Advise on chargers please
Discussion
Ok, so totally new to all this. Thinking of getting an Kia EV4.
My incoming electric supply is at the back of the house. There’s the meter and consumer unit there. There is a heavy duty armoured cable running into the garage, where there is another small consumer unit for sockets and lights.
So first question, in order to install a charging point in garage do they have to run a separate cable back to house or can it come off cable already supplying garage?
Secondly if they have to run a separate cable can that run above ground clipped to house etc? Or does it have to be buried?
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
In order to do the above I am thinking an untethered charger so I can leave a cable to charge outside, but if I want to charge in the garage, I can unplug that cable, plug another one in and charge inside, again is that feasible?
Am I right in thinking the charger needs a WiFi signal to work, if so how do I get round the fact that I have no WiFi signal in the garage?
Lastly what chargers are good and which are to be avoided?
My incoming electric supply is at the back of the house. There’s the meter and consumer unit there. There is a heavy duty armoured cable running into the garage, where there is another small consumer unit for sockets and lights.
So first question, in order to install a charging point in garage do they have to run a separate cable back to house or can it come off cable already supplying garage?
Secondly if they have to run a separate cable can that run above ground clipped to house etc? Or does it have to be buried?
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
In order to do the above I am thinking an untethered charger so I can leave a cable to charge outside, but if I want to charge in the garage, I can unplug that cable, plug another one in and charge inside, again is that feasible?
Am I right in thinking the charger needs a WiFi signal to work, if so how do I get round the fact that I have no WiFi signal in the garage?
Lastly what chargers are good and which are to be avoided?
Stevemr said:
Ok, so totally new to all this. Thinking of getting an Kia EV4.
My incoming electric supply is at the back of the house. There s the meter and consumer unit there. There is a heavy duty armoured cable running into the garage, where there is another small consumer unit for sockets and lights.
So first question, in order to install a charging point in garage do they have to run a separate cable back to house or can it come off cable already supplying garage?
Secondly if they have to run a separate cable can that run above ground clipped to house etc? Or does it have to be buried?
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
In order to do the above I am thinking an untethered charger so I can leave a cable to charge outside, but if I want to charge in the garage, I can unplug that cable, plug another one in and charge inside, again is that feasible?
Am I right in thinking the charger needs a WiFi signal to work, if so how do I get round the fact that I have no WiFi signal in the garage?
Lastly what chargers are good and which are to be avoided?
So first question, in order to install a charging point in garage do they have to run a separate cable back to house or can it come off cable already supplying garage?My incoming electric supply is at the back of the house. There s the meter and consumer unit there. There is a heavy duty armoured cable running into the garage, where there is another small consumer unit for sockets and lights.
So first question, in order to install a charging point in garage do they have to run a separate cable back to house or can it come off cable already supplying garage?
Secondly if they have to run a separate cable can that run above ground clipped to house etc? Or does it have to be buried?
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
In order to do the above I am thinking an untethered charger so I can leave a cable to charge outside, but if I want to charge in the garage, I can unplug that cable, plug another one in and charge inside, again is that feasible?
Am I right in thinking the charger needs a WiFi signal to work, if so how do I get round the fact that I have no WiFi signal in the garage?
Lastly what chargers are good and which are to be avoided?
What's the supply cable thickness? Is there a separate board in the Garage and if so what is it rated at? You will need 32A.
Secondly if they have to run a separate cable can that run above ground clipped to house etc? Or does it have to be buried?
It can be armoured above ground, however having a moled cable is not that expensive.
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
Pass
In order to do the above I am thinking an untethered charger so I can leave a cable to charge outside, but if I want to charge in the garage, I can unplug that cable, plug another one in and charge inside, again is that feasible?
Yes, you could use the cable for both options assuming the length is fine.
Am I right in thinking the charger needs a WiFi signal to work, if so how do I get round the fact that I have no WiFi signal in the garage?
Some chargers have a SIM card for 3/4G, or use a powerline adapter to get wifi.
Lastly what chargers are good and which are to be avoided?
I would buy one compatible with the likes of Octopus, so Ohme or Hypervolt. Others are available.
Edited by worsy on Monday 30th March 15:58
Do you own the private road? The big installers generally won't fit chargers if you don't own the land you're charging on, although that is gradually changing I believe. An independent installer might be fine with it.
(I've been looking into this because I'd be charging on Forestry Commission land if I fitted one.)
(I've been looking into this because I'd be charging on Forestry Commission land if I fitted one.)
You will probably also need a data cable running from the meter to the EV charger (depends on the charger) for the CT clamp monitoring.
I would suggest getting a local electrician around who fits EV chargers and they will be able to answer your questions. Hopefully, you can use the cable already running to the garage, but they will be able to ascertain that.
As to which charger, I went with a Podpoint Solo 3S as it has a 5 year warranty. They have been very helpful on the phone with mine helping me with some issues (my incoming voltage was a bit low at times, so it kept tripping out, and they adjusted the settings over the air without fuss).
We are with EDF and I think they have very competitive rates from the 1st April on their EV tariff (better than Octopus).
I would suggest getting a local electrician around who fits EV chargers and they will be able to answer your questions. Hopefully, you can use the cable already running to the garage, but they will be able to ascertain that.
As to which charger, I went with a Podpoint Solo 3S as it has a 5 year warranty. They have been very helpful on the phone with mine helping me with some issues (my incoming voltage was a bit low at times, so it kept tripping out, and they adjusted the settings over the air without fuss).
