Home charger - is it worth getting a dedicated unit?
Discussion
Car is a Tesla model 3
20,000 miles a year which il claim back from work at 12p a mile
I need to charge it at home, i am renting my current house and will be here for 2-3 years
It’s in a area with zero 4g signal and in order to get WiFi on the driveway I will need a booster
I’m with octopus and as drive pack (£30 unlimited charging) is over subscribed I plan to just use their standard EV tarrif giving 7p kw between midnight and 6
I was originally looking at dedicated chargers, such as the hypervolt 3 and ohme, but with install these come out about £900-£1100
I then saw on Facebook other people using a 32A commando plug to basically achieve the same thing using the car scheduling.
What would the pitfalls of this be, since I’m not planning to use a tarrif where the supplier chooses the charging slots is there any need to over complicate it
Will a 32a commando socket achieve what I want to do with no issues?
20,000 miles a year which il claim back from work at 12p a mile
I need to charge it at home, i am renting my current house and will be here for 2-3 years
It’s in a area with zero 4g signal and in order to get WiFi on the driveway I will need a booster
I’m with octopus and as drive pack (£30 unlimited charging) is over subscribed I plan to just use their standard EV tarrif giving 7p kw between midnight and 6
I was originally looking at dedicated chargers, such as the hypervolt 3 and ohme, but with install these come out about £900-£1100
I then saw on Facebook other people using a 32A commando plug to basically achieve the same thing using the car scheduling.
What would the pitfalls of this be, since I’m not planning to use a tarrif where the supplier chooses the charging slots is there any need to over complicate it
Will a 32a commando socket achieve what I want to do with no issues?
Quattr04. said:
Car is a Tesla model 3
20,000 miles a year which il claim back from work at 12p a mile
I need to charge it at home, i am renting my current house and will be here for 2-3 years
It s in a area with zero 4g signal and in order to get WiFi on the driveway I will need a booster
I m with octopus and as drive pack (£30 unlimited charging) is over subscribed I plan to just use their standard EV tarrif giving 7p kw between midnight and 6
I was originally looking at dedicated chargers, such as the hypervolt 3 and ohme, but with install these come out about £900-£1100
I then saw on Facebook other people using a 32A commando plug to basically achieve the same thing using the car scheduling.
What would the pitfalls of this be, since I m not planning to use a tarrif where the supplier chooses the charging slots is there any need to over complicate it
Will a 32a commando socket achieve what I want to do with no issues?
This is exactly my setup. 32A commando, Tesla Granny, IOG, job jobbed.20,000 miles a year which il claim back from work at 12p a mile
I need to charge it at home, i am renting my current house and will be here for 2-3 years
It s in a area with zero 4g signal and in order to get WiFi on the driveway I will need a booster
I m with octopus and as drive pack (£30 unlimited charging) is over subscribed I plan to just use their standard EV tarrif giving 7p kw between midnight and 6
I was originally looking at dedicated chargers, such as the hypervolt 3 and ohme, but with install these come out about £900-£1100
I then saw on Facebook other people using a 32A commando plug to basically achieve the same thing using the car scheduling.
What would the pitfalls of this be, since I m not planning to use a tarrif where the supplier chooses the charging slots is there any need to over complicate it
Will a 32a commando socket achieve what I want to do with no issues?
Intelligent Octopus Go is 23:30 to 05:30
You can set charging yourself, but after doing this for about a year, Octo got a bit arsey, so I let them schedule a session or two.
Edited by FeelingLucky on Wednesday 3rd December 00:34
The cost to install a 32a commando socket is the same as a wall charger, the only difference being the cost of an interlocked commando socket (£30) plus Tesla mobile charger and 32a commando plug (£220) v a physical wall charger (-£400).
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
Gone fishing said:
The cost to install a 32a commando socket is the same as a wall charger, the only difference being the cost of an interlocked commando socket (£30) plus Tesla mobile charger and 32a commando plug (£220) v a physical wall charger (-£400).
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
The above is more or less what I found. The difference in cost didn't seem worth the trouble.For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
Also was in the situation that the mobile signal in the area was so poor that went for the Hypervolt 3 which connects over the house wifi. The only hassle was a slight rearrange the placing of the mesh wifi nodes to improve the wifi signal to the charger. As things have turned out over time the 4G signal has improved, but think would still make same decision.
Gone fishing said:
The cost to install a 32a commando socket is the same as a wall charger, the only difference being the cost of an interlocked commando socket (£30) plus Tesla mobile charger and 32a commando plug (£220) v a physical wall charger (-£400).
