Benpointer Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 The Earthwise Solic 200 looks like a good piece of kit for half the price of its competitors but doesn't seem to include a timer to force the immersion heater on if the tank has not been heated up during the day by diverted PV. Currently, we have to use an immersion heater to heat our hot water in the winter because our old ASHP controller has always locked out when trying to heat HW. (Although we do have solar HW too which works well in the summer.) So ideally, I'd like the immersion heater to use diverted excess PV during the day and then come on for a couple of hours during the early evening (from the grid) to heat the HW if it is not up to temperature. Anyone know a way I could combine a time and the Solic 200? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 7 hours ago, Benpointer said: So ideally, ……… you’d like to fix the ASHP ctrl so you can heat DHW via the heat pump? One of these if not; LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benpointer Posted October 17, 2022 Author Share Posted October 17, 2022 3 hours ago, Nickfromwales said: ……… you’d like to fix the ASHP ctrl so you can heat DHW via the heat pump? One of these if not; LINK Many thanks for the reply. Yes, it would be nice to fix the ASHP issue but... it's an early Ecodan 85 with an FTC2 controller, bought and installed very cheaply 12years ago, without a warranty. Several (Mitsubishi companies) people have been to look at it but none could solve the problem. The latest, this year, said our best option is to live with it until the ASHP fails when it will probably be cheaper to put a completely new unit in rather than trying to fix it. Regarding a timer. We have used the LAP timer (not the most reliable tbh, failed after a couple of years). We do have a very good digital timer on the immersion heater now but the question is: how can we run a timer and the PV diverter in parallel, so that the PV diverter heats the HW during the day when we have excess PV and the timer comes in in the evening if there has not been been enough PV to take the HW up to the IH cut-off temperature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 You just take the live in ( feed from the fuse board that goes to the diversion controller ) and connect that in parallel to the power in of the immersion timer. Then take the power out from the timer and link it to the live feed from the diverter where it feeds the immersion. Simply acts as a bridge across L in and L out, picking neutral and earth up from the same point of origin as the diverter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 2 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: You just take the live in ( feed from the fuse board that goes to the diversion controller ) and connect that in parallel to the power in of the immersion timer. I think the Solic 200 uses simple burst firing control which makes this possible. Looking at the PCB and case there are no fancy inductor filters like the Eddi uses to provide its PWM varisine voltage control. If it was an Eddi, this modification would go bang. In the case of the Solic 200 being burst control, a parallel connection from a timer supply might be OK, but you should first confirm that the Triac is switching the Live side, not Neutral. It would be best if you contacted Solic and presented the question to them. Inside the Solic 200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Yup. Also the Eddi has a manual override so wouldn’t need any fettling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Solic 200 does includes a 90 min immersion override button - called boost 90 mins. Push button to start immersion. So not sure why you haven't seen it. 11 hours ago, Benpointer said: doesn't seem to include a timer to force the immersion heater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 50 minutes ago, JohnMo said: Push button to start immersion. Not automated though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 True Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Use the immersion timer to energise a changeover relay/contactor. Common connected to the immersion stat, NC connected to the Solis and NO connected to L. Solis is normally connected to the immersion and when the timer is active the changeover relay/contactor disconnects the Solis and puts a live feed on the immersion stat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 1 hour ago, Dillsue said: Use the immersion timer to energise a changeover relay/contactor. Common connected to the immersion stat, NC connected to the Solis and NO connected to L. Solis is normally connected to the immersion and when the timer is active the changeover relay/contactor disconnects the Solis and puts a live feed on the immersion stat. This would work although I'd say the electrical knowledge needed to accomplish it would be similar to that needed to investigate whether a simple parallel switch connection was a safe option or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benpointer Posted October 17, 2022 Author Share Posted October 17, 2022 (edited) Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have contacted Earthwise to see what they suggest. Don't know why I didn't think of that before. As has been suggested the Boost function would be fine if you could have it happen at say 19:00 every day. (Maybe I should build a little bot to press the button each evening 😁) The changeover relay/contactor solution sounds like it ought to work but I would need to get my head around