Image credit: Patrick Tomasso/Unsplash

Provided by E&T readers

In the December 2021 E&T, readers discussed maintenance rights legislation, electric vehicle charging equipment standards, household solar energy, etc.

I fully support the principles of the government's "right to repair" proposal mentioned in the comment column of the November 2021 E&T issue by Antony Bourne. I have repaired many electrical and electronic products, especially so-called "white goods", for myself and my family and friends/colleagues that are said to be impossible to repair.

However, there is an obvious weakness, that is, only "qualified technicians" can purchase spare parts for "more professional repairs." The definition of who will be included in this category is critical to the success and security of the proposed legislation.

If, as a licensed electrical engineer and holder of the C&G 2392 certification, I do not fall into this category (again, I am not a qualified person in Part P of the Building Code), then I will not be able to perform these repairs by myself.

In the past 40 years, I have purchased and safely installed many items that may be classified as "simple and safe" outside the definition, such as heating elements, drive motors and pumps for washing machines, dishwashers, kettles, etc. I believe that many IET members have performed these types of repairs safely. In my opinion, it is completely wrong that we should be excluded from the repairs that have been safely performed for many years.

I think IET must show to the UK government that (at least) all chartered electrical engineers should be automatically included in the definition of "qualified technician" to meet the purpose of the right to maintenance legislation.

The government has issued legal requirements for smart electric car chargers. They need to do some "smart" things, but compliance with statutory measurement legislation does not seem to be one of them.

When financial transactions are derived from measured values, they must comply with the Measuring Instruments Directive (now the UK Measuring Instruments Regulations). The electric meter in the home must meet the regulations, but the electric meter in the electric car charger does not seem to be necessary.

The government hopes to use smart electric vehicle charging to control demand through incentives, and payment will be based on the amount of charge provided to the electric vehicle and the time of provision. The amount of energy supplied and the amount paid will be in the same order of magnitude as the entire house, so it is strange that the measurement does not meet the requirements of MID/MIR.

There is also no requirement to regularly check the accuracy of the metering of electric car chargers, which is different from the financial meter that must be sampled and tested, so customers cannot guarantee that the device generates accurate bills. It's like fueling a car without any guarantee that the pump is accurate.

In promoting the introduction of "smart" electric car chargers, the government seems to have ignored basic legal requirements.

After installing new inverters and batteries in 2017, I can assure Peter Finch (letter, November 2021) that people can indeed buy a system that can supply power to their houses in the event of a mains power failure, or whatever Any system that can be powered.

I am also sure that the updated system is likely to contain automatic controls that I do not have. The solar inverter has an output separate from the ordinary power connection, and it is connected to the household electrical unit through a transfer switch installed in a box together with the solar input/output meter. A 100A isolator is also installed at the end of the power meter between the meter and the power consumption unit.

In the event of a power failure, the procedure is to turn off the latter isolator, thereby disconnecting the house from the normal power source, and then turning the switch from the normal position to the battery position. This allows the inverter to power the consumer unit in battery/inverter mode. However, since the output is limited to 2kW or more, it must also be ensured that no high-consumption electrical appliances are turned on or may be turned on.

The installer told me that the reason for this careful design and, in my opinion, an over-installation, is that the 2017 UK regulations prohibit the use of automatic generator switching in domestic premises.

Solar battery inverter systems with an output power of 3.5kW and above are now on the market, and it is worth checking whether automatic switching is allowed. Then contact some reputable installers to see what they can offer.

Therefore, you can protect yourself from power outages. I did it.

Peter Finch emphasized the inconsistency that occurs when a relatively new technology (in this case, household solar panels and batteries) enters the market with many suppliers and installers. They don't all read the (same) manual.

Strictly speaking, smart meters are not necessary. You can install a separate power meter to only measure the power you generate. This is a system I own and I report this number to my supplier twice a year. This is a fix, which recognizes that the communication path of smart meters in my rural areas is unreliable. The supplier then credits me with appropriate power generation and power supply credits.

