Solar Immersion - my experience !

[danesol]

I've managed to organise a discount code for forum members for these units !!!

So if you are going to order one in the foreseeable future - please use the following code on checkout;

dis2204





SolarImmersion - Surplus Solar Energy Water Heater |

Well over 12mths on, the unit is working well and making use of every bit of surplus energy in the property. The GAS boiler which heats the DHW normally is off completely and has been since the spring equinox - really pleased with the unit todate.

 

[MicraShed]

I have the Immersun and some days just cant physically use the hot water it produces.

Increasing the tank insulation has meant water dropping from around 70 degrees to about 50 overnight - some of that cooling is due to cold water filling the DHW tank after a night time bath.

I too have had my GCH switched off since April.

 

[tdrees]

Hi Folks, I have just turned up my solar immersion III last week. As with others, lots of hot water!


Power is being successfully diverted to the immersion heater, and the load balanced with input reasonably well.


Two issues I would like to correct.


1) When the solar output drops suddenly (cloud cover) or the house load increases (kettle), it can take some time for the solarimersion to recognise the change and reduce or cease diversion to the immersion heater. I have the "export level" setting configured to "20w" to give some buffer, but the balance point seems to be around ) (judged by looking at my household meter (spinning disk variety). The unit is installed in the airing cupboard after the power switch to the immersion and has UTP cat5e cable connecting it to the sensor.


Are there any settings I can adjust to improve the PV output matching?


2) Due the the nature of my PV set up (east west house with 2 banks of panels) my peak output for my system is about 2.2Kw, but usually around 1.8Kw. As I am writing this (9:40am) I am seeing about 1300w from the PV. My base house load is between 300w and 400w (too many standby gadgets) so I have at peak around 1.5 to 1.9Kw inject into the tank.


The Solar immersion display seems to divert starting at 8% and then 13%. I have seen a situation where the unit oscillates between 8% and 13%, alternatively exporting an importing from the grid.


If I set the immersion heater load at 1500W, will i get better quantisation on the export balancing?


Anyone know?

 

[danesol]

Well I 've set my unit up exactly how it tells you too in the manual(s) and i have no issues whatsoever - ours reacts immediately !

The only option we haven't had chance to utilise yet is the 2nd output

 

[tdrees]

Thanks Danesol,

Mine is setup as per the manual too. Perhaps there is an element of distance from the sensor, as we are using the cat5 extended model rather than a short link to the meter box and long tail to the immersion.

I am interested to know if anyone else sees the "ossicaltion" when exporting small amounts of power.

Tobes

 

[danesol]

Ours too is in the airing cupboard "miles away" from the dno meter / Henley Block so using a considerable amount ofcat5 via the loft and down the gable end, the length of tbe cable shouldnt actually matter unless it exceeds that of cat5.

The only issue we have if you can call it that is that once the SI unit kicks in no RT clamp / monitor records the true electrical consumption properly but this has been discussed before possible on this thread?

As yet I am yet to find a monitor system that can wirk alonvside this unit and measure accurately the true consumption

hth

 

[tdrees]

Again - thanks for the feedback! .

I have noticed the same thing, the Electrisave monitor that we have is hopeless when the real power draw is close to zero, as you would expect. Its very hard to measure a magnetic field that does not exist! It seems to revert to "last reasonable measurement" which is invariably something large caused by the kettle having been turned on.

 

[Worcester]

And then you guys still wonder why we wont fit these particular units!

ImmerSun's and Apollo's for us Choice is dependent upon the functionality needed. - As we fit more and more heat pumps, we're doing more and more solar, and more and more ImmerSun's - Standalone we find the Apollo's difficult to beat on value and performance.

 

[Steve_rutland]

For anyone who has solar, I would definately recommend an Immersun. I haven't used any gas since mine went in!

 

[danesol]

Again - thanks for the feedback! .

I have noticed the same thing, the Electrisave monitor that we have is hopeless when the real power draw is close to zero, as you would expect. Its very hard to measure a magnetic field that does not exist! It seems to revert to "last reasonable measurement" which is invariably something large caused by the kettle having been turned on.

