Best home charger

[kevuwk]

Thanks for that. I haven't tried that combination so I will give it a go

I have noticed that the Zappi sometimes restarts when the charge starts so you may want to change the default mode.

Go to the menu, Charge Settings, Default Mode. Either set it to ECO+ or if you want it to default to mode it was on before it restarted then set it to MEM

 

[jefoth]

I had an EO Mini installed yesterday, by WB Electrical up in Scotland. They did an excellent professional job, far better than I had imagined. (was expecting to do redecorating over the hole etc...).

Not sure of the area they cover, but I assume Scotland central. Their contact number 01698 883232 and email [email protected]

 

[PB.Brown]

I have noticed that the Zappi sometimes restarts when the charge starts so you may want to change the default mode.

Go to the menu, Charge Settings, Default Mode. Either set it to ECO+ or if you want it to default to mode it was on before it restarted then set it to MEM

So I set both the zappi and the car to start at 01:00 this morning. I happened to wake up at 02:30 so checked the app and it only started to charge when I woke up the car from the app. Any thoughts?

 

[kevuwk]

So I set both the zappi and the car to start at 01:00 this morning. I happened to wake up at 02:30 so checked the app and it only started to charge when I woke up the car from the app. Any thoughts?

Not sure really, my car woke up again at 00:30 this morning.

I would just check the time on the Zappi to ensure it is correct.
I would probably try setting a schedule in the car and test it at a time when you can watch what it does to make sure the schedule works at any time

 

[PB.Brown]

Not sure really, my car woke up again at 00:30 this morning.

I would just check the time on the Zappi to ensure it is correct.
I would probably try setting a schedule in the car and test it at a time when you can watch what it does to make sure the schedule works at any time

I did a test run at 1800 yesterday which worked fine but I doubt the car was in sleep mode as I had only set up the charge at about 1730

 

[MacPaul]

Has anyone had a Smart+ Charger fitted by ChargedEV?

Looks promising but not a lot of reviews or photos out there as I think it's fairly new.

 

[Palros]

Elvi Home charger installed today by Elecology. Took about 3.5 hours due to some challenges. Fully tested (without a Car), All seems to work.
The guys who did the install were great, they knew there stuff and worked around a couple of challenges. Everything was nicely cleaned up inside. Ground Spike, and isolator switch install.

Just need to get my car now! About a month to go!

 

[Roy W.]

View attachment 464530

Elvi Home charger installed today by Elecology. Took about 3.5 hours due to some challenges. Fully tested (without a Car), All seems to work.
The guys who did the install were great, they knew there stuff and worked around a couple of challenges. Everything was nicely cleaned up inside. Ground Spike, and isolator switch install.

Just need to get my car now! About a month to go!

Look very neat. I suggest you remove the rubber cap from the car end, otherwise it’ll just fill up with water.

 

[rotor2k]

Do you reckon there are any light grey ones in this picture? I haven't been able to find anywhere that shows the difference between "warm white" and "light grey".

 

[Thomami]

Not in the interest of publicly naming and shaming companies, but they came recommended from Rolec directly

I don’t think it’s so much a case of naming and shaming. You would be doing a service to anyone else in your area wanting a charger. They would know who to avoid.

It sounds like this company don’t really appreciate the business.

I have just come to this thread perhaps a little late it looks, I had some dealings with a company in Peterborough that we’re also recommended by Rolex themselves, didn’t get as far as getting an order, the process to get a quote was painful enough and when it came I was told a “4 to 6 week wait perhaps, can’t say when we will have the units in stock”. I even went to the trouble to ring Rolex to see if there was a delay in getting boxes delivered to the suppliers, they said there was no delay.

In the end I went to smarthomecharge.co.uk, they had an office in Peterborough too and had a quote same day, (Friday) an Elvi EVBox delivered Monday and an engineer round on the following Thursday. All completed in less than a week. Super tidy job and very easy company to deal with.

 

[Keeper]

So I set both the zappi and the car to start at 01:00 this morning. I happened to wake up at 02:30 so checked the app and it only started to charge when I woke up the car from the app. Any thoughts?

On the ev.energy app (using a Rolec smart charge point and a (now) Octopus supply) I set the time when I want the charge is to be completed and in the car I set when to start charging. During this period, by checking Teslafi, charging is not continuous or regular but occurs when, I presume, the energy is cheap/available. Just who is talking with whom and making the call - I've no idea but its working and is quite impressive to think that they are all "smart" enough to do this. By the chosen time the car is always charged to the set level (normally 80%).

 

[R.A.G]

Look very neat. I suggest you remove the rubber cap from the car end, otherwise it’ll just fill up with water.

I’m not suggesting this can’t happen but my Rolec has been sitting in the rain with the rubber cap on for the last week and I just checked it after reading this post and it’s bone dry.

Perhaps these caps have been modified, mines got three or four sealing ribs inside it.

View media item 120525

 

[anon37485]

Do you reckon there are any light grey ones in this picture? I haven't been able to find anywhere that shows the difference between "warm white" and "light grey".

I’m not sure, I thought the same when I was originally deciding too.

Mine is light grey (it’s also obvious when comparing to my door frame or meter box which is brilliant white) and I’d say this one (R.A.G) is warm white.

 

[R.A.G]

I’m not sure, I thought the same when I was originally deciding too.

Mine is light grey (it’s also obvious when comparing to my door frame or meter box which is brilliant white) and I’d say this one (R.A.G) is warm white:

View attachment 470581

Mine:View attachment 470582

Extremely subtle if the two are a different colour option.

