There’s a strange certainty creeping into battery talk lately. The idea that DC coupling is the grown-up option, and AC coupling is something we did back when we didn’t know any better. I keep seeing installers and Facebook pundits claiming the only proper way to attach a battery to a house is with a DC-coupled system. Anything else is framed as inefficient, messy, a historical mistake or just deeply uncool.
I don’t get it.
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has revealed it warned manufacturers and installers to provide early notification of product risks, after reviewing the spate of melted Sigenergy inverter plugs last year.
If you wanted to design the world’s harshest endurance test for home batteries, you wouldn’t build a lab. You’d build a normal Australian suburb. [Read more…]
Imagine buying a home battery that offers automatic blackout protection, only to discover that when the lights go out, the installer set it up to require manual operation? It’s a trend that’s plunged far too many households into the dark across Australia. Here’s what to watch out for.
Fifteen years ago, one of the hardest parts of selling solar was explaining why your panels shut down in a blackout. No grid meant no power, even on a sunny day.
Today, batteries fix that. Yet I am seeing thousands of homes getting large batteries with either no backup at all or poorly designed backup. That’s because – as batteries go mainstream – a set of myths has taken hold.
Let’s knock them over.
The home battery installation count in Western Australia is rapidly increasing, as too is the national total according to an update from Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. [Read more…]
Summer had a slow start around my place but it’s hard to miss now, and along with it, emergency warnings for bushfires, extreme heat and flooding.
So what special precautions should you take with your solar and battery systems?
For years, solar owners had it easy. You looked for the highest solar feed-in tariff. You checked the usage rate and the daily charge were not silly. You picked the winning tariff and moved on.
That world is gone.
With huge numbers of new home batteries sweating through their first Australian summer, temperature has risen to be an issue worth investigating.
Are there some simple solutions to keeping your solar battery and inverter cool? Read on for answers.
Big batteries are going in fast. Too many are being left dumb, unsupported, and unable to earn their keep.
I was on ABC Adelaide this week to talk about the battery rebate. First question was easy. Has it been popular?
Hell yes.
Roughly 150,000 batteries in six months. That is a staggering number.
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