[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":328},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Fhow-it-works":3,"author-mike":291},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":266,"datePublished":266,"description":267,"extension":268,"howToSteps":269,"kits":269,"layout":270,"meta":271,"navigation":272,"path":273,"schemaType":274,"seo":275,"sources":276,"stem":283,"targetKeywords":284,"titleTag":289,"translationOf":269,"__hash__":290},"content\u002Fhow-it-works.md","How plug-in solar actually works","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,24,29,36,42,48,54,60,64,67,70,79,83,87,90,156,167,170,173,177,180,183,186,189,193,199,204,208,211,214,217,221,257,263],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"A solar panel outside makes DC electricity. A small box behind the panel — a microinverter — turns it into the ordinary 120-volt AC your home runs on. A cord from that box plugs into a normal outlet. Power flows backwards through that outlet onto your home's wiring and gets used by whatever is switched on. There's no battery unless you buy one, no rewiring, and no meter trickery.",[19,20],"illustration",{"brief":21,"caption":22,"ratio":23},"Exploded view of one kit: panel, microinverter, the two cables, the plug. Laid flat on a floor, shot from directly above, each part far enough apart to be countable.","Four parts. The expensive, clever one is the small box, not the panel.","wide",[25,26,28],"h2",{"id":27},"the-chain-one-link-at-a-time","The chain, one link at a time",[15,30,31,35],{},[32,33,34],"strong",{},"The panel makes DC."," Sunlight hits the cells and produces direct current — the same kind a battery makes. A typical balcony panel is rated somewhere between 180 and 450 watts, which is its output in ideal noon sun, not what it makes all day.",[15,37,38,41],{},[32,39,40],{},"The microinverter converts it to AC."," Your home runs on alternating current at 120 volts. The microinverter is a sealed box, usually mounted right behind the panel, that does the conversion. This is the expensive, clever, safety-critical part of the kit, and it's the component that has to be certified.",[15,43,44,47],{},[32,45,46],{},"A cord runs to an outlet."," The microinverter's output ends in a standard plug. You plug it into an outdoor outlet on your balcony or patio the same way you'd plug in a string of lights.",[15,49,50,53],{},[32,51,52],{},"Your home uses the power first."," This is the part that confuses people, so here it is plainly. Electricity takes the shortest path to whatever is drawing it. When your panel pushes 300 watts onto the circuit and your fridge is drawing 150, the fridge takes it from the panel rather than from the grid. The utility's meter only measures what crosses it, so it simply records less.",[15,55,56,59],{},[32,57,58],{},"Anything left over leaves the building."," If the panel is making 300 watts and your home only wants 100, the other 200 flows out to the grid. Under SB 868 you're paid nothing for it. That's not a loophole or an oversight you can work around — the bill is silent on export compensation, deliberately.",[25,61,63],{"id":62},"why-does-anyone-stay-home-during-the-day-is-the-real-question","Why \"does anyone stay home during the day\" is the real question",[15,65,66],{},"Solar makes its power in the middle of the day. Most households use their power in the morning and evening. The fraction of your production that your home happens to consume as it's made is the single biggest number in the whole calculation, and nobody ever asks about it.",[15,68,69],{},"A household where somebody works from home, or has a baby, or runs a pool pump, uses maybe 70 to 80 percent of what a small panel makes. A household that's empty from eight to six uses closer to 40 percent. Same panel, same sunshine, nearly double the difference in money.",[15,71,72,73,78],{},"This is why we ask it in ",[74,75,77],"a",{"href":76},"\u002Fwizard","the wizard"," and why we rate a café better than a house.",[80,81],"day-band-chart",{"caption":82},"Production peaks around noon. Southern California Edison's most expensive hours run 4pm to 9pm. Everything you can shift into the amber is worth full price.",[25,84,86],{"id":85},"what-a-battery-changes","What a battery changes",[15,88,89],{},"A battery sits between the panel and the outlet. It soaks up the midday surplus you'd otherwise give away and releases it in the evening, when you're home and rates are highest.",[91,92,93,108],"table",{},[94,95,96],"thead",{},[97,98,99,102,105],"tr",{},[100,101],"th",{},[100,103,104],{},"No battery",[100,106,107],{},"With a small battery (1–2 kWh)",[109,110,111,123,134,145],"tbody",{},[97,112,113,117,120],{},[114,115,116],"td",{},"Share of production you actually use",[114,118,119],{},"about 60%",[114,121,122],{},"about 90%",[97,124,125,128,131],{},[114,126,127],{},"Estimated annual saving, 1,200W in Irvine",[114,129,130],{},"~$376",[114,132,133],{},"~$564",[97,135,136,139,142],{},[114,137,138],{},"Added cost",[114,140,141],{},"—",[114,143,144],{},"$800–$1,500",[97,146,147,150,153],{},[114,148,149],{},"Payback",[114,151,152],{},"2–4 years",[114,154,155],{},"4–6 years",[15,157,158],{},[159,160,161,162,166],"em",{},"Estimated. Assumes 1,900 kWh a year from a tilted 1,200-watt system in Orange County and a 33-cent blended rate. ",[74,163,165],{"href":164},"\u002Fmethodology","Full working",".",[15,168,169],{},"So a battery earns you more but pays back slower. It's worth it if you're on a time-of-use plan with a punishing evening peak, and it's the wrong purchase if you're mainly trying to find out whether any of this works for you.",[15,171,172],{},"In Germany, where this market is mature, the share of balcony systems sold with storage doubled from 20 percent