The real stupid situation I have is that I am currently using two complete E-On energy monitor systems ( Current Cost ) , one hooked up to the tail after the Henley, but feeding the CU and the other on the tail between the DNO meter and the Henley Block.

........ now this is the interesting bit !

When the SI unit kicks in when the consumption in the property is less than the generation and that generation is around the 2kw mark - the value of the two monitors gives the precise consumption with one been alot higher than the other, ie one appears to measure what the SI is sending to the water heater and the other is what the standby useage... LOL


When the PV system is generating far less than this amount - the two read very similar figures !

As I can only connect one of these to my PVO uplink system - the figure I record / send is inaccurate but over the course of a mth isn't that far out ... now work that out !


edit:- Forgot to mention - I also try and measure the load on the positive tail from the SI to the Immersion Heater to try and see how much is been diverted - I use an old British Gas wireless unit for this which is also hit & miss for the very same reason. I know this is the case as I can see what im generating, what I'm using and can also see the DNO meter is stationary so know exactly when its lying to me and not recording diverted electric to the IH !

 

[MikeWBC]

I have a very similar setup to trdees, and I'm getting exactly the same effect. I have a Solar Immersion feeding a 3Kw immersion heater and East/West solar PV installation. Even if I have 1800W being generated, with a base load of 300W, the monitor measuring total consumption varies between 300W and 3.5KW. The SI oscillates between 8% and 13%.
I only installed the SI 2 months ago, and with fairly stable weather conditions, I could get an accurate comparison before and after. Measuring the gas saved and the extra Solar power used, it appears the Solar Immersion imported 25% of its power from the grid.
So I've saved 79p in 2 months.
Support at Solar Immersion have said this new model now uses the burst fire (power burst) form of control, which I believed could cause flicker problems, rather than phase control.
Hasn't Immersun just gone the other way?
All Support at Solar Immersion can offer is to swap the unit for an old model.

 

[Sunstroker]

I’m confused! It appears that some are suggesting that their SolarImmersion units may at times be importing from the grid. Surely this can’t be so?


Up until now I have assumed that when the SI display indicates a diversion percentage this is the proportion of total available solar power that is being diverted, not the percentage of potential demand being supplied to the load. How can the SI unit “know” the wattage of the load?


In my case Heater 1 is a 3 kW immersion while Heater 2 is presently a 2.7 kW storage heater. There is surely no way that the SI unit can detect these differing loads, so the display can only be indicating the percentage of total generated power being diverted at any given time. If there is no surplus from the PV system then nothing goes to the load and nothing is imported. That is the whole purpose of the system.


On a different point, MikeWBC states that Support at Solar Immersion have said the new model now uses the burst fire (power burst) form of control, which could cause flicker problems, rather than phase control. This would possibly explain my previous observation that my replacement unit causes the immersion switch neon to flicker, while the original unit in my son’s house produces a steady neon irrespective of the rate of diversion. I have to say however that I have not noticed any problems of flicker in my house lights.

 

[MikeWBC]

Thanks for your comments, Sunstroker. To answer your points, as I understand it, the percentage shown on the display is the percentage of the full sinusoidal waveform that is being fed to the load. In a phase switching system (like the old SI unit) the output thyristor (probably a Triac) is fired so only a percentage of the 50 cycle waveform is fed to the load, so for 20%, the triac fires late in the cycle and for 50% it fires at the mid point. A problem with this is that the fast switching injects harmonics into the mains, which can cause electromagnetic interference unless filtered out.
Burst fire is different in that it feeds full cycles to the load, but only intermittently. So for 13% only one in 8 cycles are fed to the load. This means current is being taken in 20mS bursts every 160mS which is about 6 cycles a second, well within the visual “flicker” range, but is only likely to manifest itself if the supply to the local group of houses is relatively poor. And your neighbours have got their lights on. If you’re on an estate or in town, you’re unlikely to experience any flicker problems.

The unit doesn’t need to know the wattage of the load. As I understand it, the old SI unit simply increased the power to the load in 10% steps until the sensor detected the export power was in the minimum range set, and then checked it every second or so.

