What’s the point of inverters in Solar PV systems at home if DC is used?

Question

So solar panels produce DC current, no conversion actually happens when sunlight is generated as electricity.

The DC current is then converted to AC as it is efficient in the electrical grid for long distances. However it is also used at home and majority of devices (hardly at least) don’t use AC as it gets converted to a safer DC current. This is especially important for electronics and battery recharging. When conversion happens, majority of that energy is lost as heat which you would find in the charging brick. In addition, with smartphones and EVs, wouldn’t direct DC be more efficient and quicker to charge than converting it back to DC. [Proponents claim that it would be beneficial if buildings had a ‘AC-DC converter box’ near a switchboard.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_A4sp7nM8) (should mention that this is not a very credible source but others also claim similar stuff with DC)

So as I said before, why is AC forced as the current for homes instead of direct DC. Only current that needs to be exported to the grid would benefit from AC conversion. I couldn’t really see any answer to this with solar on mind. They will say AC is used for powering things while the other sites claim that AC burn devices if used.

In: 13

Answer 1

Very little of your DC devices use much power and they do not in fact lose much efficiency from heat but rather the fact that the electric has to be manipulated to get from 48vdc to 120vac and back perhaps perhaps 12vdc or 5vdc or the current USB-C standard of 20vdc like small things.

AC power is a manmade construct and is difficult to manipulate.

Most of the power you use has to be high volt like refrigerators. Whereas a phone can charge on ten watts, a 55″ TV three hundred fifty, a coffee maker, vacuum cleaner or your mom’s vibrator can use eleven hundred and an air conditioner double this.

We will likely eventually switch to something more like the outlets you see with USB-C ports in them, and have a secondary 20vdc system in tandem with the 120vac we currently use.

Still, it makes little use of the solar panel. My little 1800 watt gas powered generator can power every light, computer, phone, and even the well pump if I bend physics a bit but it can’t run major appliances like a dishwasher unless I devote 100% of it’s power to it alone.