 

[Sinx]

I'm being offered a quote for a Zappi 2 or an EO Mini Pro (the former around £90 more expensive) - the installer recommends the former as I have solar, and I like the ability to wrap the tethered cable which the EO doesn't have, but it's quite a chunky beast (439 x 282mm) and its going on the front of the house. Are there any others with the solar functionality that are smaller than the Zappi?

 

[MrBadger]

I personally wouldn't get too hung up about Solar integration unless you have an 'oversized' PV array.

The minimum setting that the car can be set to charge from is 6A, so around 1.4kW. As a result, in full solar mode, iirc they will not charge unless you have at least that as an excess, which if wanting to charge for sustained periods, will limit charge opportunities. You have to weigh up saving pennies, for a system that may well be turning itself on and off on a regular basis.

Better to have a constant charge rate imho, which I believe some chargers (inc zappi) do offer,. However, I have yet to be convinced that, the additional cost of solar chargers offer any advantage over looking out of window and combining this with knowledge of what charge is needed and a typical insolation pattern is for your array at that time of year - something that anyone who has owned PV for a while will know very well - exactly the same way that you would schedule a washing machine or dishwasher.

Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have a system that followed my insolation curve to start/stop the system, but I then view any charge within that insolation curve that comes from excess as a bonus, just as I do my washing/dishwasher. This is based upon my view that I will charge because I have to rather than because its my 'free' energy and sod the rest of the grid that can benefit from my export. Taking that to its final conclusion, overnight charging is probably a better strategy, except on a few odd days when daytime power is plentiful.

Add to that, when more complex tarrifs become more widespread, such as Octopus Outgoing, you may find it more economically viable (and environmentally/grid beneficial) to get paid for each unit (@5.5p on Outgoing) you export (much as I like its simplicity, deemed 50% export encourages waste in some scenarios) and import (@5p on Octopus Go) at a time when the grid and your pocket benefits more - you just made 0.5p/kWh profit to charge your car and it didn't need a solar integrated charge point or a battery!

imho.

 

[MrBadger]

Add to that, when more complex tarrifs become more widespread, such as Octopus Outgoing, you may find it more economically viable (and environmentally/grid beneficial) to get paid for each unit (@5.5p on Outgoing) you export (much as I like its simplicity, deemed 50% export encourages waste in some scenarios) and import (@5p on Octopus Go) at a time when the grid and your pocket benefits more - you just made 0.5p/kWh profit to charge your car and it didn't need a solar integrated charge point or a battery!

I've woken up now. Shame Octopus do not currently allow Go with Outgoing.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I personally wouldn't get too hung up about Solar integration unless you have an 'oversized' PV array.

The minimum setting that the car can be set to charge from is 6A, so around 1.4kW. As a result, in full solar mode, iirc they will not charge unless you have at least that as an excess, which if wanting to charge for sustained periods, will limit charge opportunities. You have to weigh up saving pennies, for a system that may well be turning itself on and off on a regular basis.

Better to have a constant charge rate imho, which I believe some chargers (inc zappi) do offer,. However, I have yet to be convinced that, the additional cost of solar chargers offer any advantage over looking out of window and combining this with knowledge of what charge is needed and a typical insolation pattern is for your array at that time of year - something that anyone who has owned PV for a while will know very well - exactly the same way that you would schedule a washing machine or dishwasher.

Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have a system that followed my insolation curve to start/stop the system, but I then view any charge within that insolation curve that comes from excess as a bonus, just as I do my washing/dishwasher. This is based upon my view that I will charge because I have to rather than because its my 'free' energy and sod the rest of the grid that can benefit from my export. Taking that to its final conclusion, overnight charging is probably a better strategy, except on a few odd days when daytime power is plentiful.

Add to that, when more complex tarrifs become more widespread, such as Octopus Outgoing, you may find it more economically viable (and environmentally/grid beneficial) to get paid for each unit (@5.5p on Outgoing) you export (much as I like its simplicity, deemed 50% export encourages waste in some scenarios) and import (@5p on Octopus Go) at a time when the grid and your pocket benefits more - you just made 0.5p/kWh profit to charge your car and it didn't need a solar integrated charge point or a battery!

imho.

Exactly what I've found.

I actually removed the ability for my charge point to constantly change the advertised current in accordance with changes in our excess PV generation, pretty much the same way that the Zappi does, as it was just more trouble than it was worth.

We have a 6.25 kWp PV array, so are often exporting 3 kW or more at times in the summer, but I've found that just having four set charge rates on the charge point works fine, and nine times out of ten leaving it set for around 8 A, sometimes 12 A, seems to be about right. As long as the cost of charging whilst the PV is generating is lower than the cost of charging at the off-peak rate I just let the car carrying on charging in daytime. As soon as the cost of charging exceeds the off-peak cost I turn the charge point off. One day I'll get around to changing the software to do this, so it starts charging when the cost is less than the off peak rate and stops when it isn't, but given that the Model 3 doesn't comply with the requirements and so won't turn on from the charge point as it's supposed to, there seems little point in changing anything.

 

[Gatsojon]

I wonder if Octopus or others will eventually combine cheap overnight with buy back of PV? That would be the ideal for me and others here clearly. Fingers crossed

 

[Gatsojon]

I haven’t finalised my charger decision yet but I’m very tempted by the Zappi. I might have been done by the YouTube exposure they have received but I do like the techie information it presents. I’m a bit worried by some of the night charging issues mentioned here but that seems to apply to other chargers too.

Anyone here with a Zappi who can provide any comment on it? Or similar alternatives for a data nerd?