I am not familiar with your design as not read all the thread but a SSR should drop about 1.2 V. So for every 1A flowing it is dissipating 1.2W which means a 3kW heater causes 14W of dissipation in SSR when fully on. That is not a lot but it does need a small heatsink of a few square inches. I get the impression that yours is dissipating more than that but I don’t know why.
I am not familiar with your design as not read all the thread but a SSR should drop about 1.2 V. So for every 1A flowing it is dissipating 1.2W which means a 3kW heater causes 14W of dissipation in SSR when fully on. That is not a lot but it does need a small heatsink of a few square inches. I get the impression that yours is dissipating more than that but I don’t know why.
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suntrap
Do you have a link for this please? I can only find them much pricier. Thanks.
By the way, I've suggested before that you ought to be able to use a washing machine filter to reduce EMI - they are a lot cheaper than the specialist filters.
Hi Suntrap
Open Ebay and search using SSR-25VA Resistance Type Adjustable SSR Solid State Relay 25A w Heat Sink
The cheapest in the list was £8.39. Bigger heat sinks are also available for about £4.00.
I will look again at washing machine filters.
Regards, Trader9.
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suntrap
Ah thanks - I was expecting Fotek-branded which is why my search wasn't coming up with anything.
They are incredibly cheap - I wonder why? Are they definitely isolated? Does the pot have a constant current flowing through it?
They are incredibly cheap - I wonder why? Are they definitely isolated? Does the pot have a constant current flowing through it?
Some of the stuff on eBay from HK and China is OK but some not. I bought a simpler SSR for <<£10 from one such firm and it behaved in a very strange manner, so you might be lucky and might not. It will probably be opto isolated but maybe not with as high an insulation resistance as is really safe.
T
thushar
Have you tried the automatic immersion heater switch and immersion heater power reducer ( reduces a 3 kW immersion to 1.5 kW) from http://solarimmersionheaterswitch.co.uk ? Looks like one of the best system available for less that £150 .
As well discussed here a couple of months ago these and some others like them are pretty useless. They do not track your export so are significantly under or over using your generation. If not well set you could be spending more money than you are today and have paid £150 for the privilege or probably more as you have to buy a new £50 element and maybe pay a plumber to fit it.
A proportionally controlled unit may be twice the price but will give much more than twice the benefit and needs no new element. Even with the atrocious Jubilee holiday weather over last few days I have managed to generate enough hot water from the odd bright periods to avoid needing any gas top up, indeed not used gas for weeks. A switched unit would never have done this.
W
Whip1971
I agree with echase! A Proportional controler is the way forward. I also have also turned my gas boiler off. And still manage to get a tank of hot water off of my surplus pv energy, love it!!! Thanks to pmcalli...
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suntrap
I'm becoming less and less convinced about these: everything points to them being just glorified light dimmers. Have you managed to control one with anything other than a potentiomenter? Judging by the high resistance values required (akin to light dimmers), I think there will be a high AC voltage across them, not isolated from the mains. Does a multimeter (on diode setting) register anything other than infinite resistance between input and output pins? If infinite, it might be safe to connect an earthed oscilloscope across the input pins to see what's going on.
The most comprehensive data I can find is here. The block diagram shows no isolation (unlike the data sheet for the switched version). Note that there is a different family for control by external voltage - called 'L' rather than 'V'. I can't find any of those for sale.
Hi All
Don't knock these SSR's I have managed to interface the SSR input with a LDR driven by a LED from the PWM output of an Arduino monitoring the solar and house load using the OpenEnergyMonitor sketch. So you have a microprocessor controlled, fully proportional system for about £50.00. Using a LDR and LED heat shrunk together in this way makes a very safe opto isolator interface.
Regards, Trader9.
Don't knock these SSR's I have managed to interface the SSR input with a LDR driven by a LED from the PWM output of an Arduino monitoring the solar and house load using the OpenEnergyMonitor sketch. So you have a microprocessor controlled, fully proportional system for about £50.00. Using a LDR and LED heat shrunk together in this way makes a very safe opto isolator interface.
Regards, Trader9.
