Home Charger 2022

Soldato
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iMO the best charger you can get but comes at double the cost. You can save hundreds by buying one of the others which are just as good but don’t look as pretty.

if you have a long drive and wear Gucci belts, this is the charger for you :p
Not into the Gucci belts :D It’s more for the wife that doesn’t want an eyesore on the front of the house. I’ve not been able to find any others that look as good or discrete as this one.
 
Caporegime
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Not into the Gucci belts :D It’s more for the wife that doesn’t want an eyesore on the front of the house. I’ve not been able to find any others that look as good or discrete as this one.

agreed. My wife is the same, mutters on about not wanting an “ugly” box on the wall etc. I may have to buy the Anderson myself as a compromise. :(
 

taB

taB

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Work will likely want me to order an electric car in next couple of months. What are peoples' thoughts on just getting a charger installed asap to get the grant?
 
Soldato
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Work will likely want me to order an electric car in next couple of months. What are peoples' thoughts on just getting a charger installed asap to get the grant?

Can't get the grant without a car on order.

agreed. My wife is the same, mutters on about not wanting an “ugly” box on the wall etc. I may have to buy the Anderson myself as a compromise.

And this is why I love the Mrs, we have an Ohme on the side of the house and she couldn't give two hoots about what it looks like, she wants something with good performance and good software, that is well priced. You can't see it from the front unless you are at 45 degrees past the property either, so that helps a bit if you did care. :p
 
Soldato
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You'll probably find the cut off for the grant will be a few weeks in reality as they have to be installed by the end of March.

There is normally a few week lead time and installers are getting busier and busier.
 
Associate
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Anyone used the Anderson charger? Currently top of my list. It looks good and has a hidden cable.

We have an Andersen A2 and it looks good and works well. You get to choose body colour and face plate colour and of course, the cable wraps around the unit and is completely hidden. The app works very well and is easily controllable.

We have the longer 8.5m cable and the adaptive fuse.
 
Soldato
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I thought the current best advice was to just fit a 32A commando socket rather than any specific make of wall charger?

No cos not all people want a wall on a house to look more like a campsite, it’s a small range of EVSE that can connect to them and theres debate around 18th Edition compliance for earthing / PEN detection which is important for a AC system. Oh and it’s not really any cheaper.

still if you did all that there would still be a choice of units to choose!
 
Soldato
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I thought the current best advice was to just fit a 32A commando socket rather than any specific make of wall charger?

Nope, the usual advise is to get a hardwired EVSE with a tethered cable and take advantage of the grant while you still can.

Putting in a commando is mostly useful for a temporary install or if you are not eligible for the grant. Most people don't want to deal with having to get out and put away a portable EVSE every time they charge the car which you likely would need to do if you had a commando.
 
Soldato
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Is there a dummies guide anywhere for how they install the home charger? I always like to know what they’re actually doing and running where out of curiosity.

I want to get a charger fitted outside my garage door but I wasn’t sure if a cable has to run from the electric meter or just from the consumer unit that’s in the garage (it’s a separate one from what’s in the house by the meter)?

The meter is about 15m away from the garage door and it’s flags outside which I don’t fancy moving/digging to lay a cable.
 
Associate
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Had the Hypervolt installed today. Pretty happy with it - in that it's neat enough, looks decent and does what it's meant to do.



The application has potential but some core functionality doesn't quite work yet - cost analysis for example doesn't calculate properly based on the tariff you've entered, which you'd think would be simple to do - but there we are. Consumption figures are meant to be accurate however so you can do your own sums. The LEDs I thought would just be a gimmick but it does mean its pretty easy to see and use at night as I just discovered.
 
Soldato
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Is there a dummies guide anywhere for how they install the home charger? I always like to know what they’re actually doing and running where out of curiosity.

I want to get a charger fitted outside my garage door but I wasn’t sure if a cable has to run from the electric meter or just from the consumer unit that’s in the garage (it’s a separate one from what’s in the house by the meter)?

The meter is about 15m away from the garage door and it’s flags outside which I don’t fancy moving/digging to lay a cable.

It completely depends on the wiring that supplies the garage already. I'd highly doubt it is sufficiently sized to supply an EV charger in addition to what is already there.

Most people end up having to surface clip a new cable to the charger from the main consumer unit or meter cupboard to run the charger when retrofitting. There is no idiots guide as such because installs are rarely the same, not only due to the existing wiring but also the requirements of the charger.
 
