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

Lads, having a problem EvSync charger. Noticed it didn't charge last night. App is showing device offline. Charger is showing solid yellow and is flashing blue when connected to the car. Wifi configuration is via Sync Energy Server in the app but sill showing device offline. I've restarted the charger and the wifi and no change. Any ideas?

Mine is back working now, you are right must have been a server issue.

It's ridiculous that there's no override to allow ordinary 'dumb' charging if there's a connectivity issue.

Agreed. Also got this email today…from Sync Energy.

Service Update: Sync Energy App – 27th April Interruption

We are writing to inform you of a service interruption that occurred on Sunday, 27th April.

From the early hours through to 8:15 PM, some chargers using the Sync Energy app experienced an issue that prevented new schedules from being set.

Preplanned schedules continued to operate as normal. This issue only affected users charging via the Sync Energy app.

Our technical team is investigating the root cause and implementing additional safeguards to prevent this from happening again.

We understand how important dependable charging is to our customers, and we apologise for the disruption.

If your charger is still not connecting or showing a solid yellow indicator light, we recommend restarting the unit. To do this, turn off the power to the charger at the fuse or circuit breaker, wait around 10 seconds, then turn it back on. Allow up to 2 minutes for the charger to reconnect to the system.

If issues persist after following these steps, please contact our support team.

Well yes, it will. You just can't set a new charge schedule from the app if it has no internet. Which is kind of obvious really.

Hi all, we are collecting our Hyundai Inster next week so trying to get charger organised.

Was quoted 1300 and 1570e, both companies recommended Ohme Home Pro. Would Zappi work out cheaper? Are there any benefits going with Ohme?

Also seen Bord Gais offers Hive charger for 930e and 150e electricity credit. Anyone got experience with Hive chargers?

Any recommendations for installers in Galway?

Thanks a lot.

Fokearn did a Zappi for us, took a week to get a date so pleased with that. We needed it with solar. Dublin area but I just asked and they do Galway also.

I went with Fokearn for my charger. They recommended the BG Sync, the electrician I spoke with said it's the most reliable charger they stock, it was also the cheapest. I went with a tethered version and it cost me €899 after the grant

Its a definite downside and if something happens you may have no screen to turn on charge now and disable night timers etc. I worked in this areas and to operators data Sims are very cheap but not free. Typically the zappi is most expensive and it's complicated and has had reliability issues in terms of hardware and software updates. While needed for solar for most people it makes no financial sense to charge car from solar. It works out cheaper to charge overnight and sell back solar to grid in daytime. So for the next few years no real benefit to solar charger. That may change in next 5/10 years but by then there will probably be newer chargers with car battery to grid or home features.

A friend of mine who lives in NI bought her first EV a couple of weeks ago, not long after we bought our own first one - I mentioned it in the Bargains thread. It's a 39kWh Hyundai Kona and she's quite happy with it, but is still getting to grips with her options around home charging. I'm not really in a position to advise her as I'd already been gifted a second-hand dumb charger which I'm waiting to get installed, and have in the meantime only been topping our own car up through the day using the granny charger with free excess power from our solar array, so haven't done any homework on what's out there now.

She divides her time between her flat in Belfast and her house on the north coast, about 100km away. She has got as far as changing her electricity supply in both of them to a day/night rate, which here in NI costs about 15 pence per kWh on the cheap rate. For the time being, she's just using a granny charger, meaning the car's range is only getting back up to about 90 miles/145km before she has to pay the higher rate. However she doesn't yet have an outdoor socket at her flat in Belfast, so is currently only able to charge at the house - this means she's had to use public chargers a few times, which of course is a lot more expensive than home charging.

She's a bit overwhelmed by the range of home chargers that's out there and is also a bit shocked at the apparent cost for supply and installation. The quotes she's had so far are around a £1k sterling (per location), which I think is way too high, especially when she needs to get two of them. While she might be eligible for a grant available here towards installing a charger if you live in a flat with private off-street parking, which may suit her place in Belfast, she won't get anything towards the one for her house. The fuseboard there is in the middle of the house and could potentially involve a lot of work to take a cable from that to an outside wall, but she does have a garage at the end of her driveway which has a double power socket inside.

I'm not a spark so have no idea if that means she could have a wallbox fitted outside the garage without lots of tracking of cable through her house - can anyone advise on that? And would she be able to get a basic home charger that's reliable, easy to use for a 70 year old who's new to all this and could be bought & installed for say £400-£500, or would she have to look at getting something second-hand to bring it in at that price?