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suntrap
Ah - mystery solved - thanks!
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stevegs
You'd be better of with a solar thermal system! True, you'd need a dual coil tank and a thermal type collector, but these are about 3 times as efficient in converting sunlight (to heat) as PV (45% vs. about 16%). My thermal system was installed 11 years ago, so it's an older type with thick (4") tubes. Fortunately, I put it on the flat roof at the back, so I was able this year to cram 6 PV panels on the pitched roof early this year. An added advantage of thermal - it's simple plumbing and no G85 regulations to worry about - the only electrical connection required is for the controller and pump. Installation of the former is similar to a central heating control unit, and the latter is a bog standard CH pump - so only a 3A switched fused spur is required.
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Hi Stevegs
I think you have missed the point here. Most of my daily electrical usage is offset by the solar PV and the electricity used for heating the water is FREE. Efficient or not, I was paid 45p a kW to generate and I get to use the surplus to heat the water for nothing. Better still I can deliver 1MW a year into my hot water tank offsetting any importing that I may have done.
You can't use a solar thermal system to watch your TV, make a cup of tea or run your fridge, but you can use your solar PV to heat your water. Electricity is much more versatile.
Best get rid of your old solar thermal system and add an extra 10 PV panels I reckon.
Regards, Trader9
I think you have missed the point here. Most of my daily electrical usage is offset by the solar PV and the electricity used for heating the water is FREE. Efficient or not, I was paid 45p a kW to generate and I get to use the surplus to heat the water for nothing. Better still I can deliver 1MW a year into my hot water tank offsetting any importing that I may have done.
You can't use a solar thermal system to watch your TV, make a cup of tea or run your fridge, but you can use your solar PV to heat your water. Electricity is much more versatile.
Best get rid of your old solar thermal system and add an extra 10 PV panels I reckon.
Regards, Trader9
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stevegs
Can't argue with that, but my 1.4kWp system on a cloudy day produces little more than the fridge and freezer require if they're both on at the same time, so these run for free. I can only export on bright (not necessarily sunny) days - so if I time it right, I can mow the lawn for free. The kettle is only on for minutes, so the amount of energy it uses overall is minimal. I haven't got time for a TV, but even if I did, I probably wouldn't watch it during daylight!
I take it you've got the maximum (4kWp) system you can have on a single phase supply. My problem here is a tiny roof on a tiny house so no room for 10 more panels even if I got rid of the thermal. The thermal occupies most of my flat roof - PV would need a mounting frame to angle it to face south - dodgy owing to risk of wind damage. Don't forget - if you add to a PV system you only get the FiT rate prevailing at the time the addition was made (21p/kWh now, dropping to 16p/kWh from 1st August 2012 - delayed one month - see here). Also, 4kWp is just that - peak - it averages at 30% of that. On a really hot day the PV efficiency goes down so (surprisingly) you get more out of it on a cold and not particularly bright day. That explains why most systems did so well last March, despite the days being shorter. The thermal chugs along producing what it can, which is sufficient, even on a really dull day, to wash a few dishes etc. I only need a top-up if I want a shower or bath and the weather has been lousy - apart from that, the thermal produces all I need for 7 months of the year and takes the chill off for the remainder, leaving the CH boiler to make up the deficit. I have an immersion heater backup, but I can't remember when I last used it! My only regret with the thermal is it's too old to benefit from the RHI.
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J
jbella
Hi all,
I believe this might be a home energy controller (solar version) the most of us have been looking and waiting for:
Home - solarpowercontrol.net (please be aware that this address might be just temporary for the time being)
This unit has got two current monitoring clamps with wireless transmitters (one way) for home electricity consumption and generation, smart energy controller unit and three (up to twelve) remotely controlled (two way) wireless power sockets. Unit controls up to three items wirelessly and switches them according to excess solar being generated. The unit measures the power consumption of each plug and only switches the plug on if there is enough excess power.
Good news is that this unit is reasonably priced too:
Solarcontrol | eBay ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1156
You can find more reading about it here:
Home Energy Monitoring and Control System Solar Version with automatic operation function
Although I do not have yet my immersion heater I've just bought this controller and I can report on it in couple of weeks.
