prevent access to wall charger

[thewishy]

My wallbox has an option to lock through the app. Which seems great until their API goes down and you can't unlock it.

I don't think it's a realistic worry that others might use it, but I do trip out the charger if I'm leaving for a holiday; saves 5w or so standby...
I have been tempted to put a contact number on it, because if another EV owner is desperate enough, odds are they'll be happy enough to make contact and "do the right thing"

 

[Adopado]

View attachment 805430
One of these stuck to it should do the job

I don't think that's going to boost your house value much! But if you want to go that route I prefer the rather stark sign on an electricity pole that's in our garden: DANGER OF DEATH!

 

[Overworked]

I think I read on one site ( cant remember where) that one owner came home, much as ACarneiro mentioned above, and found a note through the door with a fiver attached from a grateful driver who had spotted the charger when in a distressed and desperate state!

 

[Thomas7]

So, what's to stop anyone rocking up on our drive and plugging themselves in for a charge when we're, say, on holiday?

Any solutions out there to help prevent access to a Tesla wall charger other than vigilant neighbours?

I brought a cover from Home Depot that allows me to add a pad lock to secure the outlet from this kind of situation.

 

[Adopado]

I brought a cover from Home Depot that allows me to add a pad lock to secure the outlet from this kind of situation.

Isn't it quicker to flip a breaker than to lock and unlock a padlock?

 

[Thomas7]

Isn't it quicker to flip a breaker than to lock and unlock a padlock?

Indeed it is but if I did that it would not stop people parking in the drive way and watch them spend 5-10 minutes trying and going in and out of the car wondering why it's not charging. That is why I decide to just lock it up.

 

[Adopado]

Indeed it is but if I did that it would not stop people parking in the drive way and watch them spend 5-10 minutes trying and going in and out of the car wondering why it's not charging. That is why I decide to just lock it up.

Has this been happening to you? Do you mean you have a padlocked access to your driveway?

 

[Thomas7]

Has this been happening to you? Do you mean you have a padlocked access to your driveway?

Well from my guess there are people that drive by and see an outlet. They might figure I will be cool with them parking on my drive way charging their EV. Personally I don't care as much if they use the outlet. I care when I come home and I cannot park in my drive way because someone is. So that is the real reason I have my outlet locked.

 

[Adopado]

Well from my guess there are people that drive by and see an outlet. They might figure I will be cool with them parking on my drive way charging their EV. Personally I don't care as much if they use the outlet. I care when I come home and I cannot park in my drive way because someone is. So that is the real reason I have my outlet locked.

I think I must be misunderstanding the word outlet. I thought you meant the outlet on your charge point but now I’m thinking you are describing where you drive off and on your driveway?

 

[HenryT]

I regularly pass a small hotel/B&B round the corner from me and they have a untethered Rolec charger with a cable left plugged in and draped across the floor. The charger is to the side of the hotel and on an open area 3 yards from a main road. It surprises me every time I pass that that the cable is still there. No doubt when the local scallies clock the value it will be gone.

 

[Adopado]

I regularly pass a small hotel/B&B round the corner from me and they have a untethered Rolec charger with a cable left plugged in and draped across the floor. The charger is to the side of the hotel and on an open area 3 yards from a main road. It surprises me every time I pass that that the cable is still there. No doubt when the local scallies clock the value it will be gone.

Some chargers have the ability to lock the cable in place… maybe that’s the case here?

 

[Thomas7]

I think I must be misunderstanding the word outlet. I thought you meant the outlet on your charge point but now I’m thinking you are describing where you drive off and on your driveway?

Yes correct.

 

[IWRBR]

Your wall charger has to have over-current protection somewhere on the wall charger circuit. I live in the states but that is a code requirement in every country. In today's world, fuses are rarely used for residential applications so you almost certainly have a circuit breaker protecting your conductors that feed the wall charger. You need to find where this is and move the handle to the off position which will open the circuit and prevent your neighbors from freeloading.

 

[Rooster6655]

Unless it’s a recurring problem then there isn’t a concern, anyone who does such an would have to be pretty desperate

 

[WannabeOwner]

Well from my guess there are people that drive by and see an outlet. They might figure I will be cool with them parking on my drive way charging their EV. Personally I don't care as much if they use the outlet. I care when I come home and I cannot park in my drive way because someone is. So that is the real reason I have my outlet locked.

When we moved in here I asked for a visit from the Crime Prevention Officer. He had lots of useful advice on locks etc. We live in the country - single track lane, neighbouring houses dotted about rather than adjacent. We have an in-and-out drive. CPO said we should put up gates ... I think that is totally incongruous in the countryside ... "Why?" ... "To stop someone just driving though, with the excuse "Sorry, not the property I was trying to find" and casing-the-joint".

I didn't do that ... and it would be a right royal pain (now) for all the delivery drivers we get dropping stuff off ... but.

So maybe a rising bollard is the all-round solution?

 

[Adopado]

Yes correct.

Ah, definitely different terminology used in UK! “Outlet” commonly used for something like an electrical socket but never for a driveway… I learn something every day!

 

[kuruma]

So, now that I know I can flip the breaker whenever we want to disable it, and that the issue isn't one to "sweat" about, as our friend from Maryland advised, I decided I might as well advertise the thing.

Within a week of being on ZapMap, we've had two requests to charge from it from visiting Audi and a Renault Zoe owners. Money for nothing as far as we're concerned.

 

[ACarneiro]

They paid you?
How much, if I may ask?

 

[kuruma]

You set the rate you want when you register it. At the mo it's nominal: we're charging whatever they draw plus 25%. If it's popular, we'll probably up that.