What a home battery with a plug can and cannot do, and when a fixed installation is the better choice.
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A plug-in home battery appeals because it looks simple: a device that you plug into a socket and that stores energy. For anyone who does not want a major intervention, that plug and play approach sounds attractive. Yet there are clear limits to what such a setup can do in your home.
We explain how a plug-in home battery works, where it runs into difficulties compared with a permanently installed battery, and why safety plays a role here. That way you can assess for yourself whether a plug-in solution suits you or whether a fixed installation makes more sense.
A plug-in home battery is a compact storage system that you connect via an ordinary socket, without an installer having to open the consumer unit for it. The idea is that you place it, plug it in and use it. Hence the term plug and play.
In practice, the power that can flow through a socket is limited. An ordinary circuit is not made to send large amounts of energy back and forth continuously. As a result, the storage and feed-in capacity of a plug-in device is generally smaller than that of a permanently installed system.
A permanently installed home battery is connected directly to your electrical installation, with its own cabling and the correct protection. As a result, it can handle a higher power output and work better with your solar panels, your inverter and heavy consumers such as a heat pump or charging station.
A plug-in solution lacks that integration. It can absorb part of your consumption, but it does not control your installation the way a fixed system does. For those who really want to increase their self-consumption now that the reversing meter has been phased out, a fixed installation offers more options to use generated energy at the right moment.
When storing electricity, safety is not a detail. A fixed installation is connected with the necessary protection, such as a separate circuit breaker and a correct earthing situation, and complies with the rules of the electrical inspection (AREI). With a plug-in device, much depends on the quality of the device and on the condition of your existing circuit.
If you want more capacity, integration with your solar panels, or support for heavy consumers, we recommend a fixed installation. During a site visit we assess what is safest and most sensible in your situation, instead of talking you into a solution that your installation cannot support.
Through a wall socket, without having to open the meter cabinet.
An ordinary circuit cannot handle large energy flows continuously.
Does not control your installation, inverter or heavy consumers.
Safety depends heavily on the appliance and the state of your circuit.
Let us assess your situation. We advise the solution that is safe and suits your consumption, and we do not promise anything your installation cannot handle.