Juraj
I believe this might be a home energy controller (solar version) the most of us have been looking and waiting for:
Home - solarpowercontrol.net (please be aware that this address might be just temporary for the time being)
This unit has got two current monitoring clamps with wireless transmitters (one way) for home electricity consumption and generation, smart energy controller unit and three (up to twelve) remotely controlled (two way) wireless power sockets. Unit controls up to three items wirelessly and switches them according to excess solar being generated. The unit measures the power consumption of each plug and only switches the plug on if there is enough excess power.
Good news is that this unit is reasonably priced too:
Solarcontrol | eBay ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1156
You can find more reading about it here:
Home Energy Monitoring and Control System Solar Version with automatic operation function
Although I do not have yet my immersion heater I've just bought this controller and I can report on it in couple of weeks.
Juraj
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Whip1971
Hi juraj,
The controler you've found sounds cool. However you state it can control up to to 12 outlets but the controler only can operate 3. ?? Also what's a 2 way socket outlet? I've heard of a 2way light switch..??
it doesn't sound like a propational controler. If I plug a wireless outlet into my immersion circuit 3kW I doubt if it would ever turn on, as I only have a 3kW system. It might be ok if you only want to plug 40w lamps into your outlets. Maybe I'm missing something ? Pmcalli's system diverts any spare pv energy, proportionately to my immersion. It works flawlessly..
Regards
Oh sorry I misunderstood the 2way outlet, this reports back to the controler how much power is being consumed??
The controler you've found sounds cool. However you state it can control up to to 12 outlets but the controler only can operate 3. ?? Also what's a 2 way socket outlet? I've heard of a 2way light switch..??
it doesn't sound like a propational controler. If I plug a wireless outlet into my immersion circuit 3kW I doubt if it would ever turn on, as I only have a 3kW system. It might be ok if you only want to plug 40w lamps into your outlets. Maybe I'm missing something ? Pmcalli's system diverts any spare pv energy, proportionately to my immersion. It works flawlessly..
Regards
Oh sorry I misunderstood the 2way outlet, this reports back to the controler how much power is being consumed??
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P
pm.hughes
Trader9 . I am new to this forum and trying to follow your idea of using a ssr 25va with a relay board, have you managed to sort out the problems of harmonics? or have you a better idea?
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suntrap
Look at the OpenEnergyMonitor forums - it seems at least for some meters you can use burst firing of complete cycles as they average over a whole watt-hour so will not charge you provided you take less than one watt-hour out of the mains before putting it back. No need to worry about filtering.
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sedgy34
Solar Pv isn't just for roof spaces if you have some garden for it you can frame mount it happy days, don't forget the tarif is dropping and so will the cost of install but same return for your money
J
jbella
Hi Whip1971,
It is really not a proportional controller but it is a smart unit. Outlets indeed report back to the controller how much power is being used so you can change the load on that socket and controller will readjust the settings and switch that socket ON only if there is enough excess of pv power.
Unit can remotely control up to 12 sockets but only first three are controlled automatically by unit.
I've just installed it yesterday and played a bit today and to be honest so far impressed by its performance.
Juraj
It is really not a proportional controller but it is a smart unit. Outlets indeed report back to the controller how much power is being used so you can change the load on that socket and controller will readjust the settings and switch that socket ON only if there is enough excess of pv power.
Unit can remotely control up to 12 sockets but only first three are controlled automatically by unit.
I've just installed it yesterday and played a bit today and to be honest so far impressed by its performance.
Juraj
How does it relate to www.totalpowershop.com which seems to be same thing at higher cost with better website?
Fundamentally though you have a problem in how to match the loads against the export. You can’t say rapidly turn on and off a washing machine to try to track the export as the machine will not like it. And a straight heating load like an immersion does not track export at all accurately with this system. Best bet could be three 1kW elements progressively switched in, but what hot water tank has room for 3 elements? And these three are a significant extra cost
You might get back £20 per year in saved gas/electricity so it is £150 capital mostly wasted as far as I can see.