My guess is that the problems with the new burst fire unit are to do with the sensor. In the old system, the sensor circuitry only had to average out the current for a couple of cycles or so, say 50mS, to get a reasonably accurate reading of the current flowing.

It’s much more difficult with burst fire, where it needs to average over 20 or more cycles.
If they’re sampling much shorter than this, a likely scenario is that the unit sets an output, samples and sees power being exported, so it increases the load, samples again, still sees export and increases the load and so on until it hits a burst. By this time the load has exceeded the available solar power so some is imported.

I monitor and record my usage, generation and import readings, and my usage is fairly constant over the year. So it was fairly simple to see the change when the new SI unit was fitted.
For the two months before I only used gas for cooking and water heating. For the 2 months after, I turned the boiler off.
The extra solar energy used was 166KwH
The extra electricity bought was 64KwH
I saved between 7 - 8 Units of gas = 220KwH - 250KwH
So 230KwH seems about right for water heating.
So it's saved me 230x0.032 = £7.36
But it's cost me 64x 0.108 = £6.91 in extra electricity.

Sorry it’s such a long tome.
Mike

 

[Sunstroker]

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation, Mike. Your understanding of the complexities of electronic switching far exceeds mine, but I think I understand the gist of it. My degree, a long time ago, was in agricultural economics, and we didn’t cover sinusoidal waveforms!

I know how much my PV system generates per day (8.98 kWh on average since installation in Jan 2011) and how much I import per day (6.51 kWh over the same period). My daily average usage prior to PV installation was, incidentally, 12.53 kWh, so I’m happy that there is a considerable saving.

But I gave up trying to keep track of ongoing import and export when the SI unit was installed as the display on my NPower Smartpower monitor seemed fairly meaningless when the SI unit was diverting. I simply assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that the unit was doing its job. My water is hot, my storage radiator likewise, at least when the sun shines, and as far as I can see I’m not importing more than I did before the SI unit was installed, so in my case it does appear to be worthwhile. Perhaps if I had additional monitors to measure all the parameters I might feel less happy, but I think I’ll remain content in my ignorance for the present!

As regards flicker, my house is rural, with only one other property fed from the same transformer, and neither of us have noticed any problems with flickering lights since my SI unit was installed. My existing unit, an eventual replacement for the initial one which failed in September 2013, was delivered last November so I presume it is the latest burst fire type.

 

[SibertSolar]

Of course, you could always use an Elios4You and Power Reducer in tandem - you would have all the generation, consumption, import & export monitoring/data you could need, and a safe, compliant and compatible immersion controller designed by the same manufacturer, with no issues surrounding burst-fire or phase angle control....but then that's just me being biased....

 

[MikeWBC]

Thanks Sunstroker, it could be your replacement is still of the old variety. My original failed at the beginning of June (this year)and it took to the end of July to get a replacement out of them. Their excuse was that the new model was just coming in. I'll keep monitoring mine, but I don't hold out much hope of any resolution from them.
Cheers

 

[Gavin A]

Of course, you could always use an Elios4You and Power Reducer in tandem - you would have all the generation, consumption, import & export monitoring/data you could need, and a safe, compliant and compatible immersion controller designed by the same manufacturer, with no issues surrounding burst-fire or phase angle control....but then that's just me being biased....

and fit a NEDAP power router and 600Ah 24V battery pack in tandem with that to really exploit the full self consumption thing.....

 

[MikeWBC]

I’ve been looking at Power Burst or Burst Fire systems in more detail, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s inherently flawed and can never work properly. I was wondering if someone on the Forum could please check I have my reasoning correct?
In a Power Burst system, you feed power to the load for one cycle every “n” cycles, the ratio depending on the load wattage and the power available from the PV system. So, for example, with a 3KW Immersion heater, and say 1KW available power from the PV, you would burst one cycle every 3 to the load. During the burst, you’re providing 12A at 250v to the load. The PV has 4A available, and regulates this by dropping the voltage to compensate, so 8A has to come from somewhere, and is imported from the grid. Then for the next 2 cycles, while the burst is off, the PV exports 4A to the grid. So 667W (67%) of power going to the immersion is imported from the grid, and the PV has exported an equivalent back to the grid. With a digital import meter, it will register the imported power, but not the exported power, so you’re buying the extra power from the grid.

