FAQ

How can I use an outlet to connect – don’t outlets just discharge power for appliances?

Strictly speaking, outlets are just a connection point. You can connect a generator to an outlet and provide power to your home grid. HOWEVER – to protect your home, that power must be controlled or limited.

Why Are the Delivery Times for the Battery So Long?

Because our battery is more than just another backup battery, we need more certifications, than simple battery backup systems. Because of the pandemic, these certifications take a bit more time than is usual.
We hope (and expect) to be able to deliver your products to you faster than the estimated delivery time, but want to be on the safe side.

Is There A Limit To How Many Products I can Order?

No. If there isn’t a regulatory limit to the amount of Watts you are allowed to plug into a standard power outlet, such as in Europe (between 600 and 800 Watts in Germany, for instance), then it is up to you and your local building regulations. Our newest innovation – the Safety Gate Adapter – allows a maximum of 2000 Watts to be plugged into any one circuit. We recommend to limit the amount of power, even with our SGA, to 1600 Watts per circuit (5 of our ultra efficient SunPower panels). However, you can connect multiple systems to multiple circuits, or simply ask an electrician to install a dedicated circuit for this purpose.

How do you protect my home’s wiring?

With our Safety Gate Adapter. While it is more complex, you can see it as a circuit breaker for our CraftStrom products. The SGA continuously measures the draw on the circuit you chose to connect our CraftStrom products to. The National Electric Code (in just about every country) has an eye on power limits in your home. To ensure you cannot never reach those power limits, use our SGA. Should you accidentally connect some heavy duty power user to the same circuit as your Smart Panels, then our SGA automatically shuts down our products. Your house circuits are never affected or turned off.

Is it safe to still work on my home grid, when the panel is connected?

Yes. Our smart inverters are certified according to UL/CE/VDE and feature an automatic, rapid shutdown function. The inverter will turn itself off within milliseconds of a grid shutdown.

Do I have to register this with my utility?

Yes. Make sure you inform your utility of your intention to install our system. Notify them of the power rating. Using our PowerMeter, your Solar system always knows how much power you are using. Should that consumption ever drop below a level, where you would be producing more electricity than using, our system can reduce the amount of power reaching your home in incremental steps.

Do I have to have a dedicated line for this system?

While not many people have a line/circuit dedicated for power input, make sure that no high-usage appliances are connected to the same line/circuit, e.g. A/Cs, hair dryers or washing machines. Those would cause our Safety Gate Adapter to trigger. But no worries, that is its purpose. Simply plug your heavy usage appliance into another circuit and restart the SGA to keep producing solar power.

Can I use my old solar panels with your inverter?

Sure! We offer just our smart solar inverter for that reason. Our standard inverter is designed to work specifically with our own solar panel, which is a 72V version, but we do offer lower voltage inverters, too.

Do you use MPPT?

Yes, both the inverter, as well as the internal battery charger use Maximum Power Point Tracking.

What can I power with the battery?

Most gadgets and appliances. We do not recommend connecting A/Cs, hair dryers, washing machines or ovens. We have limited power output (max 1200W) for safety reasons and the battery is limited in size.

Are The Products Certified?

Yes, they are, or they will be in very short order.We are currently still waiting for the battery certifications, which is simple delayed, due to the backlog from the pandemic.

Where Are Your Products Made?

As we are starting up production for our products, we are producing in China. We do have plans to move manufacturing to the USA and other countries, once we understand sales numbers better.

How does my home grid know to use the electricity produced by my panel?

This happens automatically, since the electricity you produce is discharged directly into your home grid. This power is used first, but if you need more power than is available from your panel(s), then you will automatically draw more power from the utility.

How many may I connect?

We recommend max 1600W or 5 panels, per circuit. Want to install more? Simply use other circuits. However, always keep in mind how much power you really need versus how much you would be selling back to your utility with a larger roof setup. You can make quite a dent in your electric bill with just a few panels.

Can it be used as a backup system, even though the inverter shuts itself off when the grid is down?

Yes! Simply take the battery out of its smart base and disconnect the panel from the smart inverter. You can now connect the solar panel directly to the battery to keep it charged. The battery itself has USB-A and USB-C connectors, but we have also designed an AC power outlet for emergencies and on-the-go that connects to the top of the battery. Use that to power your fridge, internet access point or other essentials.

Is there a form I have to sign with my utility?

Not, if you use our Safety Products in the US. Our Power Meter communicates with your App to ensure that production is always smaller than your electricity consumption. This is often referred to as ‘staying behind the meter’, meaning none of the electricity you generate will ever leave your home and enter the public grid. Check with your local grid owner, but they are not concerned, if your system doesn’t try and sell electricity to the grid. In case you don’t want to use our power meter, you will have to sign an Interconnection Agreement with the local grid owner. This form depends on your State and the utility you use, but is generally an Agreement For Interconnection And Parallel Operation Of Distributed Generation.
If you live in Europe, where regulations for plug&play systems exist and Max Power is limited to 600W, you do not require our Safety Products. You will, however, have to sign an Interconnection Agreement.

Can I install this on my roof?

Sure! You can install your panels wherever you like, but please keep in mind that for the long-term, you do want to make sure your panel is mounted securely. While we use the most resilient cells we could finde – SunPower – even they can break and lose power. So make sure to use all eyelets and that no panel is flapping in the wind.

If you want something even more flexible and convenient, we offer 100W flexible panels that can take more punishment.

Why is the output Voltage of your solar panel so high?

Our solar panel is designed to also charge our battery directly, when in use outdoors or for emergencies. Since our battery is a 48V battery, we have optimized the panel Voltage for the internal battery charger. We do offer sets of smaller – 100W – solar panels.

Are your batteries safe to use in the house?

Our batteries use Lithium Iron Phosphate cells, which are much more stable and do not burst into flames as easily, as your typical cellphone battery. Our battery is designed for indoor use.

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