Hi Suntrap
Sorry to jump on your post but I have been using the OpenEnergyMonitor sketch with an Arduino to divert solar into my 3kW immersion heater since Dec 2011.
There are a number of ways to do this using the PWM output from the Arduino driving a LED which is heat shrunk together with a LDR which then drives a SSR-25 VA. Basically, by varying the LED brightness you can control the LDR resistance and thus the SSR. You can do this either proportionally as most people seem to want or in say 50W steps. Obviously its not as simple as that, but it can be done for little cost if you are prepared to put in the effort.
Pm me with your email address and I will send you all the basic detail you need to get started including the Arduino sketch for the proportional system. Almost no electronics only the sensor interface and LED/LDR components.
Regards, Trader9
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suntrap
Thanks for the offer, and I'm impressed with your innovative way of making use of a cheap "potentiometer controlled" proportional controller, but if I do it I'll go down the burst firing route. My mains supply is good so it shouldn't make lamps flicker, and I won't need a filter. My PV is also not on a separate consumer unit so I need to measure power flow direction in a meter tail. I'm "eof" on that forum - you can see my thoughts on using a zero crossing detector and synthesised voltage waveform to get what I believe should be a very accurate power measurement.
J
jbella
Hi,
it is indeed exactly the same controller Home Energy Monitoring and Control System Solar Version with automatic operation function manufactured by Sailwider but sold for double price as on eBay Solarcontrol | eBay and supplied with two socket sensors instead of three as on eBay,
I do not have yet immersion heater yet but following this thread to get ideas how to do it.
What about this: 27" Dual Element Dual Stat Immersion Heater - QVS Electrical Supplies | Electrical Wholesaler ?
You might be right but for me it is not all just about the money. I am considering the greenhouse gases impact too. Basically trying to do my small bit.
Juraj
Hi all I'm seriously considering using a system as described by Trader9 to run some background heating during the sunnier colder months March.April.Sept.Oct although this year such a system could have run up to today
. A lot of people have Solar PV but the majority of modern and a fair number of older houses have Combi systems with no hot water tank which leads me to suggest a system using one or more oil filled radiators (resistive load) for background heating. Do you think this is feasible to assist the general household heating working on a proportional loading system with the heat source placed centrally in the house. I definitely feel a project coming on after reading this very long but interesting thread and looking through ebay for parts etc.
Ken.
. A lot of people have Solar PV but the majority of modern and a fair number of older houses have Combi systems with no hot water tank which leads me to suggest a system using one or more oil filled radiators (resistive load) for background heating. Do you think this is feasible to assist the general household heating working on a proportional loading system with the heat source placed centrally in the house. I definitely feel a project coming on after reading this very long but interesting thread and looking through ebay for parts etc. Ken.
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suntrap
Even more best bet would be a 1kW and a 2kW element switched in a binary fashion, which would achieve the same result.
There have been some interesting thoughts that you might save a lot more than that if in the summer your gas use is low enough to be down into the range of the initial more expensive units which are there in lieu of a standing charge.
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suntrap
Unfortunately you might be doing the opposite - by using your generated electricity to displace relatively efficient use of a fossil fuel to heat water you are no longer using it to displace electricity possibly generated by less efficient means. But it's still a fun project!
Partially true. My estimate that for a gas user a proportional controller saves £50 to £100.
A switched controller is minus £30 to plus £30. £20 was a guess within that range. The minus is because, if you set it up badly you import more than you save, especially with 3kW loads. For oil, LPG and peak rate electricity the figures are up to 4 times better.
F
fredfred2
Thanks to Juraj redirecting me to this forum page, where it appears my quest to find one and the same thing as everyone else is popular! Whoever makes these is going to get rich or get sued by the gov for breaking FIT rules... (no longer 50% feed in with this thing fitted).
Here's a pic of a unit I found on my travels, but sadly I don't know who makes it. From what I understand, it's a proportional device, where the power provided to a bog standard 3kW immersion heater tracks the solar PV panel's output precisely (minus what the house is using). The panels produce less than 2kW. There was no transformer between the box and the immersion. The immersion was a standard mains 3kW 240V thing.
