Thanks, but if I'd set a too higher charge percent figure isn't there the risk it'll keep charging beyond the timings of the cheaper rate?
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EV general discussion
- Thread starter Ricochet J
- Start date
Yep on my list, to possibly employ a local electrician, the meter is on the house, where I want the charger to go is on a detached garage in the rear garden..
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This is the benefit of IOG - as long as you're letting it manage the charging, you'll always pay the cheap rate, regardless of when it chooses to schedule that charging and in fact can be a bonus because it alters your entire usage rate, so it's actually better for you if it adds slots outside of this time, as more of your general usage will be at cheaper rates.
Ah right, that is indeed good information, thank you...
electrician/contractor - if they need to try and pull a new cable through same conduit as existing one , or dig something new ?
can you identify the existing incoming cable size from the writing on it&external diameter to see if it could be man enough for an ev.
fusing would probably be bigger if it were 6mm, looks more like the 2.5mm I have with similar (diversity) fusing - I hope to pull a new one through.
Edit....... just realised you said Mazda. Not sure if that's compatible on Octopus IOG. Might need a wall charger then, but that's quite the wasted outlay for a PHEV.
Just use the granny charger, it's all you need for a PHEV. It's what I use for our X5 45e (21.4kWh).
Get on Octopus Intelligent Go tariff (IOG). You get 7p/kWh between 23.30 and 05.30. But you can use the app to choose "departure time" for a full battery and use the system to give you extra charging slots as you see fit during other times of the day. You can then do all your washing/tumble drying/dishwasher etc at 7p/kWh.
For example, if you say need to charge up from 50%-100%, then don't plug it in overnight. Turn on your 3pin plug at say 7am, select departure time in the Octopus app for 11am, then it'll give you a charge window from 7-11am.
On the other side, if you have a battery that's flat, then around lunchtime plug your car in and select departure time of 4am in the app. It'll charge overnight, but will also likely give you charging sessions throughout the afternoon and evening, further allowing you to use the 7p/kWh rate during your high usage times.
For a further bonus, drop charging speed in the car to say 6 Amps and enjoy even more cheap sessions for all you electric usage needs. This game could land you in trouble with Octopus if you have a large battery EV and are always trying to charge at the cheap rate
But how does this work if you don't have a wall charger? You then only have Octopus Go. You cannot add a 3 pin charger and a EV from what I can see. It seems to want a wall charger.
Am I missing something?
I hadn't realised the whole house gets the 7p rate when you're charging using IOG. Based on my usage and times I leave the house in the morning we might end up running on the cheap rate for most of the time we're home in the evening, nice.
Thanks, we shall see, there's no markings on the cable that I can see - how is the cable size measured, from the outside diameter or the size of the inner cable? I would think it's impossible to pull through any conduit and as the cable runs completely under our garden thus digging a trench would be a no no.
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Yeah on the page where octopus have the compatibility check the i4 is.
Intelligent Octopus Go | UK's favourite EV tariff | Octopus Energy
Intelligent Octopus Go is a smart EV tariff that auto-schedules EV charging via the app - so your car’s always ready when you need it, without the hassle.
octopus.energy
My Volvo has no IOG api support so it says it is not supported by IOG with 3 pin but Octopus can control the Zappi so that's how mine works, all controlled by linking myenergy and Octopus accounts, it doesn't care what car is latched to it.
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This is why I think I'll just go for the eON tariff. We won't be able to charge up whenever we want (without paying extra), but as we were planning to just charge up overnight, I think that will be sufficient.
If it's not, we'll look to upgrading to a proper wall charger.
Thanks, we shall see, there's no markings on the cable that I can see - how is the cable size measured, from the outside diameter or the size of the inner cable? I would think it's impossible to pull through any conduit and as the cable runs completely under our garden thus digging a trench would be a no no.
It’s based on the cross sectional area of the individual copper conductors inside the cable (pi x radius squared). It’s almost impossible to tell from pictures.
The other thing to check is what’s protecting the cable at the other end - that is the most important breaker as it determines to total amount of current the cable can take and not the RCD in the garage.
If it’s on a 40A breaker, the cable must be at least 6mm to be compliant. If it’s lower, it’s probably not 6mm.
P.S. I wouldn’t take electrical tips from jpaul (no office intended but he often gets stuff wrong).
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Ok thanks, yeah I don't why I replied. I'll take a look at the main consumer unit as I seem to remember there is a circuit breaker marked garage. Thus I'll switch it off to see if it is actually connected to the garage.
It's maybe not looking as positive as I thought it might be...
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it's a 40A (more than needed) rcd on top of two fuses at 8&16A , so he can only pull 24A and the input cable maybe only that ! you looked at the picture ?
Makes sense IMO. 7 hours on the Eon tariff will get you at least 14kWh on a 3-pin. Worst case lets say you need another 4kWh at peak rate to fully charge up, that will cost you an additional 80p outside of the reduced window. It'll take a lot of 80p's to pay for a charger installation. Alternatively you may just choose to stick in 7 hours worth of charge a night and just leave it at that.
In my PHEV even at peak rate it's cheaper to run it on electricity than petrol so if I know I'm heading out after work I'll stick it on charge straight away and get as many electric miles in as I can. You'll soon get to know what an electric mile costs you at both 7 and 27 p/kWh, you'll also soon learn how much it costs per mile in fuel so you can make your choice whether its worth charging outside of the cheaper rate.
Definitely a job for a local electrician or specialist installer. Octopus would want to replace everything from the main fuse.
That’s not how that works. To calculate maximum load you need to take into account diversification (e.g. not everything is switched on a max power at the same time).
Breakers don’t determine the maximum load, what’s attached to them do.
That 6A lighting circuit probably only has one single 6W (0.02A) bulb on it or perhaps a single 80w (0.3A) fluorescent strip light. It’s a garage don’t forget.
Like most garages, the 16A socket circuit probably has absolutely nothing plugged into it 99.99% of the time. Perhaps a fridge that also draws the best part of naff fall on its own.
Take my whole house as an example, it is protected by a 100A fuse. If I turned on everything I own at the same time, I could easily exceed that 100A. In reality that never happens in the real world.
I must have 250A worth of breakers across my 4 consumer units but that’s utterly irrelevant.
There are two fluorescent strip lights and several wall sockets, one used in the past connected to a smart charger for my previous ice car, dotted around the garage, plus an pir halogen light which never gets used. Unfortunately though I don't know the history of the setup, as we only moved there September 2023 and the house was built in 2004. All looks like it has been done professionally to my eyes though..
I think I will need some professional advice from an electrician though..
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Main consumer unit breaker is live:
So a 20 amp...
So a 20 amp...
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