Givenergy battery with Solic 200 solar immersion controller

I've got both of these with 4kW PV. I'm pretty certain that the Solic 200 (excess PV immersion heater) sends power to the hot water while the battery is not fully charged. I think it also charges the hot water at various times while the PV isn't generating much/anything. I have spoken with Solic and they say that contrary to what I had thought, it is sensing 50 times per second so isn't a slow lumbering device that will always grab power after the battery.

I am sure that when I have the Solic turned off that the charge level of the battery is much higher. Traces showing the hot water tank temp also show a steep incline from time to time when there is no PV and the (biomass) boiler is off - and I believe that the battery is being drained to do it.

Does this sound right? I'm not sure what I can do about it if that is the case - hopefully someone else has seen the same?

Thanks

Patrick

Epatrickt i have (or had) one of these. Thought it was great, but it didnt last a year so the problem will ultimately resolve itself...

(On a less tongue in cheek response, it only occassonally did this but i automated the problem away with a smart switch linked to the API so it only ran when there was truly a surplus)

Is there a way to adjust the threshold above which solic will start diverting to your immersion? I'm a newbie here, just had to adjust this for my iBoost+ from 100w to 400w, as brief exports due to changing powerload was being diverted to immersion heater and this was ending up as positive feedback loop.

ispookie666 no theres no adjustment. In fact the Solic actually prides itself on being able to self adjust down to almost zero export (until it breaks)

ispookie666 I believe that the issue is not about power threshold but instead that the Solic kicks in faster than the battery controller does: we want the Solic to take all excess energy but last in the chain so that everything else that wants some can have it first. The Solic is a pretty simple albeit effective device. I wonder if, rather than relying on one device being a bit slow compared to another that we should move to the Harvi and at the same time swap our dumb EV charger for an izappi - although the cost of doing this is going to take a very long time to recoup in extra hot water I think!

Epatrickt If you have the inclination, automating your hardware with Home Assistant, Node-RED or some other software could solve the problem, as @hoggy suggests. I would like to say that it would be cheaper than a Harvi and Zappi but (from my own experience) you could end up spending quite a lot on gadgets and sensors if you get drawn into the tech.
WRT the Solic, it sounds like they've missed a trick by not enabling either a minimum export, or a time delay, or both as there are a growing number of opportunities to divert surplus solar in the house and the householder would want to be able prioritise their own pecking order.

I realise this is an old thread, but I wondered if anyone has tried the newly released Solic200?
It now claims to work with every battery system and I amadvised that it
"1. Delays diversion activation for 10 seconds on seeing an export.

2. Increases the power being offered to the immersion element 8 times more slowly than before, 0-3kwh takes about 10 seconds now.
3. Constantly jumps to a 3% export every time it hits zero export/import, then corrects back to zero, jumping again.

The three things mean, Batteries get power first and if it inadvertently gets powered by a battery, it will rapidly turn off."
Worth another try?
Thanks
PBGQH

PBQH Sounds plausible. It obviously depends on your circumstances, but I think the perceived wisdom at the moment is that solar diversion is not cost-effective, and you're typically better off just importing overnight on a cheap tariff, then exporting by day.

But obviously if have a FIT arrangement with deemed export, you do want to self-consume. (But possibly still worth checking whether you're better off on measured export ?)

I did contact them to ask if they could re-flash the unit with the updated firmware, but never received a repll. I don't really want to buy a replacement just to fix the issue...

Thanks DD. Yes I am on FIT, and I do in fact charge my 2 x 5.2 batteries overnight anyway, and I charge my PHEV on solar where appropriate, so it's just a case of mopping up the excess, as I can't increase my battery storage due to space constraints. Thanks anyway. PB

hoggy
Hi, have you a simple schematic/ method of how I could do this or get an electrician to?

PBQH Depends on your own circumstances, when you got FIT and your generation size, but do run the numbers of whether its worth giving up the FIT export payments in place of getting paid for measured export as @DD says.

In my own case I gave up about £100 a year of deemed export and received £1170 in measured export in the year

Thanks Geoffrey, I get about £700+ in FIT payments, so I doubt it would be profitable for me, as I use most of my excess solar anyway except in mid-summer. I did try the new Solic, and it does work, but not perfectly. I only use it by manually switching on the immersion to let the Solic engage, because if the battery is not 100% full, it draws from the battery, though it does work when the battery is full, so not useless, but not as good as I'd hoped.