Home Charge Points Discussion and Suggestions [megathread]

[RedMod3]

Many installations will bypass the existing consumer unit and fit a mini one. This also has the advantage of keeping sustained high current kit out of an existing installation with potentially little or no history. They would normally use a Henley Block to split the tails from the meter or isolation switch.

If you don't have an isolation switch (often fitted for free when a new meter is installed if you ask) then the main fuse will need to be pulled. The volume of the tuts and sucking noises from the electrician is often an indication on how much they want to inflate the price. Technically I believe that whilst it is illegal to pull the fuse without permission from the DNO, if you speak to any reputable electrician who knows his job they will explain the seemingly unwritten understanding that sometimes the fuses need to be pulled and next time the DNO or meter company is on site they will simply re fit the seal and not ask any questions. It saves them and the DNO wasting their time on an unnecessary phone call.

That is exactly what I had done. I bought a mini Type B RCD consumer unit off Amazon and my Sparky fitted it as I didn't want to use any of my existing four consumer units. Fortunately, he found some spare terminals in the Henley blocks and hot wired the new consumer unit it. My sparky insisted that the tails must be 25mm, but the BP Chargemaster fitter said they need not be.

The DNO came round and pulled the fuse to recheck it was 100A, and he resealed it as my solar installer pulled the fuse when he wired up our solar installation; the DNO didn't seem too bothered and your comments match with my experience. I then installed a changeover switch to select either my Tesla or BP Charger. Photo here showing the Granny Charger wired to E7 and the other two to 24hr supply.

We don't have an isolating switch; I wasn't inclined to pay £100 to have one fitted.

 

[MrBadger]

I have solar, but only a very small array (around ~1.4kW).

The minimum car charge is iirc 6A, so you won't have any excess solar that you can dedicate to the charge. Best you can do is to use the grid to top up the shortfall. I suspect that with 1.4kWp you will be needing a top up pretty much always.

What you need is a system that can start the charge when you are generating that can also cope with there not being enough solar on its own. I use the charge at low current (charge 10A - solar 4kWp), look out of the window and not be bothered if I don't get it on 100% solar technique. It worked well this April, but not great in May.

 

[Somex]

That is exactly what I had done. I bought a mini Type B RCD consumer unit off Amazon and my Sparky fitted it as I didn't want to use any of my existing four consumer units. Fortunately, he found some spare terminals in the Henley blocks and hot wired the new consumer unit it. My sparky insisted that the tails must be 25mm, but the BP Chargemaster fitter said they need not be.

The DNO came round and pulled the fuse to recheck it was 100A, and he resealed it as my solar installer pulled the fuse when he wired up our solar installation; the DNO didn't seem too bothered and your comments match with my experience. I then installed a changeover switch to select either my Tesla or BP Charger. Photo here showing the Granny Charger wired to E7 and the other two to 24hr supply.

We don't have an isolating switch; I wasn't inclined to pay £100 to have one fitted.

Very interested in your changeover switch.
Would you be so kind as to provide further details of the switch you used please?

 

[DigbyChicken]

I've had a quote from Wessex EcoEnergy of £686.20 (including the OLEV grant) to install a 32A/7kw Pod Point Solo. Sound about right?

The company are based in Dorchester (only about 20 miles away) and we had a pretty good chat on the phone last week. I partly got onto them because I also wanted an even more rough-and-ready quote for solar on the garage roof and thus was wondering about a Zappi. Long story short, it's now looking like we're going to remove the eight-year-old tethered (type 1) Chargemaster (British Gas/Polar) 16A/3.7kW unit at the front of the house and replace it with the Pod Point. The new unit will have to charge both cars.

Interestingly, the chap told me they pretty much only install Pod Points and Zappis now, because both have the earthing built-in.

 

[Spark1993]

I contacted Podpoint for the cost of having a longer cable installed as the original 2.5m isn't long enough to reach the new car. Quoted £390!! For an upgraded 7.5m cable. Absolutely rip off. Cheaper to buy my own cable from EV stop and get a local electrician to install. It's a 2018 unit so out of warranty anyway. Moral of the story if you have the option to buy a longer cable from new. Buy it.

