Juice Booster 2

[Deano24]

Hi, I’m new to the EV world and just bought a SR AWD Mach E (moved from a V8 GT)… I have the ability to charge at my work location, where it lives for 3 days a week. However, it is a nightmare to have a Home Charger installed at home due to the distance I would have to run the cable to the car(30m ish). I currently run an extension cable to my garage (which has no power) and charge the car from there. I’ve seen the juice booster 2. Does anyone within the UK sub-group have any experience of this product? Does it speed up charge time?

TIA

Dean

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[Wonky_Donkey]

Hi, I’m new to the EV world and just bought a SR AWD Mach E (moved from a V8 GT)… I have the ability to charge at my work location, where it lives for 3 days a week. However, it is a nightmare to have a Home Charger installed at home due to the distance I would have to run the cable to the car(30m ish). I currently run an extension cable to my garage (which has no power) and charge the car from there. I’ve seen the juice booster 2. Does anyone within the UK sub-group have any experience of this product? Does it speed up charge time?

TIA

Dean

Hi Dean

Welcome to the forum

I’m going to have to make a few assumptions to try and answer your questions so correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

So I’m guessing you’re running a standard extension cord from a UK 3 pin plug in the house out to the garage? This will limit the amount of power you can draw quite significantly - basically 13A - or 3.5kW.

I’m also assuming you’re using the Ford VariCharger that came with the Mach-E? (Standard 3 pin plug on one end and the Type 2 car connector on the other end with a power brick in between)

So in this scenario - buying a Juice Booster 2 would make no difference at all I’m afraid. Basically the Juice Booster 2 does exactly the same as the Ford supplied VariCharger.

Your cheapest option to get a decent speed of charging at home would be to get an qualified electrician to run a 32A dedicated supply from your consumer unit in the house to your garage, and then install a 32A commando socket. This would allow you to swap the plug on the Ford Varicharger for the beefier 32Amp one, and you’d be able to double your charging speeds to just over 7kW.

That’s still not massively fast - but it’s as fast as you can get on a UK domestic supply. If you happen to have an industrial strength supply (3 phase) - you could theoretically get a 22kW car charger installed, but the biggest problem there is the Mach-E will only take a maximum of 11kW when using AC charging.

DC Fast Chargers out and about are not subject to the same limits, and with your car you can charge at a maximum of 115kW if you find the right charger (150kW or higher)

Sorry - lots to take in there - it’s a complicated subject.

Short answer - don’t waste your money on a Juice Booster. If you want to charge effectively at home you’ll need an electrician to run a new dedicated supply to your garage or other chosen point. (if it’s going to be mounted on an outside wall you’ll need to buy a proper waterproof charger)

Hope that helps

Tone

 

[Badger_Prof]

Hi Dean

Welcome to the forum

I’m going to have to make a few assumptions to try and answer your questions so correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

....

Hope that helps

Tone

I would like to say that this response was one of the best thought out, well presented, and most helpful posts I have ever seen on this Forum. Well done, WD!

 

[tommillard81]

Hi Dean

Welcome to the forum

I’m going to have to make a few assumptions to try and answer your questions so correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

So I’m guessing you’re running a standard extension cord from a UK 3 pin plug in the house out to the garage? This will limit the amount of power you can draw quite significantly - basically 13A - or 3.5kW.

I’m also assuming you’re using the Ford VariCharger that came with the Mach-E? (Standard 3 pin plug on one end and the Type 2 car connector on the other end with a power brick in between)

So in this scenario - buying a Juice Booster 2 would make no difference at all I’m afraid. Basically the Juice Booster 2 does exactly the same as the Ford supplied VariCharger.

Your cheapest option to get a decent speed of charging at home would be to get an qualified electrician to run a 32A dedicated supply from your consumer unit in the house to your garage, and then install a 32A commando socket. This would allow you to swap the plug on the Ford Varicharger for the beefier 32Amp one, and you’d be able to double your charging speeds to just over 7kW.

That’s still not massively fast - but it’s as fast as you can get on a UK domestic supply. If you happen to have an industrial strength supply (3 phase) - you could theoretically get a 22kW car charger installed, but the biggest problem there is the Mach-E will only take a maximum of 11kW when using AC charging.

DC Fast Chargers out and about are not subject to the same limits, and with your car you can charge at a maximum of 115kW if you find the right charger (150kW or higher)

Sorry - lots to take in there - it’s a complicated subject.

Short answer - don’t waste your money on a Juice Booster. If you want to charge effectively at home you’ll need an electrician to run a new dedicated supply to your garage or other chosen point. (if it’s going to be mounted on an outside wall you’ll need to buy a proper waterproof charger)

Hope that helps

Tone

What are the disadvantages of using the 32A commando socket, if we assume professionally installed into a modern consumer unit?

