I live in the central US in a south-facing apartment with a TON of sunlight, and I’ve been wanting to set something up mostly for hobbyist/curiosity reasons. I know actual financial benefits are going to be pretty unlikely, and that’s ok.

Balcony solar as I understand it to be an option in Europe is pretty much exactly the sort of thing I want to try, but my understanding is it’s not compliant with code in the US. Basically I don’t expect to be able to have enough solar capacity to power my whole home, but I’d like to be able to just offset as much as I can when the sun is out. And I think I want a battery in the system so it’s not only useful when the sun is out.

I’d love something that works like this:

  • Prioritize powering the load from the panels (through an inverter, I assume) when available
  • If the panels alone aren’t sufficient, backfill from the battery
  • If the panels + battery aren’t sufficient, backfill from the grid
  • When the load does not consume all the power from the panels, use excess to charge the battery
  • Grid is only there as a fallback when the panels and battery aren’t sufficient to power the load. Grid does not charge the battery or receive excess from the panels.

If it’s not realistic to expect to be able to power the load first from the panels (bypassing the battery), skipping that part and just always powering from the battery and backfilling from the grid maybe would simplify things. I just thought it’d be nice to avoid the inefficency of charging and discharging the battery when the sun is out.

My hope is to have a single solar-backed outlet in my living room off my balcony. During the summer, I’d probably use it to partially offset my little window unit AC. Other parts of the year when I don’t run the AC, maybe I’d use it to offset my TV.

Does anything like this exist? My preference would be to get a kit (Ecoflow etc) that includes as much of the functionality as possible and then add on if necessary for any missing functionality, but I would be interested in more piecemeal DIY solutions too of they’re reasonably approachable for a beginner. I’ve watched a lot of “solar at various price points” videos on Youtube and sometimes some of the kits sound like they get pretty close to what I want, but I’ve never seen this exact combination of functionality discussed.

Thanks.

  • UlrichEnglish
    0•12 days ago

    This is really going to be highly-dependent on the regulations of your apartment. If you ask them they’ll probably just say no to everything so you’ll have to comb through the docs and see what’s allowed. Even then it’s likely they’ll hit you with a violation regardless, even if technically allowed, and if you don’t pay, collection, meaning you’ll have to take them to court and prove it doesn’t violate any rules. That’s a whole lot of risk.

    I would avoid any of those “solar generators” for cost reasons. These are expensive components and you want them to be modular so you can replace individual components rather than entire systems.

    Will prowse does a “solar milk crate” design here. I would probably try to emulate that but with newer components. I think the “wattcycle” is probably your best bet for battery and Giandel still makes great inverters of various sizes.

    Run the panel wires through wherever your window A/C unit is and keep all the components indoors.

    A/C is going to be one of the top consumers of energy so you’d probably only get like 1 hour of power/day on a hot day. Better to connect your modem, router, and maybe a small fridge (also a large consumer).