Post #2709355
2026-04-24 12:29 UTC
@SteveWatson@ottawa.place
That's true. I understand that these particular panels have a built-in inverter and some circuitry that detects a power outage (or, I suppose, a pulled circuit-breaker) and automatically shuts off the flow.
That way it's safe, but can't be used as emergency power - unless, I suppose, you unplug it from the wall and use it to charge a battery as you can with ordinary portable panels.
Replies (1)
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@SteveWatson@ottawa.place 2026-04-24 16:53
@Anne_Delong@musician.social I did a bit of poking around, and yes it looks like systems on the market have anti-islanding. The other concern was that it would feed back into the grid, but that would only happen if your home was consuming less than the panel was producing, which would require probably more panels than anyone has room for. (For one thing, not all meters can tell which direction power is flowing, so you'd be getting charged for the power you're feeding back to the grid). I also wouldn't want to stuff more than a few hundred watts back into a branch circuit, so you don't want people going nuts with these things.