Home charger UK installation help

[Shamone]

Good afternoon,

Looking for some advice regarding installation of a home charger, my consumer unit and main supply fuse is in the middle of the house, it does have a supply going to my garage though that is connected to another smaller consumer unit.

Does the charger supply feed have to run to the main consumer unit indoors or can they install the charger using the garage supply?

Thanks in advance

 

[Djlw84]

Not 100% sure but I believe that they can run it from your meter box rather than the consumer unit….

 

[Shamone]

Not 100% sure but I believe that they can run it from your meter box rather than the consumer unit….

Thanks, unfortunately the meter is also in the middle of the house alongside the incoming supply and main consumer unit. Basically the garage supply goes from the main unit inside via a 32A fuse.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

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You should be able to install at the smaller consumer unit if you have a spare slot and spare power to the garage.

The amount of spare power in the garage would probably be the limiting factor.

 

[Shamone]

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You should be able to install at the smaller consumer unit if you have a spare slot and spare power to the garage.

There is an old office air con unit connected to the garage CU that I can remove which will free up a spare slot.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

There is an old office air con unit connected to the garage CU that I can remove which will free up a spare slot.

What amperage was the air conditioner fuse? If that's enough you should be good as far as power goes.

Wireless signal in the garage OK?

 

[Shamone]

What amperage was the air conditioner fuse? If that's enough you should be good as far as power goes.

Wireless signal in the garage OK?

Thanks for the help

The fuse on the main board into the garage is 32A

Charger uses GPRS

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[GeorgeSymonds]

You can have a slave consumer unit and install a charge point from that, that’s how mine is configured, but if the circuit to that unit is 32a you’ll be limited by how much you can draw as you need to account for other circuits on that consumer unit. Mine has a 40A fuse on the main board feeding the slave consumer unit.

A sparky can do the sums but an option might be to have a charge point limited to 24A which isn’t ideal but 24a into a M3 or MY will add as much range as 32A into a MS or MX as you get more miles per kWh. Probably easier short term than replacing the cable and updating everything unless you cable is already oversized

 

[WannabeOwner]

Looking for some advice regarding installation of a home charger, my consumer unit and main supply fuse is in the middle of the house, it does have a supply going to my garage though that is connected to another smaller consumer unit.

Does you driveway accommodate a 2nd car? (Yours or a visitor ...) Are you likely to have a second EV, or visitor EV, and a second wall-charger at some point?, and to be staying in that house for some years?

If so, and if it was me, I'd get the hassle / cost over and done with in one go. Put everything (ie.. wall chargers) in the ideal position for charging two cars, sort out cable / supply to garage (maybe the cable will be "big enough" and just need a bigger fuse), garage distribution board etc.

Particularly if the house electrics is a bit old

You could also put in a fall-back Command socket - in case wall charger develops a fault - and, if you don't have one, an outdoor 13AMP socket - car washing usage etc.

 

[Adopado]

Thanks, unfortunately the meter is also in the middle of the house alongside the incoming supply and main consumer unit. Basically the garage supply goes from the main unit inside via a 32A fuse.

Depends on the rating of the cable rather than the presently installed fuse but it may well be feasible. My charge point is taken off a garage mini consumer unit ... but there's nothing else with signinficant current draw routinely run from there.

 

[Shamone]

You can have a slave consumer unit and install a charge point from that, that’s how mine is configured, but if the circuit to that unit is 32a you’ll be limited by how much you can draw as you need to account for other circuits on that consumer unit. Mine has a 40A fuse on the main board feeding the slave consumer unit.

A sparky can do the sums but an option might be to have a charge point limited to 24A which isn’t ideal but 24a into a M3 or MY will add as much range as 32A into a MS or MX as you get more miles per kWh. Probably easier short term than replacing the cable and updating everything unless you cable is already oversized

Some more info, the current load on that CU is a fridge and a chest freezer, along with 2 ceiling lights on LED bulbs and a trickle charger. The aircon isnt used and I'd imagine that would be the biggest draw on that circuit.

 

[Shamone]

Thanks to everyone for the very useful info, one installer said they cant connect to the garage supply because they need to measure load constantly from the main CU. I find that hard to believe, they didnt even ask any details about the garage supply, simply dismissed the idea immediately.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I find that hard to believe, they didnt even ask any details about the garage supply, simply dismissed the idea immediately.

Plenty of installers just wanting bog-standard-jobs

I think any Sparky can do the job, if you have a preferred one I'd start with them. I expect it would be better if they had done it before, rather than having to look in their text books!

 

[Anthony Overy]

Appreciate this in old thread but wondered if someone could tell me if there is enough space here to install a smart meter as well as a Mini CU for a smart meter to be installed?

 

[Anthony Overy]

 

[Anthony Overy]

Hi. In a similar vain, I’m waiting for a home charger to be installed. My guess is it will be off the meter as the CU inside the house on the other side to the driveway. Is there enough space in here to upgrade to a smart meter and a small CU put in for the charger?

 

[init6]

Hard to tell with no reference measurement in the photo but there should be. The CU used for (at least my Podpoint charger) is pretty small.
If you measure that gap on the right then I could be more precise.

Edit: First result when googling size of UK smart meter:

OVO Smart meter sizes - Secure SMETS1 and Aclara SMETS2 | The OVO Forum

We switched to OVO some time ago from British Gas who’d already installed smart meters. Crazily the BG smart meters can’t be read by OVO. About 18 months ago an OVO engineer came to fit new meters & we found that while the electric meter could be swapped within the available space the gas meter...

forum.ovoenergy.com

 

[Ashdeman]

Hi. In a similar vain, I’m waiting for a home charger to be installed. My guess is it will be off the meter as the CU inside the house on the other side to the driveway. Is there enough space in here to upgrade to a smart meter and a small CU put in for the charger? View attachment 1020732

Should be fine, mine fit in the meter box but it's tight. Failing that you can also get weather proof consumer units that can fix on in the external wall next to the meter box.

 

[Anthony Overy]

Should be fine, mine fit in the meter box but it's tight. Failing that you can also get weather proof consumer units that can fix on in the external wall next to the meter box.

Thanks. Yeah is tight. Hoping it fits as I’m having the digital meter upgraded to a smart meter which I hope will stay in the same place. Interesting though my cables out of the isolator are grey and yours are colour coded.

 

[Ashdeman]

Nothing to worry about it's just mine have colour coded outer sheaths, yours are grey. Underneath the grey outer sheath will be another insulated cable but coloured to either brown or blue.