Excess solar power

ajbell

What do you do with it?.
I have a diverter so get a tank or two of hot water per day, all battery powered stuff charged, but still end up sending loads back to the grid.
Any ideas for other uses?.
Can I connect something else to the second output of my iboost?. Would an oil filled radiator be suitable to be directly wired to the second output and what if it was a 1500w radiator and the excess was more than that?.

rugbyleaguesmate

I'm really interested in this also!

pinnks

Hi,

If you search on immerSUN you'll find quite a lot on here on this subject. You can put any resistive load on your diverter - kettle, toaster, oil radiator and so on.

I have a second inverter on which I have 2 oil rads. when one is hot so its internal thermostat turns it off, the other one cuts in. Works really well at this time of year to raise the living room temp by a few degrees and to take the strain off the GCH.

We also have a 1kW kettle, which means we import less morning and evening when making tea etc.

ajbell

what if I wire in a 1.5kw radiator and there is 3kw to divert, will it try to put 3kw in?.
Do you hard wire it to the iboost/immerSUN?.

Martyn1981

ajbell wrote: »

what if I wire in a 1.5kw radiator and there is 3kw to divert, will it try to put 3kw in?.
Do you hard wire it to the iboost/immerSUN?.

Hi. If you think about it, the grid is trying to pump 20kW to 25kW into your house via the main fuse (80-100A), but your leccy devices, including the oil rad only 'take' what they need. The same would apply to the excess PV diversion. Also the household items don't know it's PV since it all comes from the consumer unit anyway, so it'll all operate entirely as normal (just with the option to dial the power down below max).

Mart.

ASavvyBuyer

We also currently use an oil filled radiator of 500/1000/1500 watts to use excess power and provide a bit of background heating; which helps delay the need for the central heating coming on when we have bright, but cooler days.

However, it is worth taking a look at this topic https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4715287 as it has given us the inspiration to look into the possibilities of using an efficient air conditioner to provide heating in the same way. We are currently getting quotes from a number of companies and hope to get something installed soon.

ajbell

So can i wire in an extension lead to the second output?.
If so would it be safe to use a 10m extension so I could use the excess power downstairs (my iboost is in the airing cupboard).

ASavvyBuyer

ajbell wrote: »

So can i wire in an extension lead to the second output?.
If so would it be safe to use a 10m extension so I could use the excess power downstairs (my iboost is in the airing cupboard).

It should be safe if you use an extension cable with the correct power rating and don't have it coiled or covered (risk of overheating). Also, it would need to be routed safely, so no risk of tripping over it.
If you are not sure, it would be worth getting a qualified electrician to check it out.

legoman62

What about fitting an RCD-Plug-Adaptor-Circuit-Breaker in your 2nd output:think:

ajbell

Thanks for that, do you have a link to such a device?.

legoman62

http://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-rcd-adaptor/63731?kpid=63731&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&gclid=CPuAmZ222s8CFYoW0wodJKEAfg