Discuss Solar iBoost died in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Ajax123

-
DIY
Reaction score
9
Hi all

I have a solar iboost unit on my hot water system. It's about 3 years old. It's been working fine up to now but appears to have died. The display is completely blank, no lights, no messages, nada... and we have no hot water. Must have happened today or maybe yesterday cos my boy was the last to use the shower yesterday morning and it was hot then....

The mains into the unit is fine running from a fused spur with power getting to the unit (well ... to the end if the feed cable anyway ). The immersion heater may have failed (yet to check) but I doubt this would cause the unit itself to fail would it.

Do these units have some sort of internal battery that might gave failed or is it deceased? Have looked at various troubleshooters and found no help at all...
 
No idea, you asked if it had an internal battery and one of the units does, I would be tempted to switch off the supply, not forgetting you can't switch off solar panels and take the control unit cover off to see if there is an internal fuse.
 
No idea, you asked if it had an internal battery and one of the units does, I would be tempted to switch off the supply, not forgetting you can't switch off solar panels and take the control unit cover off to see if there is an internal fuse.
Looks like i might have to. I know there's no fuse but maybe an internal keep je alive type battery...

I tried new batteries in the sender... no joy
 
Seems pretty stupid having a replaceable part permanently soldered in place, obviously built in obsolescence. ?. If you can determine the value, can you replace it, but obviously see if you can find out why it blew in the first place.
 
Seems pretty stupid having a replaceable part permanently soldered in place, obviously built in obsolescence. ?. If you can determine the value, can you replace it, but obviously see if you can find out why it blew in the first place.
Its a 16A ceramic fuse. I'm guessing as its 16A means it cant be classed as replaceable.

I have a plan...
 
Seems pretty stupid having a replaceable part permanently soldered in place, obviously built in obsolescence. ?. If you can determine the value, can you replace it, but obviously see if you can find out why it blew in the first place.
I think it blew because the immersion heater blew up... the neutral cable had come loose I think and arced. It was probably quite pretty... What I'm more annoyed with is the 13A replaceable fuse in the spur still works fine... I'll be speaking with Marlec next week. As you say need to double check reason it blew before recommissioning it. Maybe it looks like it says 16A but isn't really.... maybe 1.6A??
 
It could be that Marlec designed in a 16A fast-blow fuse to protect their solid-state device (thyristor?) that controls the power into the immersion heater. That would account for why your 13A fuse didn't blow.
It's also possible that, despite the 16A fuse going, the fault took out other things!
 
It could be that Marlec designed in a 16A fast-blow fuse to protect their solid-state device (thyristor?) that controls the power into the immersion heater. That would account for why your 13A fuse didn't blow.
It's also possible that, despite the 16A fuse going, the fault took out other things!
Indeed. I shall see soon I guess...
 
It lives. Removed the 16A internal fuse and replaced with. Unit struck up and apart from having to reset the tine works perfectly.

Nice one!
 
Evening, I've just had this, what appears to be the exact same issue with my Solar iBoost. Fitted new in Sep 2017 and has been fine up until last week. I noticed the immersion heater had not been on and the iBoost screen was blank.

I've checked the live feed to the iBoost with one of those mains voltage tester pens and it's live alright. I've also removed the iBoost and ran the cable to the immersion heater and that's dead as well - so suspect when the immersion heater failed it's also damaged the iBoost.

The immersion heater is being replaced tomorrow. I've removed the front of the iBoost but can anyone tell me where this 16A internal fuse is located exactly? I'm not an electrician and certainly won't be trying to repair it myself ... but maybe I can find someone that can. If it's the same issue that is.

Thanks in advance.
 
I have the exact same issue with my Solar iBoost+ (installed Aug 2018 with PV system). I have safely removed the iBoost from the mains and immersion heater. My question is, what tool do I need to buy to remove the screws holding on the front? I can then assess if the internal fuse has blown. Many thanks.
 

Reply to Solar iBoost died in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock