Trying to decide between Ohme and Zappi home chargers for MG5

[defeatedbythecat]

That's great thank you. I think this one is the frontrunner now. All being well with the Looped Supply issue

 

[defeatedbythecat]

Went for a Hypervolt in the end.

We don't have solar or a battery if we did would have gone for the Zappi. As it is, the Zappi is not the most aesthetically pleasing wall charger to have at the front of the house and from videos I have seen the software update process isn't as straightforward as the Hypervolt.

Had Western Power come to the house and it turns out they fixed the looped supply issue a couple of years ago. I had no recollection of it.
Asked my wife and she said "yeah they did it one day a few years ago whilst you were at work".

The neighbours have paving slabs in their front garden and apparently that directly lead to the access needed to get it unlooped the same day.

So that's a relief, installation of the Hypervolt is 2nd week in October. Hopefully just in time for the MG5 LR arrival

 

[Severnless]

Went for a Hypervolt in the end.

We don't have solar or a battery if we did would have gone for the Zappi. As it is, the Zappi is not the most aesthetically pleasing wall charger to have at the front of the house and from videos I have seen the software update process isn't as straightforward as the Hypervolt.

Had Western Power come to the house and it turns out they fixed the looped supply issue a couple of years ago. I had no recollection of it.
Asked my wife and she said "yeah they did it one day a few years ago whilst you were at work".

The neighbours have paving slabs in their front garden and apparently that directly lead to the access needed to get it unlooped the same day.

So that's a relief, installation of the Hypervolt is 2nd week in October. Hopefully just in time for the MG5 LR arrival

Had my hypervolt delivered on Tuesday, had to wait three weeks for it! they are so busy and there was a problem getting the couriers to pick it up.
Yet to fit it as I have to run a cat5 cable to the meter then I can remove the Ohme piece of #£&@*.

 

[defeatedbythecat]

Had my hypervolt delivered on Tuesday, had to wait three weeks for it! As they are so busy and there was a problem getting it to the courier.
Yet to fit it as I have to run a cat5 cable to the meter then I can remove the Ohme piece of #£&@*.

What's the cat5 for? (I mean I know the purpose of the cat5 but not why you need it in this instance?

 

[biffo]

I know that hypervolt have a load clamp fitted to ensure that main fuse doesn't get overloaded (and in future, to support solar panels) - my installer is using an EV ultra combined power and data cable - is the lan cable doing this job?

As far as I understood, Hypervolt is wifi only just now?

 

[Severnless]

What's the cat5 for? (I mean I know the purpose of the cat5 but not why you need it in this instance?

As biffo says it’s for the clamp meter to go on the incoming live before the smart meter, so the charger can throttle back if the house load increase to much.

 

[Severnless]

I know that hypervolt have a load clamp fitted to ensure that main fuse doesn't get overloaded (and in future, to support solar panels) - my installer is using an EV ultra combined power and data cable - is the lan cable doing this job?

As far as I understood, Hypervolt is wifi only just now?

Yep it’s wifi only at the moment, but it does seem to be a clever bit of kit.
The lan is for the clamp meter, which only requires 2 of the wires.

 

[Lovemyev]

Hypervolt units are selling really well at the moment.
There customer service is excellent as well by all accounts.
I really do like the looks of this unit, it would be my personal choice without any doubt.
Jordan from Artisan Electrics has made the Hypervolt his "GO TO" unit now over the Zappi.
Hypervolt are not far away from releasing a unit that will work in conjunction with sola panels.

 

[biffo]

Hypervolt units are selling really well at the moment.
There customer service is excellent as well by all accounts.
I really do like the looks of this unit, it would be my personal choice without any doubt.
Jordan from Artisan Electrics has made the Hypervolt his "GO TO" unit now over the Zappi.
Hypervolt are not far away from releasing a unit that will work in conjunction with sola panels.

I don't think the solar panel integration is a hardware change - I think it's software in conjunction with the meter clamp that is already installed. That's the impression I got from Jordan's visit to Hypervolt offices

 

[defeatedbythecat]

Hypervolt units are selling really well at the moment.
There customer service is excellent as well by all accounts.
I really do like the looks of this unit, it would be my personal choice without any doubt.
Jordan from Artisan Electrics has made the Hypervolt his "GO TO" unit now over the Zappi.
Hypervolt are not far away from releasing a unit that will work in conjunction with sola panels.

To my taste it's the best looking charger, sleek and uncomplicated. Aside from the colour changing lights which can be a bit like unicorn puke, it doesn't draw too much attention. We're going for black to contrast a white box beneath where it will be installed.

A lot of the other chargers seem like they're trying to look high tech or they're just ugly

 

[Lovemyev]

To my taste it's the best looking charger, sleek and uncomplicated. Aside from the colour changing lights which can be a bit like unicorn puke, it doesn't draw too much attention. We're going for black to contrast a white box beneath where it will be installed.

