Author Topic: best home charger to hardwire into the garage  (Read 1190 times)

Sabinn

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best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« on: February 13, 2019, 07:53:59 PM »
I dont know much about chargers beyond some are faster and some are slower. From what I understand not all chargers are created equal and some can harm our bikes.

What are your thoughts on FLO Residential chargers @ https://flo.ca/at-home/single-family/compare

Shinysideup

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2019, 09:19:53 PM »
At $995, the G5 looks WAY to expensive, compared to Clipper Creek's offerings.

Sabinn

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2019, 01:17:37 PM »
I'm in Canada so everything is always going to be more expensive. That's our lot in life ;]

For those that use a charger for a car as well as their Empulse, what are you using? I'd love to pair it down to a single solution.

Shinysideup

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2019, 08:35:03 PM »
I use a Clipper Creek LCS-30, 24 Amp Level 2 EVSE, 240V, with 25 ft cable, onto which I put my own plug so I can take it with me. Cost is $499 for the unit, plus the plug.

This is a somewhat shy of maximum output for my Chevy Bolt EV, but it's close enough that I don't worry about it. It takes 10.5 hours to charge from empty vs. 8.5 hours with their recommended model HCS-40. Since I'm sleeping while it charges, I give zero forks about the rate of charge.

I already had it for the Brammo and to buy another one seemed the opposite of smart.

If I were starting from scratch, I'd give a long look at the Clipper Creek HCS-50 at $635 which puts out 40 amps, just for some future-proofing.

BTW, their website has a good matching feature to help you pick a charger for your car:

https://www.clippercreek.com/residential/

I've had no problems with Clipper Creek and have read good things on various forums. 

Some folks like the wi-fi connection of other brands, but I try to keep technology as simple as I can. Yes, I passed up an electric toothbrush what was Bluetooth connected to my phone.  :o

frodus

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2019, 01:20:51 PM »
I liked the clipper creek, but I'm a geek. I built the OpenEVSE and loved it. Got rid of it when I sold the Empulse, but then I got a Chevy Volt. I got the Juicebox Pro 40A (with Wifi) off Craigslist for a song. It seems pretty solid so far! And you can track your power usage and a ton of other stuff.

From the ones I saw out there, if you want something expandable, get a Juicebox or OpenEVSE for the most power per dollar charging ability.

HadesOmega

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2019, 08:06:21 AM »
I got the Victory Branded Level 2 charger off of ebay for a good price.  Don't know if you can find em anymore.  I also have one of those cheap Duosida chargers and it seems to work fine also. 

For the Juicebox can you set it to stop charging at a certain SOC%?  I've gotten into the habit of keeping the bike at 80% until I am ready to ride it.
2016 Victory Empulse TT - #139

frodus

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2019, 01:24:54 PM »
No, Not that I know of. I don't know any that would do this, as it's a vehicle-side issue.

There's no communication between the EVSE and vehicle. The vehicle can only tell the charger "how many amps" through the pilot signal, and that's about it. The EVSE has no way of knowing what SOC you start with, and what the current SOC is.

frodus

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2019, 01:32:18 PM »
No, Not that I know of. I don't know any that would do this, as it's a vehicle-side issue.

There's no communication between the EVSE and vehicle. The vehicle can only tell the charger "how many amps" through the pilot signal, and that's about it. The EVSE has no way of knowing what SOC you start with, and what the current SOC is.

I found this:
https://www.summet.com/blog/2015/09/28/evse-install-juicebox-pro-40/

Via the app, you can enter the current SOC, and it will cut off at a certain SOC. The Juicebox has a current sensor, so it can calculate how much energy goes into the vehicle. If it knows the SOC (entered manually by the user), it can stop at a pre-determined SOC, like 80%.

HadesOmega

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Re: best home charger to hardwire into the garage
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2019, 08:40:43 PM »
Cool
2016 Victory Empulse TT - #139