[morphia-EXCLAIM]

That's the max I can go in our garage without having to do a major upgrade, but I would like to upgrade from the level 1 charger. 16 or 24 Amps would be fine for our usage.

I bought the plug-in ChargePoint HomeFlex and didn't realize that it's the version you can't set below 40 Amps. So we have the plug set up and available for that, but I think it's pretty useless at this point. I can go ahead and order the hardwired HomeFlex, but I'm wondering if there is something cheaper that would work just as well for lower amps.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Neil]

We bought the Mustart and have been using it on our 30amp circuit for 6 months with no issues. No need for someone to point out that the 26amp rating technically exceeds the 80% limit on the 30amp circuit. Yes it does, but I haven't lost sleep over driving my circuit to 87%. No heat evolution has been observed, my wiring is 10 gauge, and I anticipate no issues.

 

[BradPat]

We bought the Mustart and have been using it on our 30amp circuit for 6 months with no issues. No need for someone to point out that the 26amp rating technically exceeds the 80% limit on the 30amp circuit. Yes it does, but I haven't lost sleep over driving my circuit to 87%. No heat evolution has been observed, my wiring is 10 gauge, and I anticipate no issues.
I agree! I have the same set up and it works great. I installed it myself running the wire through the attic. Whole thing including the Mustart was about $500.

 

[TT97]

I have a Wallbox Pulsar Plus that has been working well...

Amazon.com

There is both a hardwire only 48-Amp unit and a 40-Amp NEMA 14-50 unit that can also be hardwired. Both units can adjust the capacity down to 16 Amp (20 Amp circuit) and have the ability to power share with other Wallbox units (haven't tried yet). It communicates by both WiFi and Bluetooth (if you have no WiFi where you charge). It is also a nice compact unit (although very thin cable so not recommended if your unit is outside where it gets below freezing often).

 

[Evillen]

I have a Wallbox Pulsar Plus that has been working well...

Amazon.com

There is both a hardwire only 48-Amp unit and a 40-Amp NEMA 14-50 unit that can also be hardwired. Both units can adjust the capacity down to 16 Amp (20 Amp circuit) and have the ability to power share with other Wallbox units (haven't tried yet). It communicates by both WiFi and Bluetooth (if you have no WiFi where you charge). It is also a nice compact unit (although very thin cable so not recommended if your unit is outside where it gets below freezing often).

I second the wallbox. You adjust the amps which is very helpful.

I'm curious, when you say "without having to do any major upgrades" would you have to have a whole new panel installed? If not and it would just need to either be hardwired or have an additional 240v outlet put in, you can generally find an electrician who will do jobs on the side, is cheaper than having a company do it and it isn't fairly expensive. I paid a little less than $400 to have about 60ft of wiring ran from our panel to the front end of our house with outlet installation. If it's the former, I would imagine that is a fairly expensive job though.

 

[Manybees]

I was in the same boat as you regarding being limited by the total electrical load. Not sure if this is cheaper, but I got a Clipper Creek LCS25 that outputs 20 amps (4.8kW) on a 30 amp circuit. It's built like a tank and works like a champ. Not networked, though. The 24 amp version would be their LCS30. Both come in plug-in or hardwired versions, are weather-sealed, and have a 3-year warranty.

Whatever you get, make sure it's UL Listed as a unit. A lot of the cheap, Chinese-made 16-amp Level 2 units on Amazon are not UL Listed and have only 6-month or 1 year warranties. Not sure I'd trust them with high voltage, continuous draw scenarios like EV charging, but others may be less risk averse than I am.

 

[Neil]

Pulsar Plus maybe a good choice if you need extras such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. I decided to spend half as much for a basic EVSE. In the end, they're not really chargers but power cords to connect line voltage to your EV's charger.

All I need is a basic charger, and my Mustart does everything I need for half the price. I also expect that, in general, a simple EVSE will have less features to malfunction than a unit with all the bells & whistles.