A lot of the other chargers seem like they're trying to look high tech or they're just ugly

Agreed the black front cover will tone down the :- "Look at me, I am a EV wall box" thing.
I do like the original gloss white ( Apple / Mac (ish ) looking unit myself.
I believe the function lights and the "Disco Lights" on the unit can be manually adjusted / toned down in the settings menu.
When my old ( 6 year old ) dumb 32 Amp Rolec unit finally gives up the ghost, I am really tempted by the Hypervolt unit thats for sure.
The original Rolec unit was on borrowed time.
It had eaten through two Rolec branded RCBO's in about five years.
As a result, the about 60% of retaining pegs that hold the front cover screws in place, had broken from the back casing.
I did manage to pick up a really cheap ( almost new ) Rolec 13 amp unit on EBay about four months earlier.
So, I then decided to refit the Ebay purchased Rolec, with new better quality components.
The original unit ( now well out of warranty ) was still operating while I conducted the rebuild on the second unit.
When complete, I switched out the rebuilt wall box and even replaced the incoming 6mm T&E feed cable and installed a new longer tethered type 2 cable.
There is also a Wi-Fi relay inside of the unit, which will provide control via an App on my phone, for delayed charging on cheaper "Off - Peak" rates.
Effectively, its an almost new install, just with better quality components installed.
I was able to shop around for the items, therefore the total cost of everything was just under £200.
No labour costs of course.
Had the Hypervolt been available at the time, then I would have taken this route.
It's on my "Wish List".

 

[kiltox]

Jordan from Artisan Electrics has made the Hypervolt his "GO TO" unit now over the Zappi.

Is that really the endorsement it sounds like though? I’m sure installers will recommend whatever they’re making decent money on.

 

[defeatedbythecat]

Is that really the endorsement it sounds like though? I’m sure installers will recommend whatever they’re making decent money on.

I do like their content, it's interesting, but never quite feel comfortable knowing it's all really just one giant advert.

 

[Lovemyev]

Is that really the endorsement it sounds like though? I’m sure installers will recommend whatever they’re making decent money on.

This is a very fair point.
But they stopped installing the Rolec units, due to the higher failure rates.
I can understand why they do not want to keep doing "Call Back's" to units, that fail due to poor quality components.
Install a better quality unit has to be the answer, time is money to these people.
They have run into a few problems on the Zappi 2 models just lately as well.
Of course the Hypervolt units still need to prove themselves long term yet, it's early days.
Age old problem, when the production rate increases, problems start happening.
Elon Musk was asked once :- "When is the best time to buy a Tesla".
His answer :- "Never after a production rate increase".

 

[Mark Holmes]

This is a very fair point.
But they stopped installing the Rolec units, due to the higher failure rates.
I can understand why they do not want to keep doing "Call Back's" to units, that fail due to poor quality components.
Install a better quality unit has to be the answer, time is money to these people.
They have run into a few problems on the Zappi 2 models just lately as well.
Of course the Hypervolt units still need to prove themselves long term yet, it's early days.
Age old problem, when the production rate increases, problems start happening.
Elon Musk was asked once :- "When is the best time to buy a Tesla".
His answer :- "Never after a production rate increase".

Never had a problem with my Rolec….it’s always powered off when not being used.

 

[Jto]

This loop supply is causing me some worry, have just checked and we’re in a loop with the neighbour but we’re the first part of that makes any difference.
My other concern is we are an economy 7 house (not sure about the neighbour but will ask) which means we have a big storage radiator and a hot water tank.
We’re about to have a smart meter installed and will then switch to Octopus Go.
Even if our neighbour isn’t on Eco7, I’ll need to check about adding our new car to the load for the magic 4 hour cheap rate.,.

Andy

Would octopus agile be better? Could I ask have you two fuse boxes one on the daytime rate and a second box for your storage heater and water heater, this is controlled by the smart meter timer.

 

[Barney]

Went for a Hypervolt in the end.

We don't have solar or a battery if we did would have gone for the Zappi. As it is, the Zappi is not the most aesthetically pleasing wall charger to have at the front of the house and from videos I have seen the software update process isn't as straightforward as the Hypervolt.

...

So that's a relief, installation of the Hypervolt is 2nd week in October. Hopefully just in time for the MG5 LR arrival

Interesting - I'm also getting my Hypervolt installed that week, though I'm getting my 5LR next week so shall be using the granny for a while. You're not using SevernSparks as well, by any chance ?

 

[defeatedbythecat]

...

Interesting - I'm also getting my Hypervolt installed that week, though I'm getting my 5LR next week so shall be using the granny for a while. You're not using SevernSparks as well, by any chance ?

I am indeed!

 

[Knuttt]

Would octopus agile be better? Could I ask have you two fuse boxes one on the daytime rate and a second box for your storage heater and water heater, this is controlled by the smart meter timer.

I’m attaching a photo of our fuse box, if that helps, we’re getting a proper smart meter installed next week.

But I also spoke the our electric board (who is responsible for the actual wires in the street etc) and they confirmed that we’re on a looped supply but as the adaption is for an electric car, the cost of un-looping the neighbour etc would be covered my them!

 

[Jto]

This my family member box after installing smart meter you will see two cable from the main supply 100amp fuse to the meter. On the right side bottom of the meter you will see a brown and blue at the back which is the feed to the normal electric and a negative feed to the off peak box, the front brown wire is the timed feed to the second fuse box for heaters eg