A political decision means that these two tariffs are gradually being reduced, which will only extend the payback period. My experience since 2017 is that even at latitude 54.2011 in Yorkshire, where the sun is insufficient, 32% of my electricity comes from 16 panels.

I live in a rural area with frequent power outages. I got two reasons why the power outage will cause the power generation and battery output to shut down. First, the inverter must have an input 50Hz AC signal, which can be synchronized to frequency and waveform. The complete opposite of the waveform will at least cause a series of circuit breaker switching actions.

The second reason comes from the northern power grid workers burying our local supply underground, which is very basic. They usually have to turn off the power to work on the line downstream of the shutdown point. They need to make sure that there is no power in the line. As one person said: "We don't want your solar panels to deliver electricity to my hands now, do we?"

I don’t remember a recent letter about domestic heat pumps and hot water discussing the impact of power supply interruptions. My own power supply often has interruptions of tens of milliseconds to a few seconds, enough to make our DVR/Freesat box restart and lose any ongoing recordings. I have a UPS to manage the PC and laboratory equipment. Annoying but bearable.

However, to make matters worse, there will be repeated interruptions that last for several hours. Each box loses its non-volatile settings, even the latest generation of central heating controllers from major suppliers. During working hours, my business was interrupted because the UPS load had to be shut down. Fortunately, I was able to manually run our oil central heating from the inverter.

Those of us in rural areas will definitely encounter some supply problems, but the situation is very unsatisfactory-this is not the cause of extreme weather, nor is it my location (a village close to a big city, at the end of a few miles) ) Overhead lines recently refurbished). These problems occur all year round, and the inquiries to the supplier have only received flattering answers.

If we encounter these problems now, given the increasing use of renewable energy and the lack of action by network owners, how can we expect the reliability of electric-driven heat pumps and instant hot water in the future? How do people living in remote areas live? Maybe those of us who live outside of big cities need to consider growing our own solar arrays, turbines and battery packs.

On the one hand, I will keep the chimney clean and have an adequate supply of wood!

I decided to help combat climate change by purchasing a set of 2.6 kW solar panels. It works normally, and the excess power enters the battery pack.

I don't want smart meter accessories because I have an "efergy" device that can tell me what kind of electricity I am using. Because my electric meter is an electric meter with a turntable, when we have excess electricity, it will fall back to the grid. I don't have a feed-in tariff, but I am very happy because the reverse operation of the meter is like this for me. My supplier seems to accept this because it gets a small supply of kilowatts without having to pay me. I just got a reduced electricity bill.

Regarding the power outage, as far as I know, my system will only use its battery until it runs out, and will not feed it back to the grid. After all, the purpose of solar and battery systems is to make you as independent as possible from external power sources.

I am very happy to read John Adams' response to my letter (letter, November 2021), which talked about the problems I encountered when using Kia e-Niro, and I am very happy that he was I am satisfied with the performance of e-Soul.

Since I got my e-Niro back after ten weeks at Kia, it has performed very well, driving 280 miles after being fully charged. Driving is a pleasure, and if it continues to run trouble-free, I will return to being an enthusiastic car owner. Knowing that during the recent delivery issue, when others were waiting in line for a few hours of fuel, I was able to drive home and plug the e-Niro into the charger, which made me very pleased.

Please write to E&T at engtechletters@theiet.org. We reserve the right to edit the letter and submit it in any other format.

Sign up for E&T news email and send such wonderful stories to your inbox every day.

Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury or Dstl Portsdown West, Fareham or RAF Wyton, Huntingdon or Catalyst Building, Dstl Newcastle (only for artificial intelligence and data science roles)

Salary: £25,052-£65,117, depending on level, skills and experience

From 55,097 pounds to 64,821 pounds per year (discretionary range to 74,545 pounds)

© 2021 Engineering Technology Society. The College of Engineering and Technology is registered as a charity in England and Wales (No. 211014) and Scotland (No. SC038698).