This thing was fitted to a house that has a 2kW PV array back in Summer last year, and works well. That's all I know. Oh, and I'd like one.
I have found 10 different types out there on the internet, but this little unit looks like it ticks all the boxes for me, but I know little more.
Does anyone know who it's made by?
thanks,
fred
Here's a pic of a unit I found on my travels, but sadly I don't know who makes it. From what I understand, it's a proportional device, where the power provided to a bog standard 3kW immersion heater tracks the solar PV panel's output precisely (minus what the house is using). The panels produce less than 2kW. There was no transformer between the box and the immersion. The immersion was a standard mains 3kW 240V thing.
This thing was fitted to a house that has a 2kW PV array back in Summer last year, and works well. That's all I know. Oh, and I'd like one.
I have found 10 different types out there on the internet, but this little unit looks like it ticks all the boxes for me, but I know little more.
Does anyone know who it's made by?
thanks,
fred
What do you mean as not correct English? An immersion heater is 100% (or very close to it) efficient as almost every watt delivered goes to heating the water. Tiny losses in the connection terminals and wires plus heat losses through the cover could be taken off that. Say 99%.
R
runthangs
Hey guys,
I need some electronics advice. I have the cheap ebay 3800w dimmer triac circuit mentioned earlier (inkFrog) that "dims" the power supplied to my immersion heater, the dimming is controlled using an AC potentionmeter (model: wth118-1a).
I now need to programmatically control the potentiometer. Aside from getting an SSR and redoing the circuit, etc., I have explored using a servo motor controlled via USB to turn the pot, but have discovered that 5v/100ma from USB isn't strong enough for the motor to turn the knob (plus very inaccurate) - I want to avoid external power supplies etc. Is it possible to instead send a 5v current down a USB directly (via some conversion circuit of some sort) to one of the terminals of the potentiometer and thus vary the resistance (i'm looking for the simplest solution possible). I am happy with a binary "high power" and "low power", i.e. 5v and 0v from usb. This would allow me to at least step the potentiometer/dimmer circuit one level up when solar pv generation is high.
Thanks.
I need some electronics advice. I have the cheap ebay 3800w dimmer triac circuit mentioned earlier (inkFrog) that "dims" the power supplied to my immersion heater, the dimming is controlled using an AC potentionmeter (model: wth118-1a).
I now need to programmatically control the potentiometer. Aside from getting an SSR and redoing the circuit, etc., I have explored using a servo motor controlled via USB to turn the pot, but have discovered that 5v/100ma from USB isn't strong enough for the motor to turn the knob (plus very inaccurate) - I want to avoid external power supplies etc. Is it possible to instead send a 5v current down a USB directly (via some conversion circuit of some sort) to one of the terminals of the potentiometer and thus vary the resistance (i'm looking for the simplest solution possible). I am happy with a binary "high power" and "low power", i.e. 5v and 0v from usb. This would allow me to at least step the potentiometer/dimmer circuit one level up when solar pv generation is high.
Thanks.
T
thushar
My electrician just installed the new Mark II version of the solar immersion switch from Intelligent Solar Immersion Switch - Use Surplus Solar PV Power to Heat Water and it's working brilliantly. It comes with a differential control, compare the house load and the pv production to turns on the immersion. This will make sure no power is imported from the grid even when a kettle is turned on when the immersion is on . a quality product at a very affordable price.
Hi Runthangs
Have you considered an eight way 5V relay printed circuit board from Ebay for about £9.00. It has eight, 5V relays on which only take 70ma each. Also each relay could have a different resistance connected to its contacts so in effect you could have eight different levels on your dimmer. Also the contacts would give you isolation from the potential high voltage on your dimmer potentiometer which it would replace. How you would operate each relay I am not sure unless you use something like an Arduino.
Regards, Trader9.