And it gets worse, the lower the amount of PV power available.
At 3KW available, nothing is imported from the grid.
At 2KW available, 33% is imported from the grid.
At 1KW available, 67% is imported
At 500W available, 83% of the power is imported.

Have I got this wrong?

 

[Gavin A]

the meters aren't sensitive enough to register consumption at the per cycle level.

but what you've just described is why burst fire systems can not meet the flicker regulations and are therefore illegal to connect to a 3kW load in many situations - ie higher grid impedance situations, or IIRC anywhere that a 3kW load would result in more than a 0.7V fluctuation in the grid voltage. I've known some places where 3kW would equal 4V swing, and where this does cause lights to flicker badly enough to send an epileptic person into fit, and properly did my head in while working to pull the unit back out again.

 

[MikeWBC]

Thanks Gavin A, but the power has to come from the grid, since the PV system can't provide it, so even if the meters average it out over many cycles, it will still register as a power import, even at a lower level. Perhaps that was why my system only indicated a 22% increase in usage.

 

[Worcester]

Thanks Gavin A, but the power has to come from the grid, since the PV system can't provide it, so even if the meters average it out over many cycles, it will still register as a power import, even at a lower level. Perhaps that was why my system only indicated a 22% increase in usage.

V=IR
Watts = VI

Alter the V, the I drops in proportion as R is the only fixed element so it only delivers a fraction of the "3kW"

Wetehr it's phase angie. PWM or burst fire the same maths applies.

 

[MikeWBC]

Agreed, but that assumes the unit controls the voltage to the load. I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that a burst fire system simply switched on one cycle every "n" cycles directly to the load, so both the V and the R are fixed for the duration of the burst. And hence the current. If it controlled the voltage, then there would be no need to burst at all. It then becomes a phase controlled system with smoothing to filter out the harmonics, and effectively reduces the voltage to the load. Which is the way, I think, the Immersun have gone with their latest product.

 

[Graham Hilton]

Agreed, but that assumes the unit controls the voltage to the load. I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that a burst fire system simply switched on one cycle every "n" cycles directly to the load, so both the V and the R are fixed for the duration of the burst. And hence the current. If it controlled the voltage, then there would be no need to burst at all. It then becomes a phase controlled system with smoothing to filter out the harmonics, and effectively reduces the voltage to the load. Which is the way, I think, the Immersun have gone with their latest product.

The immerSUN device I believe uses PWM and sinewave looking at their website,

You would need a filter the size of a fridge to make a device using Phase Angle comply with Harmonics, I am still surprised that this hasn't been addressed yet.

 

[Gavin A]

Thanks Gavin A, but the power has to come from the grid, since the PV system can't provide it, so even if the meters average it out over many cycles, it will still register as a power import, even at a lower level. Perhaps that was why my system only indicated a 22% increase in usage.

no it won't, think about how averaging works, it's not coming from anywhere on the the other cycles, there's no power on the other cycles. ag if you want 20% power to match up with 600W of excess generation then 10 cycles out of 50 will be 100%, the other 40 cycles will be nothing, the average will be 600W over the 50 cycles each second.

 

[Gavin A]

V=IR
Watts = VI

Alter the V, the I drops in proportion as R is the only fixed element so it only delivers a fraction of the "3kW"

Wetehr it's phase angie. PWM or burst fire the same maths applies.

not really, well it does, but isn't really relevant to how Burst Fire works anyway,

 

[Gavin A]

The immerSUN device I believe uses PWM and sinewave looking at their website,

You would need a filter the size of a fridge to make a device using Phase Angle comply with Harmonics, I am still surprised that this hasn't been addressed yet.

problem is, there is no enforcement of these laws at the supplier level, or really at any level. I had to point this issue out to Immersun who had no clue what I was talking about until I actually referenced the specific regulations and showed how their mark 1 device couldn't possibly be compliant. Took them 18 months to bring out the mark 2 that fixed the issue, the process of which began with my emails, but for that entire time (and still) they continued knowingly to sell thousands of non-compliant units.

meantime, we get hammered at MCS inspection if there's a sticker missing, but not one of our supposed governing bodies has had a single thing to say about non-compliant devices such as these.