in 2023 to 40 percent in 2025 at one major manufacturer. The direction of travel is clear enough.",[25,174,176],{"id":175},"the-circuit-your-kit-shares","The circuit your kit shares",[15,178,179],{},"This is the part the firefighters' unions and the electrical workers argued about, and it's worth understanding rather than glossing over.",[15,181,182],{},"Your outlet is on a branch circuit, protected by a 15-amp or 20-amp breaker. That breaker's job is to trip if too much current flows. Normally all the current on that circuit comes from your panel board, so the breaker sees everything.",[15,184,185],{},"A plug-in solar device adds a second source of current, downstream of the breaker. In theory, with a large enough device and enough load on the same circuit, the wires could carry more current than the breaker is watching for. That's the \"breaker masking\" concern.",[15,187,188],{},"In practice, the 1,200-watt cap in SB 868 exists precisely to keep this well inside the margin, and the UL 3700 standard is written to test for it. Germany has over a million of these installed with no pattern of fires attributable to the devices. But it's a real engineering question, not industry noise, and the answer is: keep to certified equipment, keep to the wattage cap, and don't run a heater on the same outlet.",[190,191],"disclaimer",{"kind":192},"electrical",[15,194,195],{},[74,196,198],{"href":197},"\u002Ftools\u002Foutlet-check","Two-minute outlet check →",[19,200],{"brief":201,"caption":202,"ratio":203},"The microinverter mounted on the back of the panel frame, close enough to read the label and the certification marks.","The microinverter is the part the law is really about, and the part that has to be certified.","photo",[25,205,207],{"id":206},"why-it-switches-off-in-a-blackout","Why it switches off in a blackout",[15,209,210],{},"Every compliant device has a feature called anti-islanding. It watches the grid, and if the grid disappears, it stops producing within a fraction of a second.",[15,212,213],{},"The reason is line workers. If the power is out on your street and a dozen balconies are quietly pushing electricity onto the local wires, someone repairing those wires can be hurt. So the law requires the device to shut down, and it does.",[15,215,216],{},"The consequence for you: plug-in solar provides zero backup power. Not reduced power, none. If you want the fridge running during an outage, you want a battery with a backup output, which is a different product with a different price.",[25,218,220],{"id":219},"what-you-need-before-you-buy","What you need before you buy",[222,223,224,231,237,247],"ul",{},[225,226,227,230],"li",{},[32,228,229],{},"An outdoor outlet",", or a safe way to reach one. Running a cord through a sliding door is common and usually fine; running it under a rug is not.",[225,232,233,236],{},[32,234,235],{},"A railing, wall, or floor"," that can hold roughly 40 to 60 pounds and won't be damaged by clamps.",[225,238,239,242,243],{},[32,240,241],{},"Sun."," A south or west aspect with a clear view of the sky. ",[74,244,246],{"href":245},"\u002Ftools\u002Forientation","Which way does yours face?",[225,248,249,252,253,166],{},[32,250,251],{},"Permission, or at least no prohibition."," Your lease and your HOA rules still apply. ",[74,254,256],{"href":255},"\u002Fguides\u002Fcan-your-landlord-or-hoa-say-no","The honest version",[15,258,259],{},[74,260,262],{"href":261},"\u002Fguides\u002Fwhats-in-a-kit","What's in a kit and what you'll also need →",[264,265],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","A panel, a small converter, and a normal wall outlet. How balcony solar feeds your home, why surplus power is worth nothing, and what a battery changes.","md",null,"article",{},true,"\u002Fhow-it-works","Article",{"title":5,"description":267},[277,280],{"title":278,"url":279,"accessed":266},"UL Solutions, UL 3700 Outline of Investigation for Interactive Plug-In Photovoltaic Equipment","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ul.com\u002Fservices\u002Ful-3700-plug-in-photovoltaic-systems",{"title":281,"url":282,"accessed":266},"SB 868 bill text, Public Utilities Code §8530","https:\u002F\u002Fleginfo.legislature.ca.gov\u002Ffaces\u002FbillTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB868","how-it-works",[285,286,287,288],"how does balcony solar work","plug-in solar how it works","microinverter explained","does balcony solar need an electrician","How Plug-In Balcony Solar Works | SmallSolarCo","LrU9ncMfu9FolWOQEZSWbNP3Hn9Db_D7nySdV4XVXik",{"id":292,"title":293,"body":294,"description":319,"email":318,"extension":268,"location":320,"meta":321,"name":300,"navigation":272,"path":322,"photo":323,"role":324,"sameAs":269,"seo":325,"stem":326,"__hash__":327},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":295},[296,302,305,309,312],[15,297,298,301],{},[32,299,300],{},"Mike Yu"," started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.",[15,303,304],{},"Since September 2026 he has been running a plug-in kit on that balcony and logging what it actually produces. Every measured figure on this site comes from that kit. Everything else is labelled as an estimate.",[25,306,308],{"id":307},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,310,311],{},"We don't accept review units on terms that involve anyone approving the review first. If a manufacturer sends us a kit, we say so on the review, and we keep the right to publish a bad one.",[15,313,314,315,166],{},"Reach him at ",[74,316,318],{"href":317},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com","Mike Yu started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder",{"description":319},"authors\u002Fmike","kb0uodhMlGk_YV3nMOIXdr6bpZgtB5zNoRxdGxsXMQ8",1788387857375]