Have you considered an eight way 5V relay printed circuit board from Ebay for about £9.00. It has eight, 5V relays on which only take 70ma each. Also each relay could have a different resistance connected to its contacts so in effect you could have eight different levels on your dimmer. Also the contacts would give you isolation from the potential high voltage on your dimmer potentiometer which it would replace. How you would operate each relay I am not sure unless you use something like an Arduino.
Regards, Trader9.
As the device measures grid export only what happens when the load is turned on? Say export was 3500W and set threshold is 3500W, so when load turns on export becomes only 500W. To stop it immediately turning the load off again it needs to know that the load consumes 3000W. Is there a control to set the load power?
To provide reasonably complete consumption of the spare power the switching needs to be frequent which must play havoc with the reliability of the element and relay. Never gets close to consumption of a proportional controller so their £100 pa claimed savings, especially on the Mark 1, is very unrealistic.
Their £49 power reducer (halves it) has 2 wires so is probably just a diode. Surely this is “illegal”. If it’s a triac set to phase control at 50% it’s also illegal as the EMI will be too large.
D
Duplada
My first post here, though I have been reading this thread since I had my 3.84kw PV system installed last November. The reason for my post is to give those of you who are considering using your excess PV to power your immersion heater, insight into some of my experiences using manual switching and using a proportional device. After reading this thread from start to finish, when it originally had over 50 pages, it soon became apparent to me that a proportional solution was the way to go, because as far as I could see, all the other none proportional solutions had the possibility of importing more electricity than you were trying to save.
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded in an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater without importing I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, or early and late in the evenings, there can be a continuous small excess of say 300 to 500 watts, it is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a very professional unit and works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engesa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engesa,
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 90% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second or two, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold but typically takes less on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank.
On really sunny days (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW. The real benefit though is I no longer have to think about the excess PV on most days, my proportion device just takes care of heating the water which is lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. Though my advice is, if you want to have an easy life, and save money, then invest in a proportional device.
regards
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded in an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater without importing I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, or early and late in the evenings, there can be a continuous small excess of say 300 to 500 watts, it is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a very professional unit and works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engesa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engesa,
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 90% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second or two, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold but typically takes less on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank.
On really sunny days (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW. The real benefit though is I no longer have to think about the excess PV on most days, my proportion device just takes care of heating the water which is lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. Though my advice is, if you want to have an easy life, and save money, then invest in a proportional device.
regards
D
Duplada
My first post here, though I have been reading this thread since I had my 3.84kw PV system installed last November. The reason for my post is to give those of you who are considering using your excess PV to power your immersion heater, insight into some of my experiences using manual switching and using a proportional device. After reading this thread from start to finish, when it originally had over 50 pages, it soon became apparent to me that a proportional solution was the way to go, because as far as I could see, all the other none proportional solutions had the possibility of importing more electricity than you were trying to save.
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded into an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This 3 monitor setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore, firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater from the end of March without importing, I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, in winter months, or early and late in the day in summer, there can be a continuous small export excess of say 300 to 500 watts over base load. It is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a small very professionally designed unit that works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engensa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engensa.
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 80% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather and kids home from University wanting consecutive baths. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating about half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold, but typically takes less (4-5KW) on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank. You have to think about when you use the hot water also, having a bath late at night may well leave you without much in the morning if the next day is cloudy.
On really sunny days in summer (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW, however this is the exception rather than the norm. So depending on the size of your hot water cylinder, your base house load, and whether or not you are at home in the day to run other devices, will depend on how much you can actually save. The real benefit though for me, is I no longer have to think about how to use the excess PV generation on most days, as my proportional device just mops up all the excess heating the water and lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. In conclusion, if you want to maximize the use of your excess PV generation then get yourself a proportional PV controller as in my experience they really do work very well.
regards
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded into an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This 3 monitor setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore, firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater from the end of March without importing, I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, in winter months, or early and late in the day in summer, there can be a continuous small export excess of say 300 to 500 watts over base load. It is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a small very professionally designed unit that works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engensa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engensa.
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 80% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather and kids home from University wanting consecutive baths. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating about half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold, but typically takes less (4-5KW) on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank. You have to think about when you use the hot water also, having a bath late at night may well leave you without much in the morning if the next day is cloudy.