 

[MikeWBC]

no it won't, think about how averaging works, it's not coming from anywhere on the the other cycles, there's no power on the other cycles. ag if you want 20% power to match up with 600W of excess generation then 10 cycles out of 50 will be 100%, the other 40 cycles will be nothing, the average will be 600W over the 50 cycles each second.

Hi Gavin A,
I must admit I'm thoroughly confused now. How does a burst fire system work?

 

[Gavin A]

Hi Gavin A,
I must admit I'm thoroughly confused now. How does a burst fire system work?

it works by chopping the power on a per cycle basis, so 2% power = 1 cycle at full power 49 cycles at no power.

which is fine for low power control devices, but not for a 3kW immersion heater, which can result in serious voltage flicker at dangerous frequencies for those with epilepsy etc.

 

[MikeWBC]

it works by chopping the power on a per cycle basis, so 2% power = 1 cycle at full power 49 cycles at no power.

which is fine for low power control devices, but not for a 3kW immersion heater, which can result in serious voltage flicker at dangerous frequencies for those with epilepsy etc.

That's what I thought, so during the full power cycle, there's 250v sinewave across 3KW load, which results in a 12A sinusoidal current. If the PV can only provide say, 1A, the other 11A will have to come from somewhere (ie.the grid), otherwise the voltage would have to drop, and it can't as its connected through the Triac to the 250v grid supply.
For the rest of the "off" time, the PV will be exporting power.
Have I got this wrong?

 

[SibertSolar]

This may help those wishing to understand the differences between burst-fire, phase-angle and PWM control methodology. Basic but perhaps helpful nonetheless.

Proportional Control Technologies

 

[Gavin A]

That's what I thought, so during the full power cycle, there's 250v sinewave across 3KW load, which results in a 12A sinusoidal current. If the PV can only provide say, 1A, the other 11A will have to come from somewhere (ie.the grid), otherwise the voltage would have to drop, and it can't as its connected through the Triac to the 250v grid supply.
For the rest of the "off" time, the PV will be exporting power.
Have I got this wrong?

you've got it right, but missed the entire point I was making about the fact that the meter averages out the power over x amount of cycles rather than actually measuring each cycle individually.

so over a second the power in and out would be zero.

Possible there might be some meters that this doesn't entirely work with, but I'm not aware of any.

 

[Gavin A]

This may help those wishing to understand the differences between burst-fire, phase-angle and PWM control methodology. Basic but perhaps helpful nonetheless.

Proportional Control Technologies

Now I remember where it was that I saw the diagrams that made me thing that the PWM from the 4noks units would be working on the sine wave..... that document could do with updating to make it clear that the 4noks solution actually uses some weird form of PWM on a DC output.

 

[MikeWBC]

you've got it right, but missed the entire point I was making about the fact that the meter averages out the power over x amount of cycles rather than actually measuring each cycle individually.

so over a second the power in and out would be zero.

Possible there might be some meters that this doesn't entirely work with, but I'm not aware of any.

That's certainly true of the old electromechanical meters using eddy currents in a rotating disc, but not so sure for the solid state electronic meters where the voltage and current waveforms are sampled and then analysed by a DSP.

 

[Gavin A]

That's certainly true of the old electromechanical meters using eddy currents in a rotating disc, but not so sure for the solid state electronic meters where the voltage and current waveforms are sampled and then analysed by a DSP.

the metering standards are out there if you're that interested, but no standard meter I know of measures at the per cycle level, which is why these devices work the way they do.

 

[Steve120w]

Being new to this forum but very interested in solar immersion I'd like to add a comment.
The inverter is likely to have capacitors on the solar panel input. These will average out the current being taken from the panels. The solar panels will not be 'asked' to provide 12 amps for one cycle but the capacitors will provide this instantaneous current and this charge will be replaced by the panels over the next few cycles when nothing is being asked by a burst charge system.
The effectiveness of this will be determined by the capacity of the capacitors.

