Another immersion heater controller....

[JulianC]

Morning all

Has anyone come across or used the Solamiser? GET FREE HOT WATER FROM SURPLUS SOLAR PANEL PV ENERGY WITH SOLAMISER

A fair bit cheaper than the usual suspects, without the bells and whistles, which might make using excess generation for space heating more cost effective. (Pity us poor souls with a combi boiler and no hot water tank ).


Thank you.

 

[Worcester]

mm.. No phone number, no address, not a real domain name, (hosted on free webpage from talktalk.net), no real names in the testimonials (i.e his own and his dad's place..), no VAT on the product...

Ok may be cheap, however the rest doesn't inspire confidence that in 6 months time he'll even exists let alone provide customer support ... don't think I'd risk my £168.00.

 

[series530]

The unit appears to be doing what it says on the tin. It isn't fancy but its probably functional enough. I would be a little concerned about the direct connection to the mains so as to sense voltage as it adds a degree of danger to the lower power control electronics. That said, there appears to be transformer isolation but this can add distortion to the waveform. The sampling rate is also a little low but probably good enough.

The video would bore me senseless were I not interested in the working of it. The site is clearly developed by an electronics person and the content would fly over the head of most customers. I commend people for having a go while not committing to much up front capital. It's a risky strategy in this day and age though.


Personally though, as Worcester stated, customer service and guarantees are vital and you have to wonder how many of these will be sold with larger companies offering something more iron clad. I don't see any electrical contractor selling them as its just too risky. Thus, it will be consumers who make the choice and this may not be sustainable on its own.

 

[Solamiser]

mm.. No phone number, no address, not a real domain name, (hosted on free webpage from talktalk.net), no real names in the testimonials (i.e his own and his dad's place..), no VAT on the product...

Ok may be cheap, however the rest doesn't inspire confidence that in 6 months time he'll even exists let alone provide customer support ... don't think I'd risk my £168.00.

Thanks for your observations! I have taken them on board and added my address and phone number to my talktalk website which incidentally is not free its included in my monthly talktalk subscription. I can assure you that tesimonials are genuine and not my relatives. As for not existing in 6 months I don't intend going anywhere beyond this world any time soon. Yes the unit is considerably more cost effective than its competitors. Perhaps you are one of them. Your comments are somewhat negative. Anyone would thing you could be trying to put off potential buyers.

 

[Solamiser]

Sorry about the boring video. I've added a couple more lighter one's if you'd care to have a look

 

[SolarCity]

It is certainly cheaper than the competitors. I suppose it depends whether people are willing to pay more for the more polished finish of the other products - with the LCD screen etc.

 

[Worcester]

@Solarmiser, was just pointing out to you what you needed to do to inspire confidence into a potential purchaser... basic 101 Business schools stuff for what needs to be included on a website. - also some of that is a MINIMUM that must be there to comply with the ASA, see
Landmark agreement extends ASA?s digital remit - Advertising Standards Authority
Non-compliant online advertisers - Advertising Standards Authority (and some of those are household names that should know better!)
and
http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resource...es/CAP/Codes/CAP Digital Remit Extension.ashx

I just know what my customers like about the products that we install, and what they expect from us. (It's about building trust)

The LCD screen (whether the on screen results are accurate or not !! ) gives people the confidence that the device is doing its job and just how well it's doing it.

Is the product CE Marked? (NOTE: that DOESN'T stand for China Export :mellow: )
If so which body / lab certified it ?

Get these thing right, along with confidence in the warranty, and it could sell well; the installed cost difference though will be much less than you realise. Questions you need to ask yourself and then (subtly point out to your sites visitors) - Where do you want to pitch the product? Who is your typical end user? What is their profile?

Yes there is a market for Dacia Duster's in the same way that there is a market for Nissan Qashqai's and Range Rover Evoque's... Which one is your product? Then Market it as such, no pretentions to be anything else

 

[jason121]

Thanks for your observations! I have taken them on board and added my address and phone number to my talktalk website which incidentally is not free its included in my monthly talktalk subscription. I can assure you that tesimonials are genuine and not my relatives. As for not existing in 6 months I don't intend going anywhere beyond this world any time soon. Yes the unit is considerably more cost effective than its competitors. Perhaps you are one of them. Your comments are somewhat negative. Anyone would thing you could be trying to put off potential buyers.

Why don't you send one out to Mr Worcester for free, so he can try it. He is well respected on this forum. Just a thought.

 

[Solamiser]

Thanks for your comments they make good sense. Sorry to be defensive.
It was a conscious decision to go without the LCD screen for two reasons. Firstly to save cost so that puts Solamiser in the Dacia Duster market I guess but also one thing I have noticed about these kind of products is that one tends to check the display a lot when new but once it has been installed for a relatively short time it becomes too much trouble. A device that provides hot water gives you feedback everyday when you step in the shower and you get that great feeling that you are getting something for nothing.

 

[danesol]

Thanks for your comments they make good sense. Sorry to be defensive.
It was a conscious decision to go without the LCD screen for two reasons. Firstly to save cost so that puts Solamiser in the Dacia Duster market I guess but also one thing I have noticed about these kind of products is that one tends to check the display a lot when new but once it has been installed for a relatively short time it becomes too much trouble. A device that provides hot water gives you feedback everyday when you step in the shower and you get that great feeling that you are getting something for nothing.

It certainly does, however there's no real proof to backup pubtalk........ lol

 

[JulianC]

Thanks for the comments gentlemen. My interest in this device is purely personal. I have fitted a fair few Immersuns for customers with immersion heaters - I like the product a lot. However, I need something in my own property to dump to a small 400W panel heater and a couple of (not yet obtained) used storage heaters. I cannot justify the cost of the Immersun for this, even at trade price for a self-install, nor do I need the Immersun's level of sophistication. I am therefore erring towards the Solamiser....for now.....

 

[Worcester]

If you're handy with a soldering iron and a computer, and don't mind a bit of diy:
intro page: Home | OpenEnergyMonitor
full detail: Diverting surplus PV Power, by Robin Emley | OpenEnergyMonitor

 

[sean_ork]

having built a couple of the open energy monitors I've been looking for a simple cost effective system for a few projects ... the open monitor is brilliant, needs building, but is just so fantastically flexible you can make it do almost every monitoring task you could think of - that's my problem, you (well maybe it's just me) never stop tweaking and playing with it

I just want a product that is simple, cheap, ish and proven

I'd also like to know what the CE status of it is, Worcs asked above - did I miss the reply ?

my initial thoughts are that it's a one man band, building them by hand at home - there doesn't appear to be any formal company set-up and the contact phone number is also shared with someone who appears to be an organiser for ''Take a Break'' magazine

I'm just a potential customer, who having seen the site, will need some more convincing before I start spending my customers money on the product

 

[sean_ork]

if you are serious about marketing this as a product, you might want to consider changing it's name as both the .co.uk and .com versions of it's name have already been taken - and point to a site selling a competing product

 

[puddy]

Most internet service provider allow one .co.uk webpage & e-mail free of charge