Home Charge Points Discussion and Suggestions [megathread]

[LdnTes]

You get an EICR from the sparky and that is it. He does not register anything with building control. IE. If you are making a house extension that and have had electrics done, YOU need to provide the EICR certificate to building control.

Your electrician should produce a Building Regulations Certificate of Compliance.

Via their registered body (NICEIC, Napit, etc) they will produce the certificate which then gets lodged directly with building control at the council - and will then show up on searches - particularly important when you come to sell your house.

 

[Jinhocha]

Which would be illegal in the UK without having it validated by building control that it meets the relevant regulations at a cost of many £££. Or get an installer to fit who is registered with NICEIC, ELECSA etc who will register it with building control on your behalf.

Sorry to hear that… It is perfectly fine in the States…

 

[Dilly]

I was not aware of this lookup portal, so thanks for providing it. I just checked and my installer did notify of the installation of a new circuit.

Both my Zappi installations were notified too as were my Powerwalls.

 

[Casss]

You could just use the granny charger - or get a 32A commando socket installed on your wall very cheaply and use that for a lifetime with no problems - but one day some bizarre freak fault could potentially electrocute anyone who touches your car.

Maybe worth adding here for those new to chargers that technically you can use a commando socket but you or your chosen sparky still need to notify your DNO it will be charging an EV. Not doing this and in the (albeit unlikely) situation where something goes pop - you will probably foot the bill/legal repercussions.

 

[Adopado]

You could just use the granny charger - or get a 32A commando socket installed on your wall very cheaply and use that for a lifetime with no problems - but one day some bizarre freak fault could potentially electrocute anyone who touches your car. It's very unlikely but it is possible.

Every few months I Google "electrocuted by electric car" just to see if it's happened yet ... so far I've always drawn a blank on any member of the public ever having been killed by their car/charger. (I found an instance of a contractor in the USA who was involved with a Supercharger installation who was killed when working.) Given that there were an estimated 6.8 million electric cars in the world in 2020 ... and many more added during 2021 ... it is quite a reassuring safety statistic. Not all countries have the level of safety requirements that we have in the UK and there will be many many people who do not follow the safety requirements even in countries where they have them.

 

[MrBadger]

The safety devices are less about being electrocuted by the car but by a DC fault compromising the safety devices that are protecting the rest of the property electrics.

O-pen faults are a different matter and not exclusive to electric cars, but the impact on external circuits (not just EV charging) is worse than what may affect internal circuits.

 

[skateboarder]

My octopus go rate is 5p/kWh vs 15.9p/kWh at other times
Assuming a very conservative 4 miles / kWh that's a saving of up to about £270 - so not earth shattering. I agree you'd want to make sure the peak rate was competitive before switching. For me it was better than my old provider anyway. (I just wish I'd switched the gas as well before they went bust.)

Best bit is I can tell people I get 10k miles for under £125 in "fuel", versus £90 for every tank full in my old BMW.

When I looked at switching to Octopus their website says don’t and stick with your current provider as it will be much cheaper . So I rang OVO to ask about Drive . No special rates for night time charging and projected bill for 12 months fixed dual fuel would be more than £2000 extra compared to my 2yr fixed plan

 

[HenryT]

I had my Wallbox Pulsar Plus installed by Bumblebeev, very smart install and their customer service was good.

The app for Wallbox looks pretty good.

I have the Wallbox too. Had it fitted after a number of problems with an Ohme.

Wallbox has been great so far (12 months or so) and, as you say the app is very good.

 

[Oxstock]

Cost £884 with Hub and after grant.

and thats running a seperate feed to the house consumer unit? How long was the cable run if you dont mind me asking? I have about 15-20m to run it.

 

[ProducedByKang]

I had my Wallbox Pulsar Plus installed by Bumblebeev, very smart install and their customer service was good.

The app for Wallbox looks pretty good.

One thing to bear in mind, as I found out over the weekend and isn't really a major issue to be honest, is that Wallbox doesn't handle a change in daylight savings time very well.

The Tesla handles it well but the Wallbox struggled, i suspect it's down to how it records the length of the session etc. It wasn't really a major inconvenience as when I woke up i unplugged the charger and plugged it back in again and it carried on juicing up the car. It'll only happen twice a year until they can address the bug.

 

[DoricJim]

Big thumbs up for pod point here. Took less than 2 weeks from placing an order to installation with the online process being very simple. They also took care of the OLEV grant paperwork.

Not the best looking charger out there but can’t fault the installation service.

Just need my M3 to be delivered now…

 

[DoricJim]

Big thumbs up for pod point here. Took less than 2 weeks from placing an order to installation with the online process being very simple. They also took care of the OLEV grant paperwork.

Not the best looking charger out there but can’t fault the installation service.

Just need my M3 to be delivered now…

Picture of the finished install.

 

[Flipper_Al]

Ordered my charging point through Leaseplan. They sent British Gas round to do a survey, no idea which charging point i will get, anyone else have any experience, with LeasePlan/British Gas....????

 

[guru1]

Ordered my charging point through Leaseplan. They sent British Gas round to do a survey, no idea which charging point i will get, anyone else have any experience, with LeasePlan/British Gas....????

I don't have one but I believe it will be the Hive Alfen Eve? Hive EV Charging | Hive Home

 

[8enj]

Hi all, im after some help, fitting a gen 3 charger today i have a spare 32amp breaker in my board! (See picture with red circle) im planning on feeding the 6mm cable directly into the board for the charger (see additional pics) my problem is i keep seeing i need to fit a separate rcd type b? And also a pen device? And surge protection? Does anyone sell a all in one type b rcd/pen/surge protection unit? Or any guidance would be greatly appreciated. thanks Ben

 

[8enj]

Hi all im after some advice if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

I plan on running a 6mm cable to a 32amp outlet on my hager board i have a spare zone (see picture circled in red)

Is this sufficient as im reading i need a type b rcd? And also surge protection And possibly pen device?

It is being installed by a qualified electrician but i want to make sure its done correctly myself and future proofed.

TYIA. Ben

 

[MrBadger]

They will probably fit an additional consumer unit if no space. TBH that is preferable anyhow - keeps prolonged high current out of an existing consumer unit.

Gen 3 TWC already has the DC protection built in so no need for B type RCD.

Earth protection is dependent on your current earthing arrangement. Electrician will tell you what additional protection is needed if any.

 

[8enj]

They will probably fit an additional consumer unit if no space. TBH that is preferable anyhow - keeps prolonged high current out of an existing consumer unit.

Gen 3 TWC already has the DC protection built in so no need for B type RCD.

Earth protection is dependent on your current earthing arrangement. Electrician will tell you what additional protection is needed if any.

Thanks for the reply do they sell a consumer unit with earthing arrangement? As i think i will opt for that also? Many thanks for the help

 

[MrBadger]

Earthing arrangements are all handled outside the consumer unit. The property may not need anything different than you already have, the install may not either (indoor charging etc), your installation may be suitable to have simple inexpensive earth rods (if you don't already have them) or the installer may want to use a more expensive active solution such as a matt-e type device. I'm not sure if gen 3 needs one. Its quite a different unit to the gen 2.

edited to avoid confusion

 

[scdoubleu]

Gen3 still needs supplemental earthing if the supply is PME, usually in the form of a rod. Had a Gen3 fitted in the (detached) garage last week, along with O-PEN protection in a separate box adjacent to the garage sub-panel. Fortunately, I had an earth rod fitted already as part of the PowerWall installation last month.

Steve