Anderson A2 Charger

[Durzel]

To be honest it sounds like they're trying to fleece you for some extra money. They are already referring to your incoming supply as 80A (which is wrong) in several places, and still telling you that you need this "adaptive fuse".

Re-reading your posts, it sounds like the DNO is going to fit a 80A fuse. This is my DNO's policy now for residential properties, so that bit isn't unusual.

I would also get a smart meter installed by EON-Next. You will need one if you want to use a smart (changeable) tariff like Octopus Go or Agile down the line. Just had a look at my smart meter and it does say 100A on it as the max voltage, so with an 80A master fuse and 100A smart meter - both of which should be done for free for you - you would not need this "adaptive fuse".

 

[lookatbowen]

Okay, thank you for that @

To be honest it sounds like they're trying to fleece you for some extra money. They are already referring to your incoming supply as 80A (which is wrong) in several places, and still telling you that you need this "adaptive fuse".

Re-reading your posts, it sounds like the DNO is going to fit an 80A fuse. This is my DNO's policy now for residential properties so that bit isn't unusual.

I would also get a smart meter installed by EON-Next. You will need one if you want to use a smart (changeable) tariff like Octopus Go or Agile down the line. Just had a look at my smart meter and it does say 100A on it as the max voltage, so with an 80A master fuse and 100A smart meter - both of which should be done for free for you - you would not need this "adaptive fuse".

• Yes, Andresen is trying to fleece me for sure.
• Yes UK Power is visiting Monday to install 80A master fuse. It was them who said they can only do 80A because the board says max of 80A. There are quite a few references to 80A on the board on the wall in my garage, so I think they are telling the truth.
• We called EON, they can upgrade the board from 80A to 100A for a cost of £157.
• We will call UK Power and ask them to postpone their visit until we have the board upgraded to 100A then they can fit a 100A fuse.

Thanks for your help @Durzel @Zakalwe @Adopado

Mike

 

[Jagdipa]

I love the look of the A2, but its too expensive for me.

I was planning on surrounding whichever charger I get with something like below (£95). Just need to cut a whole at the back, and a small gap in the top for the wire to come out of when charging:

 

[Durzel]

Hopefully someone with more electrical knowledge should come along and provide more useful info than me...

I don't know what the large black box to the right of your meter is, or what it does. I don't have one of those. I have a master fuse (DNO owned) that comes into a smart meter (energy supplier owned & fitted), an isolator switch and then the mini CU for my charger.

A smart meter should be installed by EON for free, in fact they say they do on their website - Getting set up | Smart meters | E.ON. I don't know where this £157 is coming from or what it is they think they're replacing. This "board" you/they mention might be that big black box I mentioned above, but because I have no clue what that does - maybe it's something else.

Your current (non smart) meter does indeed say 80A on the front, so that's theoretically all it can handle.

In summary, if it were me I'd:

1. Get a smart meter (SMETS2) fitted by EON, and decommission the big black box if it's redundant
   
2. Get UKPN in to install a 100A after this is fitted (as you say, they won't fit a fuse thats a higher rating than the meter)
3. Go back to Andersen installers with your new improved setup.

EDIT: Googling "teleswitch" suggests that the purpose of that big black box is to switch your old school meter to different tariffs, per Radio teleswitch - Wikipedia. This means its redundant with a smart meter and could be removed.

 

[lookatbowen]

Hopefully someone with more electrical knowledge should come along and provide more useful info than me...

I don't know what the large black box to the right of your meter is, or what it does. I don't have one of those. I have a master fuse (DNO owned) that comes into a smart meter (energy supplier owned & fitted), an isolator switch and then the mini CU for my charger.

A smart meter should be installed by EON for free, in fact, they say they do on their website - Getting set up | Smart meters | E.ON. I don't know where this £157 is coming from or what it is they think they're replacing. This "board" you/they mention might be the that big black box I mentioned above, but because I have no clue what that does - maybe it's something else.

