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

Thanks Kcross, checked the paperwork for the cable says 20A/32A so that should be okay, I think. Sounds like it's the charger so, will not be a happy camper if this is an issue with the installer.. hmm

If it’s the very first time you’re trying it, have you tried to unplug and reconnect it? I think I recall seeing something similar with my ID4 and EO mini pro 2 when I first connected it but went to 7.2kw after reconnecting.

This! OH accidently stopped and started the charge from the app - then it started charging at 7kw, so all appears to be good.

Only problem now is the charging didn't stop once 80% was reached. I know the timers dont work on the VW app, but I thought it would stop from the EO app. Anyway, will check further into this.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.

Why do you want it to stop at 80 percent? Honestly I wouldn't bother with that unless you are charging daily

Its what the manufacturers recommend and generally accepted as good practice and its shown directly to you in the charging screens so not just some BS on the internet.... its front and centre in the VW screens.

If you need the range then you can/should, of course, charge to 100%. The 80% recommendation is there to prolong the life of the battery knowing that most people do not drive beyond the range of modern EV's on a daily basis.

e.g. If you have a 60kWh EV that can do 400km's on a charge and you do less than 100km's per day then its no inconvenience to only charge it to 80%. The battery will last longer as a result. Charge it to 100% on the day when you actually need the 400km range.

Vw audi put enough buffer in the battery imo

Unless you plan to hold it for 10 years I'd not bother.

Then again maybe if the Etron had more range I might :D

I don't believe a home charger can know the state of charge on the car it's connected to. I believe it's a limitation on the communication between the car and the charger and it only communicates speed/power and not car battery %. That's the answer I got from zappi/ my energi. The charger can tell the amount of power it has given the car and charging rate, bit not how full car is. This somewhat limits the ability of any home charger app to limit the charging of a car to 80%. Note you should charge your car to 100% at least once a month and run car down to below 20% now and then as this helps balance cells and give a most accurate range on the guess o meter, as car learns real battery capacity only when cells go low and it knows they have reached a point where they won't give any more power. The battery management system learns the capacity of every cell, and protects them from going too low and overcharging and balances them at 100%

Can someone tell me the esb meter requirements to be able to connect EV charger directly with the meter and not via the fuseboard.

The installer mentioned something about tail leads of the existing meter being short and a requirement to have a separate switch with newer meters which we don't have ...

I had electric Ireland come in for an installation but we decided not to go ahead as the cable would have been visible both inside and outside the house in any connection via the fuseboard .

Tesla MIC SR+ uses LFP battery, which has a significantly longer battery life than the traditional NCA or NMC batteries.

Typically the LFP battery retains 80% of capacity after 4000-6000 full charges & discharges, while NCA/NMC battery only allows 1000-2000 charges.

Therefore, even if you use up and then full charge an LFP battery every single day for 10 years, it would still have a very good max capacity. In reality, average users won't do that kind of charges anyway, so the degradation on an LFP battery is virtually non-existent.

In addition, LFP batteries don't contain Cobalt. Extracting Cobalt is usually considered to have a bigger environmental impact than others in the process of manufacturing electric cars.

For the traditional NCA/NMC batteries, you need to pay a bit more attention to how often you charge it and how much you charge it to, as it may present visible degradation over the life of your car if you charge it too often.

I'm trying to get an EO Mini Pro 2 installed. There seem to be a couple of problems with my house, namely:

1) Mains tails are not sufficiently thick

2) Meter is very old and only 40 amp.

I rang the ESB to be put on the priority list for a Smart Meter, which would solve problem 2. They can give me no sense of when I can expect the installation of the smart meter: could be a month, could be a year... Anyone have any experience with this?

The person at ESB did have one suggestion if I was pressed for time: apparently if you request a service change and want to have your meter moved to a different location on the property, they will do this and replace the old meter with a smart meter. But it costs €400+. Anyone done this?

I'm a bit pressed since the car is due to arrive in October. Any advice appreciated.

Zappi installed today. I’m getting nervous now about the load balancing with the air source heat pump that does our home heating. If the heat pump is running on a cold night do I have potential to wake up to an uncharged car?

Nope I can’t recall but you have reassured me.