Solar iboost

[Oliver90owner]

Just to finish off this thread - ‘cos I said I would enquire the difference between the black and white boxed articles.

Apparently someone bought up about 500, or more, of the black ones several years ago (8?) and for some reason or other they were not all fitted. They are now being offered at the cheap rate (no manufacturer’s warranty, of course) on epay, while the white ones are the latest up to date version (they have changed circuit board and supplier more than once over the years). Earthwise have complained, but cannot prevent the sale of these old units.

One of mine blew a circuit board fuse (the pair do seem to fight against each other at times). It was fitted with a 100mA fuse and that was changed years ago for a 500mA fuse.

My original one (on my immersion) is still happily operating with a 100mA fuse (as far as I know - both were purchased at the same time). An interesting point arises because the circuit board runs at 5 Volts but my new smart meter appears to be recording 4 Watts with only that circuit energised! I am now going to investigate that 4 Watts because the smart meter may be trying to charge as much as nine quid a year for leccy (at current rates) not used. I intend fitting a high wattage high resistance across the mains to check the smart meter at low wattage power delivery. My ‘pet warmer’ (nominal 10W) which I use for warming fermentation buckets will do as a starting point, I think. Off to the smets 2 specs if it is over-charging.

Mine were never warranted, as I installed them myself. I consider myself a competent, if not ‘qualified’ electrician for the job - it is after all only a matter of fitting the flex, from the original switched outlet, to the unit and from the unit to the immersion. Not exactly rocket science for someone who has, in the past, taught schoolchildren how to safely wire a mains plug!

[Stan]

I must be going potty. Anyway, I realise now that when my Solic 200 arrived, I continued the saga on a second thread called ‘Second system extension extension’ on 13/10/21 and did it quite seamlessly. So there is the destination for anyone who is remotely interested in seeing how everything turned out or just to see a photo of the inside.
As with Oliver90owner, mine will have no warranty as the card has to be returned with an electrician’s signature.

[Tinbum]

An interesting point arises because the circuit board runs at 5 Volts but my new smart meter appears to be recording 4 Watts with only that circuit energised! I am now going to investigate that 4 Watts because the smart meter may be trying to charge as much as nine quid a year for leccy (at current rates) not used. I intend fitting a high wattage high resistance across the mains to check the smart meter at low wattage power delivery. My ‘pet warmer’ (nominal 10W) which I use for warming fermentation buckets will do as a starting point, I think. Off to the smets 2 specs if it is over-charging.

My smart meter increases by about 0.001 kWh every hour and a half with its output isolated.

[Oliver90owner]

One thing we can guarantee - there are none which reduce when not connected to any load!

Everything seems to be biased towards the energy supplier - and against the customer. I shall def get round to checking.

My gas meter reading does not gain while not using any gas. At the present time my standing charge vastly exceeds the cost of gas used (and has done all summer) - but that will doubtless change when my wife returns next week.