[quintushoratius]

Two possibilities come to mind:

1. They're not properly licensed for other markets. Something equivalent to selling a radio transmitter in the US that's not registered with the FCC.

2. They price units outside of Asian markets much higher and don't want to allow/encourage arbitrage that they don't control.

This is definitely a case of "porqué no los dos" (or more).

[KANahas]

From a link in the article:

> The contracts we sign with all dealers clearly stipulate that products that are not UL certified and listed by local power grid companies may not be sold or used in the United States, because the products do not meet US UL standards. If used in violation of this policy, the devices may pose significant-safety risks. To address this, Deye has built a verification mechanism into the devices. The pop-up alert is automatically triggered by the device’s authorization verification mechanism, rather than by any human intervention.

[myself248]

Yeah, which is garbage. UL is a certification body, not a legal requirement. Your insurance might want it, your utility might want it.

But there's plenty of ways to use solar inverters where neither of those factors applies.

And furthermore, you can buy tons of non-UL-certified junk at Harbor Freight and plug it in yourself. It's not like there's a magic forcefield at the border that these Deye units somehow slipped through. Using that as an explanation for disabling their hardware is so insubstantial as to be just this side of an outright lie.

And I'm astonished that the linked article isn't calling them out on it.

[mpnex]

UL is a certification body, yes.

When the local building code requires that grid-connected devices are UL listed, then it becomes a legal requirement. I suspect this is probably the case in most jurisdictions across the US.

edit: NEC section 110.2 indicates all equipment must be "approved" and delegates this to the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) locally; and the majority of them are going to defer to a "NRTL" (Nominally Recognized Testing Laboratory, such as UL, CSA, ETL, etc) instead of doing all the expensive and tedious testing themselves. So when it comes to grid connections, some sort of approval is nearly always a de facto legal requirement.

[lazide]

Mobile installations (RV’s, construction trailers, etc.) and off grid are two very common types of installations for solar inverters. And do not have to meet those requirements.

[seany]

There are _many_ ways that all of this doesn't apply. Nevermind the fact that people that but things have the expectation of using the device with out interference.

[anon84873628]

Let's assume there are some people using these devices in a way that is not compliant with the local codes, because they haven't met the testing/certification requirements.

Genuine question. Which of these options do we prefer? (Choose any number)

1. Deye proactively bricks all the devices

2. US governments compel Deye to brick the devices

3. Local authorities penalize people using the devices illegally

4. No one does anything

[seany]

1000% #4. No thought is even required to answer that.

[myself248]

#4.

If something actually burns down, authorities will circulate a bulletin and move to #3.

Anyone using the hardware in an off-grid, mobile, or other situation where the cited regulations don't apply, should sue the crap out of #1 and I will contribute to a gofundme for their legal battering ram.