You plug it in yourself
These devices are written into the specification as products for ordinary people to install and use. There is no installer certificate and no commissioning visit. You put the panel where it is going, you plug it into a socket, and it starts working.
One device per household, and only one on any final ring circuit.
When you need an outdoor socket
The inverter and the plug are allowed indoors or out. Put the socket outdoors and it has to carry an IP55 rating or better, which means a proper weatherproof unit rather than an indoor socket with a lid over it.
If the DC cable comes indoors from outside, the manufacturer has to supply the connectors and tell you how to route it. We check that before you order rather than after.
When an electrician is needed
Anything that touches the fabric of your electrics is electrician work. That covers the outdoor socket itself, any testing of the installation, and any change to the circuit, including replacing the protective device where the standard calls for it.
If you are not sure a socket is sound, have somebody look at it before you plug anything into it. We will get you a price from a local electrician for the socket and the circuit work, and we do not mark it up.
Ring your insurer and tell them what you are fitting. A compliant device has to arrive with instructions telling you to do exactly that. If you rent, or you hold a lease, get your landlord or your factor to agree in writing first.
Things it must never be plugged into
This appears in two places, on the marking of the device itself and again in the instructions that come with it.
- No extension cables.
- No multi-way adaptors.
- No RCD adaptors.
- No travel adaptors.
That matters most where the panel is out in the garden, because that is exactly where somebody reaches for a lead off a reel.
Making sure the device is a real one
Every compliant device is type tested and entered on the ENA Type Test Register before it goes on sale. A kit that is missing from the register has never been through that. The ceilings are 800 VA of output and 3.5 A of current, fed by no more than 2000 W of panels. One inverter takes up to four modules, with a maximum of two wired in series inside a string. Once the panels add up to more than 960 W, the specification wants somebody qualified to say whether the installation suits the house.
Limits and markings from the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, version 2.0, July 2026, read 13 September 2026.
On this page
- You plug it in yourself
- When you need an outdoor socket
- When an electrician is needed
- Things it must never be plugged into
- Making sure the device is a real one
Not sure about your own house?
Send us the postcode and what the surface is made of, and we will tell you which side of the line your house is on.
Send us your postcode
