into the home to cover my base load during the day and send any excess to the EcoFlow battery for use when the sun goes down.
The original article contains 2,051 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 91%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
it's astonishing how many people in !technology@lemmy.world don't know anything about this technology
Reading this I kept thinking "How have I not heard of this?" and then I discovered it's because this sort of setup isn't possible in the US.
Most European residential electric systems operate at 240v, versus 120v in the US, which means you can only backfeed a US outlet with half the power you could in a European outlet. That alone makes this system half as useful for US applications.
If one of these were made for the US market it would obviously be configured to work at the US mains voltage and frequency. (Europe is 50hz, US is 60).
Your home's power input is also 240 volts in the US, regardless of being split into two 120 volt rails at the breaker box. It would be trivial to hook up a 240 volt system if you really wanted to, albeit not through one of your regular 5-15/5-20 outlets. You'd have to do it via a dryer outlet or something.
Watts are watts. If the unit is capable of feeding 800 watts into your home's electrical system, the voltage is irrelevant provided it can supply sufficient amps. A normal US household circuit is 15 amps, so a hypothetical US version of this thing would have to supply ~6-2/3 amps at 120v rather than ~3-1/3 amps at 240v. No big deal. It's not even close to maxing out a single residential circuit on either continent.
Just to expand, here’s a list of typical 240V appliances in a typical American home:
And some homes have:
Don’t conflate 120V/15A standard outlets with not having 240V at all. All homes have 240V or high power appliances wouldn’t function.
Just want to post a pic of a 20a 220v US outlet for those who don't know about it.
It fits in a standard box, so you don't have to use a dryer plug if someone wanted to feed power back in through a outlet. (Of course with a device designed to feed in safely.)
Your home’s power input is also 240 volts in the US
It's not actually 230V in Europe, it's 400V. Between each pair of the three phases, that is, between phase and neutral there's 230V. (If there's a neutral and you don't create it locally, different topic).
...but I'd actually have different doubts about using the whole thing in the US: Your plugs. Schukos aren't meant for the purpose and only code for up to 800W when used to backfeed. That's almost 1/5th of their 1 hour continuous rating. With those flimsy tinfoil plugs you have you're going to need special outlets, or hard-wire them.
Amazing how confidently incorrect you are. =)
Why is there always at least one European in these threads misunderstanding how North American power works?
Except he's probably American or Canadian. Look at his profile.
What the actual fuck?
Disqualified.
First part is classic stuff right?
Yeah. My grandfather (former electrician and electrical inspector) had a specific outlet he’d plug a gas generator in to back feed power into the house. This was in the 80s and 90s.
He also pointed out that he turned the main off so it did not back feed into the grid and power lines that a lineman is expecting to not be live.
Should not be via a standard wall jack. As far as I know.
I’m also against proprietary systems but is there an open alternative?
What's wrong with that? That's how basically any balcony solar system works.
The cables in your walls are designed for a certain maximum current before they start to heat up. This current is limited by your breaker.
Now if you introduce a plug in solar setup your current is limited by your maximum breaker capacity + whatever your solar setup can generate.
So if I'd use the specs from the article and apply it to a normal dutch home situation: 16A breaker, + 800W at 230V, which means ~3.5A = 19.5A max. which is probably still fine for short durations.
But now some genius doesn't read the fine print and hooks up 2 or 3 on the same circuit. There is no electrician that tells him that's dangerous because it's all self installed and he doesn't know any better. And all of a sudden you are up to 26.5A and you got glowing, smoking wires in your walls...
That happens quite a bit in a lot of areas. It sounds stupid but your toaster does not care where the electricity it is using comes from.
As long as the sine waves are in sync with each other then you have nothing to worry about.
It's probably not standard in America because the technology is newer and the regulations haven't caught up.
2 problems….
Whole house generators have been around for a long time and they are usually wired, at the junction, into a few specific lines to essential appliances like refrigerators because it’s hard to produce as much current as the grid on your own, and you want to spend what you can generate on site wisely. Trying to power your whole house through some bedroom outlet is not going to work well. Your TV will sit there sucking some of that power listening for your remote to turn it on while your lights will flicker and your fridge will chug chug chug and not stay cold.
Why?
Because proprietary.