 

[VW TECHNICIAN]

My advice.
When you shopping for EVSE.
Hard wired or not. Buy one that has ability to change current ratings.
This way you can manage summer and winter.
I usually set my EVSE on 24A in the summer so my EV is not fighting with battery thermal management to keep cooling battery when charging.
In the winter i set it to 48A so i can have battery management not activating heating when charging and if i want to pre heat my EV I'm not pulling power from battery.
You can set it for less than 48A....but I would advise to set it no less than 6.5 kWh output from EVSE in the winter if you don't want any energy drawn from battery ( if left connected in the winter battery management will kick in to keep battery warm whenever necessary and if plugged it will use power from EVSE)

 

[Don]

IMO, the GoPlug Pro 32 at $400 is a better buy - True, it won't do 40 amps, but then I'd bet most owners will find out soon enough they really don't need 40 amps to recharge their car all that often. I usually charge overnight at 24 amps with mine

Don

 

[Id4u]

I have the 24 amp clipper creek LCS30p which has a NEMA 14-30 plug. It is plugged into my 30amp dryer outlet. Have been using it since 2019 without any issues. I actually bought it off Craigslist so not exactly sure how old it is. Was using it on a Kona EV prior to the ID4.

 

[ktown824]

I bought a used Juicebox 40 to charge my ID.4. It has a setting to adjust the amps in the app. Works great, no issues.

 

[Phoenix4264]

I bought the plug-in ChargePoint HomeFlex and didn't realize that it's the version you can't set below 40 Amps. So we have the plug set up and available for that, but I think it's pretty useless at this point. I can go ahead and order the hardwired HomeFlex, but I'm wondering if there is something cheaper that would work just as well for lower amps.

Are you certain your ChargePoint can't do 24 Amps? As far as I know, there is no separate model for the hardwired and plug in version of the Home Flex. They all come with one of the two 50A plugs, but to use a higher or lower amperage service it must be hardwired. To do that you remove the plug from the unit and land the wires on the same terminals the plug was on. You then set the amperage limit in the app when you configure it.

 

[BradPat]

I second the wallbox. You adjust the amps which is very helpful.

I'm curious, when you say "without having to do any major upgrades" would you have to have a whole new panel installed? If not and it would just need to either be hardwired or have an additional 240v outlet put in, you can generally find an electrician who will do jobs on the side, is cheaper than having a company do it and it isn't fairly expensive. I paid a little less than $400 to have about 60ft of wiring ran from our panel to the front end of our house with outlet installation. If it's the former, I would imagine that is a fairly expensive job though.

I did not have an extra slot so I used a dual 240 that fits in one slot to work the dryer and charger. Works for me..

 

[mlsstl]

You've got some good suggestions about getting one that has user-adjustable amp settings. One point I haven't seen mentioned is to make sure the EVSE comes with a 240 volt plug that matches the type of outlet receptacle you have available. There are a number of different 240 volt receptacles in use and plugs are not interchangable with them.

 

[Drive_Clean]

Are you certain your ChargePoint can't do 24 Amps? As far as I know, there is no separate model for the hardwired and plug in version of the Home Flex. They all come with one of the two 50A plugs, but to use a higher or lower amperage service it must be hardwired. To do that you remove the plug from the unit and land the wires on the same terminals the plug was on. You then set the amperage limit in the app when you configure it.

Yes, my understanding is you can set the Charge Point Home Flex to 24 Amps. Not sure what is going on for the OP.

 

[fiehlsport]

Does your garage have less than a 50 amp service available to it?

 

[Huey52]

ChargePoint Flex current settings (also not aware of any lower current-limited model; but there is a plug-in limitation). If you already have a lower current 220V receptacle installed then just reuse-rewire direct to the Flex as it can accommodate either the included plug or direct hardwire. Then set the lower current rating in the App upon activation.
Dependent on existing wire gauge you may have to use some code-approved splice-connectors, but then as low amperage likely Flex-acceptably smaller diameter wire gauge (the wiring for my dryer and AC condenser are significantly smaller wire diameter than my 6-50 Flex).

ps: You've been a member for 6 months now and all this has been well discussed before in the section to which this thread has been moved; just sayin'.