Interesting reason for not using an extension lead with Plug-in Solar

[boringoldcodger]

There may well be good reasons for not using an extension lead with plugin solar, but is this one of them?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/plug-in-solar/#:~:text=Standard%20household%20extension%20cables%20are,with%20a%20long%20enough%20cable.

At (admittedly, currently) limited to 800 Watts I'd have thought almost any extension lead would be OK.

 

[flameport]

No.

Best case it's someone who read somewhere that extension cables can overheat when wound up or used with high loads such as EV charging for long periods and somehow jumbled that up into them not being suitable for solar.
Or more likely is AI slop.

 

[JohnD]

"Standard household extension cables are designed to send power, not receive it, so they could become dangerously hot."

Cables are not clever enough to know which way power is travelling

 

[BS3036]

It's frightening that any educated person should make such a statement. The only reason I can think of not to use an extension cable is if its resistance is high enough that the voltage drop causes the inverter to see a voltage higher than its cutoff voltage.

 

[JohnD]

It's frightening that any educated person should make such a statement.

Some people consider Boris Johnson to be educated.

 

[IJWS15]

"Standard household extension cables are designed to send power, not receive it, so they could become dangerously hot."

Cables are not clever enough to know which way power is travelling

I guess these people think cable has an arrow on it so the factories making up extension leads know which end to fit the plug onto.

 

[ebee]

They might be mistaking Wattless Power for Powerless Watts I suppose

 

[Collectors]

What's a standard extension cable?. I have nothing under 1.5mm blue artic cable rated @ 16A 3.3KW. But it could be 0.5mm RATED & 3A 700w. Either one i would want to run to long at there ratings.

 

[ebee]

Yes you`d have to make sure that the extension(s) are up to the job ref current and length and uncoile where appropriate and especialy because potentially they could run for quite a while but most bog standard ones (on their own) are rated around 13A uncoiled and 6A ish wound up.
Providing you get proprietary make and follow those instructions supplied with them and do not daisy chain a few together should be OK.

Anyone who makes their own would probably be inclined to make one using 1.5 flex but could at a push run up to 2.5 flex with care and decent brands of plugs and trialling sockets and know the max length accordingly and stick under it.

But we all know of people who will inevitably use twin bellwire flex = fluroescents of old were run like that by some who declared "it does not have an earth but it still works so no problem!"
You reply - "It does not need an Earth to work but YOU need it to have an Earth for YOU to continue to work properly or you might conk out!" and you know they will still carry on regardless and because they are still alive it proves their point in their own minds.

 

[JohnD]

What's a standard extension cable?. I have nothing under 1.5mm blue artic cable rated @ 16A 3.3KW. But it could be 0.5mm RATED & 3A 700w. Either one i would want to run to long at there ratings.

I thought I heard these plug-in panels were around 800W max.