HOAs and Condo rules and shit.
I wonder if you add an antenna and a small radio tower if OTARD would keep you protected? Gotta get power to it, so solar would make sense… hell, even a tv antenna with a booster would need power.
Quite the stretch. But also, who enforces that? The guy who wears a fucking gold Trump head pin?
Affording a balcony might be step one though.
Tl;dr: Because we haven’t created a safety standard for it.
The lack of an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the adoption of balcony solar. The company certifies the safety of thousands of household electrical products; according to Iowa State University, “every light bulb, lamp, or outlet purchased in the US usually has a UL symbol and says UL Listed.” This assures customers that the product follows nationally recognized guidelines and can be used without the risk of a fire or shock.
Safety standards? Sounds like anti-profit standards! Guess who DOGE is cutting next!
I imagine it’s because they’re bolted down quite well
Nah definitely the ATC shortage
“I don’t want no woke commie energy”
Micro solar is doable for anyone with yard space though. Forget the grid and buy some battery storage, put all the electronics into a small shed (like a garbage can box or something, an enclosure to keep out rain). Put up panels anywhere you want. Run the inverter output into your house.
Got a friend with a cabin, and instead of a whole grid they found it simpler to plug their secondhand panels into a battery pack about the size of a car battery that has 110v, 12v, and USB outlets. They charge on the panels at home and it lasts the weekend at the cabin.
Ugh I really want to do this but it’s totally outside my skill set
If you have a few grand about, there are company that sell very easy to use kits that are quite handy.
Any recommendations would be appreciated
On YouTube I watch a guy Jay Legere who installed a Bluetti solar and battery system. I think that Anker has a system too.
I just took portable ones and ziptied them to my balcony connected to a solar generator. Works to feed all my electronics and server equipment. It only connects to the grid if its depleted, never feeds power back in.
So you can still do this in the states, so long as you’re not feeding into the grid.
without reading the article I will guess… HOA regulations. How’d I do?
Not so good - issue is that your “code” for electrical installations doesn’t include balcony solar and that your institutions are not able to include it because of reasons that do not make sense to anyone outside the USA
Let me guess? Electric monopoly?
No, it’s electrical code. Standard outlets can’t be used to supply power because it means you have a plug that has exposed wires commonly called suicide wires. While these balconey top solar likely use grid following so it has to detect a grid voltage, the electrical code doesn’t consider it AFAIK. This rule is for safety and because it would only power half your house because there’s only one leg per 110 outlet.
Or the fact that most people with balconies live in rented apartments and apartment managers aren’t going to pay to subsidize an electric bill that tenants are entirely responsible for paying.
Yep. My apartment has restrictions in the lease that would prevent me from clamping solar panels as pictured.
With the current FAA problems, do y’all really want more things taking off?
Because they don’t have propellers?
