Is a Smart Home charger worth it?

graememk

Been trying to research what home charger I would want to get installed and I am wondering is a "Smart" charger worth the extra money. I'll be getting my local electrician to get it installed while doing other work in the house(Still getting quotes for that)

I most likely will be buying the parts myself and not scared of open source software and the likes

All these prices are for untethered, But will be going for a tethered version, or buying a second cable. It is also going to be installed in a garage.

For "dumb" chargers I'm coming across the
EO Mini (£468)
QUBEV (£300 for the 18th edition, 224 for the 17th) or the Wallpod from Rolec

Then you have the likes of the
Homesmart (which ive found on sale for about £500 currently)
EO Mini Pro (£720)
The Zappi ( but looks like an 18 week wait for them!)
And finally the
Emon EVSE from openenergymonitor, with runs OpenEVSE (£586)

I've an E niro ordered, I know that you can set the charge times from the car.
Will be looking for the SEAI grant for the charger of course.

I am trying to decide is a smart charger worth it, Although in typing out this post I'm strongly leaning towards one, esp the OpenEVSE one. As I wont be constrained to an App. I know the UI's are going to be clunky, but it will never die because of an app.

KCross

graememk wrote: »

Been trying to research what home charger I would want to get installed and I am wondering is a "Smart" charger worth the extra money.

Only you will be able to answer it really.

The "smart" chargers usually means you have one, some or all of the following as extra...

- load balancing
- load limiting
- Solar PV integration
- app support

So, do you need/want any of those?
Do you think you might add Solar PV at a later stage etc?

If you dont care about them then go for a "dumb" charger and save yourself a few quid.

graememk

KCross wrote: »

Only you will be able to answer it really.

The "smart" chargers usually means you have one, some or all of the following as extra...

- load balancing
- load limiting
- Solar PV integration
- app support

So, do you need/want any of those?
Do you think you might add Solar PV at a later stage etc?

If you dont care about them then go for a "dumb" charger and save yourself a few quid.

Thanks, I think I needed someone to confirm what I thought!

The Load balancing/Load limiting could be a useful thing. As I have power going to the farmyard and one of the upgrades that we are planning is to bring "better" power there so we can upgrade our Roller Mill for barley which will have 2x3 hp motors on it. (current one is at least 50 years old, and rolls 150t/year, don't make them like they used to!)

But, when that is running we wont be charging the car, charging at night, roller during the day(but that will only be running for an hour or so a day, maybe less because the new one will be faster/more efficient)

I dont forsee having solar PV, Already have Water Panels, and the car will only be at the house during the day at the weekends.. maybe.

Would be nice to have stats, but again not necessary

All nice to have, but not a need.

How reliable is the scheduled charging in cars, or does the charger going offline screw things up a bit?

Gumbo

EO should be cheaper.
I think €299 fitted after the grant.

https://ecarinfra.ie/?sfns=mo

KCross

graememk wrote: »

Thanks, I think I needed someone to confirm what I thought!

The Load balancing/Load limiting could be a useful thing. As I have power going to the farmyard and one of the upgrades that we are planning is to bring "better" power there...

Are you a dairy farmer? Ice banks, bulk tank etc?

Do you have 3 phase available?

KCross

graememk wrote: »

How reliable is the scheduled charging in cars, or does the charger going offline screw things up a bit?

It’s reliable. It’s how most people charge their EVs.

MJohnston

In addition to what's noted above, I'd say this:

- load balancing and limiting can be added separately, doesn't need to be part of the wall box. For example the EO ALM is about 150 EUR and adds these features to any 'dumb' charging box.
- app support can be a moot point if your car is smart. For example, my i3 handles all the scheduling for charges, and there's not really anything useful that a smart wallbox could add to that.

KCross

MJohnston wrote: »

In addition to what's noted above, I'd say this:

- load balancing and limiting can be added separately, doesn't need to be part of the wall box. For example the EO ALM is about 150 EUR and adds these features to any 'dumb' charging box.

That wouldnt be true of every charge point though. You can’t get a dumb Rolec to do anything other than turn on or off.

graememk

KCross wrote: »

Are you a dairy farmer? Ice banks, bulk tank etc?

Do you have 3 phase available?

Alas no just sheep/beef, don't need huge amounts of power, but there is currently only a 6mm2 cable there and it's good enough for our current setup but not If we upgrade our roller.

KCross

graememk wrote: »

Alas no just sheep/beef, don't need huge amounts of power, but there is currently only a 6mm2 cable there and it's good enough for our current setup but not If we upgrade our roller.

Since its a farm situation with motors already in play I think you should give serious consideration to a charge point that has the ability to load manage.

Either that it has it up front built-in (e.g. Zappi) or has it as an optional extra later (e.g. EO, Garo etc)

Even if the car wont typically be charging at the same time as the roller is running, it could happen at some point and you dont want it tripping everything out as a result.

Its also possible that your electrician will balk when he sees a 30A charge point being fitted and might insist on a priority switch being fitted which will cost €150+, so you might as well spend the extra money now on the charge point that has LM and hence future proofing it and no need for a priority switch then.

App support and Solar PV integration are personal decisions but load management is necessary in your case, imo.