Runnig the controler for a few weeks has shown it to be a great addition. With a few tweaks it will be realy usefull.

Currently the heater remains off untill the sun hits the pannles and produces more than the rest of the house is consuming which is typically around 300W.

The heater will run at the highest possible power and happily heat the water untill either we turn the jug or coffee machine on reducing the available power - the hotwater shuts down untill the jug has boiled and then turns back on again.

I still dont have a manual override implemented :( I was planning to set the esp8266 as a server and just connect via wifi and implement a soft switch to turn the unit on or off BUT. Ive come up with a few more connected deivces to implement - fish pond pump and fish feeder - the usual garage door - Can i control it via my pebble ??

A temperature monioring system for the solar hotwater the more i think about it the more I come up with. I have also been thinking of haveing heater controler connect to the internet and get the days forcast and automatically over ride the power control if the day is going to be cloudy.

With al the new ideas haveing everything indivdual will soon become a big mess so the next step im thinking will be to implement a MQTT server and have it control the devices. This than will give me just one point of control. rather than a splattering of different systems.

It has taken me a while to come around to the IOT as a viable concept but Im starting to see practicale uses for the concept.