Which EV charger?

QrizB

QrizB said:

I've just ordered one of these for my outdoor socket (the circuit's already RCD protected). Will let you know if it's any good when it arrives:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006982502120.html

A little update!

It has arrived, and connected quite happily to my Lidl ZigBee gateway.

Things it does well:

• Switches on and off (with a warning to check the circuit for loads in both cases)
• Measures supply voltage (currently 237.0)
• Measures kWh pssed (I boiled ~1 litre of water in a 3kW kettle. It measured 0.11kWh used, which is the right ballpark)

Things it does less well:

• Measures current or instantaneous power (during that kettle boiling, it reported 3 watts - not kW - and 0.06 amps). In fact it's still mesuring those values now, with nothing but parasitic loads connected.
• Measures temperature (currently displaying -35C, unchanged since initial switch-on)
  

Some of this might be a peculiarity of my setup; there are screenshots on AliExpess where people do get instantaaneous power and current readings, and one where someone has lots of settings / info through Home Assistant. I have a different ZigBee gateway here and might see if that offers more options or better data.

For my purposes it's good enough, but it's caveat emptor I'm afraid.

QrizB

QrizB said:

I have a different ZigBee gateway here and might see if that offers more options or better data.

Update! 

I tried the ZigBee gizmo paired to a generic multimode gateway (like this) and it now gives more info. While boiling water in the same 3kW nominal kettle, my phone app shows:

Tha's much more like it. 

Also, in "setting", I can now tell the breaker to trip for over-current / over-temperature / over- or under-voltage conditions. I couldn't see that before.

I'm not convinced that it's quite 27C in the corner of my kitchen where the breaker is, but it's much closer to that than it is to -35C. And the power/voltage/current match up, more-or-less. So I'm happy that the shortfall is with my Lidl SilverCrest Zigbee hub (old/unsupported firmware perhaps?) rather than with the ZigBee breaker.

dharm999

An up an update, went for a Zappi charger, via Bumblebee as we had to buy a new car and Arnold Clark were offering a deal on the charger.

it’s been installed, works fine, after a bit of a problem with the set up, missing registration code, but a quick Google came up with a solution to what is a known problem.

Now, have hit what looks like another problem, but don’t know how serious it is.  I was copied in on an email from SPEN to Bumblebee, saying that as they hadn’t received a picture of the cable head they couldn’t authorise the connection request, is this as serious as it sounds?  The charger works ok, so I’m not sure what the implications are of this.  Can anyone shed light please on what this means?

Thanks

Reed_Richards

Your DNO, which I presume is Scottish Power Energy Networks, needs to issue a permit before your EV charger can be installed, I believe.  It seems that your installer jumped the gun and went ahead before a permit was issued.  I imagine this can be rectified.   

michaels

QrizB said:

QrizB said:

I have a different ZigBee gateway here and might see if that offers more options or better data.

Update! 

I tried the ZigBee gizmo paired to a generic multimode gateway (like this) and it now gives more info. While boiling water in the same 3kW nominal kettle, my phone app shows:

Tha's much more like it. 

Also, in "setting", I can now tell the breaker to trip for over-current / over-temperature / over- or under-voltage conditions. I couldn't see that before.

I'm not convinced that it's quite 27C in the corner of my kitchen where the breaker is, but it's much closer to that than it is to -35C. And the power/voltage/current match up, more-or-less. So I'm happy that the shortfall is with my Lidl SilverCrest Zigbee hub (old/unsupported firmware perhaps?) rather than with the ZigBee breaker.

I have a wifi one of these (probably different maker but also aliexpress).  I can set alarms for current, voltage, leakage etc in the SmartLife app but can only change the actual trip values using the buttons on the breaker itself.  On your display I can't see a leakage value?

michaels

Reed_Richards said:

Screwdriva said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

https://wepoweryourcar.com/3-pin-plug-charger-vs-dedicated-home-charger/

But using a granny really isn't recommended and doesn't give you access to the best tariffs.  Some of the reasons given above are a bit weak but the safety reason is the key one. Whilst issues with either way of charging are going to be very rare the risks are still much higher using a granny.  