 

[Adopado]

I contacted Podpoint for the cost of having a longer cable installed as the original 2.5m isn't long enough to reach the new car. Quoted £390!! For an upgraded 7.5m cable. Absolutely rip off. Cheaper to buy my own cable from EV stop and get a local electrician to install. It's a 2018 unit so out of warranty anyway. Moral of the story if you have the option to buy a longer cable from new. Buy it.

Ridiculous price... when even as an ordinary punter you can buy one for ... quick check ... £129.95 ... and wiring it up is about as complicated as wiring a 13amp plug ... in fact in many cases it's rather less fiddly than a 13amp plug.

 

[Puzuk]

Ridiculous price... when even as an ordinary punter you can buy one for ... quick check ... £129.95 ... and wiring it up is about as complicated as wiring a 13amp plug ... in fact in many cases it's rather less fiddly than a 13amp plug.

Can I ask where you priced this up? I'm on the lookout for a 10m or 15m cable (preferred). Ta

 

[Spark1993]

Can I ask where you priced this up? I'm on the lookout for a 10m or 15m cable (preferred). Ta

Type 2 Tethered Cable

This Type 2 tethered cable can be used as a replacement on existing charge points in case you need to change the type or length. Only one end comes with a plug the other end needs to be directly wired into the charging unit. Type 2 (IEC62196 / Mennekes) plug 5/10 metre cable 16/32 amp -...

evonestop.co.uk

I'll be getting my 10 meter type2 from evstop.

 

[RedMod3]

Very interested in your changeover switch.
Would you be so kind as to provide further details of the switch you used please?

I bought this one rated at 63amps

LW26-20-63 32A 3-Position Rotary Selector Universal Rotary Cam Changeover Switch | eBay

Changeover switch mainly suitable for electrical wiring in the power switch and Squirrel cage type asynchronous motor start-up, reversing, speed switches. Universal Rotary Cam Changeover Switch is convenient to replace the broken one.

www.ebay.co.uk

However, I would not recommend it as although the switch is rated at 63amps, you cannot get 10mm cables in it and the minimum 6mm cables were very hard. You really need a rotary switch with a box that is twice the dimensions to make the wiring easier.

 

[Somex]

I bought this one rated at 63amps

LW26-20-63 32A 3-Position Rotary Selector Universal Rotary Cam Changeover Switch | eBay

Changeover switch mainly suitable for electrical wiring in the power switch and Squirrel cage type asynchronous motor start-up, reversing, speed switches. Universal Rotary Cam Changeover Switch is convenient to replace the broken one.

www.ebay.co.uk

However, I would not recommend it as although the switch is rated at 63amps, you cannot get 10mm cables in it and the minimum 6mm cables were very hard. You really need a rotary switch with a box that is twice the dimensions to make the wiring easier.

Thanks for the link (and advice about your experience wiring it)

 

[Adopado]

Can I ask where you priced this up? I'm on the lookout for a 10m or 15m cable (preferred). Ta

Here you go:

Type 2 Tethered EV Charging Cable

Designed for your home EVSE tethered charge point. ONLY TO BE INSTALLED BY A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIANThis Type 2 tethered cable is suitable for use with all major brands of home chargers that have a tethered cable. Use this cable to:- Increase the length of the tethered cable from the charger to...

evcables.co.uk

 

[Dilly]

OK so I have questions about the EO Mini Pro 2 versus the Zappi.

I have solar, but only a very small array (around ~1.4kW). Ideally I'd like to do solar matching charging, but realistically it seems unlikely to generate the current required to charge a Model 3.

I've spoken to an installer, who claims that he EO Mini Pro 2 doesn't offer solar integration, whereas the Zappi does. However, everything I read about the EO Mini Pro 2 suggests that with an extra CT clamp, it can indeed sense your solar generation level and adapt charging accordingly.

They claim that the Zappi is required to do these things, but I suspect that might be outdated information. That the Zappi costs £100 more is of course total coincidence!