Your current (non-smart) meter does indeed say 80A on the front, so that's theoretically all it can handle.

In summary, if it were me I'd:

1. Get a smart meter fitted by EON, and decommission the big black box if it's redundant
   
2. Get UKPN in to install a 100A after this is fitted (as you say, they won't fit a fuse that's a higher rating than the meter)
3. Go back to Andersen installers with your new improved setup.

RE: smart meter - The board upgrade or black box upgrade is what costs £157, not switching to a smart meter. Who are we to argue, that is what EON said. Everything else I understand is free (fuse upgrade etc).

Re: smart meter - Can we continue this discussion here, or do I need to create a new post? I guess it is related to my Andersen A2 question.
Currently, we don't have a smart meter, and I have looked at them, and compared our current tariff with various smart-meter tariffs as recommended by many on here, and we seem to be on a good tariff for both peak and non-peak times. For the few pennies difference, is it totally necessary to switch to a smart meter? What struck me with a lot of the smart meter tariffs was that the Standing Charge was a lot higher than what we are on, thus where we save on the Night rate, we effectively lose on the standing charge. Also, the night hours are shorter, whereas currently, we have 00:30 AM to 07:30 AM.

My Electricity Tariff
Unit Rate (Day) 18.06p per kW/h
Unit Rate (Night) 9.19p per kW/h
Standing Charge 18.20p/day

A case in point is the cheapest Octopus Go, Where I save on the Night rate, I lose on the Standing charge, making it 2p more expensive and I get a shorter night hour. It only gets worse with all the other smart meter options, which is why I would prefer to stay on our non-smart meter tariff.

Unit Rate (Day) 5p per kW/h
Unit Rate (Night) 13.45p per kW/h
Standing Charge 25p/day

 

[Adopado]

My Electricity Tariff
Unit Rate (Day) 18.06p per kW/h
Unit Rate (Night) 9.19p per kW/h
Standing Charge 18.20p/day

A case in point is the cheapest Octopus Go, Where I save on the Night rate, I lose on the Standing charge, making it 2p more expensive and I get a shorter night hour. It only gets worse with all the other smart meter options, which is why I would prefer to stay on our non-smart meter tariff.

Unit Rate (Day) 5p per kW/h
Unit Rate (Night) 13.45p per kW/h
Standing Charge 25p/day

The standing charge is almost irrelevant in this comparison ... the amount you will save on Go will be substantial. (and you got your day and night mixed up )

 

[Durzel]

Only you can say whether or not a smart meter & associated tariffs would work out for you.

I'd suggest that unless your electrical usage is miniscule, the difference in standing charge would be comfortably eclipsed by the reduction in unit rate.

Also - if we're being pedantic. If EON will fit a smart meter for free, which they should do, that £157 you save is many, many 6.8p worth of standing charge difference

 

[Jibjab]

Yes, I agree with you. I am no electrician, but the electrician I hired to add extra sockets into my garage said we have enough amps if upgraded to 80 amps from our existing 60 amps to run most things including EV without any trouble. Andersen though, seems to have other ideas, and it is this that I would like to understand.

Has anyone else had this adaptive fuse installed and if so what meter board do you have or better still what is your maximum amps?

I had the fuse installed. Advised by Andersen after completing the survey. We have three air conditioning units drawing circa 6amps each on a max load. We recently upgraded to an 80amp fuse, the DNO wouldn’t fit a 100amp for free (it would be at our cost to dig up the drive etc etc). I’m not sure why Andersen ‘demanded’ an adaptive fuse based on a few extra amps from the aircon.

 

[lookatbowen]

Hello all,

It has been two months with the Andersen A2 and I can say without hesitation it was the right decision to buy this wall charger.

There are a couple of Tesla owners in the neighbourhood and we have the nicest looking wall charger. It certainly feels like we made the best choice. It is really easy to use and visually pleasing and it was fantastic to be able to match up the colours with our house.

The Andersen website was easy to use and had some great colour choices. The customer service was excellent from start to finish. The wall charger arrived quickly and was well packaged. The communication via email was excellent, clear and our scheduled installation date was accommodating.

Best of all the installation was done very professionally, the workmanship was done very nicely by Scott, who was friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. We are very happy with the Andersen A2.

As for the app. It is great. It shows all the necessary information and setting a schedule for charges is easy. The service has crashed a couple of times, but reaching out on their chat app on their website, staff have been fantastic.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Durzel]

Nice. I have to ask though.. was the front door paint a happy coincidence, or did you repaint it to match the Andersen?

 

[lookatbowen]

Nice. I have to ask though.. was the front door paint a happy coincidence, or did you repaint it to match the Andersen?

The front door was the colour we chose a year ago when we had a new door fitted. When we saw the colour on the Andersen website, we knew it was meant to be. The choice they offer is wonderful, just goes to show they are thinking of people's homes.

 

[Zakalwe]

Most charging points look like an abomination on the front of a house, especially the ones with the cables draping everywhere.
The Andersen is by far the best solution if you have to mount on the front aspect. If you can route the power cable into the rear of the unit it means a very clean "invisible" solution.

They are expensive, but at the moment they appear to be the only one thinking of aesthetics.

 

[kelvin 660]

For neatness, you could put the charger in the garage, even if you car is kept on the drive. I find that since I had electric garage doors fitted this combination works great for me...

 

[Rooster6655]

For neatness, you could put the charger in the garage, even if you car is kept on the drive. I find that since I had electric garage doors fitted this combination works great for me...

View attachment 654719 View attachment 654720

Unless you are charging in the garage this option seems like an extra hassle to charge the car also the fact the cable being stuck under the garage door isn't ideal.

 

[kelvin 660]

Unless you are charging in the garage this option seems like an extra hassle to charge the car also the fact the cable being stuck under the garage door isn't ideal.

It depends, if you can access your house through the garage then this makes perfect sense and the electric garage door can be opened/closed when in the car too.

 

[Durzel]

Most charging points look like an abomination on the front of a house, especially the ones with the cables draping everywhere.
The Andersen is by far the best solution if you have to mount on the front aspect. If you can route the power cable into the rear of the unit it means a very clean "invisible" solution.

They are expensive, but at the moment they appear to be the only one thinking of aesthetics.

View attachment 654717

I'm surprised there haven't been any competitors (that I'm aware of). Andersen seem to have the market stitched up in terms of "aesthetically pleasing chargers". Seems pretty obvious when you consider where these are invariably installed.

 

[DenkiJidousha]

I'm surprised there haven't been any competitors (that I'm aware of). Andersen seem to have the market stitched up in terms of "aesthetically pleasing chargers". Seems pretty obvious when you consider where these are invariably installed.

I think the only aesthetically pleasing alternative to Anderson is the the other extreme of a small discrete untethered unit (like our eoMini which I picked in large part on aesthetics), but that has the significant downside of having to get the cable out every time, and put it away afterwards - often wet.

 

[Zakalwe]

I'm surprised there haven't been any competitors (that I'm aware of). Andersen seem to have the market stitched up in terms of "aesthetically pleasing chargers". Seems pretty obvious when you consider where these are invariably installed.

Maybe it's just not that important to others? EVs aren't cheap, so you would assume that there's a certain demographic that buys EVs.
Personally anytime I see an EVSE with the lead draped all over it it just reminds me of an untidy garden hose stuck to the front of the house!

 

[khyros]

Maybe it's just not that important to others? EVs aren't cheap, so you would assume that there's a certain demographic that buys EVs.
Personally anytime I see an EVSE with the lead draped all over it it just reminds me of an untidy garden hose stuck to the front of the house!

Exactly that. Two of my neighbours went ahead and got EVs before we did and their cables are like what you describe.

 

[Rooster6655]

Well my Anderson stopped working wonder how long it will now take them to fix it and whether they have actually fixed the hardware to stop it happening again :/