Clarification ... that's not how it works. Despite my charge point having the facility to control charge times I choose to have the times set by the car. This does not mean that "every time you go charging elsewhere, you have to tell it to start charging every time." If I plug into a public charger or a Tesla Supercharger it starts charging immediately.
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UK Charger and installation cost. Where to start??
- Thread starter Kevratters
- Start date
Clarification ... that's not how it works. Despite my charge point having the facility to control charge times I choose to have the times set by the car. This does not mean that "every time you go charging elsewhere, you have to tell it to start charging every time." If I plug into a public charger or a Tesla Supercharger it starts charging immediately.
MrBadger
Badger out
The other thing to consider is the rigidness of the UMC 13A/3pin cable. As its short and rigid, it can rock on the weather seal and over the course of a charge session, the plug can slowly work its way out of the socket. The enclosure is not so much of a factor in this, the thickness of the socket relative to the height of the weather seal is.
Any extension cable from 13A weatherproof extension lead (compatible with all EVs) since around Feb 2020 is fine (they should be able to send out a fix for earlier leads). I reported the issue to them and they changed their socket to a slightly thicker one - the enclosure is identical.
Any extension cable from 13A weatherproof extension lead (compatible with all EVs) since around Feb 2020 is fine (they should be able to send out a fix for earlier leads). I reported the issue to them and they changed their socket to a slightly thicker one - the enclosure is identical.
MrBadger
Badger out
Various charging parameters are geofenced. [added] So charge options and behaviour is consistent at the same location, and may be setup different at different locations. ie a scheduled charge set at one location, may not be the same as another.
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Like I said. If you have done this on an ac charger away from home and it works then the car has a geofence based on your home address to work this out. If you can confirm, its great to know
I've normally charged DC on public chargers but I did do a couple of AC charges last month and I honestly can't even remember if I had to to press the charge button on the screen or not ... I don't think so ... I always understood that charging was "geofenced". Given that you need to check your screen when public charging to make sure it's actually working there's no added hardship to pressing "charge now" even if that is actually required!
Ok man. No need to get so excited!? Yes its no hardship to press charge now albeit an inconvenience since you have to plug in and go back into the car or pickup your phone and confirm and this is not the best experience for for a newcomer from ICE.
If you tell me you're sure this is the case contrary to what I stated, it will suffice. Im fine with that and happy to have learned from it as well as it benefits the community
Thanks for this, been looking to install and getting quotes of 600+. One on here seems to be around £400 mark and does everything I need.
It's important for new EV users to know that after they start a charge with a public charger they need to check via the app or car screen that it's actually working ... the sad reality is that many of them don't work as advertised (other than Tesla Superchargers) so there is a real risk of not spotting a failed charge. That's why I say that pressing a button on the car screen or app to manually start a charge is not much of a hardship (if it's even required at all).
Given that I had my car for over a year before I actually required to use a public charger on AC it may be a while before I can confirm whether the geofencing operates in that situation! Perhaps someone else can confirm? The issue is that Js1977 feels if you have already set charging times on your car for routine charging it will potentially cause confusion when using a public charger (for a new user) when you obviously want the charge to start right away. I'm saying that I do have home charging times set on my car but that it has never interfered with starting a public charge immediately. There is some uncertainty over whether this immediate charging only applies to DC charging and is related to the car remembering its GPS location and using that to determine whether or not it honours preset timing.
akenham
M3 LR AWD+ 2020
My advice is bite the bullet and get a "proper" smart one and tethered that you can tell it what time to charge the car if you have a cheap over night tariff. Yes you can program the car to charge at these times as well but every time you go charging elsewhere, you have to tell it to start charging every time. IMHO the whole point besides saving the environment is to make your life easy, comfortable and economic. Dont be tight
One small note: the "start charging at..." in-car setting (which I use every night to charge on cheap rate Octopus Go) appears to be geofenced on my model 3. So the setting only applies at home: there's no need to tell it to start charging when on the road, it just starts as soon as I plug in (I peek through the side window to see that it's started on the screen before wandering off to the shops).
Agree totally with your sentiment of making your life easy, comfortable and economic.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Plus the main components* in a charge point are likely to last at least 15 to 20 years, much like any other bit of a domestic electrical installation (most of which are OK for maybe double that lifetime) so its cost will be spread over more than one car for most people.
*it's very debatable whether any of the software, or things like compatible phones to run, will last anywhere near that long though, which is really another topic, but is one of the main reasons I refuse to have a smart charge point. There's also a significant sustainability issue with reliance on relatively short life key system components.
*it's very debatable whether any of the software, or things like compatible phones to run, will last anywhere near that long though, which is really another topic, but is one of the main reasons I refuse to have a smart charge point. There's also a significant sustainability issue with reliance on relatively short life key system components.
Exactly. We are buying £50,000- £100,000 cars and we are quibbling about a few hundred quid for a charging point? I bought an Andersen because it's attached to the front of the house and I didn't want an ugly pimple of a thing with cables coiled around it.
To be honest, I'd happily pay £1K to ensure that I never have to visit another stinky petrol station or have to get back into a car with the soles of my shoes covered in spilt diesel!
Thank you. It is handy to know that its geofenced which is something i did not think of. DC charging, makes sense to me even though it didn't come to mind either as its a condition and im not sure if anyone will have one of those at home.
I had two choices to go about it and took the route of setting up the charger instead of the car just in case the mrs went to tescos during the day, decided to plug it in and it didn't work. This was my forward thinking armed with what I though was logical. This not being the case, its nice that Tesla gave this detail a thought.
As far as looking at the phone or the car screen to see if its charging ( again I might be missing something here). I just plug it in and wait for the logo to go green and the car is happy. If it doesn't, I take a deep breath and start troubleshooting. Is the status light/logo on the charge port not reliable?
Is the status light/logo on the charge port not reliable?
I should certainly think so. I'm technically colourblind so I can't be trusted on that one!! (Don't worry folks I can still tell what the traffic lights are showing!)
This company responded with this,
Attachments
Guess it's a combination of lockdown and the increasing popularity of EVs.
I'd suggest if you haven't already checking all your electrics are up to date and sufficient for the charger, as we found out ours weren't and it added a few weeks to the process, then see if they're taking orders again.
Specifically that your main fuse going in to the house is at least 80a (most people tend to go for 100a), your meter can support 100a, your fuse board is adequate, and the cables (tails) between each of those are thick enough. Conveniently each of those bits is looked after by a different company!
Main fuse - the main electricity supplier for your area, aka the DNO, who look like they might be SSEN.
Tails from there to meter, and meter - the people you pay your electricity bill to
Tails from there to fuse board, and fuse board - any electrician
Doesn't surprise me. At least its up front other than you wasting your time with other companies that never reply to you. Ive been there. My first choice was PodPoint even cheaper and also easier process but they (albeit more like their contractor) messed up my appointment and I wasn't a happy bunny (unlucky of me i think) ...give them a go if you want.
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