The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Solution With Simple Installation - No Plumbing Mods Required
You are already paying to heat water in your home, this innovative product, the Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller will save money on your power bill by supplementing your hot water heater power usage with free solar power. FREE ENERGY FROM THE SUN heats your water with a low cost, simple, easy to install system. No pumps, pipes, re-plumbing or freezing to worry about, just two simple wires! No need to drain the tank. Wires are a lot easier to run than doing plumbing. Only minor modifications are needed for most standard water heaters, simple wiring modifications. NO HEATING ELEMENT CHANGES NEEDED. The wiring modifications are easily reversible.  See it in operation! YouTube video below!
Your hot water tank becomes a "solar storage battery", storing energy as heat, reducing your power bill without expensive deep cycle batteries, charge controllers or inverters. Solar panel watts = watts off your bill. Maintenance free, no messy batteries to change out every 5 years, no battery charging power losses, no inverter conversion losses.Direct connect MPPT solar power is by far, the most efficient method of using PV panels to heat water. The maximum power/BTUh from each solar watt-hour is efficiently, directly saved as BTUh energy in your hot water tank, reducing your power bill. The solar energy gets stored in your hot water tank and adds up all day long, 470W all of hour 1 + 470W all of hour 2, etc.. So the upper grid connected heating element comes on less. 470W X 9 hours sun = 4,230 Wh or over 4 KWh a day off your bill, not bad, that's about 127 KWh a month! Time your use and conserve and you are in pretty good shape for what you spent on this low cost system. (your daily solar output may vary of course) You can have hot water when grid power is out. (limited to solar wattage of course) 
Solar Panels are now available on a regular basis for close to $1 a Watt or less shipped to your door, making this the low cost choice for solar water heating! (solar panels not included)The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller allows you to use a standard domestic Hot Water Heater with standard "24V" Solar Panels starting with a "48V" configuration ( 2 x "24V" ). You do not have to change the heating element! Works equally well with "12V" panels. Many different configurations of "12V" panels are possible, starting at "48V" minimum. Solar tax credits and power company rebates may be available! [ Check your State Here ] 
You don't have to change the existing heating element, make any plumbing modifications, or drain the tank. No 2nd tank. No Pumps. No chance of leaks from this mod. Piped systems cost thousands of dollars. Only two wires (+/-) coming from the Solar Panels and two going to the water heater are needed. 
Save money on your power bill without messy batteries, expensive charge controllers or inverters. You can pay for all that and still have the hassles of the battery running down, running extension cords all over the house, tying into your electrical box circuits, switch over relays, UPSs and more. With an inverter you have to balance a your AC loads with your batteries and daily solar panel output wattage, and what about cloudy days? It's not fun adjusting your system all the time to changing conditions. With the Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller, if you put 470W of heat energy into your tank, you save about 470W of grid power with less hassle than a battery system. The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller has a CPU specially programmed for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and continually adjusts during the day to get the most power from the Solar Panels. MPPT is especially needed in the mornings and afternoons to keep the most power pumping into the heating element at all times. You can try hooking up your solar panels direct, but without MPPT you will get little heat for your investment and have other problems. (See the FAQ) The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller uses little power, has low insertion loss and no bulky wasteful transformer. It's 97% efficient! (pass through) Many different configurations are possible, such as solar plus grid power "hybrid" or off grid (with conservation). Nice thing about PV Electric is you could re-configure the panel wiring in an emergency as a power back-up if needed. (see the Story below) You are always fighting daily tank heat loss. As an example, a small low wattage solar panel system of only 250W can keep a 40 gallon domestic Hot Water Heater up to temperature without any daily grid power needed (little or no use). Typical daily power requirements of a 40 gallon tank are almost 2 KWh just to keep it at temperature with no use. If you start using hot water it goes up from there! It all adds up at the end of the month. Around 470W is a good economical tradeoff between grid power and solar costs, if you go too high in watts the thermostat may click off more and then you are wasting your investment in solar panels. 
