Hacker News Reader

Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

You mean something like feeding a grid fed inverter an artificially generated wave form from a Raspberry Pi and some relays or something?

View on HN

I don't see why you can't flip a giant switch to go from grid to home power. It's not automatic, but this tech is well established for gas generator cutover in factories and remote homes.

The hardest part of that is regulatory compliance on whatever interlock you have installed that prevents you from connecting mains to your backup.

The most common solution to that is a switch that goes through fully disconnected in the middle, and I've even seen a sliding metal plate used that interferes with at least one or both circuit breakers.

You need a home backup battery with a transfer switch, specifically one that accepts solar input. There are a bunch of off-the-shelf solutions out there.

Or you unplug your fridge from the wall and plug it into your inverter, with or without battery backup. Or you just leave it plugged into your APC UPS. I think cheaper ones than this US$60 2000W inverter exist: https://www.temu.com/ar/-2000w-inversor-de--con-pantalla-dig...

In the US they cost a lot more, but they still exist; there's a 750-watt unit at Horror Fright for US$70: https://archive.fo/1pzdK

I thought the generators phase differently with the movement of the engine vs the type of inverter you nened for use with batteries. I do agree it should be trivial.

You can, you need something to form frequency if it isn't coming from the grid and you very much need to synchronize when grid frequency comes back or your equipment will generate expensive smoke and noise.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com