The unit I am selling is not that expensive and was not that difficult to design. But it did take 100s of hours to perfect the software.
Discuss Immersion Heater - PV electricity in the Central Heating Systems area at ElectriciansForums.net
The unit I am selling is not that expensive and was not that difficult to design. But it did take 100s of hours to perfect the software.
Sorry, but I don't understand how putting your heater on for a quarter of an hour every hour is any better than just leaving it on all the time during daylight hours, unless you arrange to switch off your other loads during that time. That's why I assumed you didn't know how it works. I agree that fitting a 1kW heater is less likely to have you drawing from the grid than the standard 3kW one, but having a timer switch it on and off at regular intervals doesn't help, because there is no "averaging" when it comes to how you are charged for your electricity.
No one has mentioned batteries by the way, as far as I remember - the whole point is to use water to store the energy.
Yes, hysterisis has been a problem, and I had to modify my circuit after a few weeks as the relay couldn't cope with the rapid switching.
I have never used, or know anything about micro-controllers, so I can't comment on your suggestion, but good luck.
No you aren't. If the weather is truly random, and I think we both agree that it is, then pick any time during the day and you will have exactly the same chance of the sun being out.Because weather is irregular and changes.As I said originally "what if the sun don't shine?" By simply spreading the "immersion-on-periods" throughout the day you are more likely to coincide with the sun being 'on'
And my "strategy"* would work better than yours on a day when it is sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. They cancel out. You cannot make any predictions about a random value based on when you sample it.eg my strategy would work better than yours on a day when it is cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon.
That is indeed a sensible use of a timer.I would also of course refine it to leave periods of no immersion for planning to consume elec for meals/drink/dishwasher/etc
Because weather is irregular and changes.As I said originally "what if the sun don't shine?" By simply spreading the "immersion-on-periods" throughout the day you are more likely to coincide with the sun being 'on' eg my strategy would work better than yours on a day when it is cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. I would also of course refine it to leave periods of no immersion for planning to consume elec for meals/drink/dishwasher/etc
Although your second point is quite correct the thread is about immersion heaters not batteries (or elec car batteries for that matter)
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