SyncEV Charger - problems?

[M3North2019]

Anyone else got the SyncEV charger? I've had one a week and haven't had the smoothest start with it. Bare bones plug and go charge seems fine but the scheduling is hit and miss. We've just moved to Bulb EV tariff (beta) so we really want to hit that 2am-6pm charge slot.

Some of the issues so far

* not starting on schedule (sometimes not starting at all)
* going into red mode on the app after a scheduled charge, requiring a reboot of the wall box (despite wall box reporting ok / blue)
* not fully charging despite ample time and power on occasion
* not tracking charge history accurately (in fact on occasions not tracking a charge at all despite it correctly charging as confirmed on the M3 and via security camera looking at the LED light!)

Have emailed their customer service a few days ago but not heard back yet.

On reflection, I think there is value in staying with the well-known chargers. These bits of kit require

- hardware that is reliable and watertight, where the electrics are well designed and proved over time; hard to know that with a brand new piece of kit
- a decent app that has been thoroughly tested in public use, again tricky with a new contender with limited resources
- the server infrastructure behind the scenes that controls the link between the app and the charger, again it needs to operate flawlessly

If I had my time again I'd chose zap or pod point.. but the grass is always greener etc.

Be interested to hear others experiences?

M3 owner.

 

[NewbieT]

Podpoint works well. It’s taken them years to add scheduled charging but that’s now sorted. The app doesn’t log charging periods or costs well.

 

[Peter 224]

Mine works, I don't use smart charging.

 

[yfwt]

I have a sync ev - sometimes it doesn't connect first time for my scheduled charging set by the car but a reboot on the charger using the app usually sorts that out. Love the size but next time I think I will go for a tethered charger. I heard from other owners their helpline is really responsive? Have you tried changing by the Keep-aware mode screen? Teslas don't work with pulse charging - you need to set Charging at min power on that screen and that might solve some of the issues you are having, they didn't have this before the app update a few months ago - fingers crossed for you!

 

[btc1k]

I posted a review on the SyncEV before. In laws have one, no end of problems with it going red and refusing to charge. Local grid frequency varies outside of the SyncEV limits.... other chargers cope just fine.

 

[Erol]

I’ve had mine for 3 weeks. All has been fine apart from once where the scheduled time didn’t work

 

[Potts]

Anyone else got the SyncEV charger? I've had one a week and haven't had the smoothest start with it. Bare bones plug and go charge seems fine but the scheduling is hit and miss. We've just moved to Bulb EV tariff (beta) so we really want to hit that 2am-6pm charge slot.

Some of the issues so far

* not starting on schedule (sometimes not starting at all)
* going into red mode on the app after a scheduled charge, requiring a reboot of the wall box (despite wall box reporting ok / blue)
* not fully charging despite ample time and power on occasion
* not tracking charge history accurately (in fact on occasions not tracking a charge at all despite it correctly charging as confirmed on the M3 and via security camera looking at the LED light!)

Have emailed their customer service a few days ago but not heard back yet.

On reflection, I think there is value in staying with the well-known chargers. These bits of kit require

- hardware that is reliable and watertight, where the electrics are well designed and proved over time; hard to know that with a brand new piece of kit
- a decent app that has been thoroughly tested in public use, again tricky with a new contender with limited resources
- the server infrastructure behind the scenes that controls the link between the app and the charger, again it needs to operate flawlessly

If I had my time again I'd chose zap or pod point.. but the grass is always greener etc.

Be interested to hear others experiences?

M3 owner.

What’s it like for you now after a few months of using the Sync EV?

Possible Solutions…
I’ve had mine since February and immediately had problems where it was keeping the car awake or not charging…
I contacted support and they pushed out new firmware. That fixed waking the car, but the smart charging remained a pain. I took matters into my own hands and logged into the Sync EV’s web interface - there’s a setting called ‘Plug and charge’, which basically turns it into a dumb plug. I then installed the ev.energy app, which allows you to schedule charging - in my case for Octopus Go 12:30am to 04:30am. It’s worked really well - one charge failed when the SyncEV crashed. To avoid this, I try to always reboot it the night I want to charge. On the back of all this, I’ve had 100% success for the past month.

It now works, but in hindsight #wishidgotahypervolt2…

 

[btc1k]

Terrible reviews for it, ever since it's been out. Awful piece of kit. Good to hear you have found a workaround, annoying you should have to though of course!

 

[Peter 224]

I'm now using Smart Charging with Octopus GO set from 00:30 to 04:30 set on both SyncEV and the car. So far, so good with 30kwh added over the 4 hour window at 7.5p/kwh, so £2.32 a charge.
As I'm using 1kwh for every 4 miles that 1.875p/mile...

 

[RedMod3]

I have a SyncEV charger and it is fine in basic mode. When I tried to charge my Smart Car during the cheap Octopus GO period, it sent pulses to the Smart Car every 3 minutes to keep it awake and the relays in the car made a great deal of noise, which didn't do the car any good.

SyncEv said they would fix the firmware, but they never did.

I wasted my money on it, but I'll email them again to check progress

 

[greenbottle123]

They permanent pen marked out their support number and do not respond to emails.

Can someone confirm actual contact details?

 

[Peter 224]

They permanent pen marked out their support number and do not respond to emails.

Can someone confirm actual contact details?

[email protected]

 

[RedMod3]

I followed up with SyncEV and they immediately updated my firmware and advised me to use the "pulse charging" keep alive option, although they said the charger would not send the (unnecessary) pulses. I've set it up to charge my Smart Car from 1am tomorrow morning, and so far after 15mins, there have been no pulses and no trickle charging so that is a very good sign.

My fingers are crossed all will work, and if it does, I'll be very happy with my charger.

Update tomorrow.

 

[RedMod3]

I have good news for SyncEV charger users.

Last night I charged my Smart Car at 1am this morning and all worked perfectly. SyncEV have updated the Keep Awake Mode to either: "Delayed Start" or "Charging At Minimum Power"; they have removed the "Pulse Charging" option and replaced it with "Delayed Start".

The Pulse Charging option was never needed anyway. I now like the charger as you can set the charging current to any ampage between 6A and 32A.

The latest firmware implements the fix, but you will have to use "Pulse Charging" (it really is delayed start) option on the App until the App is updated

I'm pleased. It is now a good charger.

 

[Peter 224]

Good news: I found them to be very responsive to customer support issues and I'm very pleased that you got a quick resolution.