Which is the best solar intelligent immersion switch

tzimmerman

I read up on this a 5 years ago, and couldn't decide between an iboost+ and SolarImmersion. There must be better ones on the market, and reliability should be more proven.

What is the current best buy, and where are they cheapest?   (google search brings back very outdated posts/reviews).  I have a 6.9KW system, Megaflo CL170 unvented sealed system hot water tank, 3KW immersion heather and no smart meter.  Thanks

70sbudgie

I have recently bought a Solic 200 direct from the manufacturer's website. I haven't wired it in yet as our immersion heater doesn't have its own circuit from the consumer unit, so I'm going to have to convince an electrician to come out.

mickyduck55

I have a Solic... simple no bells and whistlea but it works.. I have tried the solar immersion but both units failed just out of Gtee... 

CCandJJ

I have the Solic 200 which was installed a few months ago alongside a solar pv and new immersion tank with 3kw immersion linked to the diverter. It has not worked and I have contacted the Solic manufacturer who are giving no advice and the last communication they agreed that it doesn’t work with some immersion tanks. It seems to limit the diversion to 1kw rather than the 3kw being generated (for a 3kw immersion) so I am exporting 2kw an hour most days now which makes the solic pointless. Very disappointed with the responses from the manufacturer and I now have a diverter that I paid to be installed and is not fit for purpose. The installer is equally disinterested in removing and refunding. I would recommend avoiding the solic with this level of aftercare. It’s sold as a system that works with any immersion tank but clearly doesn’t. Seems that I’ll need to go down the legal route to get resolved. 

paul991

my  solarimmersion installed 2014 still working well

silverwhistle

I've an iboost installed in 2013 and (touch wood) still working well.

markin

@CCandJJ I would guess its working fine, 1hr at 3kwh or 3hrs at 1kwh would make little difrence, is that what its doing?

It may just be that it only needs the 1kwh to top it up.

returnofghandi

I had Solar PV installed early January and then fitted a MyEnergi EDDI myself about a month later. I looked at solar immersion and solar iboost+ as well but decided EDDI best fitted my needs; I like to 'watch' my PV generation.

The EDDI has a useful app, good display on the unit, two CT connections one I use to measure import/export at the main meter (CCU) and the other one measures the Solar PV inverter output (generation after inverter losses). The EDDI also has connections for two immersion elements or you can power something else which has a 'resistive' element. MyEnergi has loads of info about different wiring setups  https://www.myenergi.com/wiki/eddi/.

I have my immersion on one connection and a convector heater connected to the second for use in the colder months, but have switched the convector heater off as I now get Octopus Fixed SEG at 15p per KWh so it's better to export what I can't manage to use. I have gas heating on Octopus's tracker tariff currently averaging about 5p per KWh.

The EDDI CT readings are updated within seconds whereas my SolarEdge Inverter App only gives me a PV generation/output figure every 15 minutes. I also have the EDDI on Home Assistant so I can see my PV generation peaks/troughs, so the EDDI shows me that I reached a peak generation of 4.85KW (4.8KW panels) the other day whereas SolarEdge app missed that peak.

Was EDDI worth it? In terms of ease of use, data available, the App - for me the answer is 'yes'. To get anywhere near that with the Solar iboost+ for example, you need to buy the unit and a display (£380 unit, £120 display). I paid £435 for the EDDI.

Niv

I have a solic. Its basic but does what I need. It cannot 'timeshift' heating the water off immersion with cheap offpeak electric though - it solely uses solar, no solar not heat (unless I press the override button).

Not sure if the more expensive options mentioned (EDDI and iBoost have this facility which is why I mention it).

I also cannot see how much the immersion has used compared to the rest of the household consumption as its all lumped in one - not sure if this is the nature of how the solis works or if its down to how the system has been set up by the installer.

mickyduck55

Looking at above comments a bit of a mixed bag.

I have had two solarImmersions both failed just out of warranty and had one repaired which then failed again.  I have a Solic 200 installed that worked without issue.

It is now turned off as I have moved to Octopus Flux so get more for exporting my spare power than I save from heating my water.

Mikeyboy01443

Not sure if its the same thing you are talking about, but i bought a timeguard fstwifi wifi immersion switch.
Only 40 quid or so, really good i can switch it on using the app, also set it to come on at certain times for my cheap rate on flux... it just replaced my old immersion switch, no other work needed