Zappi or Hypervolt

 

Have to say I'd agree with @Stripy mostly because the Zappi is one of the best engineered and safest charge points on the market, plus it offers some really useful features that make it future proof, like integration with solar and battery systems and integration with the Myenergi Eddi hot water diverter.

Only downside it the design. I can't help but be reminded of a toilet seat every time I see one.

 

The other problem with the Zappi is that it’s absolutely enormous! It’s completely inappropriate if there’s any chance you want your house to look reasonably modest…

 

Yes, I want something a lot smaller and I am not too concerned about the additional tech, I just want to charge our cars.

 

I’ve one of the previous syncEV models - which is quite discrete. They were a bit crappy at first - but were taken over by BG 2-3 years ago and the charger and app have regular updates (despite being the older discontinued model).

I think if I now wanted a small discrete tethered charger I’d go for the Ohme.

 

I looked at the Ohme, but I want something that can wrap the cable around rather than an additional piece of 'wall estate' being used.

 

Take a look to the left. 👀

 

To follow - I now use intelligent octopus so the charger only operates in manual mode - basically as a dumb plug and the car looks after the charging. Something to consider if you use IO and your car controls the charging. You may well not need all the features of a zappi etc.

 

Yes, this is what I do at the moment, but the Rolec charger may need replacing. I don't really need the features.

 

Unfortunately tethered and wall real estate go together. That cables got to go somewhere!

Thats why I went for untethered - more faff twice a week but just a small black box the rest of the time. We have a Victorian semi - and a large charger would be very obvious.

over the road have an Anderson (tethered that coils up inside its box) which looks neat online - but is surprisingly large in real life..

 

Unfortunately tethered and wall real estate go together. That cables got to go somewhere!

Thats why I went for untethered - more faff twice a week but just a small black box the rest of the time. We have a Victorian semi - and a large charger would be very obvious.

over the road have an Anderson (tethered that coils up inside its box) which looks neat online - but is surprisingly large in real life..

Thanks, the rolec has a wrap around so does the BGSync, which is why I was looking. I have not seen the Anderson, but they look big in images, but neutral looking.

 

The Hypervolt is neat, relatively inexpensive and has a very discrete cable tidy. Is currently in Beta for connecting to Octopus Intelligent Go, rolled out next 1/4 and can also connect to the very competitive OVO tariff.

 

We fit chargers (south Wales, greater Bristol and M5 corridor down to Exeter currently) - and are fitting quite a number of this model, both tethered and untethered. OP is correct in your assessment of its features, and it is cheaper than the Zappi and Hypervolt others have mentioned.

I would add, it operates reliably using the Monta app; is straightforward to install and commission; and there is good UK-based phone support you can actually get through to, should there be any need for further help.

 

We fit chargers (south Wales, greater Bristol and M5 corridor down to Exeter currently) - and are fitting quite a number of this model, both tethered and untethered. OP is correct in your assessment of its features, and it is cheaper than the Zappi and Hypervolt others have mentioned.

I would add, it operates reliably using the Monta app; is straightforward to install and commission; and there is good UK-based phone support you can actually get through to, should there be any need for further help.

Thank you, good feedback.

 

can we know what finally you went with and why. I am looking for a similar solution and tempted to BG sync version 2

 

Since I responded to the OP, just a quick update. We still fit plenty of these, no issues - but SyncEV have now improved their own app (which we used to commission the units) and it now has a customer-facing side to it. So the customer has a choice of app, either use the SyncEV app, which is perfect for most domestic customers, or Monta if they want more features (but more complexity too).

 

Thanks for updating, Is there any issues or know abouts I need to be aware off? I see WiFi connectivity and integration issues with energy service providers in other forums.

 

We like to ensure decent signal for wifi; we've not had any issues reported back to us re energy companies and integration - if people want genuine integration, such as with the tentacled beast, then we recommend other models

 

Edit: Ignore the below as I'm now not moving, so don't care about the BG Sync charger

Assuming my new house sale goes through, it comes with a BG Sync EV charger. Quite a bit different from my current MyEnergi Zappi charger.

It is the EVWC2S7G model, and I'm still trying to confirm whether they installed the CT Clamp that ships with this charger.

Anyway, on to my three questions.

1. If the CT Clamp has not been installed, I assume it cannot read the house load and hence not offer any element of automatic dynamic load management? And I guess that scuppers future solar charging properly, unless using the Virtual SolarCharge feature in the App, which won't be very accurate.
2. Can the internal RS485 2-pin connection be used for anything useful, outside the documented MID Meter for billing?
3. The installation manual says it should be connected to a Type B Curve 40A circuit breaker, whereas it is connected to the main consumer unit on a 32A circuit breaker. Is that going to be a problem? (It shouldn't be, as the unit is rated at 32A and my existing EVSE is only on a 32A breaker).

For anyone who has one of these chargers installed, how do you find it in day-to-day use?
I'll be going with Octopus Go (after the move, as that has to start on SVT), as the BG Sync isn't supported on Intelligent Octopus Go as a charger (yet? or indeed no idea if it ever will be).
Later on I will be adding solar and batteries, subject to planning permission approval (removal of permitted development rights is just plain annoying), so will want to potentially use it for charging via solar excess, so again if anyone has experience of that with this model in the real world, please provide your view on how good/bad/indifferent that is for you.

 

never ever buy this piece of junk. wifi drops then allows peak time charging , voltage errors all the time... really get an ohme or zappi ..... this really sux

 

Just to share my experience. We have had our BG SyncEV charger for a year now and honestly we have not experienced any issues with it. I think that twice it went off line in a year and we use it about 4 to 5 times a week. Both times, we literally did a reset and all was fine.

Apart from that it works perfectly. The app is straightforward, we have set it up to charge from 12:00-07:00 and it works without fail. No issues at all. Only had one hardware/software update and that went without a blip of an issue.

It fits my brief perfectly; small, tethered cable with wrap around to keep things neat and it is great value.