Home charge points (purchase/problems/questions) (See mod note post#1)

Rusky rusky

Gael23 wrote: »

Is the Zappi the only one that reduces the power to your charger during high loads on the house rather than shuts off completely?

Wallbox pulsar plus does it at as well.

Gael23

Rusky rusky wrote: »

Wallbox pulsar plus does it at as well.

It’s a €100 option on the Wallbox. Looks to be not much change out of a grand for one when you add on the load balancing and hook for cable which should not be €30 extra

the_amazing_raisin

Gael23 wrote: »

It’s a €100 option on the Wallbox. Looks to be not much change out of a grand for one when you add on the load balancing and hook for cable which should not be €30 extra

The hook is an extra??? What a scam :rolleyes:



A €2 hook from B&Q would do the job just as well

KCross

Gael23 wrote: »

Is the Zappi the only one that reduces the power to your charger during high loads on the house rather than shuts off completely?

- Zappi... does it by default including the Solar integration.
- EO Mini with optional ALM add-on
- Wallbox Pulsar plus
- Andersen I think does it... super expensive though
- Tesla Wall Connector does a variation of it across two of their charge points. Not quite as slick as the others though.

There are probably others.

KCross

mfceiling wrote: »

The missus is looking at a Porsche Cayenne and possibly a second full electric car for me.

mfceiling wrote: »

Hi...yeah she's looking at a porsche cayenne which appears to be able to run on electric only. Her commute (if it ever comes back to that) is around 20 miles round trip so it should almost cover that on electric only!!

You can also buy a 2 port charge point which will load share across them.

What is your house/driveway setup like?
e.g. Could a pedestal charge point be installed where you park the two cars and be ~5m from BOTH cars at the same time?

The idea then would be that you both come home and both plug in and the one charge point can simultaneously charge both overnight.

An example which shows a picture here
https://evonestop.co.uk/collections/floor-mounted-charging-points/products/quantum-1-2-way-16-32-amp-single-phase-type-2-socket?variant=9829952716847


Would a pedestal work for your driveway layout?

mfceiling

KCross wrote: »

You can also buy a 2 port charge point which will load share across them.

What is your house/driveway setup like?
e.g. Could a pedestal charge point be installed where you park the two cars and be ~5m from BOTH cars at the same time?

The idea then would be that you both come home and both plug in and the one charge point can simultaneously charge both overnight.

An example which shows a picture here
https://evonestop.co.uk/collections/floor-mounted-charging-points/products/quantum-1-2-way-16-32-amp-single-phase-type-2-socket?variant=9829952716847


Would a pedestal work for your driveway layout?

That would work fine. We can easily park 2 cars side by side!!

Gael23

KCross wrote: »

- Zappi... does it by default including the Solar integration.
- EO Mini with optional ALM add-on
- Wallbox Pulsar plus
- Andersen I think does it... super expensive though
- Tesla Wall Connector does a variation of it across two of their charge points. Not quite as slick as the others though.

There are probably others.

What do you think of the wallbox pulsar plus?

Felexicon

KCross wrote: »

- Zappi... does it by default including the Solar integration.
- EO Mini with optional ALM add-on
- Wallbox Pulsar plus
- Andersen I think does it... super expensive though
- Tesla Wall Connector does a variation of it across two of their charge points. Not quite as slick as the others though.

There are probably others.

Tesla Wall Connector does not have load management for building limits

Felexicon

cruisey1987 wrote: »

The hook is an extra??? What a scam :rolleyes:



A €2 hook from B&Q would do the job just as well

Just to clarify, the holster for the plug comes as standard. The "cable tidy" is an optional extra and yes any old hook will do the job for far less.

Felexicon

Gael23 wrote: »

What do you think of the wallbox pulsar plus?

The Pulsar Plus is a solid little charger. Has an app, wifi connection, online portal available if you want to track charging sessions. Makes adding a second charge point to the house quite easy.
Have very few issues with them.

Rusky rusky

Gael23 wrote: »

It’s a €100 option on the Wallbox. Looks to be not much change out of a grand for one when you add on the load balancing and hook for cable which should not be €30 extra

My install of wallbox pulsar plus was 1076+65 for the clamp plus tax so 1294 in total before the grant or 694 after the grant. There’s no additional charge for load balancing, just the clamp.

arestifamiliar

I'd love to know what rcbo you have installed with your Wallbox pulsar plus . Mines a 32A.but tripped twice in last 2 weeks . Wallbox recommend a 40A to cover surges, and ESB seem to too.

Rusky rusky

arestifamiliar wrote: »

I'd love to know what rcbo you have installed with your Wallbox pulsar plus . Mines a 32A.but tripped twice in last 2 weeks . Wallbox recommend a 40A to cover surges, and ESB seem to too.

