Ireland solar Iboost not working

[remigijus]

hi, i have the new solar Iboost, but there is a problem with it, when I turn it on it takes electricity, but it sais water off. I brought it to my neighbours and the same thing happens, blue light keeps beeping. what could be the problem with it ? Thanks

 

[marconi]

The display message 'water heating off' means that there is no excess of solar electricity to divert to the immersion heater. Excess solar energy is what is fed back or exported in to the mains supply and detected by the clamp around the cable between the meter and the consumer unit - this clamp needs to be fitted according to the orientation marked on the clamp.

If there is no excess this could be because there is insufficient sunlight and/or there are other things in your home (and that of your neighbour's) which are consuming the solar electricity which is generated leaving nothing left to be fed back/exported. In which case the clamp would detect 'nothing' and the iboost will not divert any solar electricty 'cos there isn't any.

On a sunny day, try turning off all the circuit breakers except the ones for the solar system and the immersion heater. Run off some hot water from the tank so that it cools down and its thermostat creates a demand to turn the immersion heater on. Now, with only the immersion available it can be the only thing solar electricity can be diverted to and you will see 'Heating by solar ???kWh'. Now turn on the other circuit breakers and observe what happens. I expect you will see the ???kWh reduce because other loads are using electricity - you could cause this by turning the lights or a kettle on for example. The more power required by other items in your home the less there is to divert to your hot water tank if it demands it.

In summary it may be a combination of low solar generation and other loads having first call on what is generated. Try reducing your so-called 'background load' which is made up of those items in your home left on or in standby or turning off lights which don't need to be on.

 

[TTtttt]

hi, i have the new solar Iboost, but there is a problem with it, when I turn it on it takes electricity, but it sais water off. I brought it to my neighbours and the same thing happens, blue light keeps beeping. what could be the problem with it ? Thanks

Same problems here in Co Mayo, Ireland. My iBoost has never worked properly. Have had two since getting my solar panels installed and The iBoost is incapable of heating my water from solar. Instead it heats it from my mains electric often in the middle of the night! Marlec is very unhelpful. My installer is unhelpful. I am fed up to the back teeth of iBoost. It is a really BAD piece of equipment and has destroyed two immersion heaters to heat the water already. No electrician will go near it as they cannot make head or tail of it. One electrical blew up my iBoost which is why I am on my second one which doesn't work either. I am at my wit's end with no idea what to do??

 

[pc1966]

Have had two since getting my solar panels installed and The iBoost is incapable of heating my water from solar. Instead it heats it from my mains electric often in the middle of the night!

Sounds like it is measuring power in the wrong direction!

There is a CT (current transformer) that measures your total power in/out and only if it is exporting power should it turn on the immersion supply so it is heated by solar. If the CT points the wrong way it would see night time as "exporting" due to power being imported for stuff!

Failed immersion heaters are nothing to do with that sort of device, they simply turn to power on/off depending on solar being exported.

 

[TTtttt]

Sounds like it is measuring power in the wrong direction!

There is a CT (current transformer) that measures your total power in/out and only if it is exporting power should it turn on the immersion supply so it is heated by solar. If the CT points the wrong way it would see night time as "exporting" due to power being imported for stuff!

Failed immersion heaters are nothing to do with that sort of device, they simply turn to power on/off depending on solar being exported.

Thank you. Forwarding to my son who is trying to work this out for me.

 

[pc1966]

Thank you. Forwarding to my son who is trying to work this out for me.

Let us know if you resolve things OK!

 

[TTtttt]

Let us know if you resolve things OK!

Thank you. He said he already reversed that but it was still misbehaving. However, we'll try again.

 

[pc1966]

Thank you. He said he already reversed that but it was still misbehaving. However, we'll try again.

It is on one conductor of the main supply cable/tails to the whole property (i.e. so it sees net import/export)?

A photo of the set-up might help!

See also:

Troubleshoot My Solar iBoost™

Scroll through and find all support and troubbleshooting topics to get your for the Solar iBoost working correctly.

www.marlec.co.uk

The ones I have used several years back were the Solarimmersion type with cabled CT instead of radio link.

 

[marconi]

There have been a number of posts on the solar iboost failing after a period of time. Reliability does not seem to be among the products strong points. There are other makes of solar power diverter products which do the same thing. I am no expert in the other makes but here are a few which have been reviewed:

Solar Immersion Controller Review - http://www.totnesenergy.co.uk/solar-immersion-controller-review/

 

[TTtttt]

There have been a number of posts on the solar iboost failing after a period of time. Reliability does not seem to be among the products strong points. There are other makes of solar power diverter products which do the same thing. I am no expert in the other makes but here are a few which have been reviewed:

Solar Immersion Controller Review - http://www.totnesenergy.co.uk/solar-immersion-controller-review/

Thank you for that. Yes, two Solar iBoost's down in three years (most of which both have failed to do their job), we're not going there again, so will have to find a different option. Thanks.

 

[Macsamillion]

Hi I have had a solar iboost for 2.5 years. Mine didn't work initially and it was due to faulty sender unit(connects to CT clamp). It sounds like the iboost unit is not getting a signal to start using excess solar. As already said check it is clamped on the correct cable. Then do a kettle test. Basically try boiling the kettle and see if it kicks in. Swap the CT direction and try again. This would identify if it's wrong way. You mentioned blue light and bleeping, is this all the time. Can you take a picture of this scenario?