[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":152},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Fkits\u002Fcraftstrom":3,"author-mike":112},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":79,"datePublished":79,"description":80,"extension":81,"howToSteps":82,"kits":83,"layout":95,"meta":96,"navigation":97,"path":98,"schemaType":99,"seo":100,"sources":101,"stem":105,"targetKeywords":106,"titleTag":110,"translationOf":82,"__hash__":111},"content\u002Fkits\u002Fcraftstrom.md","CraftStrom","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,24,29,32,36,39,43,46,49,53,66,70,73,76],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"About $2,031 for an 800-watt kit — roughly $2.50 a watt, two to three times what the competition charges. What you get for it is a zero-export smart meter that throttles output so nothing ever reaches the grid, ETL certification to UL 1741 and IEEE 1547, a Houston-based company that's been doing this since 2018, and around 2,000 systems already installed. It's the cautious choice, and it's priced like one.",[19,20],"illustration",{"brief":21,"caption":22,"ratio":23},"The zero-export meter clamped onto an incoming supply. It is the thing you are paying the premium for and nobody ever shows it.","Product photography, credited to the manufacturer where it is theirs. We say which.","wide",[25,26,28],"h2",{"id":27},"who-its-for","Who it's for",[15,30,31],{},"Businesses. Anyone installing before SB 868 takes effect who wants the interconnection question closed rather than argued. Anyone whose HOA or landlord is nervous and who'd benefit from being able to say, truthfully, that the device is physically incapable of sending anything to the grid.",[25,33,35],{"id":34},"who-it-isnt-for","Who it isn't for",[15,37,38],{},"Anyone optimising for payback. At $2,031 for 800 watts, a kit saving around $250 a year takes eight years. The maths only works if the certainty is worth something to you in itself.",[25,40,42],{"id":41},"what-zero-export-actually-means","What zero-export actually means",[15,44,45],{},"A small meter clamps onto your incoming supply and watches how much your building is drawing. It tells the inverter to produce no more than that, moment to moment. If your café is drawing 400 watts, the inverter makes 400 watts, even if the sun could give it 800.",[15,47,48],{},"You lose production. You gain the ability to say that nothing your system produces ever touches the utility's wires, which makes the entire interconnection debate irrelevant to you.",[25,50,52],{"id":51},"drawbacks","Drawbacks",[54,55,56,60,63],"ul",{},[57,58,59],"li",{},"The price.",[57,61,62],{},"You're throwing away production by design.",[57,64,65],{},"Certification is ETL to UL 1741, not UL 3700. The zero-export design arguably makes that less important — but \"arguably\" is doing work in that sentence.",[25,67,69],{"id":68},"verdict","Verdict",[15,71,72],{},"Right answer for a nervous business or a pre-2027 installation. Wrong answer for a renter trying to trim a bill.",[74,75],"affiliate-disclosure",{},[77,78],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","A Houston company selling 800W and 1600W plug-in kits with a zero-export smart meter. About $2,031 for 800W. Expensive, and the most cautious option.","md",null,[84],{"name":85,"brand":5,"size":86,"price":87,"priceFrom":88,"battery":89,"cert":90,"certNote":91,"shipsToCa":92,"suits":93,"order":94},"CraftStrom 800W","800W","~$2,031",2031,"Optional","etl","ETL to UL 1741 \u002F IEEE 1547, zero-export meter","Yes","Businesses and anyone wanting zero-export certainty",70,"article",{},true,"\u002Fkits\u002Fcraftstrom","Product",{"title":5,"description":80},[102],{"title":103,"url":104,"accessed":79},"CraftStrom plug and play solar","https:\u002F\u002Fcraftstrom.com","kits\u002Fcraftstrom",[107,108,109],"CraftStrom review","zero export solar California","plug in solar no interconnection","CraftStrom Review | Zero-Export Plug-In Solar","4lsyb5aZEkt15TcM7Qjou5QU1l9sH3_WlewD11_yYxQ",{"id":113,"title":114,"body":115,"description":143,"email":141,"extension":81,"location":144,"meta":145,"name":122,"navigation":97,"path":146,"photo":147,"role":148,"sameAs":82,"seo":149,"stem":150,"__hash__":151},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":116},[117,124,127,131,134],[15,118,119,123],{},[120,121,122],"strong",{},"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.",[15,125,126],{},"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.",[25,128,130],{"id":129},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,132,133],{},"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.",[15,135,136,137,142],{},"Reach him at ",[138,139,141],"a",{"href":140},"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":143},"authors\u002Fmike","kb0uodhMlGk_YV3nMOIXdr6bpZgtB5zNoRxdGxsXMQ8",1788387858848]