 

[nielfrancis]

Being new to this forum but very interested in solar immersion I'd like to add a comment.
The inverter is likely to have capacitors on the solar panel input. These will average out the current being taken from the panels. The solar panels will not be 'asked' to provide 12 amps for one cycle but the capacitors will provide this instantaneous current and this charge will be replaced by the panels over the next few cycles when nothing is being asked by a burst charge system.
The effectiveness of this will be determined by the capacity of the capacitors.

But the output from the source does matter right. After all, there should be a power coming from somewhere - the solar PV to be converted and diverted. Capacitors are dependent on this. Given the working of SI - How SolarImmersion Immersion Controller Works, this statement looks quirky.

 

[tzimmerman]

Re: Solar Immersion - better alternative??

OK guys its getting complex now!.
I was about to buy a SolarImmersion, until I read this thread.
Am I right in thinking there are the following issues..
1/ You may actually draw electricity from the grid to heat your water
2/ Reduction in heating costs are minimal
3/ The new model may cause flicker
4/ Lots of you have reported having their unit replaced. With only a 1yr warranty, the long term reliability is questionable.

I want a unit that can be placed next to the consumer board and cylinder, so a wireless monitor is not needed (just a voltage flow clip).
In view of the above, and bowing to your experience, what PV Immersion switch would you recommend, and why?

Thanks

 

[Worcester]

Just get one of the better ones.... they've been listed on here and then you can sleep peacefully at night, and not worry about saving a couple of bob and wondering if its costing you more or may be causing problems.

 

[nielfrancis]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Hi,

Has anyone used SolarImmersion in relay mode? How do you do it? Please advise.
[/FONT]

 

[danesol]

Re: Solar Immersion - better alternative??

OK guys its getting complex now!.
I was about to buy a SolarImmersion, until I read this thread.
Am I right in thinking there are the following issues..
1/ You may actually draw electricity from the grid to heat your water
2/ Reduction in heating costs are minimal
3/ The new model may cause flicker
4/ Lots of you have reported having their unit replaced. With only a 1yr warranty, the long term reliability is questionable.

I want a unit that can be placed next to the consumer board and cylinder, so a wireless monitor is not needed (just a voltage flow clip).
In view of the above, and bowing to your experience, what PV Immersion switch would you recommend, and why?

Thanks

Well its been the best money ive spent and its still beavering away now, so I would say buy one ASAP

In previous posts i've fully documented how much I've saved

But in answer to your above questions here goes;

1. No, not at all, it only diverts the excess !?

2. As stated, i've only got mine connected to the immersion heater, so my gas boiler is normally OFF from May to Sept, so in essence saves 6mths of GAS heating the HW cylinder, but actually it starts to top-up the immersion heater from late Feb and a mth or so in Autumn before winter sets in (anytime really where there is an excess available). Its not a great saving as such but obviously you are using the excess which would normally would just go to the grid and as Asda says every little bit helps .... but in our case its well over £ 150, could be even more ....

3. Cant answer that one, but I doubt it

4. Mine has been working well for 2yrs plus, with no issues

I don't personally use a wireless sensor, instead using cat5 cable from the actual sensor on the tails to our airing cupboard where I can connected our SI unit instead of any connection to the CU

So I would say Solar Immersion is great, plus the discount code AFAIK is still valid !

hth

Hi,

Has anyone used SolarImmersion in relay mode? How do you do it? Please advise.

Can I assume you have followed the detailed instructions and something isnt right ??

 

[marc8]

Immersun unit looks 100% better looking than that unit without a doubt,looks like a switch disconnector we bought the other day for £38.00.
There was a few faults on the immersun unit with flickering & on start up with the unit not controlling the output on initial start up operation, but think these have been sorted now with new coding.
Great display screen & customer freindly, the only down side with the new model is the fact that they have over engineered the menu to much info & to many changes can be made, but as an installer we fit demo the unit & the rest is upto the end user.
The mark one units looked a little less desirable but the information was basic & it worked well.
But thumbs up for design & user display.
With the wireless unit now (been out for a while) easy installs.
Just make sure you have no back voltage on your circuit as they don't like it up them.