Fits in this recommended low cost $7 UL Listed electrical disconnect box available at Lowes or Home Depot (not included). For $7 you get a disconnect switch, wire connection terminals and a nice enclosure with no extra shipping charges!Heating elements run at a lower wattage with less stress and will last longer. Higher voltage means lower cost wire and less power loss over long runs. Can be used on a small electric "pre-heat" tank for use with a gas water heater. "Smart" Meter Ready. The so called "Smart" Electric Power Meter is notorious for not reading "backwards", meaning if you pump power into the grid with a solar grid tie inverter they will still run forward. The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller sends solar power directly to the heating element which reduces the power you use from the grid for hot water. You now have solar electric energy without power company contracts or hassles. Solar panel daily watts = watts off your power bill. Less grid power usage, lower bill. 
You can buy a more expensive UL Listed electrical box on the web, your choice. The bigger the box, the bigger the heat sink if you plan to use more amps for some reason.No moving parts (such as a fan), it works quietly and efficiently day in and day out without maintenance hassles. Winter efficiency does not decrease like liquid based systems. No heavy collectors on the roof, just lightweight solar panels. Continues to work even during power outages. No copper piping changes, soldering or expensive pumps to wear out. 
The device comes as a partly assembled kit. The circuit is assembled and tested and comes mounted on it's heat sink as shown to the right. > > > You supply the box from Lowes or Home Depot, plywood, mount it & wire the unit. The box and plywood are not included in the kit. See it in operation in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkPtPXfhiYk [ Click here to see the Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller FAQ ] What else can you buy that will keep on giving you a return for 25 to 35 years+ after you recoup your initial investment? Any power reducing modification on a piece of real estate will increase the property value. One of the biggest energy users in your home, next to heating and cooling, is your hot water heater! You will now own something of substance and value instead of throwing money year after year into the power company black hole! Reduce your carbon footprint now! Reduce reliance on foreign oil! The "future" all electric house is now possible and efficient! 
The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller is made in America! Your purchase helps support local American electronic assemblers, parts suppliers and machinists.Customer Reviews And Installs: 
"Checked at noon water temp at tap was 128 so don't believe the upper element came on during the day." "Excellent product and extremely helpful input for installing."Mark, VA (480W of panels, 80ft #10 wire, added amp and volt meter) "Looks like a great invention!!" Ed, CT 
Another way to wire the lower element. Buy it with confidence on eBay! eBay Item Link: [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/300907765799  ]Retail Price: $199.95 HURRY! Limited time eBay special! Click the eBay link above to get discount pricing! Thank you for your business!! International orders outside the USA, please Contact Us. Dealer or Installer inquires are welcome. Specs: Abs Max Voltage: 250V DC Abs Max Current: 20A (larger box / mount to extra heat sink required for max amps) Insertion Efficiency: 97% (pass through) Switch: High tech, latest technology IGBT (mosfet) 80A at 1200V (over designed) IGBT Gate Drive: 15V, hard off/on for maximum efficiency and quick switching Microprocessor CPU Controlled MPPT with constant adjustment NEC Article 409 compliant when using the Eaton UL Listed, NEMA 3R enclosure Recommended solar panel "sticker" wattage, unit in box: Around 470W "48V" (2 x "24V") ("48V" panels will generally MPPT at 60V to 70V depending on the model) Eaton Disconnect Box: (Home Depot lists them retail for $7, purchased separately) 60 Amp Disconnect Model: DPU222RP UL Listed: 74X2 #E132354, #E143893, #E196365 CSA Listed: File 069743 (DH222R) ANSI certified NEMA Rating: 3R Enclosure Suitable for CSA Type 3R applications Meets 2008 NEC Article 422.31 (B) requirements for servicing electric water heaters Copper or Aluminum wire rated (AL or CU Wire) Canada Alternate Model: 3GAC222NF More info: [ Click here to see the Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller FAQ ] Meter readings, amps and volts [ YouTube video ]Contact us for special situations or custom designs. 
