Sublimox, inverter and battery.

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Is the chamber pressurised? That would explain why it powers through. Sublimox cap just pops when any reasonable pressure builds which is a pain!
Noticed this too the cap popping... solution is to make sure you use a generator with enough start up ooomph to power the unit and dry fresh OA.

:cry: our 5 seasons old Sublimox died yesterday.... had been running it with a converter and a leisure battery, and more recently using one of the 2 stroke 700W suitcase generators.
Searching through the net it seems that "low power" on startup can cause an extended start up time which reduces the life of the sensor and heating element.....
Green and yellow LEDs illuminate... unit bleeps and yellow LED goes off
Insert cap with OA turn over and sublimate away
Green and yellow LEDs illuminate..... yellow goes off ready for next cap

Fault status is the green LED flashing with a bleep.... or the unit not heating up at all.
However... Contacted manufacturer in Italy who will refurbrish and repair for approx 70 Euro plus return postage.
WHAT A PALAVA... bloomin Brexit means exporting unit, arranging paperwork for that... then reimporting plus paperwork for that... plus postage and fees!

Abello to the rescue... new Sublimox being delivers this PM
Plus a New 1800 4 stroke generator (IMPAX Screwfix) delivered this morning.

Not wishing to chuck the faulty Sublimox in the bin... I contacted an old friend who is in the Export Import business to see if he could send the Sublimox to Italy for me.......

Said that Main Post Office had given me the wrong information and I did not need to fill in a three page document or pay silly fees....SWMBO posted off at local sub post office for £13.00 using a simple customs declaration form( which apparently not all post offices have or have been made aware of!)

Just to add insult to injury the electric AGA went **** up yesterday.... and that is going to cost substantially more than replacing a dodgy Sublimox!

Chons da
 
Pretty sure its the one Chris Manton mentions in this thread.

https://vmvaporizer.com/


Despite the burly build and output it does clog: suggestion is to clean out the exit pipe with a hive tool, and a tube blockage with a rod provided - as basic as cleaning the bore of an old rifle with a ramrod.

Chris Knight was clear that this is a fogger and not a more effective sublimator, but with the vast output that may not matter; seems to me that limited loading is out of step with rapid delivery, and that's using plain OA and not ApiBioxal!

What was truly shocking was the complete lack of PPE worn by the company demonstrator in both videos; if he carries on like that, some way down the road he'll have lawsuits from aggrieved customers who discovered the story of Nat King Cole's wife.
 
Noticed this too the cap popping... solution is to make sure you use a generator with enough start up ooomph to power the unit and dry fresh OA.

:cry: our 5 seasons old Sublimox died yesterday.... had been running it with a converter and a leisure battery, and more recently using one of the 2 stroke 700W suitcase generators.
Searching through the net it seems that "low power" on startup can cause an extended start up time which reduces the life of the sensor and heating element.....
Green and yellow LEDs illuminate... unit bleeps and yellow LED goes off
Insert cap with OA turn over and sublimate away
Green and yellow LEDs illuminate..... yellow goes off ready for next cap

Fault status is the green LED flashing with a bleep.... or the unit not heating up at all.
However... Contacted manufacturer in Italy who will refurbrish and repair for approx 70 Euro plus return postage.
WHAT A PALAVA... bloomin Brexit means exporting unit, arranging paperwork for that... then reimporting plus paperwork for that... plus postage and fees!

Abello to the rescue... new Sublimox being delivers this PM
Plus a New 1800 4 stroke generator (IMPAX Screwfix) delivered this morning.

Not wishing to chuck the faulty Sublimox in the bin... I contacted an old friend who is in the Export Import business to see if he could send the Sublimox to Italy for me.......

Said that Main Post Office had given me the wrong information and I did not need to fill in a three page document or pay silly fees....SWMBO posted off at local sub post office for £13.00 using a simple customs declaration form( which apparently not all post offices have or have been made aware of!)

Just to add insult to injury the electric AGA went **** up yesterday.... and that is going to cost substantially more than replacing a dodgy Sublimox!