 

[danesol]

Immersun unit looks 100% better looking than that unit without a doubt,looks like a switch disconnector we bought the other day for £38.00.
There was a few faults on the immersun unit with flickering & on start up with the unit not controlling the output on initial start up operation, but think these have been sorted now with new coding.
Great display screen & customer freindly, the only down side with the new model is the fact that they have over engineered the menu to much info & to many changes can be made, but as an installer we fit demo the unit & the rest is upto the end user.
The mark one units looked a little less desirable but the information was basic & it worked well.
But thumbs up for design & user display.
With the wireless unit now (been out for a while) easy installs.
Just make sure you have no back voltage on your circuit as they don't like it up them.

I'm NOT concerned with looks myself as mine lives in a dark cupboard :smile5:, I'm after results and the unit from Solar Immersion truly delivers like alot of the other brands, so as always its about initial price and required functionality IMHO

 

[qwertyman]

Re: Solar Immersion - better alternative??

Firstly for the that have one of these solarimmersion units, its a good idea to have a fused spur/ 20amp switch with a neon fitted so that you can see instantly whether the unit is still working or not.
I say this because mine has gone wrong twice now in 2 years the display shows 100% diverting yet the neon is not lit.
Customer services are horrendous and it costs £45 +vat for repair. They assure me that this is the first to go wrong yet these forums tell a different story.
I consider it my mission to see that these sharks go out of business.

Do not buy one of these units under any circumstances . I don't care that some review says it is brilliant. Trust me buy an immersun for the extra few quid you will thank me for it.

 

[danesol]

Update Report:- Unit now is 3yrs old and hasn't missed a beat - no issues at all

Should you want to use excess generated power in such a way, do your maths and look seriously at these units as paying more for a similar device could be unnecessary especially should they be around the £ 400 + fitting mark. What you will save using one of these devices whether this make or another is hugely dependant on your own PV setup and your personal useage of electricity and of hot water.

In summary its saves us hundreds of pounds so far ........... and been a really good purchase

 

[danesol]

btw I have been in contact with the company recently to praise them and they tell me that there is a new model with further facilities. They must be doing something right as they are still in business unlike some ?

Anyway....should you require a Solar Immersion Unit ( mk4 ) now at £199, you can still use the discount code "dis2204" ontop on this with FREE delivery too !!

 

[Dan]

Don't mind me while I bump some threads in the solar PV forum. If they're not current or applicable topics, just ignore the threads; they'll drop off the page. If they are, feel free to chip in and chat solar stuff in the solar panels forum.

 

[Dan]

Don't mind me while I bump some threads in the solar PV forum. If they're not current or applicable topics, just ignore the threads; they'll drop off the page. If they are, feel free to chip in and chat solar stuff in the solar panels forum.

 

[Dan]

Don't mind me while I bump some threads in the solar PV forum. If they're not current or applicable topics, just ignore the threads; they'll drop off the page. If they are, feel free to chip in and chat solar stuff in the solar panels forum.

 

[ashpilot]

btw I have been in contact with the company recently to praise them and they tell me that there is a new model with further facilities. They must be doing something right as they are still in business unlike some ?

Anyway....should you require a Solar Immersion Unit ( mk4 ) now at £199, you can still use the discount code "dis2204" ontop on this with FREE delivery too !!

Sorry to jump in an old thread. My solarimmersion MK3 has been working like clockwork until a few days ago. With override selected the immersion heater is not working. I took the unit out of circuit to prove the immersion heater was working ok. After a bit of probing around the black package(with not label) behind the display I can see 240 on the input terminal and nothing on the output. The voltage on the control lines show around 1.7v on diverting 0% and 9.7V on override. From my old process control days 2 to 10v dc was usually a sign of a 4 to 20 ma control, but I could be wrong. Does anyone know what the device is behind the display which looks like a solid state relay? and if so what is the specification so I can order a replacement. I tried a support ticket a few days ago but not reply. Thanks in advance.