On really sunny days in summer (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW, however this is the exception rather than the norm. So depending on the size of your hot water cylinder, your base house load, and whether or not you are at home in the day to run other devices, will depend on how much you can actually save. The real benefit though for me, is I no longer have to think about how to use the excess PV generation on most days, as my proportional device just mops up all the excess heating the water and lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. In conclusion, if you want to maximize the use of your excess PV generation then get yourself a proportional PV controller as in my experience they really do work very well.
regards
D
Duplada
My first post here, though I have been reading this thread since I had my 3.84kw PV system installed last November. The reason for my post is to give those of you who are considering using your excess PV to power your immersion heater, insight into some of my experiences using manual switching and using a proportional device. After reading this thread from start to finish, when it originally had over 50 pages, it soon became apparent to me that a proportional solution was the way to go, because as far as I could see, all the other none proportional solutions had the possibility of importing more electricity than you were trying to save.
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded into an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This 3 monitor setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore, firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater from the end of March without importing, I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, in winter months, or early and late in the day in summer, there can be a continuous small export excess of say 300 to 500 watts over base load. It is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a small very professionally designed unit that works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engensa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engensa.
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 80% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather and kids home from University wanting consecutive baths. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating about half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold, but typically takes less (4-5KW) on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank. You have to think about when you use the hot water also, having a bath late at night may well leave you without much in the morning if the next day is cloudy.
On really sunny days in summer (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW, however this is the exception rather than the norm. So depending on the size of your hot water cylinder, your base house load, and whether or not you are at home in the day to run other devices, will depend on how much you can actually save. The real benefit though for me, is I no longer have to think about how to use the excess PV generation on most days, as my proportional device just mops up all the excess heating the water and lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. In conclusion, if you want to maximize the use of your excess PV generation then get yourself a proportional PV controller as they do really work very well.
regards
Since I first had my PV system installed I have monitored my PV generation with a SunnyBeam, my true house load with a clamp sensor on a Current Cost ENVIR Monitor (via a /Henley Block) and also my real time energy import with an Optismart reader on another Current Cost ENVIR monitor. These days, the data from these devices is output and recorded into an SQL database before being uploaded to one of the PV statistics sites. This 3 monitor setup allows me to see the true house load on one monitor and to see instantly if I am importing or exporting on the Optismart monitor. The Optismart monitor counts the pulses generated from the Electricity meter and is very accurate indeed, it shows zero when you are exporting. When you are importing the Optismart shows your true import and the difference between the house load monitor and the Optismart is your real time generation, which of course can be confirmed on the Sunnybeam generation monitor.
Finally to the reason for telling you about all these monitors, I work from home and with them sat on my desk it was difficult not look at them constantly. Monitoring my ever changing power status this way, enabled me to manually switch on washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers etc in sequence when sufficient power was available. I managed up to the end of February this year and was using about 70% of the power I generated. When March arrived with numerous sunny days (remember those) resulting in daily generation in excess of 22KW it was very clear that I could not mop up all the available excess power. By lunch time I had done two loads of washing two loads of tumble drying and had run the dishwasher and was now exporting again, with nothing left to run. My PV panels are at an inclination of 22 degrees so I do not generate over 3KW until the end of March. Therefore, firing up the Immersion heater (3KW) would have meant also importing prior to this date, so up until the end of March the Immersion heater was not part of the manual load switching. Even when I could fire up the Immersion heater from the end of March without importing, I was forever having to switch it off again as it clouded over. In fact managing all this excess power was becoming a full time job and it was driving me nuts.
I therefore decided for my sanity that I had to get hold of one of these proportional controllers that dumped any excess into the Immersion, so that I could mop up any excess over my base load. If you have the means of monitoring your consumption and generation in real time like I have, you will have noticed that very often in particular on cloudy days, in winter months, or early and late in the day in summer, there can be a continuous small export excess of say 300 to 500 watts over base load. It is more or less impossible to mop up this excess without a proportional controller, and it adds up to quite a lot of export over an entire day.