We are with EDF and I think they have very competitive rates from the 1st April on their EV tariff (better than Octopus).
Stevemr said:
I will want to charge the car outside, this will be on a private road. In order to bridge the pavement my plan is to have a folding arm on the garage that will carry the cable at about 2.2 metres height and the cable will drop down to the car, does this sound feasible?
My best advice on that one is to go back to the dealership and tell them you want a petrol car. It sounds good on paper. In reality it will be a pain.Charging in garage isn't too bad. Keeps the battery warm, so theres better range in winter. I done it for years.
I got wifi range extenders. I can have a phone conversation half way down the street (no mobile reception in our area)
Edited by smallpaul on Monday 30th March 20:41
In terms of crossing the pavement, there are a number of physical solutions ...
Some local authorities are permitting grants to ask for cross-pavement channels:
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/cross-pave...
Other local authorities explicitly ban any cables crossing the pavement. Some of the objections may arise from liability if there was an electrical fault that caused your car to become live so there's some talk of insisting chargers have built-in PEN fault detection.
Some example channel solutions:
https://www.kerbocharge.com/
https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/stormg...
https://gul-e.co.uk/
There are also manufactured retractable arms which cross the pavement like:
https://chargearm.com
However, I can't say if any of these would be permissible in your situation. Even a private road is owned by somebody so that somebody might object to you cutting channels in the pavement or dangling a cable over it.
Some local authorities are permitting grants to ask for cross-pavement channels:
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/cross-pave...
Other local authorities explicitly ban any cables crossing the pavement. Some of the objections may arise from liability if there was an electrical fault that caused your car to become live so there's some talk of insisting chargers have built-in PEN fault detection.
Some example channel solutions:
https://www.kerbocharge.com/
https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/stormg...
https://gul-e.co.uk/
There are also manufactured retractable arms which cross the pavement like:
https://chargearm.com
However, I can't say if any of these would be permissible in your situation. Even a private road is owned by somebody so that somebody might object to you cutting channels in the pavement or dangling a cable over it.
If you want to reuse your existing cable it may be possible with the power limited. In many cases garage power supplies are intended for 20a max. The charger will configurable by the installer.
Private land is an issue that I have. The cars are parked on land the other side of a private strip of land. In my case the deeds state it’s owned by an off shore company. They never respond , so I can’t get permission to run cables. It worth a trying if you want to run new cables.
Private land is an issue that I have. The cars are parked on land the other side of a private strip of land. In my case the deeds state it’s owned by an off shore company. They never respond , so I can’t get permission to run cables. It worth a trying if you want to run new cables.
Thank you for the replies.
The garage supply is 32 amps and the cable to it is hefty! So sounds like that should be ok. Which is a relief.
I own the private road. But I assume if they are installing the point in the garage they will be fine anyway as I could charge in there.
I think issue with those cable runs in pavement is you have to put the cable in and out each time. I am kind of imagining the cable coming through the garage wall and a fold up 1 metre long arm to support it. So you just flip that up, pull the cable down and plug in.
Not quite worked out how exactly to do that yet though!
The garage supply is 32 amps and the cable to it is hefty! So sounds like that should be ok. Which is a relief.
I own the private road. But I assume if they are installing the point in the garage they will be fine anyway as I could charge in there.
I think issue with those cable runs in pavement is you have to put the cable in and out each time. I am kind of imagining the cable coming through the garage wall and a fold up 1 metre long arm to support it. So you just flip that up, pull the cable down and plug in.
Not quite worked out how exactly to do that yet though!
I imagine this is the sort of thing you're thinking of.
The main problem with having a cable swinging in the wind and rain will be durability, where you might break down the internal insulation or connections. The cable then fails or produces random errors.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barkan-Protective-Electri...
The main problem with having a cable swinging in the wind and rain will be durability, where you might break down the internal insulation or connections. The cable then fails or produces random errors.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barkan-Protective-Electri...
On the power side, they might be able to use the existing armoured cable to the garage, but it depends on capacity. If it’s not enough, they’ll just run a new cable from the house. An installer will check that pretty quickly.
If a new cable is needed, it can just be clipped along the wall... no need to dig up the garden unless you really want it hidden.
Your overhead cable idea for charging outside actually makes sense. People do similar setups to avoid trailing cables across paths. As long as it’s high enough and secure, it’s workable - an installer might just tidy up the execution.
Going untethered is a good shout for what you want. It gives you flexibility to charge inside or outside just by swapping cables.
WiFi-wise, don’t worry too much. It’s useful for apps and smart features, but the charger will still work without it. If needed, a simple extender usually sorts it.
And in terms of chargers, you won’t go far wrong with brands like Ohme, Hypervolt, Wallbox or Zappi.
Overall, it’s all pretty doable, you just need a decent installer to map it out properly.
If a new cable is needed, it can just be clipped along the wall... no need to dig up the garden unless you really want it hidden.
Your overhead cable idea for charging outside actually makes sense. People do similar setups to avoid trailing cables across paths. As long as it’s high enough and secure, it’s workable - an installer might just tidy up the execution.
Going untethered is a good shout for what you want. It gives you flexibility to charge inside or outside just by swapping cables.
WiFi-wise, don’t worry too much. It’s useful for apps and smart features, but the charger will still work without it. If needed, a simple extender usually sorts it.
And in terms of chargers, you won’t go far wrong with brands like Ohme, Hypervolt, Wallbox or Zappi.
Overall, it’s all pretty doable, you just need a decent installer to map it out properly.
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