How best to place/position Sunamp units (for servicing, access etc)

[oranjeboom]

So the Sunamp gremlins continue I see.

 

 

Although a good thing that Sunamp are willing to send out replacements units, its obviously a massive PIA to unplumb and then re-do the buggers. I had to send back two 14kWh units the other year (luckily not fitted at the time) and others like @Jeremy Harris have had to pop a few hernias dragging them up the stairs. It's disturbing that there are continued issues and whilst they may be fixable, the units do need to be placed in easy to access positions and worst case easy to remove. At least mine aren't going in the loft!!

 

My new units will now arrive in the next few weeks so from the people on here who have had to take off panels and reset/remove things from the units, which sides of the unit have the potential for requiring access? Presume it depends whether the unit contains an immersion or not.

 

From the manual, the first pic on left, below is the over-temperature reset button location and at the end of the unit - I presume this is is the 'front' (if the heater cable (on the opposite end) is pushed against a wall)? Do either of the side panels have potential to be removed?

 

 

 

In my case, I have limited space for the units (manifold is fixed into position already) and no way can I stack them! So hopefully this arrangement will give me necessary access (to the reset button). If the uppermost one needs to be moved then that will mean shifting the other one first unfortunately. I have one heavy duty wheeled 'skateboard' to move each unit but was even thinking of knocking up another one so that they are easier to move in/out if required to in future (lockable wheels).

 

Plan view:

 

@Jeremy Harris - which panel do you leave off to check status charge?

[Nickfromwales]

If you have new size 9 units coming, they may well have inboard controls and status indicators on the unit. 
If not, then it’s the cover of the external controller that needs to be removed to view the PCB mounted LED indicators. 

[Simon Brooke]

Ok definitely a finder. I have spoken to the technical director, which was good of him as he is off sick at the moment, and his initial view is that unlikely to be the battery. He has agreed I can phone him this morning with the control panel exposed and he will interpret any lights that may come on. As an aside if it proves to be the finder will a replacement 'simply' fit into the same bar?

[Simon Brooke]

Forgot to attach photo.

[Jeremy Harris]

Perhaps worth swapping the contactor over, just to eliminate it if nothing else, but worth doing some checks first.  The fact that the contactor is clicking, yet the unit isn't heating up, indicates that there's no voltage getting to the heating element.  Given that the Finder contactor in my unit gave up the ghost after two or three months, and that the symptoms when ours failed were exactly the same as yours, makes me suspect that you may have the same fault.   The contactor is a standard 1 module wide DIN mount one, and easily swapped.

 

The other thing to check is that the incoming power to the control box (the 16 A rated supply, not the low current control supply) is actually there.  Checking the voltages at the contactor should prove that.  Terminals 1 and 3 at the top should have the incoming supply voltage on them all the time the unit is being powered (in your case by the boost function I suspect).  Terminals 2 and 4 at the bottom should have power on them whenever the contactor has closed.  If you have access to a suitable meter and feel competent to use it, then checking the voltage at these points would give a very good insight into what may be going on.

[oranjeboom]

** Think we're getting cross-threaded here - could admins move posts relating to Simon's issue to his topic here?**

 

10 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

If you have new size 9 units coming, they may well have inboard controls and status indicators on the unit. 
If not, then it’s the cover of the external controller that needs to be removed to view the PCB mounted LED indicators. 

 

Are you referring to the status charge indicators Nick?

 

My units are size 12 units, in which case I should be okay then if they are in the external controllers. However the last controllers I had were the sbc_01 which did not appear to have any LEDs:

 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

I can see the leds in that pic   

4 in a row to the left of the left hand orange DC transformer  

[oranjeboom]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

I can see the leds in that pic   

 

Okay, I couldn't make them out from the pic, but you know what to look for. Thanks!

 

So apart from the side of the unit that has the heat heat thermo reset button, are there any other panels that may need to be accessed for normal 'checking' / 'servicing'

[Jeremy Harris]

The vertical row LEDs on the left aren't much use for day to day monitoring, unfortunately, they are really only any use when setting the unit up and checking to see whether it's in cold start mode. 

 

The most useful LED is the one over on the right, under the relay that switches the main contactor on and off, as that shows whether the unit is "calling for heat" (each of the relays has a status LED underneath it, in a horizontal row).  That LED is the reason my unit is still sat with it's lid off (not recommended - it exposes mains voltage connections - just don't poke your fingers inside).  I glance at it to check whether or not the unit is ready to accept charge or not, something that is extremely useful to be able to see on a regular basis.

 

Here's a photo (it's the centre one of the three on the right that is most useful to see):

 

[oranjeboom]

Thanks @Jeremy Harris - Just what I needed to know. Would have been sooooo difficult to incorporate those LEDs into the cover panel....a mere cost of a few £.

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

7 minutes ago, oranjeboom said:

Thanks @Jeremy Harris - Just what I needed to know. Would have been sooooo difficult to incorporate those LEDs into the cover panel....a mere cost of a few £.

 

 

 

 

It's as annoying as hell not having that information visible.  I was surprised, when I took that photo a short while ago, to find that the "calling for heat" LED was off.  That means that our PV system must have provided around 6 kWh of charge to the Sunamp this morning, which is pretty unusual for this time of the year.

[oranjeboom]

2 minutes ago, Jeremy Harris said:

 

 

It's as annoying as hell not having that information visible.  I was surprised, when I took that photo a short while ago, to find that the "calling for heat" LED was off.  That means that our PV system must have provided around 6 kWh of charge to the Sunamp this morning, which is pretty unusual for this time of the year.

 

That is impressive solar performance indeed.  Are you sure the "calling for heat" LED is working?? Have you got hot water....?

[Jeremy Harris]

2 minutes ago, oranjeboom said:

 

That is impressive solar performance indeed.  Are you sure the "calling for heat" LED is working?? Have you got hot water....?

 

 

Yes, the thing is definitely fully charged, as when it is the pipe outlet at the top feels hotter than normal.  Surprised me a lot, TBH, as I only went to look at it to take that 'photo, and I expected the "calling for heat" LED to be on.  Had to check the generation data to be sure.