iBoost life expectancy

Rheumatoid

Still thinking about getting one but I reckon it could take 5-6 years for payback. Anyone have any long term experience of the reliability and longevity of these things?

Thanks

EricMears

Rheumatoid wrote: »

Still thinking about getting one but I reckon it could take 5-6 years for payback. Anyone have any long term experience of the reliability and longevity of these things?

Thanks

I don't think it's possible that anyone might have bought one 5 or 6 years ago ! Best you could hope for is round 2 years.

Rheumatoid

EricMears wrote: »

I don't think it's possible that anyone might have bought one 5 or 6 years ago ! Best you could hope for is round 2 years.

Thanks but was wondering about similar devices. Presume as no moving parts they should be reasonably reliable but then again I know nothing about how they work and how/where they might fail

EricMears

Immersun have been in that market for longer than most of the competition - they were certainly around in Summer 2011 although I didn't feel the need for one then. However, they upgraded their model and no Immersun Mk 2 models would be more than two years old either.

zeupater

Rheumatoid wrote: »

Thanks but was wondering about similar devices. Presume as no moving parts they should be reasonably reliable but then again I know nothing about how they work and how/where they might fail

Hi

The issue revolves around there being nothing which is directly comparable (ie a proportional diversion device engineered and priced for mass market domestic supply). You could contact the manufacturer and request details on the design life, but don't hold your breath because that would usually be classified as confidential.

I would consider that a well designed unit would likely have a similar (MTBF) life expectancy to that of an inverter, so maybe 10+ years would be a decent place to start .... however, if the unit is designed around components such as electromechanical relay switches as opposed to SSRs in order to meet a perceived price point there may be a longevity issue ...

If Dave Fowler's around and reads this he'll explain why I'd be raising this far better (and quicker!) than I could ...

HTH
Z

Rheumatoid

The only thing I can find is:

"The product has successfully withstood a 5 year accelerated service life test in an environmental chamber."

In:

http://www.marlec.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Solar-iBoost-Accreditations.pdf

Dave_Fowler

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

The issue revolves around there being nothing which is directly comparable (ie a proportional diversion device engineered and priced for mass market domestic supply). You could contact the manufacturer and request details on the design life, but don't hold your breath because that would usually be classified as confidential.

I would consider that a well designed unit would likely have a similar (MTBF) life expectancy to that of an inverter, so maybe 10+ years would be a decent place to start .... however, if the unit is designed around components such as electromechanical relay switches as opposed to SSRs in order to meet a perceived price point there may be a longevity issue ...

If Dave Fowler's around and reads this he'll explain why I'd be raising this far better (and quicker!) than I could ...

HTH
Z

I'd expect the immersion heater controller unit to be more reliable than an inverter as it probably has far fewer 'stressed' components. In an inverter there is a whole section working with the high voltage DC and then the DC to AC converter / wave shaping. And then there's quite a complex processor section controlling and monitoring the many necessary parameters in order to comply with the regulations. (Far more complicated than a proportional controller).

The proportional controller I designed and built has a section working at 12V DC (monitoring my import / export) which sends its control signal to a single solid-state module that does the power control. Most solid-state devices, when used within their designed working conditions should last many many years.

I'd expect the Iboost / ImmerSun units to work on a similar principal to my design and would use solid-state proportional controllers for their main outputs and SSRs for any auxiliary outputs which are not proportionally controlled.

I have an auxiliary output on my design which uses an SSR and I use it to control a fan heater. Even running the fan heater at its maximum 2kW, the SSR barely gets warm.

As with any electronic device there will be a few early failures, but these happen within the first few days - my SolarEdge inverter failed during the first night, and my mobile phone died even as I was setting it up!

Excluding a poorly designed unit, or one which has inadequate ventilation, I'd expect any commercially available unit to last for well in excess of 10 years. I've probably put a jinx on every ImmerSun in the country by saying this and they'll all be failing this evening.

Dave F

Rheumatoid

Thanks Dave,

will risk it then and hope if it dies it is within the 2 yr warranty.

legoman62

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

The proportional controller I designed and built has a section working at 12V DC (monitoring my import / export) which sends its control signal to a single solid-state module that does the power control. Most solid-state devices, when used within their designed working conditions should last many many years.

Dave F

I'm using a system also 12V DC, copied from energysavingexp's excellent idea using

2 light sensitive switches £10.00) and an SSR (bought from flea bay for less than £2.00.

Bought 2 SSR's JIC and been running successfully for next to nothing over nearly 4 years:T

pinnks

Dave, if you search on immerSUN images you'll find a couple showing the internals of both versions. Means nothing to me but probably a whole load to you...

Actually, you can see the same image in the manual https://www.immersun.co.uk/uploads/Instruction-Manual-v1.3.pdf

michaels

Isn't the killer issue the roll out of smart meters so no more deemed export....