Iboost and buddy or can you go HA

[Gareth J]

Having messed about with a couple iboosts and wiring in less orthadox ways, unless the load is below, say, 2.5kW, I would wire using only 16A plus rated stuff. Especially the output side. I don't know if it's the flavour of electricity they put out or the constant extended heavy load that can run on a sunny day but they seem really hard on switches and connectors. 2.5mm cable isn't a bad idea either. Seems others have noticed similar.

Regarding smart boosting, if doing it yourself, you could buy a NO/NC contactor that's fired by a smart plug. When it's in one orientation the iboost does it's job, when it's in the other, it's boosting. I had to fit a similar affair when trying to get an overnight boost on a 48hr repeating schedule. Only need redirect the lives. Neutrals shared. But if you're paying an electrician and you can buy a widget for £100, that may well be as cheap.

[Snuggy]

Thank you everyone.
I have taken all this on board and gone back to the pv company. They confirm the aforementioned 16amps requirement, so although we have run storage heaters from smart plugs, they were under 2kw.

Contractor recommends going with Eddy ( not iboost they claim it could invalidate the warranty) and fit a Buddy for control, and have increased the price accordingly. They install tomorrow so not inclined to argue the point any further, just "pay up and look big" as my Dad used to say when he suspected there might have been a more cost effective way of doing something, but couldnt fathom what it was!
Re the cost of heating hot water by mistake, i do take your point, but I am on an 8p feed in,for the winter at least, and the latest Gary does Solar video on feed ins,makes some interesting points. He suggests if we follow the USA in overproduction on good renewable days feed ins may disappear

[Countrypaul]

Thank you everyone.
I have taken all this on board and gone back to the pv company. They confirm the aforementioned 16amps requirement, so although we have run storage heaters from smart plugs, they were under 2kw.

Contractor recommends going with Eddy ( not iboost they claim it could invalidate the warranty) and fit a Buddy for control, and have increased the price accordingly. They install tomorrow so not inclined to argue the point any further, just "pay up and look big" as my Dad used to say when he suspected there might have been a more cost effective way of doing something, but couldnt fathom what it was!
Re the cost of heating hot water by mistake, i do take your point, but I am on an 8p feed in,for the winter at least, and the latest Gary does Solar video on feed ins,makes some interesting points. He suggests if we follow the USA in overproduction on good renewable days feed ins may disappear

The Buddy is for monitoring and controllng an iBoost as I understand it. The Myenergi Eddi includes monitoring and control via an App if linked to the Internet. Not sure why you would want a Buddy if you are going with an Eddi

[Snuggy]

Thanks Countrypaul. I will inquire,
I may have misunderstood what the chap was saying, or there may be some chinese whisper as it was the office staff i talked to not the planning team...although at the time I did ask why change from the iboost to buddy as i thought that the iboost and eddy was the pairing I originally needed when I started this thread, but then left them to it.

[Snuggy]

Ok, so now all installed.

The Eddi does not go with Buddy that I was told initially (that is the iBoost companion) but a Harvi. I believe you may be right that it can stand alone but as far as I can gather the reason for them putting the Harvi in, is installation aggravation is reduced. I may be wrong. My system is now Eddi and Harvi.

[Countrypaul]

Ok, so now all installed.

The Eddi does not go with Buddy that I was told initially (that is the iBoost companion) but a Harvi. I believe you may be right that it can stand alone but as far as I can gather the reason for them putting the Harvi in, is installation aggravation is reduced. I may be wrong. My system is now Eddi and Harvi.

If the Eddi is along way from where the CTs have to be then a Harvi may well be easiest as running a Cat5/6 cable from one to the other is not always easy. In my case the two are well apart and as well as a floor and 2 walls there are 2 layers of aluminium face PUR between and a further wall from the hub so putting a cable in was no brainer given that we were putting cables everywhere during renovation.