BG EV charging point - more bother than it’s worth?

[Lawnmowerman]

On Tuesday evening we had power failure - there was a noise (bang) from where the electrics are. 10:50pm so had a look - nothing obvious, no circuit breakers had tripped and the matte box was OK.

Went to bed then reported fault at 6:00 am Wednesday morning. SSE asked a few questions and determined that there was power to the property (LED's illuminated on meter) so nothing they could do. Phoned a local (ish) contractor who arrived at 7:00am. By this time I had discovered that by moving some wires (only by millimetres - and by accident) the power came on again. Told the sparky this and he said that would help him. 

He discovered an intermittent open circuit in a neutral wire - he could see that there had been arcing. And it was an easy fix. This was part of the charger install. 30 minute fix and then we had a coffee and swapped stories about VW camper vans - 👍.

You guessed it - wall charger not working now. Hive app. said charger off-line and then advised to follow procedure to reset. It then displays their interactive step by step troubleshooting guide and at the foot of the page a box that states - Get Started.

Well, it doesn't get started. No response to any input - and the X at the top of the page for leaving doesn't work either. Great!

Phoned EV support team on Thursday (got through in less than a minute) who attempt to put back on-line - unsuccessfully. They apologised and said they need to send an engineer.

Will update when problem fixed. Meanwhile back to old faithful (Granny Cable) 🙂.

 

[ernieb]

Sorry to hear that William, sounds like a bad installation but a good thing you were able to use your initiative to more or less resolve the issue. Hope you get the charger sorted. It would be a real pain if it was a full EV?

[IanML]

1 hour ago, Lawnmowerman said:

He discovered an intermittent open circuit in a neutral wire - he could see that there had been arcing.

 

Out of interest, in which part of the supply chain was the open circuit?

[Lawnmowerman]

5 hours ago, IanML said:

Out of interest, in which part of the supply chain was the open circuit?

Not quite sure. The clump of wires at that 'flying' black wire is what I lightly moved for it to disturb the power. I suspect it could well have been that black wire. it looks very odd compared with all the other heavy duty wiring.

 

That 'flying' wire goes to the Matte box.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Lawnmowerman
Added info.

[Lawnmowerman]

7 hours ago, ernieb said:

Sorry to hear that William, sounds like a bad installation but a good thing you were able to use your initiative to more or less resolve the issue. Hope you get the charger sorted. It would be a real pain if it was a full EV?

Accidentally Ernie 😀.

You're right about that if it was a full EV.

Incidentally, I got a call from from the EV people and asked me to reset the Matte box a couple of times (told them I already had). But to no avail.

I now have an appointment for an engineer to visit on the 5th May. That would be a disaster if it had been a BEV - but I'm pretty relaxed about it. Worse things happen at sea after all.

[Lawnmowerman]

Just received an email confirmation at 20:09 confirming my appointment from BG as 'Warranty Visit Appointment'.

[Flatcoat]

I am STILL waiting for an appointment 3 weeks after installation of a bl88dy useless charger. BG are a shambles. 

[IanML]

14 hours ago, Lawnmowerman said:

Not quite sure. The clump of wires at that 'flying' black wire is what I lightly moved for it to disturb the power. I suspect it could well have been that black wire. it looks very odd compared with all the other heavy duty wiring.

 

That 'flying' wire goes to the Matte box.

I wonder if that wire could be from a current sensor, which is used to shed the EV charging load if the total load is approaching the premises supply limit?

[philip42h]

6 minutes ago, IanML said:

I wonder if that wire could be from a current sensor, which is used to shed the EV charging load if the total load is approaching the premises supply limit?

That was my thought too ... in which case there will be a clamp over a cable at the other end?

[IanML]

2 hours ago, philip42h said:

That was my thought too ... in which case there will be a clamp over a cable at the other end?

So I would think.

[Flatcoat]

Finally! I have a working charger. BG changed everything apart from the cable and all seems well. 

[Lawnmowerman]

Scottish Gas arrived yesterday morning as arranged.

He checked the wiring at and around the Matte box - indeed all of the installation within the house and everything found to be correct.

He then checked the charger itself and declared it to be faulty. Whether it caused the power cut or the power cut caused its failure we will never know.

He installed a new unit and was keen to make sure it did indeed charge the car - it wouldn't! But only because the car was fully charged. Having run it a few minutes with some consumers on the Battery showed a slight discharge which was enough for the wall charger to commence charging.

Happy days again 😀.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Lawnmowerman
Spelling correction

[Centaur]

Good news that you have got it sorted.  The engineers seem to be pretty good, once you get them out!

I think that there is a two-year warranty on the installation but I think that, in my case, the first year will have already passed before I even get the car... 🙄

[Lawnmowerman]

30 minutes ago, Centaur said:

Good news that you have got it sorted.  The engineers seem to be pretty good, once you get them out!

I think that there is a two-year warranty on the installation but I think that, in my case, the first year will have already passed before I even get the car... 🙄

Think it was a 3 year warranty?

At least you are in the queue for your car - imagine ordering it now 😉

[Centaur]

Yes, the estimated delivery time seems to be getting longer and longer.  It was about six months ahead when I ordered and would appear to be twice as long now.  It would be interesting to know whether that has been caused by the queue getting longer or the build dates slipping back because of supply issues.

I am happy to put up with the wait, though, as long as they still build it to Dynamic Premium spec and don't downgrade it - that spec has recently dropped off the list.

[Steve169]

Mine turns up Tuesday 🤞 was built in Jan so hoping it has the new, lights etc. 

[Flatcoat]

11 hours ago, Steve169 said:

Mine turns up Tuesday 🤞 was built in Jan so hoping it has the new, lights etc. 

it will have. Mine was an October build so missed out however cars landing since mine have the 22MY upgrades.