Eddi or iBooster Diverter?

[ashthekid]

Hi,

 

I'm just getting a few quotes back on the installation of an in-roof system of 3.84 - 4.2kWp array of 12 PV panels, facing SE with no tree shading whatsoever but potentially a small chimney flue.

I am tempted by the Eddi by MyEnergi or iBooster addon divertor to use any excess electricity to be diverted directly to my hot what cylinder to boost the heat and not waste what's been generated. 

Are these diverters worth the investment?

I'm told Eddi is better because of it's more advanced & potential future linkup with battery storage etc. It's fractionally more money than the iBooster.

[SteamyTea]

Some inverters have a diversion relay built it (SMA did).

But crude, but can be used to power a contractor to power what you like.

[ProDave]

I would say a PV diverter is essential in making solar PV viable now without any feed in tariifs. Roughly 1/3 of what we generate ends up in the immersion heater and that is despite best efforts to self use by using the big appliances in the daytime etc.

[ashthekid]

Sounds like it would be a good investment and for me a more beneficial add-on than say SolarEdge optimisers.

[Bramco]

19 hours ago, ashthekid said:

I'm told Eddi is better because of it's more advanced & potential future linkup with battery storage etc. It's fractionally more money than the iBooster.

 

I think they may work differently.  Reading the Eddi documentation it seems to say it varies the amount diverted by changing the voltage. I think the iBooster does it by varying the amount of time the power is diverted. 

 

Simon

[ProDave]

18 minutes ago, Bramco said:

 

I think they may work differently.  Reading the Eddi documentation it seems to say it varies the amount diverted by changing the voltage. I think the iBooster does it by varying the amount of time the power is diverted. 

 

Simon

The net result is the same.  Any that claims to be varying the voltage will be using phase angle firing just like a light dimmer so it is only on for part of a cycle.

[ToughButterCup]

20 hours ago, ProDave said:

.... Roughly 1/3 of what we generate ends up in the immersion heater and that is despite best efforts to self use by using the big appliances in the daytime etc.

 

How do you arrive at that conclusion, Dave?

[jack]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

The net result is the same.  Any that claims to be varying the voltage will be using phase angle firing just like a light dimmer so it is only on for part of a cycle.

 

The net result is the same in terms of power output, but the impact can be different. 

 

The better quality diverters generate a proper sine wave output that's in-phase with the grid. That's how the Eddi works (same as the Immersun, of which it's an improved version).

 

Phase angle firing is a lot noisier and might cause interference with stuff like radios. People with crappy dimmers might have experienced this. 

 

Burst firing can cause perceptible flickering of lights, although I don't know what sort of lights are affected, and it probably depends on how much energy is being diverted. Presumably if it's a lot, it's probably very bright, so pulsing lights aren't likely to be noticed. 

[andy]

10 minutes ago, jack said:

 

The net result is the same in terms of power output, but the impact can be different. 

 

The better quality diverters generate a proper sine wave output that's in-phase with the grid. That's how the Eddi works (same as the Immersun, of which it's an improved version).

 

Phase angle firing is a lot noisier and might cause interference with stuff like radios. People with crappy dimmers might have experienced this. 

 

Burst firing can cause perceptible flickering of lights, although I don't know what sort of lights are affected, and it probably depends on how much energy is being diverted. Presumably if it's a lot, it's probably very bright, so pulsing lights aren't likely to be noticed. 

Mulling either Eddi or Immersun on my 3 phase inverter install.  Will be getting a Powerwall later this year but I think there's still value on getting one of these.  Given I'm on net metering, do you happen to know if both Eddi or Immersun will understand this - I am pretty sure Eddi do?

[jack]

2 hours ago, andy said:

Mulling either Eddi or Immersun on my 3 phase inverter install.  Will be getting a Powerwall later this year but I think there's still value on getting one of these.  Given I'm on net metering, do you happen to know if both Eddi or Immersun will understand this - I am pretty sure Eddi do?

 

Not sure, sorry.

 

I had an Immersun. It blew up in less than two years.

 

A few months after I bought the unit, the Immersun business and brand were bought out by the company that makes one of the other immersion products (of course, they didn't take on the warranties).

 

I contacted them about repairing my broken unit and was pretty unimpressed by the quality of their support. They don't service anything they didn't sell, even if it's literally the same product off the same production line a week before they bought the company. They don't share schematics etc, so no-one else repairs them either.

 

They offered me a "good faith" discount on a replacement which was still more expensive than just buying it retail elsewhere. 

 

They also tried to make out that I had unreasonable expectations.

 

Based on that interaction, there's no way I'd buy an Immersun, as I don't trust that the support will be there if I need it. Might just have been my experience though - I'm sure you'll find lots of happy customers.

 

The Eddi is an enhanced version of the original Immersun (although I don't know whether the Immersun has been improved too over that time). According to someone who posted on a forum somewhere, I understand that the Eddi corrects a few of the design weaknesses of the Immersun. It also has a few other tricks up its sleeve if you want to integrate their Zappi charger, although I don't know how well the ecosystem plays with Powerwalls or net metering.

 

 

[joth]

1 hour ago, andy said:

Mulling either Eddi or Immersun on my 3 phase inverter install.  Will be getting a Powerwall later this year but I think there's still value on getting one of these.  Given I'm on net metering, do you happen to know if both Eddi or Immersun will understand this - I am pretty sure Eddi do?

 

I think you're right that Eddi supports net metering across sum of the 3 phases, but Immersun can only monitor a single phase import/export as it only supports one CT clamp

Page 30 https://myenergi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/eddi_manual_v2.3_english.pdf

Page 21 https://www.immersun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/immersun-installation-and-user-manual.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

[andy]

1 hour ago, joth said:

I think you're right that Eddi supports net metering across sum of the 3 phases, but Immersun can only monitor a single phase import/export as it only supports one CT clamp

Page 30 https://myenergi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/eddi_manual_v2.3_english.pdf

Page 21 https://www.immersun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/immersun-installation-and-user-manual.pdf

 

Yeah - Eddi it is then.

[ProDave]

5 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

How do you arrive at that conclusion, Dave?

My home made solar PV diverter works on burst firing in a half second window and it logs the time the immersion heater is on from which you calculate cumulative power going into the immersion heater.

 

For those interested, burst firing works, because electricity meters work on an "electricity bucket" principle.  Once a watt hour has passed through the meter it is registered.  But if a fraction of a watt hour is imported, then the same fraction of a watt hour is then exported, that can be repeated forever with nothing being registered.

 

I worked out with my immersion heater on, it would be consuming a watt hour in just under 1 second.  So I chose my burst firing time as 0.5 second.  So in each half second my immersion heater can be on from 0% to 100% of the time, according to how much surplus there is at the time.

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

My home made solar PV diverter works on burst firing in a half second window and it logs the time the immersion heater is on from which you calculate cumulative power going into the immersion heater....

 

There ya go folks.... us mere mortals make our way to Screwy's or a local Shed and buy stuff.  Dave scours the Scottish countryside for bits and makes his own inverter.

 

Still, look on the bright side, @MrsProdave is missing: some knitting needles, a large quantity of sewing pins, the face on the kitchen clock, the battery from her watch, the copper wire she uses for her jewelry making class, the  phone charger that used to be on her side of the bed and her best Tupperware waterproof box. 

 

One day, our Dave is going to get caught, just like they always catch the miscreant on Line of Doody. Eventually.