F
FrederickW
With 8.5 KW of PV, two hot water cylinders and a meter spinning faster in reverse than it ever does forward it was obvious that something had to be done and I am not referring to the meter. lol (backstop fitted unfortunately)
There now seems to be a dozen or so excess power diverters of one kind or another on the market. Which one to choose? For me that was not too difficult as there was only the Gem that ticked all the boxes.
My single phase supply cabinet is fitted to an external garage, 20 metres from the house from where sub mains distribute power to house, workshop and barn. With no way to run a cable for the CT other than cutting through concrete it had to be wireless.
I looked at the iBoost which I came across on here, but it only has one proportional output, which would not have best suited the power and load I have available. I had pretty much resigned myself to the iBoost when after several google searches for immersion controllers I came across the Apollo Gem. It’s always a concern when finding a product like this which has no customer web comment one way or the other. After reading the bad customer service comments relating to the solar immersion it did make me think twice. I read the product and tech info on their web site and was quite impressed with the install manual, it would do (on paper at least) what I require.
I listed a few questions to which I couldn’t find answers to and gave them a call. I wasn’t parting with any of my hard earned without speaking to someone first! The phone was answered promptly and I stated that I have some technical questions; fortunately someone was available so I did not have to wait for a call back. I asked about transmitter range explaining the site conditions (I have wireless security that won’t do the distance without a repeater), OK difficult question for a definite answer. Long and short is I can extend the CT wire six meters and mount the transmitter externally if necessary. The chap was very helpful and assured me that I would not be disappointed with the product. OK then, sold!
Delivered day after payment, before I had the chance to get the other installation bits. Kid with a new toy can’t wait to take it apart. All in all it’s OK, professionally made mostly surface mount. Good build quality, switching devices rated at 16 amp each and two paired per channel.
Installation was easy enough, fixings supplied, rear or bottom knockouts easy to remove. Would have liked more cable room to accommodate my gorilla mits!
Now to range, it would not work from inside the garage, that was asking too much so I had to mount the transmitter on the outside wall in an IP65 enclosure (Gewiss GW40101). Even so its range is quite staggering. 32metres, 1 window and 3 internal block walls to the receiver, showing full signal strength!
Set up was easy to do, it worked out of the box, just had to enable channel 2 and input load values.
So far the system has been operational for two weeks, in which time 225 KWhr have been diverted between one immersion and a 2.55 KW storage heater. My other DHW tank is on a timer set between 12.00 and 14.00. There is currently hot water available in the morning and at times we have had to have the door and window open because of the dammed storage heater! I know/hope that will soon change. All it has to do now is prove to be reliable. There is a five year guarantee although I am always sceptical with such offers, guess I am one of the guinea pigs. So far on the basis of my experience with the company and the product I am very pleased.
There now seems to be a dozen or so excess power diverters of one kind or another on the market. Which one to choose? For me that was not too difficult as there was only the Gem that ticked all the boxes.
My single phase supply cabinet is fitted to an external garage, 20 metres from the house from where sub mains distribute power to house, workshop and barn. With no way to run a cable for the CT other than cutting through concrete it had to be wireless.
I looked at the iBoost which I came across on here, but it only has one proportional output, which would not have best suited the power and load I have available. I had pretty much resigned myself to the iBoost when after several google searches for immersion controllers I came across the Apollo Gem. It’s always a concern when finding a product like this which has no customer web comment one way or the other. After reading the bad customer service comments relating to the solar immersion it did make me think twice. I read the product and tech info on their web site and was quite impressed with the install manual, it would do (on paper at least) what I require.
I listed a few questions to which I couldn’t find answers to and gave them a call. I wasn’t parting with any of my hard earned without speaking to someone first! The phone was answered promptly and I stated that I have some technical questions; fortunately someone was available so I did not have to wait for a call back. I asked about transmitter range explaining the site conditions (I have wireless security that won’t do the distance without a repeater), OK difficult question for a definite answer. Long and short is I can extend the CT wire six meters and mount the transmitter externally if necessary. The chap was very helpful and assured me that I would not be disappointed with the product. OK then, sold!
Delivered day after payment, before I had the chance to get the other installation bits. Kid with a new toy can’t wait to take it apart. All in all it’s OK, professionally made mostly surface mount. Good build quality, switching devices rated at 16 amp each and two paired per channel.
Installation was easy enough, fixings supplied, rear or bottom knockouts easy to remove. Would have liked more cable room to accommodate my gorilla mits!
Now to range, it would not work from inside the garage, that was asking too much so I had to mount the transmitter on the outside wall in an IP65 enclosure (Gewiss GW40101). Even so its range is quite staggering. 32metres, 1 window and 3 internal block walls to the receiver, showing full signal strength!
Set up was easy to do, it worked out of the box, just had to enable channel 2 and input load values.
So far the system has been operational for two weeks, in which time 225 KWhr have been diverted between one immersion and a 2.55 KW storage heater. My other DHW tank is on a timer set between 12.00 and 14.00. There is currently hot water available in the morning and at times we have had to have the door and window open because of the dammed storage heater! I know/hope that will soon change. All it has to do now is prove to be reliable. There is a five year guarantee although I am always sceptical with such offers, guess I am one of the guinea pigs. So far on the basis of my experience with the company and the product I am very pleased.
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