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Side note: I found it interesting to see the discussion from people who have solar panels and learned that without a whole house battery the panels are practica

Side note: I found it interesting to see the discussion from people who have solar panels and learned that without a whole house battery the panels are practically useless when the power is out. I thought it was just worth noting as a time people think they have one thing, and discover it’s something else entirely.

Filligree 7y ago
That's surprising to me. The need for capacitance is common sense to anyone with an understanding of electricity, which I would have assumed to include people who install solar panels on their homes. Has deployments gotten broad enough that not just (curious) early adopters install them, now?
- pas 7y ago
  It most definitely has.
- tropo 7y ago
  I can run many things off of solar without batteries. Calculators are commonly sold this way. It makes perfect sense that this should work scaled up to a whole house. As long as the Sun is shining, there should be power.
  - Filligree 7y ago
    Capacitance, not batteries; your calculator includes capacitors, and has low enough draw that they can power it for at least a second or two. That's the minimum requirement. Power draw varies on sub-second timescales; just because your power meter shows a continuous draw of 4 kW doesn't mean it's actually continuous, or that 4 (or 6, or 8) kW of solar panels would cover the spikes. When they don't, you get brownouts. You wouldn't want your house to shut off because of a passing cloud, either. Solar powered houses do not in fact need batteries -- a large capacitor bank would be plenty. It's just that a capacitor bank capable of running it for (say) five minutes, at a draw of several kilowatts, is enough power in a scary enough form factor to need armoring. Batteries are far safer, and also let you use power at night.
    - tropo 7y ago
      It shouldn't be a problem. All the things that matter come with switching power supplies. Switching power supplies can adjust. They normally handle everything from Japan at 90v to Nigeria commonly exceeding 250v. They also internally have capacitance. For everything else, it just doesn't matter. I couldn't even tell if power for the toaster oven dropped to 70v for 200ms.
- randyrand 7y ago
  Capacitance is not the word you’re looking for. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance You mean electrical storage.
  - Filligree 7y ago
    Capacitance is definitely the word I'm looking for. I'm thinking of the spikiness of current draw in electronics, as an extreme example, and the way we cope with that is precisely capacitors.

Filligree 7y ago

That's surprising to me. The need for capacitance is common sense to anyone with an understanding of electricity, which I would have assumed to include people who install solar panels on their homes. Has deployments gotten broad enough that not just (curious) early adopters install them, now?

pas 7y ago
It most definitely has.
tropo 7y ago
I can run many things off of solar without batteries. Calculators are commonly sold this way. It makes perfect sense that this should work scaled up to a whole house. As long as the Sun is shining, there should be power.
- Filligree 7y ago
  Capacitance, not batteries; your calculator includes capacitors, and has low enough draw that they can power it for at least a second or two. That's the minimum requirement. Power draw varies on sub-second timescales; just because your power meter shows a continuous draw of 4 kW doesn't mean it's actually continuous, or that 4 (or 6, or 8) kW of solar panels would cover the spikes. When they don't, you get brownouts. You wouldn't want your house to shut off because of a passing cloud, either. Solar powered houses do not in fact need batteries -- a large capacitor bank would be plenty. It's just that a capacitor bank capable of running it for (say) five minutes, at a draw of several kilowatts, is enough power in a scary enough form factor to need armoring. Batteries are far safer, and also let you use power at night.
  - tropo 7y ago
    It shouldn't be a problem. All the things that matter come with switching power supplies. Switching power supplies can adjust. They normally handle everything from Japan at 90v to Nigeria commonly exceeding 250v. They also internally have capacitance. For everything else, it just doesn't matter. I couldn't even tell if power for the toaster oven dropped to 70v for 200ms.
randyrand 7y ago
Capacitance is not the word you’re looking for. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance You mean electrical storage.
- Filligree 7y ago
  Capacitance is definitely the word I'm looking for. I'm thinking of the spikiness of current draw in electronics, as an extreme example, and the way we cope with that is precisely capacitors.