Home charge points (purchase/problems/questions) (See mod note post#1)

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119447159#Comment_119447159

He’s right. It doesnt have any load sensing so needs a priority switch to be installed which adds the €200 to the price. It will do the job fine after that.

A new load sensing charge point would be better but you’ll be paying a lot more than €200 extra for that! ;)

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119447159#Comment_119447159

I've a "dumb charger" too and a priority switch fitted for the electric shower. Shower has priority, so if car is charging and shower is then turned on, the car stops charging. When shower is turned off, the car starts charging again.

ElitesTeam

Ok thanks guys.

Does an EO mini basic v1 have load balancer/priority switch built in?

ElitesTeam

Also what did you guys pay who had a ABL fitted with load balancer by a electrician?

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448141#Comment_119448141

Most people paid very little as the ABL was the free charger given out by ESB many years ago.

It would be no reflection on the prices your being quoted now.

ElitesTeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448502#Comment_119448502

Got the quote of €870 in vate for the install plus the €300(€1170) I paid for the charger.

Does not seem worth the effort. I prob will just go the route of getting a new one 😥

slave1

Be aware the Priority Switch has a big enough footprint too, may impact your decision if space an issue. Mine barely fitted as house old and very little room left for consumer unit expansion

dingbat

Installer called up today. We're putting in a tethered charger and he wasn't overly keen on putting it directly onto the external insulation given the extra weight of the cable.

He didn't outright refuse, but that wasn't the point. He was a nice chap with a good practical head on him and during our conversation he suggested a solution I hadn't considered - a place for a pedestal that would be far more discreet than anything I'd previously envisaged.

What price - generally speaking - is a pedestal?

...Ghost...

I want to upgrade from a 60/80A main fuse to a 100A fuse. This means upgrading the tails to 25mm^2 from the consumer unit to meter box, which is 5m away on the same wall. The new tails would be run through the cavity wall (same as existing run) or externally to the side entrance and back into the house which would be about 7 or 8m of cable. What would this likely cost?

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119454998#Comment_119454998

myEnergi sell a pedestal, pricing on their website (Zappi charge point only obviously)

Manion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455420#Comment_119455420

Why so you feel you need to upgrade your power supply?

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455873#Comment_119455873

We use a lot of power. Charging 2 EVs alone would max out the current fuse and that's before considering the base-load. I think if nothing else, it's prudent to upgrade.

Heroditas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119450789#Comment_119450789

Wait due the Mini Pro 3 to come out in the next couple of months

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455934#Comment_119455934

Have you considered an outside socket for charging the second EV if the other one is charging. I did this 3yrs ago when we moved to a two EV house but we've never actually needed to use it

Manion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455934#Comment_119455934

I got paranoid about the power supply a year or so ago, ran the numbers and convinced myself I would need an upgrade.

When we got the charger and actively monitored power usage, found there was plenty of head room.

Anyway, the upgrade cost is on the ESB website.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455934#Comment_119455934

Use load balancing chargers. It’s rare that you would need to charge for more than a few hours each night.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455934#Comment_119455934

Are you upgrading to 16kVA(80A) or 20kVA(100A)? The 16kVA, which they call the "enhanced supply", costs €1744 for the ESB to do their bit but you'll have to pay an electrician to also assess and upgrade your house before ESB will do anything with their fuse.

Your electrician costs could literally cost anything depending on what he finds in your install.... bad earth, upgrade to tails, or any other issues he finds. You need your electrician to come out and assess that first.

I've 16kVA and there is plenty to spare for 2 EV's, heat pumps etc.

20kVA, if that's what you are going for, is overkill in my opinion and will cost you alot more than the 16kVA upgrade.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456027#Comment_119456027

I have 2 outdoor sockets already. One connected to the Rolec and another I added last year when I was building electric gates. The reason we would need 2 charge points is that 1 car is a Leaf and the other will be a M3. The Leaf has the 6.6OBC. Using a granny charger is just not something we will downgrade to.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456120#Comment_119456120

The 60/80A fuse is really a 60A which will allow short spikes up to 80A (which is how the ESB guy explained it). It was he who suggested I upgrade when he came out to replace the last fuse in December. I have seen 2 60A fuses blow in the house since getting EVs and both occasions were when both EVs were plugged in. I learned that if we needed both cars charged, then we needed to use the EVSE on the 3.3 OBC and then use the granny charger on the 6.6 OBC car to spread the load. With 2 cars charging at up to 32A each, I would rather have a higher ceiling....even with load balancing on the new EVSE. I don't know what the base load is at night when we charge the cars, but just as an idea, we set the dishwasher and washing machine to turn on after midnight. Some lights are always on (kids). My eldest often games on his PC after working late. The oven might be turned on....the water pump can run intermittently when bathroom is used. I have a pond which runs 2 pumps 24/7 and a UV filter. Other stuff is left in standby mode. I'm sure there's more, but you get the idea.