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
That was my experience too. For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
I believe they changed the regs to make the earth//dc whatever it is protection the same on commando sockets if a car will be charging from it to that for a wall charger, so there is nothing in it installation wise except the difference in cost between a charger and a socket, and some chargers have the extra protection built in which makes it more elegant and the costs possibly closer that suggested.
FiF said:
Gone fishing said:
The cost to install a 32a commando socket is the same as a wall charger, the only difference being the cost of an interlocked commando socket (£30) plus Tesla mobile charger and 32a commando plug (£220) v a physical wall charger (-£400).
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
The above is more or less what I found. The difference in cost didn't seem worth the trouble.For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
Also was in the situation that the mobile signal in the area was so poor that went for the Hypervolt 3 which connects over the house wifi. The only hassle was a slight rearrange the placing of the mesh wifi nodes to improve the wifi signal to the charger. As things have turned out over time the 4G signal has improved, but think would still make same decision.
Gone fishing said:
The cost to install a 32a commando socket is the same as a wall charger, the only difference being the cost of an interlocked commando socket (£30) plus Tesla mobile charger and 32a commando plug (£220) v a physical wall charger (-£400).
For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
I imagine most people with a Model 3 already have a Mobile Charger.For the £150 difference, I d personally go wall charger.
Anybody that tells you a commando socket is significantly cheaper to install is not doing it to the legal requirements because they re both the same with regards standalone circuit off the consumer unit, cabling, protection devices, sign off, literally the only thing that s different is what they attach to the end of the cable.
Cost (to me) to get an interlocked 32A socket fitted, £140 inc materials, cost of Tesla 32A charger tail, £32
Finished job £172
Difference in reality somewhere in the region of £800
I've ran a Model 3 solely off a granny charger for a year and a half - 1.3k miles a month but I only commute 3 days a week (70 mile round trip).
I wasn't sure how long I'd keep the Tesla, so I just bought an 'EV approved' external 3 pin socket with an inbuilt RCD (£40 from screwfix IIRC).
I'm on Octopus IOG and I just plug the car in all the time when at home. After a day when I've been into the office, IOG usually schedules a charge starting as soon as I get home at 7pm and it charges for a full 12 hours until I leave in the morning again - full time the house is on the cheaper rate as the Tesla granny charger is relatively slow, but this tops it up back to 80% ready for the next day.
As long as you're confident the wiring to the socket is up to standard then it's fine. You can even limit the charge to a lower current on the Tesla app if you're concerned in any way about running the full 10A through the night.
IOG works well with Tesla as it adds a virtual key to control the car, recognises when its plugged in, starts and stops charges when needed. All works very well, and cheaply.
I wasn't sure how long I'd keep the Tesla, so I just bought an 'EV approved' external 3 pin socket with an inbuilt RCD (£40 from screwfix IIRC).
I'm on Octopus IOG and I just plug the car in all the time when at home. After a day when I've been into the office, IOG usually schedules a charge starting as soon as I get home at 7pm and it charges for a full 12 hours until I leave in the morning again - full time the house is on the cheaper rate as the Tesla granny charger is relatively slow, but this tops it up back to 80% ready for the next day.
As long as you're confident the wiring to the socket is up to standard then it's fine. You can even limit the charge to a lower current on the Tesla app if you're concerned in any way about running the full 10A through the night.
IOG works well with Tesla as it adds a virtual key to control the car, recognises when its plugged in, starts and stops charges when needed. All works very well, and cheaply.
FeelingLucky said:
I imagine most people with a Model 3 already have a Mobile Charger.
Cost (to me) to get an interlocked 32A socket fitted, £140 inc materials, cost of Tesla 32A charger tail, £32
Finished job £172
Difference in reality somewhere in the region of £800
Teslas don't come with the mobile chargers anymore, they haven't for a whileCost (to me) to get an interlocked 32A socket fitted, £140 inc materials, cost of Tesla 32A charger tail, £32
Finished job £172
Difference in reality somewhere in the region of £800
But you clearly don't get it do you? Everything you did is the same for a commando socket as it is for a wall charger. However you got the cost ddown to £172, whether you cut corners, or illegally DIY'd a new circuit without a sparky signing it off, or not having the correct protection, then you could have done that and installed a wall charger and not the interlocked socket. And with Tesla wall chargers readily available on ebay for £400 new, the difference is literally that less the cost of the interlocking commando socket, the 32a charger tail and the UMC if you don't have one.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff