Best home charger

[phillcom3]

Which one did you go with? Did you get the tethered version? I am getting quoted around £450 for a teathered one, But in need a small Consumer unit and a Earth Spike.

Non tethered as I think that was the deal, unless I stated it then I think they uped the deal by 100.

The guy from plug it in group installed the spike within the cost and put all the gubbins (as I said) inside my incoming box outside he had no need to go into the house.

Grant Funded Smart Home EV Charging Points
Grant funded charging units, marina pedestals, hook-ups & power solutions

and looking at the chargers that pop up when you type in rolec its a £599 unit. of which I paid £295 looks very smart I just need to do a little landscaping now as its in some bushes I need to remove thanks to necessary placement requirements specific to my house.

the invoce I was issued also said all the good stuff that went into it the rod for example was 30 quid alone and I got a free one thanks to poor earthing.

 

[phillcom3]

I have just decided to go with the Rolec unit as well, I have no idea when my Model 3 will arrive (October?) but I want to ensure I have a charger before it arrives. My quote was £400 installed for the 7.2kW tethered unit but I do need to have an earth rod installed and there is a couple of walls to get through from the consumer unit,

give Andrew Jordan <[email protected]> a email said phill recommended and see what they give.

 

[Leo UK]

LRAWD MSM with white interior. Doesn't seem like a popular combination from what I've seen (e.g. order spreadsheet on this forum) so I have some concerns that it might end up toward the back of the queue.

any word from Tesla?

 

[anon37485]

I've got a quote for £430 (Rolec 7kw + earth spike), which seems reasonable.

I plan on having the charger on my detached garage wall, which is only ~5 meters from the house/electric meter (price includes this).

They've asked I do the following two things in preparation, can anyone confirm what I actually need?

1. Lift flags (I have a paved drive, so I'll lift a line of bricks, no problem)
2. Lay ducting - what do I actually need? Looking online there are loads of different size pipes, I'm not sure how wide the power cable will be, has anyone else done this?

 

[phillcom3]

I've got a quote for £430 (Rolec 7kw + earth spike), which seems reasonable.

I plan on having the charger on my detached garage wall, which is only ~5 meters from the house/electric meter (price includes this).

They've asked I do the following two things in preparation, can anyone confirm what I actually need?

1. Lift flags (I have a paved drive, so I'll lift a line of bricks, no problem)
2. Lay ducting - what do I actually need? Looking online there are loads of different size pipes, I'm not sure how wide the power cable will be, has anyone else done this?

jsut get a 1 inch (25mm) flexi pipe down

 

[anon37485]

jsut get a 1 inch (25mm) flexi pipe down

Thank you, I can't understand why they couldn't do this

 

[Durzel]

+1

Isn't that part of the installation?

 

[arg]

I would be installing something like this:

50mm Twin Walled Cable Duct - Black

Or shorter lengths available elsewhere, eg (from google search, not a recommendation):

Twinwall Duct Coils

Don't forget your warning tape:

Electric Cable Below Warning Tape

+1

Isn't that part of the installation?

Yes, but it's labouring work. Would you prefer to pay to have that work done by an overpriced specialist electrican, or get someone cheap and local (or the option to DIY)?

 

[anon37485]

I would be installing something like this:

50mm Twin Walled Cable Duct - Black

Or shorter lengths available elsewhere, eg (from google search, not a recommendation):

Twinwall Duct Coils

Don't forget your warning tape:

Electric Cable Below Warning Tape



Yes, but it's labouring work. Would you prefer to pay to have that work done by an overpriced specialist electrican, or get someone cheap and local (or the option to DIY)?

Thank you.

I assume I need the quoted 'Earthing Electrode' at £65 too? Any ideas where this would be placed? I was hoping for a wireless install (ie cable to go through the garage wall (floor level) and back through the garage wall (charger height).

 

[Durzel]

Yes, but it's labouring work. Would you prefer to pay to have that work done by an overpriced specialist electrican, or get someone cheap and local (or the option to DIY)?

A fair point.

I'm still waiting for my meter to be installed, and after that I'll be doing a video survey for the team installing my Andersen charger.

On the basis that I will also need the cable to go underground, and then through a wall and come out again about 15, maybe 20m from the meter - should I just get a local guy to do this rather than get the installers to quote for it?

I don't really know what I'm asking for, and I've already paid £400 towards the installation (which only covers 10 metres, doesn't mention anything about underground work) I don't want to end up paying someone else the same or more when they might do a big part of it as part of that £400 work? Does that make sense?

I've just got an incoming supply at the moment (a second supply) with a master fuse on the end. No meter, no CU. The contractors working for Octopus are installing a meter and isolation switch (my request) soon, but beyond that I don't know what I need.

Thanks in advance for any help provided

(sorry to jump in on @CJ-UK's thread too)

 

[alanbyvale]

For those who need some ducting I have 30 metres of flexible 50mm ducting on sale for £15 (Received more than I needed). I am having a Pod Point installed and they asked for the ducting to be 300mm below ground level. Not sure what other installers require. I am in the East Midlands about midway between Nottingham and Grantham.

 

[ThrustSSC]

jsut get a 1 inch (25mm) flexi pipe down

And get a pull rope inside it - along with a bottle of cable-pulling lubricant! (Latter from Screwfix)

 

[arg]

On the basis that I will also need the cable to go underground, and then through a wall and come out again about 15, maybe 20m from the meter - should I just get a local guy to do this rather than get the installers to quote for it?

Whatever you do, you need to coordinate with the installer before doing (or getting done) the prep work. You are asking the installer to sign off the 'design' section of the certificate when the job is finished, so you need to give them a chance to specify what they want.

Most installers are happy for you to do digging work etc. to save money, since they don't particularly like doing it, but if you are burying a cable or duct they need to agree exactly what sort of cable/duct before you start. Running a cable along a wall isn't usually worth the bother of splitting the job, but going underground usually is. And if you are doing significant digging, it's nice to be able to put your own cables in (or provide a duct so you can add them later) eg. for network cables.

I've just got an incoming supply at the moment (a second supply) with a master fuse on the end. No meter, no CU. The contractors working for Octopus are installing a meter and isolation switch (my request) soon, but beyond that I don't know what I need.

There must be more to this story? If you are getting a new separate supply just for the charging, why isn't it exactly where you want it rather than needing to go back underground?

Getting an isolation switch (or providing your own and telling the meter installer that is it) is a good move in these circumstances - avoids the scheduling dance otherwise needed to get everything done at the same time. However, if this supply is just going to a meter pillar and exiting back underground to wherever the CU is going to be, then you probably want a switchfuse rather than a plain isolator: maximum distance from supply fuse to first customer-owned fuse is usually 3m (subject to local DNO rules, but 3m is common). So if the CU is within 3m then that is OK; otherwise you need a fuse near the meter, and the common approach is to combine the isolator with your fuse and have a switchfuse.

 

[nightowl]

any word from Tesla?

Nothing yet, apart from contact to request a copy of the latest V5C for my trade-in vehicle. I've sent this since.

 

[arg]

I assume I need the quoted 'Earthing Electrode' at £65 too?

Extremely likely. Depends on your house earthing system and a few other factors, but usually required if the chargepoint is outdoors.

I'm assuming that £65 includes fitting.

Any ideas where this would be placed? I was hoping for a wireless install (ie cable to go through the garage wall (floor level) and back through the garage wall (charger height).

It can be placed in any convenient bit of soil. Classically directly under the chargepoint (with a trap/cover if it's hard surface), but if that's inconvenient or aesthetically unpleasing it can go elsewhere. For example, if one of the other walls of the garage conveniently faces a flowerbed, then an earth wire could come out of the back of the chargepoint, go round inside the garage, out through the other wall and bury the electrode in the flowerbed. Or if directly below the chargepoint is the right place but you think a green/yellow wire running down the wall is ugly, it could go through the wall behind the chargepoint with the power cable and come back out again down at the bottom.

 

[Durzel]

Thanks.

It's complicated but the second supply has always been where it is, feeding some outbuildings. It was decommissioned at the start of this year (before I hopped on the EV train) and the outbuildings were rewired to be fed from the main house supply. This was actually a fairly simple job because for reasons unknown there was already a power cable going back to the main house CU.

I don't profess to understand exactly how this all came to be, but ultimately I had a second electrical connection I could use and it seems logical to make use of it and be able to have it on a separate supplier and tariff that is tailor made for EV charging, with the rest of the house on its own supply with whatever supplier/tariff works for that usage (most definitely not Octopus Go!)

Will do the video survey after the meter and isolation switch is installed, and ask the installers what they want to do. I'm happy for them to do all the work if they're cost competitive, but I've got 2.5 months before my charger is available to be installed so I can minimise my costs in the meantime.

 

[Durzel]

Getting an isolation switch (or providing your own and telling the meter installer that is it) is a good move in these circumstances - avoids the scheduling dance otherwise needed to get everything done at the same time. However, if this supply is just going to a meter pillar and exiting back underground to wherever the CU is going to be, then you probably want a switchfuse rather than a plain isolator: maximum distance from supply fuse to first customer-owned fuse is usually 3m (subject to local DNO rules, but 3m is common). So if the CU is within 3m then that is OK; otherwise you need a fuse near the meter, and the common approach is to combine the isolator with your fuse and have a switchfuse.

I'm not really sure what this means to be honest.

Because the supply was previously there and energised there is a master fuse in place, but that's it. At the start of the year when I had the supply decommissioned NPower came out and removed (and took away) the meter, and de-energised the circuit.

As things stand now I have a power cable coming in that goes into a 100A black master fuse, and that's it. No meter, no CU, nothing else.

When done this supply will only be feeding the charger, it doesn't need to be (and shouldn't be) plumbed in to any existing CU. I would want the installer to provide a CU or whatever is needed to connect up the charger to the meter.

That's all I know, appreciate it's slightly different from most people who want to tee off their existing supply and existing CU.

Would I still need this "switchfuse" instead of or in addition to the isolator switch under these circumstances?

 

[arg]

I'm not really sure what this means to be honest.

Because the supply was previously there and energised there is a master fuse in place, but that's it. At the start of the year when I had the supply decommissioned NPower came out and removed (and took away) the meter, and de-energised the circuit.

Ah, that makes more sense - you are reinstating an old supply rather than having one installed from scratch which is what I had understood you to mean.

As things stand now I have a power cable coming in that goes into a 100A black master fuse, and that's it. No meter, no CU, nothing else.

When done this supply will only be feeding the charger, it doesn't need to be (and shouldn't be) plumbed in to any existing CU. I would want the installer to provide a CU or whatever is needed to connect up the charger to the meter.

That's all I know, appreciate it's slightly different from most people who want to tee off their existing supply and existing CU.

Would I still need this "switchfuse" instead of or in addition to the isolator switch under these circumstances?

OK, so you are going to have a small CU for the charging (and maybe lighting, a utility 13A socket or two?) somewhere.

If there is room to put this small CU close to where the meter is going to be (within 3m), then just an isolator is exactly what you want.

If the supply/meter is somewhere inconvenient - like it's in a separate pillar or on the side of the house and you are going to run a cable underground from there to a garage or somesuch so that it makes more sense to have the new CU in the garage, then you want a switchfuse next to the meter.

 

[Durzel]

Supply/meter is inside the outbuilding which is pretty big. Plenty of space and access to put anything on the same board.

I hadn't planned to have anything other than the charger on it really, as that's it's singular purpose.

The EV charger is going to be situated about 20m away, on a completely separate and detached building (a barn). The power cable from whatever equipment gets added will have to go out the same wall as the incoming supply cable, down the wall, underground and then either come up somewhere and go into the barn and be run on the inside of the barn to the charger, or come out of the ground very close to the charger, I guess. The minimum underground part is probably about 5 metres.

Hope that makes sense!

(Ignore the CU on the left, it is connected up to the main house supply and is irrelevant to this install)

 

[MrBadger]

Is the earth rod needed if I have an earth wire connected to my gas pipe from the CU? I know how long the gas pipe is (probably 20m) as it was replaced a few months back. Or is this earth rod meant to be close to the wall connector?