So two questions:

1. Does the EO Mini Pro 2 actually integrate with home solar?
2. Is it even worth adding the solar integration options with my small solar panel array?

I have 2 Zappi’s but also 11Kw of solar so the chargers work as designed.
a 1.4Kw array will feed your house first so any surplus will likely be less than a kilowatt on a good day. That won’t be enough for the Zappi to find a minimum 1.4kwh surplus to charge a Tesla. Unless you increase your solar you may as well have a ‘dumb‘ charger and save some cash.
your Charger will almost certainly have to draw some from the grid even on a sunny day.
hope that helps

EDIT
it’s worth buying a charger which allows you to charge at minimum 1.4Kw and vary up to the 7Kw max

 

[Josh.silvs]

Moderator comment - question moved from "What did your charger cost you?" - numerous answers in other threads

I know these things vary depending on circumstances etc.

But would be good to know what sort of cost you paid for your at home EV charger?

I’m getting wind of costings being around £1200-£1500 so the commando socket option might be the way I sway at the minute...

 

[nrushforth]

Moderator comment - question moved from "What did your charger cost you?" - numerous answers in other threads

I know these things vary depending on circumstances etc.

But would be good to know what sort of cost you paid for your at home EV charger?

I’m getting wind of costings being around £1200-£1500 so the commando socket option might be the way I sway at the minute...

Hi

We have had 2 chargers installed (1 for each car. A BP Chargemaster and Pod Point - both 7Kw chargers) and each one cost a total of £249 each, due to the OLEV grant and because I am in Scotland, I can also get an Energy Savings Trust grant of £300.

 

[MrBadger]

But would be good to know what sort of cost you paid for your at home EV charger?

About £50k - the car is the charger, at least for AC charging. Wall connectors, charge points, EVSE's etc are much cheaper and you can get a grant for many.

 

[Jason71]

Moderator comment - question moved from "What did your charger cost you?" - numerous answers in other threads

I know these things vary depending on circumstances etc.

But would be good to know what sort of cost you paid for your at home EV charger?

I’m getting wind of costings being around £1200-£1500 so the commando socket option might be the way I sway at the minute...

Is that with the grant? I paid £400 based on a £900 cost minus the £500 grant as was at the time. The Rolec I have would have been about £550 to buy cash.
I am not London though!
I downloaded the list of OLEV approved installers found the local ones messaged them. One got back to me straight away. came around next day and I negotiated a deal with him. I prefeed this to the cookie cutter standard fixed installation price model you get when you go direct to the makers since mine was quite simple

 

[Dilly]

Moderator comment - question moved from "What did your charger cost you?" - numerous answers in other threads

I know these things vary depending on circumstances etc.

But would be good to know what sort of cost you paid for your at home EV charger?

I’m getting wind of costings being around £1200-£1500 so the commando socket option might be the way I sway at the minute...

Both my Zappi’s were about £700 -£1000 in 2017 and 2018. The cheaper one was a couple of feet from the consumer unit the other is about a 50ft cable run. There was some ancillary work with the cheaper one so probably nearer £500 after the grant.

 

[Mattallica]

Just be mindful that if you 'qualify' for the OLEV, an approved installer will likely have factored this into their original calculations, so you'll reap no benefit from the OLEV, except to offset greedy installers upping their price because of the grant.

Cynical I know, but this is how it works. It is a shame the UK Gov don't have a different way of doing this.

On another note, how reliable are the Andersen EV points? I've got my own electrician, so I'm assuming that they'd not like that since they don't then get to charge me a further £400-700 for installation.

 

[OliLondon]

Just had a podpoint charger installed about 1 hour ago and car is happily charging now - would definitely recommend them, great service and fairly quick neat install

 

[Josh.silvs]

Just had a podpoint charger installed about 1 hour ago and car is happily charging now - would definitely recommend them, great service and fairly quick neat install

Mind me asking how much that was?

seems I am being charged for my postcode at the minute

has anyone gone down the commando route?