I have just read an article about plug in solar panels that have been installed in Germany , in their millions . Now the UK government are hoping to market them , for domestic use , in the UK . No heavy installation charges as they are literally a plug in and play item with a micro inverter included and no additional wiring . They can be hung on balcony railings and simply plug into a wall socket . Also portable so can be moved to your new home . At a fraction of the cost of the traditional solar panel installation .Are they coming to Thailand soon ?

There are literally dozens of small grid-tie micro-inverters on Lazada etc.

Add a suitable panel or two and a bit of DIY and you're good to go.

There are limits to using an outlet to feed into your house wiring. I wouldn't go over about 1500Watts and use a circuit that doesn't have any high-power appliances, so no plugging into the kitchen.

It might be worth looking up the UK regs. regarding plug-in solar and sticking to something similar.

27 minutes ago, Crossy said:

There are literally dozens of small grid-tie micro-inverters on Lazada etc.

Add a suitable panel or two and a bit of DIY and you're good to go.

There are limits to using an outlet to feed into your house wiring. I wouldn't go over about 1500Watts and use a circuit that doesn't have any high-power appliances, so no plugging into the kitchen.

It might be worth looking up the UK regs. regarding plug-in solar and sticking to something similar.

You might be thinking of it as a load, hence not on high power circuits, but it’s the reverse, does that make a difference?

15 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

You might be thinking of it as a load, hence not on high power circuits, but it’s the reverse, does that make a difference?

The wires get hot no matter which way the amps are flowing

The risk is when you get several high power loads AND a couple of fairly high-power solar things plugged in to the same branch.

There's the possibility of overloading the wiring with the associated risk of conflagration but there's no over-current protection actually in the current path.

People can (and will) keep plugging stuff in coz the breaker doesn't open!

I'll try to do an illustative drawing.

28 minutes ago, Crossy said:

The wires get hot no matter which way the amps are flowing

The risk is when you get several high power loads AND a couple of fairly high-power solar things plugged in to the same branch.

There's the possibility of overloading the wiring with the associated risk of conflagration but there's no over-current protection actually in the current path.

People can (and will) keep plugging stuff in coz the breaker doesn't open!

I'll try to do an illustative drawing.

The solar current is going to deduct from any load being drawn and reduce the current at the fuse box.

I think the heavier cable in the kitchen is going to help, not the other way around, but I’m no expert.

Here we go, a quick and dirty illustration.

For easy maths let's have a 20A wire and 20A breaker!

Our 20A circuit is on the line in the first diagram.

Add a 10A solar plug-in source (second diagram) we're still OK, highest current is 20A

Add a third 10A load, we then get one section at 30A, the wire will be getting warm but there's no over-current protection in that branch.

Then, coz nothing's gone pop yet we add another 10A load and another 10A plug-in solar!!!

Our 20A wire at 40A is not going to be happy, and no breakers have operated.

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Here we go, a quick and dirty illustration.

Our 20A circuit is on the line in the first diagram.

Add a 10A solar source (second diagram) we're still OK, highest current is 20A

Add a third 10A load, we then get one section at 30A, the wire will be getting warm but there's no over-current protection in that branch.

Then, coz nothing's gone pop yet we add another 10A load and another 10A plug-in solar!!!

I get it. Thank you.

19 hours ago, Crossy said:

There are literally dozens of small grid-tie micro-inverters on Lazada etc.

Add a suitable panel or two and a bit of DIY and you're good to go.

There are limits to using an outlet to feed into your house wiring. I wouldn't go over about 1500Watts and use a circuit that doesn't have any high-power appliances, so no plugging into the kitchen.

It might be worth looking up the UK regs. regarding plug-in solar and sticking to something similar.

The UK regulations on plug in solar are on a review because the UK government state that the specs applied within European countries are not safe enough , so installation specs to be issued soon that will enable

D.I.Y. fool proof solar plug in kits to be purchased from local outlets / supermarkets etc .

I was hoping to buy a solar plug in pack that could run a 25500 B.T.U. air con unit . Do you think this is doable off grid and then in the evenings to use the grid power ?

25,000 BTU is going to use about 2.5kW when the compressor is running (is yours an inverter type?).

The cheapest option would be that you could add 2-3kW (4-6 500W panels) of grid-tie solar to offset your daytime usage but it would need it's own 20A circuit back to your distribution board and should be the type that throttles so that you don't export to the grid.

Once you start adding energy storage (batteries) things can get rather more costly.

In engineering it's a well known principle that if you make something foolproof a better fool will be along tomorrow

On 3/26/2026 at 4:33 AM, Crossy said:

25,000 BTU is going to use about 2.5kW when the compressor is running (is yours an inverter type?).

The cheapest option would be that you could add 2-3kW (4-6 500W panels) of grid-tie solar to offset your daytime usage but it would need it's own 20A circuit back to your distribution board and should be the type that throttles so that you don't export to the grid.

Once you start adding energy storage (batteries) things can get rather more costly.

In engineering it's a well known principle that if you make something foolproof a better fool will be along tomorrow

Thanks Crossy . I will pass on your answer to a pal who was a sparky because the technical side of electrics is beyond me . BTW the air con unit is a Saijo Denki 25,448 BTU inverter . They are seldom seen in shops as they are a commercial item and the biggest seller of air con units in Thailand .

On 3/25/2026 at 3:41 PM, Crossy said:

There are literally dozens of small grid-tie micro-inverters on Lazada etc.

Add a suitable panel or two and a bit of DIY and you're good to go.

There are limits to using an outlet to feed into your house wiring. I wouldn't go over about 1500Watts and use a circuit that doesn't have any high-power appliances, so no plugging into the kitchen.

It might be worth looking up the UK regs. regarding plug-in solar and sticking to something similar.

Would a system like this be suitable to store power in the daytime for use all night for an air-con?

13 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Would a system like this be suitable to store power in the daytime for use all night for an air-con?

An aircon that is separate to the house mains?

55 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Would a system like this be suitable to store power in the daytime for use all night for an air-con?

These plug-in devices don't have batteries so no.

With the appropriate agreements you can use the grid as your "battery" by sending energy out (exporting) during the day and buying it back (importing) at night, but these agreements are rarely 1:1.