Upgrading the tails is not urgent, but I would prefer it get done while i'm having a new charger installed.

KCross

The 60/80A fuse is really a 60A which will allow short spikes up to 80A (which is how the ESB guy explained it). It was he who suggested I upgrade when he came out to replace the last fuse in December. I have seen 2 60A fuses blow in the house since getting EVs and both occasions were when both EVs were plugged in.

So you have a 12kVA supply (60A fuse). The 16kVA supply (80A fuse) will do fine. That will be €1744 plus your electricians fees.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456364#Comment_119456364

According to the ESB electrician, he said the fuse upgrade is free, but the tails upgrade can be done by any RECI. He did say the RECI would only be able to bring the tails from the CU to a junction box in the meter unit and that ESB would make the final connection and fuse upgrade. Maybe I misheard.

Manion

I'd be more alarmed at blowing the main meter fuse repeatedly. Something is not quite right about your setup for that to happen so often considering your fuse board should protect the meter in most instances.

I'm running an EV, Heat pump, AC, induction hob, electric cooker and two 1kw gaming computers off a standard supply. The house has a water pump. All house lights are LED though. You can pick up a pretty cheap power monitor and see what's actually using the electricity, it might be a fault.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456441#Comment_119456441

It’s not meant to be free. Take it if he offers it!

see page 5, row 3 of their document

https://www.esbnetworks.ie/docs/default-source/publications/esb-networks-dac-statement-of-charges.pdf

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456448#Comment_119456448

Had a leccy look at that in January on strong advice. Replaced one of the breakers in the CU. Was 50/50 on need to upgrade and also said load balancing would do the job for a second charger unless I decided to turn the pond into a hot-tub 😂

lfc200

Hi,

Originally posted this question in the zappi charger thread but thing this is probably the better thread.

Hoping that this isn’t too stupid of a question but I have a Zappi charger which is run from my meter box. 

I currently have a smart meter but want to change over to a day/night meter, will this cause any problems or difficulties?

Cheers

ECO_Mental

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457047#Comment_119457047

What you are saying is that your Zappi is feed from your meter box not off the main board. The type of meter you have will no affect on the Zappi.

Are you sure about swapping out the smart meter?? Having one of them gives you lots more options such as really cheap EV rates for a couple of hours during the night. Also if you have PV you will be able to measure the export you have and get paid for it. I know people say the base rates are a lot higher etc but for example there is no difference between rates with Electric Ireland.

lfc200

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457064#Comment_119457064

Thanks ECO.

Looking at the pricing and options I think the day/night makes most sense. I’m currently on a 24hr tariff and incl vat I’m paying 22c/kWh.

Could go with the Energia ev plan which is 27.4c/kWh day and 7.9c/kWh night. I have PV’s on the house and my wife and I don’t generally work from home so day usage is relatively limited.

The smart meter tariff’s I just can’t seem to see anything even remotely similar for night rate?

GalwayMan74

"The smart meter tariff’s I just can’t seem to see anything even remotely similar for night rate?"

Carful now or you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist by the pro-smart meter lads.

ECO_Mental

@lfc200 well you need to come off that 24hr rate ASAP and switch all your car charging to night obviously and those look like good rates alright. Dont want to derail the home charging thread talking about rates. If you have PV you will get paid for everything you export if you have a smart meter (potentially) and if both work in the office when you are are peak PV production then it might be worth a look.

Electric Ireland do the following smart rates and you could switch today if you have a smart meter. Charge your car every night at 9cent for 2 hours, might be something to look at for the short term (1 year) to see how the smart tariffs develop. I think they are only seeing what they can do for now and have great potential.

DaveyDave

Unless I'm missing something, the night boost rate combined with the standard night rate doesn't compare to non-smart tariffs? Unless you only plan on charging your car for 2 hours every single night, you'd still have a crap day rate though.

I haven't seen any smart plans that are cheaper than traditional day/night plans.

Slight update on my end, I called ESB the other day and arranged for my smart meter to be swapped to day/night one next week. When I told her Electric Ireland flat out told me they won't do it, she said I'm entitled to a day/night meter and she can still schedule the job on the system so there's no indication it's not being done. Plus we know other members have had it done recently. Bugs me that a supplier can lie about it to try sell me an overpriced smart plan. Surely they're not allowed lie to customers to gain profit?

ElitesTeam

Hi all,

I got new ABL 1W7221 which has DC protection so I not need a B RCD (€200), does this model still need load management?