This is spot on!

No it's not!  The safety aspects are all hearsay unsupported by actual evidence.  And I can charge longer and cheaper with Eon NextDrive than I could with Octopus and cheaper still if I were prepared to risk Tomato.  I have a waterproof outdoor socket with built-in WiFi and that gives me all the timing control I need. 

This site is supposed to be about money saving after all; I suggest a perfectly good way of saving £900 and get poo-pooed for it.  

I'm with you on this one.  I have certainly never seen on the leaf documentation that it should not be regularly granny charged, it was only supplied with a granny cable.  In 10 years of ownership the only time I have ever had a warm plug was when I used an extension lead.  I do know that it is wired to a ring main socket not a spur on our garage circuit that does not have much other load on it.

dharm999

Reed_Richards said:

Your DNO, which I presume is Scottish Power Energy Networks, needs to issue a permit before your EV charger can be installed, I believe.  It seems that your installer jumped the gun and went ahead before a permit was issued.  I imagine this can be rectified.   

Thanks, will chase Bumblebee to get this sorted asap.  As the charger is installed and working, what is the implication of not having a permit?  Can SPEN in a worst case scenario insist it is removed?

Solarchaser

dharm999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

Your DNO, which I presume is Scottish Power Energy Networks, needs to issue a permit before your EV charger can be installed, I believe.  It seems that your installer jumped the gun and went ahead before a permit was issued.  I imagine this can be rectified.   

Thanks, will chase Bumblebee to get this sorted asap.  As the charger is installed and working, what is the implication of not having a permit?  Can SPEN in a worst case scenario insist it is removed?

I don't think they would do that, they are probably just a bit annoyed the process hasn't been followed.

The installer should have contacted sp energy networks before starting and they would have probably asked for pictures of your consumer unit and incoming power etc to check if you needed to be unlooped from your neighbour. 
I had to be and so that was required to be completed before the zappi was installed to prevent overloading.

In actual fact the Zappi is a clever bit of kit, I've set it to look at my house as having a 90a fuse instead of the 100a it actually has, and so when I'm theoretically using 100a overnight charging everything up, the zappi reduces the feed to the car to keep me under the 90a limit, this was 10 seconds after it had spiked to 25kw and was in the process of reducing the car charging from 7.7kw



A few seconds later the car was paused and the eddi actually reduced also.

Exiled_Tyke

Solarchaser said:

dharm999 said:

Reed_Richards said:

Your DNO, which I presume is Scottish Power Energy Networks, needs to issue a permit before your EV charger can be installed, I believe.  It seems that your installer jumped the gun and went ahead before a permit was issued.  I imagine this can be rectified.   

Thanks, will chase Bumblebee to get this sorted asap.  As the charger is installed and working, what is the implication of not having a permit?  Can SPEN in a worst case scenario insist it is removed?

I don't think they would do that, they are probably just a bit annoyed the process hasn't been followed.

The installer should have contacted sp energy networks before starting and they would have probably asked for pictures of your consumer unit and incoming power etc to check if you needed to be unlooped from your neighbour. 
I had to be and so that was required to be completed before the zappi was installed to prevent overloading.

In actual fact the Zappi is a clever bit of kit, I've set it to look at my house as having a 90a fuse instead of the 100a it actually has, and so when I'm theoretically using 100a overnight charging everything up, the zappi reduces the feed to the car to keep me under the 90a limit, this was 10 seconds after it had spiked to 25kw and was in the process of reducing the car charging from 7.7kw



A few seconds later the car was paused and the eddi actually reduced also.

I have this set up on mine too. It's very useful to know that I can run appliances, hot water, charge the house battery and the car without risk of going over the fuse rating.