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

runner2011 wrote: »

Just an update , Had mine installed today a 32A , Zappi , 5M Tethered. Ciaran from Voltswagon Did mine , lovely guy, he did a very neat job and It was a bit of a longer cable run than he quoted for but he kept to the same price. He appreciates people recommending him hence the direct mention.

Hey, this is the guy who fitted mine too. I should’ve posted an update last week. Did a very tidy job, and really knew his stuff, passionate about it really. Also was super familiar with the Zappi, gave me a full demo after it was installed too. All in price for my tethered 5m type 1 Zappi was €1050, although mine was a very standard fitting I think. All his contact info is on Voltswagon.ie for anyone who needs it

stesaurus wrote: »

Over a grand, holy ****! The zappi is what 500? so 500 for cabling, testing and fitting?
Prices have gone through the roof since they brought that grant in!

Gone are the days of an Olev funded charger for less than 100 on eBay and fitting for 200 off a local reci.

Well the Zappi is about €600, and i’m guessing the cabling and breaker are the guts of €100? So for fitting, testing and paperwork it’s about €350 for himself. I might be off on some of the prices, but that seems reasonable to me for a electrician doing the job to the high standard he does.

unkel wrote: »

The biggest installer in the country charges 1100 for a base Zappi install

Very true but I'd say the grant is inflating all of those prices. Same with the chargers, they cost ridiculous money really for what's inside
Prices will have to come down as governments move away from subsidies

unkel wrote: »

Indeed. I wouldn't mind a Zappi but the new untethered ones will be at least EUR700 just to buy the product, which is crazy - it has less than EUR100 worth of components inside.

Untethered should be cheaper. The cable and plug are quite expensive.

unkel wrote: »

How much total cost, runner2011?

Mine was €1100 & was a long run . I had higher quotes for a shorter run.

AlmostCared wrote: »

Is it correct in saying that you can upgrade the chargers that Electric Ireland are currently fitting? Think the model is: ABL eMH1.

Online they rate it as 7kW but Electric Ireland are saying it's 3.6kW.

I'll be using the charger for my Mini PHEV so think the charge time difference is circa 1 hour.

Does anyone have a link on how you can upgrade this charger?

Thanks!

Thread on it here.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057962773

AlmostCared wrote: »

Great - thanks.

I think the Mini PHEV has a max charge rate of 3.7kW so a 3.6kW charger would make the most sense. Realistically I'll be keeping the car for 3 - 4 years. No point in spending circa €500 now when Electric Ireland will install what I need for €149.

Bit of a newbie when it comes to this whole PHEV situation!

With respect, that's not a wise decision. The MINI might only charge at 3.6kW but all current and all future EVs can charge at 7.2kW minimum. A 3.6kW charger will be obsolete very soon, it won't be fit for purpose for charging a 60kWh EV

You should be able to buy a new 7.2kW charger and have it installed by an electrician for less than EUR749 in total, so nett EUR149 to you

If you plan to go solar PV at some stage in the future, it is worth it spending a few hundred more now to get a charger installed that can use your excess PV production to charge your car

AlmostCared wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

I was quoted €980 (excl. VAT) for the Zappi from Nigel M Daly. Do you think that is worth the extra money upfront for future-proofing?

I'm based in Cork and can't find anyone more reasonable than that at the moment.

Nash Brothers (recommend by garage) quoted me €1300 (incl. VAT) but it's not the Zappi charger that he is installing. Just a standard 7.2kW one.

Electric Ireland also quoted me €1100 (incl. VAT) for a Circontrol eHome 7.4kw Type 2 charging point. Think the Zappi is a better option than this one though.

Source the Zappi for ~600 from electricautos.ie and get a quote from a spark to install. There is no rocket science involved.

AlmostCared wrote: »

I was quoted €980 (excl. VAT) for the Zappi from Nigel M Daly.

Nigel Daly charges a lot of money. But he has done more EV charger installs than all other companies put together, he is reliable, operates nationwide and does a very professional and tidy job. For some people that is worth the extra few hundred over what you could get the job done for

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I found it impossible to find any electrician to even give me a quote.
I know its anecdotal but there does seem to be a shortage of qualified trades people in the country at the moment, taking up an apprenticeship doesn't seem to appeal to people as much as it used to.

So you have the likes of N.Daly taking advantage of a gap in the market.

runner2011 wrote: »

I contacted Nigel Daly and the initial repose was quick, I provided all the details of the install requirements in the initial email. I got a request from them in a boilerplate email which I filled out and they requested photo's which I provided. No response, chased a second time and no response. They just wasted my time so I would not recommend going near them based on my experience.

Same. Boilerplate robotic response but didn't answer any questions in the original email.

runner2011 wrote: »

I contacted Nigel Daly and the initial repose was quick, I provided all the details of the install requirements in the initial email. I got a request from them in a boilerplate email which I filled out and they requested photo's which I provided. No response, chased a second time and no response. They just wasted my time so I would not recommend going near them based on my experience.

Exact same experience. They finally called me after about 3 weeks of ignoring me . https://voltswagon.ie sorted me out within 24hrs of contact and did a great job. I've no links to them but your man was dead sound and even the kids had the craic when he was here. That 24hr response may have been because they happen to be available in the area, but still, nothing worse than being ignored.

