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

Got a Zappi installed. Do people leave their unit powered on between charges? Will probably be 4-7 days between charges so is it necessary to leave it on? Also do they hold their memory if powered off - Date/Time, internet settings etc.? Don't have solar or batteries so it is only monitoring the main house supply.

I'd leave it powered on, it doesn't consume much power when idle.

Power cycling just reduces the lifetime of electronics.

Also, the Zappi can be used as a load monitoring tool (via an app on your phone) if you buy the hub. Thats a useful benefit in itself.

A local rec can do this for you

just be aware that your whole house needs to be tested and a certificate provided for esbn to connect the upgraded tails. (The earthing needs to be upgraded as part of the mains upgrade also)

in my experience if you only have 10mm mains cables atm then it’s possible that your house may not pass the testing and certification process and you may need a complete rewire to achieve certification

when you receive a certificate then there’s a small charge (€180) for esbn to do their work

There may be a breakdown in communication.

what can happen is:

the sparks may have done all he can. Only ESBN can change the tails as they are sealed.

you get them out to change the tails ( around €160) then the sparks comes back to finish the job

I got a quote to install a zappi and the electrician is upgrading the tails/putting surge protection/earth rod and bonding in the hot press and providing a cert for the ESBN ..........will that be enough?

just for clarity (or my understanding at least) - the 'tails' or bit that needs upgrading is running heavier cables from the location of your esb meter to your fuse board. This has to be done by an electrician. The esb will wire the new heavier tails into their meter - they are the only ones that can do this legally. Usually what happens is the electrician putting in the new tails will wire them into the existing ones so you maintain power. The esb will give you an appointment a week or so out to come and change over.

ive heard of a few cases now where ev charger installers will install the charger and leave the consumer stuck as they don't offer to upgrade the wiring. It can be a messy job as the new wiring is heavy and hard to work with. Distance of cable run, and you also might need a new earth rod fitted and various earthing done in your house like in the hot water press, kitchen taps etc.. this should ideally all be discussed at the outset before any work done. Two electricians walked away from mine as they said it was to much hassle and they had enough work. I ended up paying about 1k extra to get the tails upgraded and new earth rod done. The rest was up to spec.

Contact the installer yourself and ask him what needs to be done and more importantly, what has he done up to this point and how much it will cost. Did your father buy the charge point himself or is this fella supposed to supply and install? As others have said that's shocking behaviour. I saw it all the time with my elderly father it makes my blood boil😡😡

I wouldn't be going to another company I'd be demanding answers from EasyGo, has your father handed over any money for this "installation". How much work has actually been done? Kn did mine on behalf of EI and the very first thing he did was wiring and earthing checks, his words were "if she fails any of these I can't proceed", luckily everything was to his satisfaction.

Yes.if your main cables are upgraded (incl earthing) and the whole house passes the certification and testing process then there’s no need for a rewire as the existing circuits are good. You obviously also had to upgrade your distribution board to pass this test.

in my experience,older installations (especially ones with screw in fuses)are unlikely to pass the certification and testing process and a rewire will be recommended.most installations with undersized main cables will be +30yrs.

You have 6 months from the date on this Letter of Offer, which will be emailed to you, to complete your installation and return your Payment Request Form to SEAI with all associated evidence whole and complete – Cert 3, Test Record, photo of installation, invoice from electrician,

Re the above, what exactly is the test record? Also the Cert3?

Test record and cert 3 will come from your electrician. Cert 3 will look like Certificate No. 3 - Sample (safeelectric.ie) and test record looks like Test-Record-Sheet-Sample.png (1040×720) (safeelectric.ie)

It's to verify that the installation was done by a REC and is to an appropriate standard.