Home charging solution

Sabre Man

Is the ESB still giving away home chargers when you buy a new EV?

Are they decent, or I am better off buying a charger instead?

I'd like an untethered charger so it can be used by different EVs. I'd also like to be able to lock the cable to the charger when charging, if possible.

Any other tips and recommendations?

goz83

Yes, they are still doing them until end of the year I think.

They will supply untethered 16A unit, which you can flash to 32A. Supply your own 6sq, or 10sq SWA cable, or else they will install 4sq, which will not give you the best charge potential.

Sabre Man

How do I flash?

What are the differences between the cables, and where do I get them?

goz83

Sabre Man wrote: »

How do I flash?

What are the differences between the cables, and where do I get them?

A couple of the posters on here will have the info for flashing to 32A.

The cables can be got in any electrical supplies place. You need SWA (armoured) if the wiring is to be outside.

unkel

And the charger they provide is an ABL (made in Germany). By all accounts a good quality charger. I made mine kinda tethered by having a 15m long cable permanently connected to it.

And yes, the program of free chargers was running out but it has recently been extended

I provided the 6mm cable and they used it. The install was completely free

Sabre Man

How long does it take to get the ESB charger after buying a new car?

Can anyone recommend any chargers besides the one supplied by ESB?

Calahonda52

Have you bother to look around the forum.
the hip is ordered by the dealer and can take 6 weeks

cros13 wrote: »

There are a few better than Rolec in different categories.

Rolec makes good basic chargepoints, but for more features / premium materials / multi-EV charging you need to look elsewhere:

FILLIE - very well built, very stylish, upgradable to three phase, cloud management

Tesla Wall Connector - upgradable to three phase, up to single phase 48A, load sharing, stylish

ICU Eve Mini - upgradable to three phase, RFID authentication, LCD charging status screen

ChargePoint Home - Tethered J1772 chargepoints, very stylish, smart home integration, cloud management, have to import from the US but they work fine here.

Charge AMPS Halo - Stylish, odd socket location, cloud management, load sharing

Zaptec Zapcharger - load sharing, cloud management, upgradable to three phase, RFID

With the exception of the Tesla Wall Connector and ChargePoint Home all are substantially more expensive than the Rolec.

Sabre Man

How do I know if my home supports 1- or 3-phase?

fitz213

I need a 32A home charge point, but dont want to DIY.

ESB charge nearly €1k.

I saw these guys: http://carcharger.ie/product/945/

Any better recommendations?

liamog

Rolec chargers are pretty common for private installs.

Some people have saved money by buying the charger privately and asking an independent electrical contractor to install.

n97 mini

Sabre Man wrote: »

How do I know if my home supports 1- or 3-phase?

It'll say it on your bill. 99.9% of homes in Ireland are not 3-phase.

Soarer

fitz213 wrote: »

I need a 32A home charge point, but dont want to DIY.

ESB charge nearly €1k.

I saw these guys: http://carcharger.ie/product/945/

Any better recommendations?

I wholeheartedly DO NOT recommend these guys. Royally fukked me over when I was getting my charge point.

Then again, I'm sure others have had a good experience with them.

NIMAN

fitz213 wrote: »

I need a 32A home charge point, but dont want to DIY.

ESB charge nearly €1k.

I saw these guys: http://carcharger.ie/product/945/

Any better recommendations?

Look for secondhand online?

I got one delivered from the UK for £180 (won it on eBay), and fitted for €100.

Keep watching eBay, Gumtree and maybe here
https://speakev.com/forums/EV-Classifieds/

unkel

NIMAN wrote: »

and fitted for €100.

That's cheap, including the materials? The 40A RCBO alone set me back €35 incl shipping (from the cheapest place in Ireland). A few meters of 6mm2 cable was €15 shipped (install is on the same hall wall as my consumer unit, so couldn't really get any cheaper)

NIMAN

unkel wrote: »

That's cheap, including the materials? The 40A RCBO alone set me back €35 incl shipping (from the cheapest place in Ireland). A few meters of 6mm2 cable was €15 shipped (install is on the same hall wall as my consumer unit, so couldn't really get any cheaper)

To be fair, I know the guy so probably got mates rates.

VictorRomeo

So I had my new ABL charger installed last Friday and it all went down very smoothly. My house is 18 years old and there were no issues with wiring. Job very tidy. The ABL is definitely a high quality device and the installer said they have had zero issues with them. I'm in a PHEV so 16A is perfect for me - no need for me to flash to 32A. It was supplied untethered. I asked about getting one that's tethered, and he said he could get me one but would cost a couple of hundred extra - he did advise against it mind you. The ABL locks the cable when charging too which is nice.

He mentioned that they won't be giving a free charger in 2018 but will move to a similar model to the UK - a grant to buy your own one. No detail on that yet from his perspective though.

goz83

VictorRomeo wrote: »

He mentioned that they won't be giving a free charger in 2018 but will move to a similar model to the UK - a grant to buy your own one. No detail on that yet from his perspective though.

Maybe he didn't see the budget so

DrPhilG

unkel wrote: »

That's cheap, including the materials?

NIMAN wrote: »

To be fair, I know the guy so probably got mates rates.

Mine was free to install! I did buy the material but he installed it for free, partly because he was curious I reckon.

NIMAN

Mine was his 1st install too.

reboot

liamog wrote: »

Rolec chargers are pretty common for private installs.

Some people have saved money by buying the charger privately and asking an independent electrical contractor to install.

I've made mine portable.

BoatMad

VictorRomeo wrote: »

So I had my new ABL charger installed last Friday and it all went down very smoothly. My house is 18 years old and there were no issues with wiring. Job very tidy. The ABL is definitely a high quality device and the installer said they have had zero issues with them. I'm in a PHEV so 16A is perfect for me - no need for me to flash to 32A. It was supplied untethered. I asked about getting one that's tethered, and he said he could get me one but would cost a couple of hundred extra - he did advise against it mind you. The ABL locks the cable when charging too which is nice.

He mentioned that they won't be giving a free charger in 2018 but will move to a similar model to the UK - a grant to buy your own one. No detail on that yet from his perspective though.

Mine is thethered , it's great , very easy to use. SWMBO much prefers it.