32A. Is your power boost set to 63A in the app? I don't think it will solve your problem but just out curiosity.

liamog

Ours is a 40A, pretty sure that their is an 80% rule when it comes to continuous load so 40A is the correct rating for a 32A continuous load such as the car charger. I'd be contacting the electrician who installed it to get it sorted.

slave1

+1
40A for a Zappi 2 Charge Point, it's the continuous load piece

slave1

Regarding two Charge Points, we are a two EV household with a Tesla and a Leaf since May and getting on with zero issue with a single Charge Point and an outside socket.
It's rare both cars need to be charged, very rare

Felexicon

slave1 wrote: »

+1
40A for a Zappi 2 Charge Point, it's the continuous load piece

I've installed plenty on 32a RCBO without issue. One way to check is turn charger down to 28 or 30 amps through the app and see if RCBO still trips.
If it does it's a faulty RCBO, if not it is down to continuous load.

the_amazing_raisin

slave1 wrote: »

Regarding two Charge Points, we are a two EV household with a Tesla and a Leaf since May and getting on with zero issue with a single Charge Point and an outside socket.
It's rare both cars need to be charged, very rare

Are you still doing normal (pre-covid) commuting? I only need to charge the Leaf once a week at the moment, and the ID.4 will probably be once a month until lockdown ends


Once we're both back in work however, that'll change

Rusky rusky

Felexicon wrote: »

I've installed plenty on 32a RCBO without issue. One way to check is turn charger down to 28 or 30 amps through the app and see if RCBO still trips.
If it does it's a faulty RCBO, if not it is down to continuous load.

I have the 32A RCBO and not once it tripped since September. I also tested the load balancing feature by turning on the shower when charging at 32A and the charger reduced the current accordingly.

KCross

Felexicon wrote: »

Tesla Wall Connector does not have load management for building limits

Correct, it does what I said...

"Tesla Wall Connector does a variation of it across two of their charge points. Not quite as slick as the others though."

i.e. load management across two charge points. It will ramp up/down its load to ensure you dont exceed a set limit but its not sensing the whole house load.

Felexicon

KCross wrote: »

Correct, it does what I said...

"Tesla Wall Connector does a variation of it across two of their charge points. Not quite as slick as the others though."

i.e. load management across two charge points. It will ramp up/down its load to ensure you dont exceed a set limit but its not sensing the whole house load.

Sorry. I thought it was a little misleading to someone who is only starting to looking in to charger capabilities.

I would refer to Tesla's system as cluster management.
You assign the cluster a max limit and then its split over 2 or more chargers depending on demand.

Think we're saying the same thing in different ways

arestifamiliar

Rusky rusky wrote: »

I have the 32A RCBO and not once it tripped since September. I also tested the load balancing feature by turning on the shower when charging at 32A and the charger reduced the current accordingly.

Mine is set to 63A and does vary as things in the house put load on the house. It was installed with the clamp and not the inline unit. It does vary quite a bit, not just when shower comes on.

It's only tripped recently , I think probably because of heating batteries and the cold weather.

I've turned it down in the app to 28A and it hasn't tripped since ,which means the rcbo is probably ok.

The installers say they will replace with another 32A as it maybe faulty , but as Wallbox recommend 40A because of 'surges' I'm wondering what's the truth.

With the current risks of covid I'll wait until the numbers are safer before getting the rcbo replaced. Also want to get charge cable changed to 10m so will do both same time

TJJP

Might be worth checking the RCBO type - B and C rated have greater tolerances for overload at start-up, that might be your issue? Obviously consult the appropriate experts though.

https://electricalapprentice.co.uk/how-do-you-select-the-right-mcb-or-rcbo/

DM1983

Has anyone checked if duty applies to home charge points purchased from the UK?

WayneEnterprise

DM1983 wrote: »

Has anyone checked if duty applies to home charge points purchased from the UK?

There's no special categorisation of home chargers, just treated like all electronics. Therefore subject to duty, customs and VAT if order from England, Scotland or Wales. If you could get one from NI it would be free of extra charges.

Gumbo

DM1983 wrote: »

Has anyone checked if duty applies to home charge points purchased from the UK?

I’ll confirm next week.
I bought one on Amazon and due for delivery on Tuesday.

Gael23

Anyone got the Wallbox Pulsar/Pulsar plus?

Rusky rusky

Gael23 wrote: »

Anyone got the Wallbox Pulsar/Pulsar plus?

Yes, I have a pulsar plus.

DM1983

WayneEnterprise wrote: »

There's no special categorisation of home chargers, just treated like all electronics. Therefore subject to duty, customs and VAT if order from England, Scotland or Wales. If you could get one from NI it would be free of extra charges.

Is it not that zero duty applies to any goods manufactured in the UK and sold to the EU? Is this not exactly what the trade deal delivered? Duty only applies if the goods were first imported to the UK before being sold to the EU I think? VAT applies alright.

seligehgit

Can somebody explain if there is and what the real benefit is of having the harvi communication hub as I'm not seeing it outside of feeding back stats or if you've a solar power source?