it to be totally confident. It will be interesting to see if Earthwise recommend that. Thanks once again for all the ideas! Edited October 17, 2022 by Benpointer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1 Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 On 17/10/2022 at 14:32, Benpointer said: As has been suggested the Boost function would be fine if you could have it happen at say 19:00 every day. (Maybe I should build a little bot to press the button each evening 😁) If you were being serious, a simple solution would be to use a Switchbot on timer function for this. Or via your phone from the comfort of your sofa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 Do you have two immersions, have PV connected to say the bottom and a mains one operated by timer/thermostat at the top. Or could you add a Willis heater, to do the job they were designed for, connected to either PV or the mains. Then you could operate the two immersion system independently of each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 On 17/10/2022 at 14:32, Benpointer said: As has been suggested the Boost function would be fine if you could have it happen at say 19:00 every day. (Maybe I should build a little bot to press the button each evening 😁 Its difficult to see for sure from the picture of the inside but it looks like the boost button is just a PCB mounted pushbutton?? If you can solder you could connect a couple of wires either side of the button, run them to the outside of the enclosure and connect them up to a timer with a volt free contact. Check the voltage on the switch so you know the wiring standards required! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Dillsue said: Its difficult to see for sure from the picture of the inside but it looks like the boost button is just a PCB mounted pushbutton?? If you can solder you could connect a couple of wires either side of the button, run them to the outside of the enclosure and connect them up to a timer with a volt free contact. Check the voltage on the switch so you know the wiring standards required! Notice there's no transformer, just some caps and diodes. Looks to me like a capacitive dropper supply so everything is effectively live. Go careful. Edit: added link to openenergymonitor.org where I got the PCB photo Edited October 19, 2022 by Radian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillsue Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Picture quality isnt so good on the photos linked to, but is there a transformer at the top of the PCB above the fuse?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Picture is good if you click on it and open it... That's a capacitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Old school: Installed after solic and before immersion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 1 hour ago, dpmiller said: Picture is good if you click on it and open it... That's a capacitor. Yes. I can't see any magnetics at all. The label inside says it all - DANGER! ALL PARTS ARE AT MAINS POTENTIAL! - which is absolutely true... Including, I suppose, the CT which is on a thin lead terminated with a 2.5mm jack plug. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobLe Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 How about a switchbot? Battery operated, app and timer controlled: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benpointer Posted November 1, 2022 Author Share Posted November 1, 2022 (edited) Just thought I'd mention that Earthwise got back to my question about whether there was any way they could recommend to combine a Solic 200 and a timer, with the following fulsome reply: "Hi, The SOLiC is designed to mounted on its own dedicated circuit so fitting a timer is difficult. Thanks Iain CM McRitchie, FCCA Director" So that'll be a 'no' then. Edited November 1, 2022 by Benpointer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardL Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 (edited) I have my SOLIC setup to only try and turn on the immersion from midday until 6pm, to give the batteries a chance to get some solar. My boiler then runs on the hot water thermostat demand from 5pm-6pm Its more the oposite of your original request - i.e. if there is solar the solic will heat the water in the afternoon and the boiler makes sure there is always hot water in that last hour. If the solic already heated it then the boiler doesn't kick in. (HW thermostat is set a touch lower than the immersion thermostat) As soon as the solic sees power going to the grid it tries to divert to the immersion AND incrementally increase that diversion to test how much it can take. So interestingly, if a big appliance is turned off there will be some grid export (due to inverter timing) - and that can be enough for the solic to wake up and take its chance to drain the batteries. You need an electronic timer so it remembers the time and settings even when it gets no power - this is wired after the solic and before the immersion. Thus: Consumer unit immersion breaker->solic->timer->immersion heater This one works for me - 5 months so far - it will be interesting over the winter when the solic hardly ever kicks in so the timer hardly ever gets power either. https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-digital-immersion-timer/1804r Apologies - I did not read the entire thread - if this is already covered above. Edited November 1, 2022 by RichardL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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