Wallbox Pulsar Plus

[RVAtom]

I saw an article/review on Cleantechnica about a new EVSE coming to the North American market. It looks like it has been available for a while in Europe. It seems comparable to the Juicebox in the ability to sync up with a second one if you have 2 EVs that need to charge at the same time on the same circuit. It seems like a nice little box, real low profile.

Does anyone have any experience with them? The writeup I saw was really more of a first impressions than a review I think. I'm glad there are more of these devices coming out. The competition should drive the prices down over the next few years.

Sponsored

 

[methorian]

I actually just ordered two of the Wallbox Pulsar Plus's today. (Seen here: https://support.wallbox.com/na/knowledge-base/pulsar-plus-product-overview/)

I've purchased a BMW i3, so I'm going to want two EVSE's available, and I didn't feel like adding another circuit at the moment, so I needed a load balancing EVSE. Juicebox supports this, BUT it requires an active network connection, else it defaults to super slow charging on both units.

The Pulsar Plus works like the Tesla EVSE, where you actually run a COM cable (twisted pair, cat5/etc) between the two units (or daisy-chain up to like 16 in the Pulsars case). This allows load balancing to happen regardless of internet activity.

I'll post pics/more info once I get them!

 

[JellyBelly]

I actually just ordered two of the Wallbox Pulsar Plus's today. (Seen here: https://support.wallbox.com/na/knowledge-base/pulsar-plus-product-overview/)

I've purchased a BMW i3, so I'm going to want two EVSE's available, and I didn't feel like adding another circuit at the moment, so I needed a load balancing EVSE. Juicebox supports this, BUT it requires an active network connection, else it defaults to super slow charging on both units.

The Pulsar Plus works like the Tesla EVSE, where you actually run a COM cable (twisted pair, cat5/etc) between the two units (or daisy-chain up to like 16 in the Pulsars case). This allows load balancing to happen regardless of internet activity.

I'll post pics/more info once I get them!

Interested to see how this works - looking at something like this down the road

 

[RVAtom]

Man looking at those instructions, I am realizing I screwed up when I had my electrician mount my NEMA 14-50 outlet. I got it about 2 feet off the floor. If I remember right at the time I was looking at a Juicebox and that recommended that height, but I might be misremembering.

The real interactions are with the plug and holster, so I can still mount that at a good height if I get one of these Pulsar Plus EVSEs still. I'm really curious how this works out for you methorian.

Question, do you use Android or iOS? One of the things I was a little worried about with the Juicebox was that the reviews of the app for Android looked a little scary. It seemed to be a bit of a tossup how well it would actually work.

 

[methorian]

Man looking at those instructions, I am realizing I screwed up when I had my electrician mount my NEMA 14-50 outlet. I got it about 2 feet off the floor. If I remember right at the time I was looking at a Juicebox and that recommended that height, but I might be misremembering.

The real interactions are with the plug and holster, so I can still mount that at a good height if I get one of these Pulsar Plus EVSEs still. I'm really curious how this works out for you methorian.

Question, do you use Android or iOS? One of the things I was a little worried about with the Juicebox was that the reviews of the app for Android looked a little scary. It seemed to be a bit of a tossup how well it would actually work.

I'll definitely let you guys know how it works out.

I use iOS now, but I have Android phones available as well. I'll load the Wallbox app on both to make sure it works as well on each.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I actually just ordered two of the Wallbox Pulsar Plus's today. (Seen here: https://support.wallbox.com/na/knowledge-base/pulsar-plus-product-overview/)

I've purchased a BMW i3, so I'm going to want two EVSE's available, and I didn't feel like adding another circuit at the moment, so I needed a load balancing EVSE. Juicebox supports this, BUT it requires an active network connection, else it defaults to super slow charging on both units.

The Pulsar Plus works like the Tesla EVSE, where you actually run a COM cable (twisted pair, cat5/etc) between the two units (or daisy-chain up to like 16 in the Pulsars case). This allows load balancing to happen regardless of internet activity.

I'll post pics/more info once I get them!

Just a word of warning for people in Phoenix or similarly hot climates. The specs indicate a max operating temp of 104F (40C).

 

[RVAtom]

Just a word of warning for people in Phoenix or similarly hot climates. The specs indicate a max operating temp of 104F (40C).

Man thanks for pointing that out. 104°F isn't really hard to hit in an unconditioned garage I would think. In the middle of the summer that could be an issue.

 

[methorian]

Man thanks for pointing that out. 104°F isn't really hard to hit in an unconditioned garage I would think. In the middle of the summer that could be an issue.

I hadn't noticed that. Mine will be in an unconditioned garage, but I've never seen it go above 80-ish F in the summer. Definitely could be a limiting factor for some though.