Since I am not a electronics wizard building my own unit was out of the question for me. I managed to get hold of a kit manufactured by Echase a regular poster here. At the time (April 2012) he was handing his design over to a company for commercial production and had a few kits still for sale. To get the kit I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about how much it cost its design etc. Though I don’t think Echase will mind me telling you that it is a small very professionally designed unit that works very well indeed. As I understand it, the same commercial unit that I have, can be purchased from Engensa with a PV system, but it is going to be available to purchase on its own, if enough people enquire about it. I think its commercial name is Solar24. I would also like to point out that I have no connection with either Echase or Engensa.
The unit connects between your consumer unit and your immersion circuit, there is no configuration whatsoever, you switch it on and it just works.
I have had the unit installed and operational now for over two and a half months and the unit is mopping up around 80% of my excess power. The unit exports a very small amount of power and never imports when a load changes (I can see this on my OptiSmart). It typically sorts out the new export value in about a second, if the load changes (kettle switched on) or a cloud appears to lower generation, but it never imports which is quite remarkable. Since the beginning of May when I completed the unit, my GAS central water heating has been off. I have only had to heat the water twice during this period, due to consecutive days of very poor weather and kids home from University wanting consecutive baths. I have very detailed records of my GAS usage and during the two and half months I have had the unit in operation I have saved about £25 in GAS. I am quite satisfied with this; it will obviously be lower in winter but nevertheless a good saving.
There are one are two things I can point out to help you maximize the amount of excess power you can mop up. My hot water tank is a big one nearly 2 meters tall and holds 240 liters. However, my Immersion is only just under a meter in length. Therefore, I am only heating about half the tank, this takes about 7KW to heat from cold, but typically takes less (4-5KW) on a daily basis as the water is not cold. To maximize the amount of water I can heat in my tank, and the excess export I can use, I am using a low voltage pump and two thermostats to circulate the water in the tank, to automate the process of heating a full tank. You have to think about when you use the hot water also, having a bath late at night may well leave you without much in the morning if the next day is cloudy.
On really sunny days in summer (joke) my system can generate about 29KW so even after heating my big tank of water and running every white goods device to hand, I can still end up exporting 6 to 9KW, however this is the exception rather than the norm. So depending on the size of your hot water cylinder, your base house load, and whether or not you are at home in the day to run other devices, will depend on how much you can actually save. The real benefit though for me, is I no longer have to think about how to use the excess PV generation on most days, as my proportional device just mops up all the excess heating the water and lowering the amount I spend on GAS. The other big asset is that I am no longer rushing around the house performing sequential domestic appliance management and have got my life back.
If you have managed to read this far you deserve a medal, and I promise not to post again. In conclusion, if you want to maximize the use of your excess PV generation then get yourself a proportional PV controller as they do really work very well.
regards
Have you considered a Vactrol, (optocoupled LDR) there are various ones available, here is a link to the ones on the Farnell website VTL5C1 - EXCELITAS TECH - OPTOCOUPLER, SINGLE CHANNEL | Farnell United Kingdom
M
Maurice Sauer
Re: Immersion Heater - PV electricity.
I also installed an echase unit about five months ago and it seems to work very well and I have no reservations about reccommending this. So totaly agree with Duplada. There seem to be quite a few within this blog who wish to reinvent the wheel, but using approaches which don't readily meet the key criterion of heating water whilst minimising the possibility of drawing from the grid. I would welcome further info from Duplada about his pumping system, since I have similar issue of only heating a half tank - and don't wish to install a longer heater because of the possibility os snagging on the (central heating) heating coil.
cheers Mo
I also installed an echase unit about five months ago and it seems to work very well and I have no reservations about reccommending this. So totaly agree with Duplada. There seem to be quite a few within this blog who wish to reinvent the wheel, but using approaches which don't readily meet the key criterion of heating water whilst minimising the possibility of drawing from the grid. I would welcome further info from Duplada about his pumping system, since I have similar issue of only heating a half tank - and don't wish to install a longer heater because of the possibility os snagging on the (central heating) heating coil.
cheers Mo
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