If it’s any help I’ve been using Rolec’s the past 5 years now and never had an issue. All parts are readily available and easily replaced. I’ve installed 4, two at home, one in my bro’s and one in my folks. They seem to sell new on eBay for £345 with warranty, I picked up two second hand for £200 on eBay.
As soon as the grant came out it appeared that you couldn’t get a charger in Ireland for less than €600.

The zappi did interest me as I have 5kws of solar panels but I could count the days on my fingers where I would be exporting enough to charge the car. For those rare days I use the granny cable. The extra €200-€400 the zappi would cost would never be recouped and if it broke I’d struggle to repair it. Also if it failed, because of the ct clamp set up I’d be stuck with buying another very expensive charger that I’d never recoup from solar export to an Ev.

The last one installed was under the grant scheme, my dad bought a niro phev, grand car with solid 55km of range, cable run was tricky with inside walls to be chased - filled- sanded and skirtings removed but we did all that ourselves, got a friend of mine with a cert to terminate at the board, test and sign things off. On paper that worked out as €400 for the charger, €50 materials and €100 to the electrician. Nice to be within the €600 grant total.

I’ve heard the voltswagon lad is very good and a nice lad, but that’s only anecdotal, I used to check in on one of the fb owners pages where certain established businesses were quick to try and discredit anyone bar Nigel Daly. Nigel does do tidy work and it’s a free market for anyone who is suitably qualified.

There are electricians all over Ireland fitting electric showers everyday, rated at higher outputs than car chargers and in locations that are inherently dangerous for the customer if wired incorrectly so fitting a charger for a conscientious and skilled craftsman shouldn’t be an issue. Chances are they will come in cheaper than a bigger operation that’s got more overheads.

unkel wrote: »

Welcome to boards.ie and a nice first post



What makes you say that? On a fairly decent day like today your system will probably have generated about 20kWh - plenty to charge your car. And it is only March.

Thanks unkel, I have always found boards a great place for real information.
I just checked my stats from yesterday and i generated 17.3kws and consumed 19.3kw. My battery reached 100% at 12 midday and held that until 4pm till the solar died off and house load took over. The battery held the house till 10pm.

I exported 5.2kw’s but only because my battery is set to fully charge on the night rate, the solar provider is supposed to monitor this and make changes accordingly. At the moment I am so annoyed at the installer for not processing my grant I’m too angry to want to talk to them. I’ve made at least fifty calls and emails. It’s been going on a long time now and has unfortunately taken the good out of the project.

But getting back to your point the zappi would have been useful there yesterday, I’m lucky enough to be off during the summer so I’ll ususkly have some machine running to soak up any excess.

I will update my solar cost and savings on the renewables page when I hit the 12 month stage. Based on current projections and not including night time car charging the saving will be about €800 on the normal bill of €1720 annually. The house is all electric with two 3.5kw air to air heat pumps that give a year round house temp of 20-23 deg C in summer & winter.

The system cost €10,200 including vat and that was the price given just before the grant was announced and it was honored. Sadly the same system is now advertised as €13,000 which is disappointing to say the least and makes a mockery of the grant. It is actually acting as a disincentive to install solar which is far from ideal given our planets state of health. Imagine getting a 5.4kw solar set up and 5kwh of batteries for €6400 after the grant, that would be a much better incentive. However given my projection it would still be an eight year payback based solely on economic reasons with €800 saving a year x 8 years.

I was actually promised a free zappi by the solar sales guy but that never materialized..

18th Edition of the UK electrical wiring rule book. The DC bit is also required here (or if not yet, it will be). Not sure about the earth bit. Won't be any harm to have both anyway.

I've got two 32A Rolec Wallpods, worked flawlessly so far anyway, would recommend.

Re. the new wiring specs there's a statement on the Rolec site -
"After careful consideration, we decided that all Rolec EV charge points installed from 1st January 2019 would include the new DC sensitive device and TT earthing facility as standard. This means that anybody installing a Rolec EV charging point will have the peace of mind and confidence in knowing that it fully complies with all current regulations."

Wonder if EVOneStop just have some 2018 models knocking around still. No harm having the latest version I assume.

Very happy to report that I have got the charger fitted, and the €600 grant has been received into my bank account.

I bought all of the parts off eBay, at good discounts to price list. I went for original Porsche equipment (I have a Cayenne e-Hybrid) as I think it looks really well, compared to generic chargers. This is the same as what I now have on my wall https://www.plugincars.com/sites/default/files/home-dock-620.jpeg

I got the charger for £275 (with a 5M cable; the standard one is 3M but thats too short)
I got the Porsche-branded wall unit, which houses the charger, also for £250
Fitting cost about €220, but it was a very easy install as it is mounted on the wall directly outside where the fusebox is. Very happy to recommend the electrician who fitted it and filled out all the paperwork - PM me if you want his details.

So with conversion costs and parcelmotel charges, the total cost was about €850, with the grant reducing this to €250.

I had spent some time looking for the kit (at the right price) on eBay, and I know I got great bargains, but its good to know that SEAI will fund stuff that is purchased privately off eBay. I supplied copies of the eBay invoices to SEAI.

Hi folks

Is there a home charger that you can set charge schedules on, see kWh usage and app to see and set the above?
Also connects by WiFi?

Not very obvious when I have gone looking. Think the zappi does this bar the WiFi?

Cheers