 

[quitepossibly]

Just a word of warning for people in Phoenix or similarly hot climates. The specs indicate a max operating temp of 104F (40C).

The only consolation is that usually people charge at night when the temperature is lower.

 

[macchiaz-o]

The only consolation is that usually people charge at night when the temperature is lower.

Maybe this is an exaggeration? I'm not sure, but I don't think my garage temp drops below 100 until sometime around late October or early November.

 

[quitepossibly]

Maybe this is an exaggeration? I'm not sure, but I don't think my garage temp drops below 100 until sometime around late October or early November.

I live in California, where the night time temperature is never higher than 70 degrees.

 

[methorian]

Received my two Wallbox units in yesterday, after calling UPS to complain. They were shipped with signature required via UPS. I signed for them/released them via my UPS MyChoice account, and apparently the driver did not pay attention to that since I watched him deliver the box, then take it back....

Will install them this weekend and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[quitepossibly]

Received my two Wallbox units in yesterday, after calling UPS to complain. They were shipped with signature required via UPS. I signed for them/released them via my UPS MyChoice account, and apparently the driver did not pay attention to that since I watched him deliver the box, then take it back....

Will install them this weekend and let you guys know how it goes.

Great! I'm really curious how the power share function will work.

 

[methorian]

Alrighty - So due to some ice and snow yesterday, I didn't have to work, so I took the time to install my two Wallbox's!

Will immediately say that it all went very well. Very easy to install and setup, even when doing power sharing.

Note that folks should have a licensed electrician do all of their electrical work, including installing these.

The Wallbox Pulsar Plus is packaged very well, my 2 units came shipped inside a larger box with plenty of packing material to keep them from shifting. Each unit was then double boxed itself (brown box with the actual retail white box inside). So kudos to Wallbox for attempting to ensure they make it safely.

Packing is great, and well thought-out, though I'm not one to care too much about this.

Each unit comes with the Wallbox itself, with 14-50 plug already attached, a holster/wire management bracket, and mounting screws with anchors.

I had an existing 14-50 receptacle that I installed in my garage with a Grizzl-E 40A EVSE.

The plan was to remove that 14-50, put in a junction box, and use multi-tap connectors to run lines to each of the wallboxes (hardwire them).

I also ran a piece of CAT5E between the 2 wallboxes to let them communicate for power-sharing. You can daisy chain I believe up to 24 for power sharing from a single circuit.

Here I had the mounting plates for each Wallbox mounted on a backing board (so that I didn't have to worry about stud placement, at some point in the next few years the garage will be reno'd so I'm not super concerned about aesthetics at the moment). I ran some 6GA THHN from the junction box to the Wallbox (2 hots and a ground), and the CAT5E. Used some non-metallic flexible conduit since it's very easy to work with. Note that the Wallbox has 1" knockout, so I used 1" conduit/connectors.

Here's both Wallboxes mounted with conduit and wire ran.

Screw terminals make easy install of the THHN. Only need one twisted pair for the CAN connections, so just used the green pair in my CAT5E. Power sharing installation instructions make it easy to understand how to wire.

Here's the junction box looking a little sloppy after terminating everything. I had 6/3 Romex coming in from my panel, so I capped off the neutral since it isn't necessary in a hardwire situation. Used multi-tap connectors to connect up two hots, and a grounding block to ground it all.

On restoring power via the breaker both units lit up....

Loaded up the Wallbox app, which I had already created an account for.

Added both units to the app very easily. It asks for two unique identifiers present on the side of the unit to add, then uses local Bluetooth communication to connect. Once both were added I went into the primary units settings and configured the Power Sharing function. After that they connected up and looked good to go.

I then connected each unit to Wifi. Note that this is not at all necessary, you can choose to use local Bluetooth communication for setup/monitoring when you're near them. Wifi is only required for Software Updates and remote management.

Once connected to Wifi they each had a software update available, which was a breeze to install.

After both were updated and all seemed well, I plugged them into my i3 and Mach-E. The i3 was already fully charged so not much happened there. The Mach-E started charging up immediately.

Note that even with power sharing, each Wallbox is listed separately within the app. So you can tracking charging history on each unit separately.

So far I am impressed. I haven't been able to fully test power sharing since neither EV had very depleted batteries. Once I can drain them a bit and get them both plugged in, I'll comment on power sharing functionality/etc.

Also sorry for the mess of a "review". Really just a quick and dirty for now. Feel free to shoot me any questions you may have.

 

[OldEVGuy]

Tom posted his review of the Wallbox.

https://insideevs.com/news/487897/wallbox-pulsar-plus-initial-impressions-review/

Sponsored