As an option, you could keep the upper grid powered element from coming on during the day using a simple electrical timer available at Home Depot or Lowes. This would help keep the upper element off and let the solar panels to do their thing in the daytime, saving even more on your power bill. Also helps if you have high Time Of Use tiered power pricing.
A little solar story: When I first started to want solar hot water I considered piping in a water type solar collector from outside. Then I watched videos and e-mailed a few people that did that and found a few problems. First, if you don't put in some sort of system to drain back the water you are going to have freeze problems and possible panel damage and leaks. Setting that up is not fun, you have problems with air in the system. It needs to be designed to totally drain or it will still have problems. And it still costs a lot and gets complicated. More stuff to worry about in the winter. The other option is to drain it every time the temp drops. Well, if you do that, there goes free winter hot water and what if you forget? I like simple and automatic stuff I don't have to mess with. And then there's the plumbing, all over the place, maybe a 2nd exchange / heat storage tank that will develop leaks later as any tank does. And a pump that wears out or gets clogged. It's a maintenance nightmare and still a costly install. So a system with solar electric PV is the only way to go. Wires are easy to run. At first I tried to connect my solar panels direct to the element. But the mismatch without MPPT in the morning and afternoon is brutal, the panels are nowhere near their Max Power Point and you get little total daily heat that way unless you have the extra space and want to throw lots of panels at the problem and just say "oh well". Another choice would be to change the element. Have you ever seen the nut size on those things? What if I screw up the threads? Will it leak later? Do I really want to mess with a perfectly working expensive tank? And without MPPT, you still have a mismatch in the morning and afternoon anyway, doesn't really get that much better for all the hassle. So I designed the Solar Hybrid Controller using MPPT and love it!! You will too! It's super simple to install with few components to go bad and just sits there quietly and works every day saving me money with no worries and little up front cost. The idea is -- how simple and hassle free can it be? And in the end does your upper element come on less for a total installed system cost of around $700? That beats most of the other systems out there. All DIY, easy install with no plumbing nightmare, no soldering, no leaks and no worry of freezing. Almost anyone can wire up 2 wires. Installing wires instead of pipes is much easier, and it gives me other options, like if the grid goes down during a bad emergency I can say heck with hot water and simply re-configure the panels for 24V by switching a couple of connections at the panels (or even inside depending on how I wire things) and have more power for my emergency back-up inverter and batteries. Simple is better. Other stuff: Your hot water heater is one of the biggest energy wasters in your house. Go solar! A solar hot water heater is a good way to go. Little panels on the roof and away you go! Savings because the power is free from the sun! You will be able to save a great deal by further investing in a timer for your water heater. Set the timer to turn the grid connected electric water heater element off during the day when solar is heating it. Then set it to come on again late at night so it can recover to a set point and be ready for the next solar day. Another way to save with your water heater is by draining it on a regular basis. Unless you have soft water, it is important to drain a couple of gallons of water from the bottom of your water heater at least two times a year. This is because hard water deposits can collect on the bottom of your water-heating unit, surround the heating element and reduce efficiency. Since the water from your water heater is used primarily for keeping yourself and your belongings clean, there is no need for you to use water that is heated to 150 degrees Fahrenheit or above. However, most elements on electric water heaters are pre-set to at least 150 degrees. Not only is this dangerous, but it is also a waste of energy and money. We recommend you reset your electric water heater upper element to 125 degrees F. (keep the lower solar element turned up and store energy) You may also want some batteries, a solar controller and solar panels for emergency power back up in case the grid goes out for things like lights, TVs and radios. You can also Grid Tie any excess energy that isn't going to charge batteries. It's fun and it's priceless to see your power meter actually turn backwards! The Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller is Patent Applied for. |
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