North of Leicester, the new Sainsbury's has a number of charge bays and although just popping in for a card, I decided to have a look at them.
They are supplied by Pod Point and card controlled so I tried my old and new Ecotricity cards which unlocked the 13A socket.
After closing it, I tried my Source London card which flipped open the Type 2 7kW port.
I forgot to try the Chargemaster card and will do on another visit but can anyone explain why the Ecotricity card only released the 13A socket?
The podpoints have a weird selection system for which flap to open. It caught me out the first time I used one (without reading the instructions). It works on how long you hold your card to the pod. It starts putting arrows on the display as soon as it senses your card. Take your card away real quick if you want the right-hand (13amp) socket. 3 or less right arrows does this. If you let it progress to 4 or more arrows it will open the left-hand flap (7Kw).
@davebodger
That is an interesting reply that I must try next time I am there.
Oddly, a reply to an Email I sent to Podpoint where I questioned the different choices to cards offered, simply said that the operation of the post was down to the site owner.
Not a very factual reply considering that I told them where the points were installed.
I have a large selection of charger cards, and when I read them all with an RFID card reader, none of them contained any data, other than the card manufacturer's serial number. So all the charger can do is read the serial number of the card that initiated the charge, and check that the number of the card stopping the charge matches. I suspect any RFID card (like my work staff card) could be used, provided the same card is presented each time.
Of course it's possible that there is a huge database somewhere 'in the cloud' that every charge point checks every card against, so Big Brother knows exactly what you are doing when. But I don't think the charger companies are competent enough to do that.
Interesting. In London I've found that the Source chargers ignore my Ecotricity card and only work with my Source card, so they must be checking something.
I came across one that says "unable to access external database" every time I use it so they must have the provision for network connection somewhere inside them. It could be PSTN/Broadband or simply WiFi if they could join a local network (site provider?). Lots of posts I've read talk about "back-end systems" so I presume they are all networked back to a central point somewhere. Probably one location for each original network installation. Some of these charger provider networks (Source, Polar, etc.) seem to be made up from smaller, older, networks that have been taken over by these umbrella organisations. Perhaps these new groups are having difficulty rationalising all these different back-end systems into one seamless whole?
I have read this before but never managed to get a definitive explanation of how this works. I just take which socket is available on 2x7kw posts but will now try this.
There is a similar thing with the Polar points but never managed to work it with Pod before.
It's all a hodge podge. I tried to use a podpoint post the other day. With one card I could only get the 13amp flap to open (holding it longer said that the charging equipment didn't support the charging method or something) and another card did open the 7kw flap, but the 7kw socket had it's locking pin down so you couldn't actually insert the cable.
I used my spanking new Polar card a couple of days ago, and while the interface was a little unusual, it was just a question of reading the instructions on the screen and doing what it said. I forget the exact wording, but something like:
• Place card on reader for 2 seconds
Then:
• For 13A socket, place cards again now
• (For 32A socket, wait for 5, 4, 3... seconds)
Then it switched to:
• For 32A socket, place cards again now
• (For 13A socket, wait for 5, 4, 3... seconds)
Can't help thinking that two big buttons would do the job better, but it's still hardly brain surgery as it stands.
To be honest, it was an exploratory charging experience, using my Polar card for the first time and breaking my Type 2 cable out of the delivery packaging too. I could have made it home without the extra electrons!
My Ecotricity Card stopped working last year, started an Ecotricity charge at Leicester forest east with a PodPoint card
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