Any reasons above Wi-Fi connectivity why people go for a dedicated charger for speeds ~7 kw?

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

What are the disadvantages of using the 32A commando socket, if we assume professionally installed into a modern consumer unit?

Any reasons above Wi-Fi connectivity why people go for a dedicated charger for speeds ~7 kw?

That's a good question

So we are very lucky in that Ford are giving us the VariCharger that almost replaces the need for a basic home charging station (EVSE). Most manufacturers don't supply a home charge setup that is so capable, and most will only go up to 3kW on a 3 pin plug.

The downside to the VariCharger is that I'm not sure how weatherproof it is, so only really suitable if used in a garage on a dedicated commando socket.

The main reasons people go for an EVSE are mainly energy monitoring, setting charging schedules for cheap overnight rates, flexibility of location (ie being waterproof), or if they have multi source supply (eg solar power as well as a mains supply).

 

[Djmc321]

That's a good question

So we are very lucky in that Ford are giving us the VariCharger that almost replaces the need for a basic home charging station (EVSE). Most manufacturers don't supply a home charge setup that is so capable, and most will only go up to 3kW on a 3 pin plug.

Thanks for the insights here, even though I wasn't the OP. This thread has been really useful for me to consider a better option for charging at a 2nd location we've just renovated. I already have an SWA cable run between the front of the house and consumer unit with the idea of installing either a 3-pin plug or dedicated charger, but the latter idea is more expensive (I've already used the grant on primary Ohme Pro installation) and I also wouldn't have the additional wiring for the CT clamp monitoring that the protected chargers need. The commando socket suddenly gives me a 3rd cheap option that works perfectly in my use case, so thanks!

 

[Deano24]

Hi Dean

Welcome to the forum

I’m going to have to make a few assumptions to try and answer your questions so correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

So I’m guessing you’re running a standard extension cord from a UK 3 pin plug in the house out to the garage? This will limit the amount of power you can draw quite significantly - basically 13A - or 3.5kW.

I’m also assuming you’re using the Ford VariCharger that came with the Mach-E? (Standard 3 pin plug on one end and the Type 2 car connector on the other end with a power brick in between)

So in this scenario - buying a Juice Booster 2 would make no difference at all I’m afraid. Basically the Juice Booster 2 does exactly the same as the Ford supplied VariCharger.

Your cheapest option to get a decent speed of charging at home would be to get an qualified electrician to run a 32A dedicated supply from your consumer unit in the house to your garage, and then install a 32A commando socket. This would allow you to swap the plug on the Ford Varicharger for the beefier 32Amp one, and you’d be able to double your charging speeds to just over 7kW.

That’s still not massively fast - but it’s as fast as you can get on a UK domestic supply. If you happen to have an industrial strength supply (3 phase) - you could theoretically get a 22kW car charger installed, but the biggest problem there is the Mach-E will only take a maximum of 11kW when using AC charging.

DC Fast Chargers out and about are not subject to the same limits, and with your car you can charge at a maximum of 115kW if you find the right charger (150kW or higher)

Sorry - lots to take in there - it’s a complicated subject.

Short answer - don’t waste your money on a Juice Booster. If you want to charge effectively at home you’ll need an electrician to run a new dedicated supply to your garage or other chosen point. (if it’s going to be mounted on an outside wall you’ll need to buy a proper waterproof charger)

Hope that helps

Tone

Thanks for this… Probably saved me several hundred pounds. You are right in your assumptions. Although it’s not practical to have a home charger where I currently live, I plan to move in the near future, so it will hopefully only be a short term inconvenience. ?

 

[Rex]

I have the Ford Charge point and had lots of problems having it fitted because of permissions required from SSEN. Feb to September to get it installed. Commissioning could not take place as the voltage exceeded the value the charger was rated at. SSEN installed a datalogger and eventually lowered the transformer setting down the road (carefully avoiding accepting they had been exceeding the legal max voltage to my house).
During this time I only charged on a 13 amp socket using the Ford supplied lead which limits the charge to 2kW. With what I discovered during that time is that I probably did't need a 7.4kW charger with the way I live. I discovered too late

Look carefully at how you use the car and the journeys you do to decide if you need the capacity of the Charge Point. The worst thing would be to arrive home late with a low charge and need to do a long journey early next day.

For my Extended Range 25% to 100% on the 13 amp socket would take about 43 hours.
I've just returned from a journey and put in 67% (putting it to 90% as recommended) and that took 8hr 41mins on the 7.4kW Charge Point.

 

[Rex]

I have also had a a lot of holidays where I have been able to plan my stay and charge at the holiday home from a 13 amp socket. All the home owners have been perfectly happy to let me charge. Only one in Scotland took up my offer of paying.

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