Chons da
Is your inverter on the battery and generator a pure sine wave?
 
Despite the burly build and output it does clog: suggestion is to clean out the exit pipe with a hive tool, and a tube blockage with a rod provided - as basic as cleaning the bore of an old rifle with a ramrod.

Chris Knight was clear that this is a fogger and not a more effective sublimator, but with the vast output that may not matter; seems to me that limited loading is out of step with rapid delivery, and that's using plain OA and not ApiBioxal!

What was truly shocking was the complete lack of PPE worn by the company demonstrator in both videos; if he carries on like that, some way down the road he'll have lawsuits from aggrieved customers who discovered the story of Nat King Cole's wife.

Pete seemed to think it was a sublimator and not a fogger.

Yeah. Lack of PPE is shocking
 
Unless there was no oxalic in the fog
I have demonstrated the sublimox inside with just water.
Yes, I did think of that, and though he averted his head occasionally in displeasure he didn't cough, but if he used water he should have said so, and even then used PPE. On balance, I reckon the container held oxalic and he stood upwind.
 
Is your inverter on the battery and generator a pure sine wave?
AC as supplied with unit ( inverter) with 12V leisure battery
My thoughts are that both battery pack and the generator we not supplying enough Amps!

Plus the unit had gone through a considerable number of on off on off cycles.
 
AC as supplied with unit ( inverter) with 12V leisure battery
My thoughts are that both battery pack and the generator we not supplying enough Amps!

Plus the unit had gone through a considerable number of on off on off cycles.
Modified sine and pure sine are very different with efficiency, I was advised to go down the pure sine route. I can run my set up for a few hours without much impact on the battery (85ah)
 
I made my ‘varrox equivalent’. I turned an aluminium pan with a thickish base. The whole lot had to be about 20mm deep (max 22mm) to enable easy insertion through the hive entrance). I drilled three holes in the base to accept the tips of 3 x 50W glow plugs from a diesel engine. Wired them up in parallel and used a heavy 12V battery or long leads from my car battery - either a 650W portable generator or Li ion battery these days.

If I made another, I would mill the pan, using a rather larger square base, thread the glowplugs into the base and use the base as the earth connection.🙂 Without so many colonies, time is not an issue, these days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BMH
Modified sine and pure sine are very different with efficiency, I was advised to go down the pure sine route. I can run my set up for a few hours without much impact on the battery (85ah)

Electronics often don’t like square wave input, so I expect that was the likely cause of failure.

Victron kit is good quality - not like a lot of the cheap chinese stuff - and that alone makes them more efficient. Probably the usual case of “buy cheap, buy twice”

I occasionally use a 2kW chinese inverter (not for vaping!). It is pure sine wave output, but consumes 40W at idle.
 
Sorry if I've missed this bit of information on the Varrox Eddy video, but is it possible to use on poly hives?
 
Thank you Field Bee, you can't say clearer than that! I was concerned the wand bit might get hot and melt the polystyrene and damage it.
Has anyone got one of these? I know they are expensive, but I'm not technical and this does seem an easy to use option.
 
Thank you Field Bee, you can't say clearer than that! I was concerned the wand bit might get hot and melt the polystyrene and damage it.
Has anyone got one of these? I know they are expensive, but I'm not technical and this does seem an easy to use option.

The Eddy has a plastic wand, so it can't get so hot as to melt poly, or it would melt itself first.

All the other wand models (e.g. Varrox) do certainly get hot enough to melt poly, because the metal wand is exposed

The problem with the Eddy is that the wand will only fit into a national hive entrance with the entrance reducer out. So it is fairly useless for nucs.

When sublimators have fixed both these problems I will invest in one.
 
In my opinion the Eddy is way too expensive for what it is. I only have a couple of poly hives as I prefer the aesthetics of wood, but I have no problem using my cheap version of the Varrox on them. You could always just make an eke to go on top or bottom of box
 

Latest posts

Back
Top