[Geds]

Hi folks, I’m picking up my used Renault Zoe 20 this week and am very excited )

I’m selecting a home charger and think I’m leaning towards the Pod Point.

I was wondering if anyone had purchased or had any views on whether paying for the data collection feature on the BP Chargemaster premium unit was worthwhile. Or for the value of £’s involved in charging costs is it a total waste of money.

I mean the difference in price between the Pod Point at 360 and the Chargemaster premium at 500 is considerable and a good part of a years charging costs.

Appreciate any opinions or experience.

 

[phproxy]

Podpoint shows you your usage in the app. What's special about the charge master?

 

[Geds]

Podpoint shows you your usage in the app. What's special about the charge master?

Ha, didn’t realise that! Oversight. Thanks for pointing that out. See the WiFi info on the data sheets now.

Any Pod Point owners have any product feedback / would recommend?

 

[Phil Himsworth]

You've probably made your choice already but I wouldn't pay anything for the Chargemaster data collection, it's rubbish! The accuracy is useless. We have a connected one from a couple of years ago but I haven't looked at the data since about two weeks after it was new, and I'm a massive data nerd.

 

[AdamLC]

We've got a podpoint. Works great!

The app tells you your usage and what it cost if you enter your electricity tariff.

 

[kcrane]

We've got a podpoint. Works great!

The app tells you your usage and what it cost if you enter your electricity tariff.

Does it give you accurate figures? Like the amount of kw's multiplied by the cost per kw?

Mine shows me the amount of kw's used, but the cost is nonsense (it says one charge was £130,000 - I hope it is wrong!)

 

[Jonathan Tyler]

My pod point works fine, it would be nice if it recorded when it was actually charging the car rather than just plugged in.

 

[AnotherJoe]

What would you do with the data, even if it was 100% accurate, that would be worth £140 to you????

 

[Belstar]

It's a bit pointless really - as others have said, what will you do with the data you get out of it? Your electricity company will reliably let you know what you owe them, don't worry ;-)

 

[Jeremy Harris]

I just have a £15 energy meter in line with the supply on my charge points. It's a DIN rail mount unit so sits on the same rail as the contactor. The meters I've used are multi-function, so display kWh, V, A, PF and W, just by pressing a button on the front. It's easy enough to note down the kWh reading from time to time, either to keep track of car energy use or for when others have plugged in and offered to pay for the electricity they've used.

 

[AnotherJoe]

Or just ask them how many kWh they will charge and multiply by your electric rate. Its probably a couple of quid and no more than a fiver unless they have a Tesla and are staying overnight. I usually just expect a bottle of Chateau Lafitte 47 and call it quits.

 

[Geds]

Thanks for input!

I agree the extra money seems not worthwhile. I intend to get most of my charging out of free street posts so the extra few quid might end up being 1 or 2 yrs worth of home charging! Just for data that is so low cost it’s maybe not worth tracking?!

I think I might just need the lowest cost home charging option available so long as it’s reliable. What would that be?

Like the idea of using a simple inline monitor clamp on the charger supply line for data.