Soldato
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Shakespeare’s County
Is there a dummies guide anywhere for how they install the home charger? I always like to know what they’re actually doing and running where out of curiosity.

I want to get a charger fitted outside my garage door but I wasn’t sure if a cable has to run from the electric meter or just from the consumer unit that’s in the garage (it’s a separate one from what’s in the house by the meter)?

The meter is about 15m away from the garage door and it’s flags outside which I don’t fancy moving/digging to lay a cable.

this is the simple way
I4WkyGM.jpg

No need to come inside the house Tails are split from the meter in a henley block. Existing cables to the consumer unit then other feed to a 32A RCBO which then runs to the 6mm CSA cable to the EVSE.

If you want to use a garage feed you need to check it’s 6mm to enable 7kW charging.
 
Soldato
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9 Mar 2003
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this is the simple way
I4WkyGM.jpg

No need to come inside the house Tails are split from the meter in a henley block. Existing cables to the consumer unit then other feed to a 32A RCBO which then runs to the 6mm CSA cable to the EVSE.

If you want to use a garage feed you need to check it’s 6mm to enable 7kW charging.

You shouldn’t technically install EV chargers as yours is. Electricians are not allowed to put consumer units in the meter cabinet as it’s not yours to install equipment in, it belongs to the DNO.

If you need to split the tails and run the cable from there, what they should have done is install an IP rated consumer unit outside the cabinet (normally immediately below and butted up to the cabinet) and ran the cable from that unit.

I’d take a picture of mine but it’s 11:40pm. It should look like the picture in the third post of this thread.
https://www.speakev.com/threads/can-you-wire-a-7kw-charging-point-straight-to-the-meter-box.72345/

It doesn’t look as nice or as clean but them be the rules unfortunately. I recall OZEV kicked off about it recently as a ton of installs are actually non-compliant and some installers got a telling off.
 
Soldato
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Repeat story in this thread but worth going over:

“Your house do what you want we just own up to the fuse”, “any issues are your problem anyway” we’re the two lines from the DNO chap who came to check and ensure the EVSE is all post meter.

so it’s a bit of an old wives tale frankly. For me not going through a wall to only come outside again and have a really clear separation of circuit is no bad thing. EVSE installer is even made sure enough space for the smart meter which was fitted later. Smart meter guy had no issues either and commented on how straight forward it was. He’s from the supplier “Octopus” and not the DNO so clearly others than the DNO can use the meter box. Clue being meter cabinet not fusebox.

friend has a BP charge master IP rated box next to meter and it looks bloody awful. Probably half due to the short lead on the BP units.

the only thing OLEV/OLEZ seem to actually care about is the title deeds and ensuring it’s a dedicated parking space for the property.
 
Soldato
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I don’t doubt that the DNO doesn’t actually care, certainly plenty of electricians aren’t bothered about it either. I thought I’d post what the actual rules were in case the OP comes across those who do.

It’s a bit like having a non-compliant deck in your back garden, the council could come and tell you to rip it out at any moment but the chances are they won’t. Same goes for the DNO, they could tell you to move it, the chances are they won’t, that doesn’t mean it’s strictly within the rules though.
 
Soldato
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Post #39 that isn’t from 2017 summed it up lovely, I’ve also learnt from the qualified electrician on your link that thermal loading in the house CU is a sensible reason to have a separate CU for something with a long sustained load in conjunction with other items in the house.

I must thank you for sharing that great bit of info on small details that may be all the difference between a house fire or not. Great work. Also I found how much easier earthing for PEN detection is, very insightful.

The onus will never be on the home owner anyway, just the OZEV qualified installer. No need to sweat the small stuff.
 
Soldato
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It completely depends on the wiring that supplies the garage already. I'd highly doubt it is sufficiently sized to supply an EV charger in addition to what is already there.

Most people end up having to surface clip a new cable to the charger from the main consumer unit or meter cupboard to run the charger when retrofitting. There is no idiots guide as such because installs are rarely the same, not only due to the existing wiring but also the requirements of the charger.

Thanks! I had a look at the CU in the garage and it does't look like anything special has been done so I assume a cable would need to be ran from the meter cupboard which would run along the side of the house, under the front door then along the front of the house. Will have to measure it but at I guess I think it could easily be 15-20m.

Garage CU
IMG-4786.jpg
 
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