In the scenario mentioned in the GP post where a giant tropical storm hit resetting the grid for 7+ days, how big is the chance that your solar panels installation has survived? Also, if the grid is gone, won’t the fast chargers also be out of service?
replyDon’t get me wrong, I think you’re right for most cases but I also think for some more end of the world type of scenarios there is little that beats a generator and stored fuel.
If you can stay there (no evacuation for building doesn't seal enough to make it habitable), most of the solar should have survived. Moving a broken panel out of the way and swapping one from the end of the array in to make the cables fit, or even having a spare jumper cable to swap in place of a broken panel, is quite easy to do. Mostly just make sure there's no load current at all on the string when you disconnect the MC4 connector with the special tool that keeps uneducated people from unplugging them under load and getting greeted with a persistent low current (not "arc flash", we're in the region of "high powered welder used with just normal welding PPE") DC arc (that may supply several hundred volts for a long drawn out burn). As long as it's around substantially below 500 mA you're not gonna sustain an arc.
replyIndeed, that's why I mentioned petrol generator as the last level of backup.
replyThough the most recent big tropical storm we had a few years ago, the power was out for 3 days, it was dark and cloudy obviously so no solar, the local petrol pumps had no power and the roads were blocked with fallen trees so we couldn't even drive anywhere. In that situation it really is candles and cooking on wood fires once the petrol runs dry.