EcoFlow’s $200 PowerStream is so clever, you might buy a $4,000 solar generator

Plug-in systems are built around a microinverter that feeds solar energy back into the home via a standard wall jack.

What the actual fuck?

The PowerStream has three proprietary ports: one that connects to your MC4 solar panels

Disqualified.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

it's astonishing how many people in !technology@lemmy.world don't know anything about this technology