EV charger fault

[wenklaw]

Not really Mach E specific just need to vent my frustration somewhere!!!!!

So had my Indra Pro installed end of March, all set up with OVO chargeanytime (7p KwH) and working well then last Monday the charger develops a fault, looks like its tripped but now when turned on has a solid red light. Cracking Energy from whom I purchased and installed arranged an engineer out for yesterday afternoon, friday afternoon, i knew it wouldnt happen and guess what it didnt!!!

So now they cant get hold of local installation people until Tuesday meaning it will probably be w/c 3rd June, 2+ weeks without home charging, not good enough.

People arent going to buy into EV's when you are looking at 10-14+ day lead times for repairs. I have the granny charger paying 24p KwH (over 3 times my normal rate)so I can cope but many EV's now dont come with one so you would be at the mercy of 50,60,70 or even 80p a KwH at public chargers for many that would potentially mean £150-200+ out of pocket.

I am thinking of switching to Octopus as at least when these things happen I would at still get cheap power over night for 5 hours or so.

RANT over.

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[RickMachE]

In reality, virtually no business has repair technicians sitting in their vehicles awaiting your call so they can dash to the rescue.

 

[wenklaw]

In reality, virtually no business has repair technicians sitting in their vehicles awaiting your call so they can dash to the rescue.

Mate it’s primarily the missed appointment that’s cheesed me off along with it being a bank holiday on Monday here in the uK has just added to the delay. 3 or 4 days wait fine, 2 weeks, not fine.

 

[RickMachE]

Mate it’s primarily the missed appointment that’s cheesed me off along with it being a bank holiday on Monday here in the uK has just added to the delay. 3 or 4 days wait fine, 2 weeks, not fine.

Totally get it. But it's not the EV industry, it's EVERYTHING.

One of the reason I didn't keep my Ford Charge Station Pro was a concern about support. Sold it, bought JuiceBox chargers, so I could experience their crappy support...

 

[21st Century Pony]

Not really Mach E specific just need to vent my frustration somewhere!!!!!

So had my Indra Pro installed end of March, all set up with OVO chargeanytime (7p KwH) and working well then last Monday the charger develops a fault, looks like its tripped but now when turned on has a solid red light. Cracking Energy from whom I purchased and installed arranged an engineer out for yesterday afternoon, friday afternoon, i knew it wouldnt happen and guess what it didnt!!!

So now they cant get hold of local installation people until Tuesday meaning it will probably be w/c 3rd June, 2+ weeks without home charging, not good enough.

People arent going to buy into EV's when you are looking at 10-14+ day lead times for repairs. I have the granny charger paying 24p KwH (over 3 times my normal rate)so I can cope but many EV's now dont come with one so you would be at the mercy of 50,60,70 or even 80p a KwH at public chargers for many that would potentially mean £150-200+ out of pocket.

I am thinking of switching to Octopus as at least when these things happen I would at still get cheap power over night for 5 hours or so.

RANT over.

Good Luck! On the one hand, electricity supply is all around us... and on the other hand, tapping this ever-present electricity supply is quite different than the ol' "just pour it into the tank" liquid replenishment of gasoline we had grown used to.

IMHO the full-scale adoption of EVs will necessitate a psychological shift for the common man on learning to live with the physics advantages and limitations of EV electricity supply and how to tap into it as conditions vary.

 

[wenklaw]

Update:
They turn up (we power your car are the installers for cracking energy) 2 hours outside the Friday afternoon window and eventually install a new charger, approx 6pm when finished.
Tests okay, all online BUT then on Saturday it goes offline again, check the charger and no LEDS on the unit which suggests no power, power cycle by flippping the RCD’s it comes back up, plug the car in all looks fine, phew BUT then approx 30 mins later its showing offline, i was out so rebooted the router and bingo it shows back up again THEN 30 mins later offline, try router reboot still dead then i return home later that evening and the charger looks dead again, RCD reset does nothing

Anyone a UK consumer rights expert? Can i tell them at this point to come and take it away as clearly it isn’t fit for purpose? Or what can i threaten them with? Another go at fixing then cancel?

 

[dewidaniels]

You are entitled to a refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as the charger is not fit for purpose and not of satisfactory quality. I recently rejected a Ohme Home Pro for a similar reason. It kept dropping offline and eventually stopped working altogether. Ohme arranged for the charger to be removed and are processing a refund.

 

[wenklaw]

The charger has sprung back to life this morning. Indra saying high voltage seen incoming to my property so the charger shuts down until it sees it safe to turn on. Ummm. No reported to my DNO to check.

 

[wenklaw]

Update for those who are interested.

Installers came back out last Tuesday, replaced the RCBO's in the new little consumer unit. The indra sprung back into life had a little glitch briefly wednesday so I thought thats that its going, cracking energy(egg) agreed to replace for a different manufacturer but i thought I wouolf wait until the DNO got back to me about indras claims of over voltage spikes of 253.9 incoming to my property. Anyway the DNO went out on Monday and called and confirmed they too measured 253 which is right on the limits, they tapped down at the transformer and so far the charger has remained online although i havent actually charged the car as had no need too. They also stated a local transformer is out for maintainance so i imagine that means extra load which may have been the cause as 2 months working fine then the charger starts playing up seems a coincidence, thats a guess!

Tomorrow it will need charging from 30% to 85% so if it goes again i will be swapping out for an Autel if not i will be keeping the indra as all i want is a working unit.

The moral of the story so far is dont get fobbed off by the DNO which i originally was about unlikey over voltage, mine was!!

UPDATE

The Indra failed again after i had plugged into it to register Octopus intelligent. Autel now requested as a replacement.

 

[Mach-Lee]

You could have nuisance tripping because of high voltage. It's especially common if there are a lot of solar photovoltaics in your neighborhood, which raise the grid voltage. A lot of the charge points will trip any time the voltage exceeds 253V (which may occur when the sun shines).

You could also have a PEN fault, which will affect the voltage on your mains and can also raise your earth voltage enough to present a hazard and cause the charge point to trip. This can be intermittent because the voltages depend on how much electricity you and your neighbors are currently using, and can vary throughout the day.

This video explains a lot of it.

 

[wenklaw]

Yes thanks for the clip, interesting.

My Indra yesterday just went offline as in it couldnt talk to the internet, flashing purple lights, seconds after i unplugged it, which seems to much of a coincidence to me, the indra seems super sensitive. Rebooted my router to see if it restored but didnt so I left it all night so 15 hours or so and it failed to restore connectivity until i powered down at the mini CU, not impressed and have read a fair few complaints now from others who have had the same problem which is ongoing.

Basically It would appear to me its a different issue as the unit hadn't tripped.

I have now arranged to change out for the Autel MaxiCharger Compact AC which is a newer unit and has integrated surge protection which can only be a bonus (pretty sure the indra didnt) plus Autel seem to be a bigger player in the EV charger market. I am hoping it wont be as troublesome. Fingers crossed.

Now switched to Octopus Intelligent so at least I can use the granny charger and still get cheap EV electric if my wallmounted one starts playing up.

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