Purchase of ChargePoint Level 2

ChargePoint Level 2 18 Foot Hardwired Unit. Purchased on Amazon.

I purchased this unit to use with my 2017 Prius Prime. The Level 1 charger (Toyota Supplied) that came with the car when I bought it new in February of this year was taking from 0% to 100%

5 Hours 30 minutes – 5 hours 45 minutes.


Now with the ChargePoint Level 2 :

2 Hours 10 minutes (Longest I have seen it take)

1 Hour 50 minutes (Was the shortest)


The unit uses the standardize SAE-J1772 Connector ( See Pictures ). If your car uses this then you can use this type of charger. Some cars come with an adapter to be able to use this. I just refer to your manual.

There are many questions answered for pre-purchase research on the ChargePoint Website. I also referred to ChargeHub Website as well.


I purchased the hardwired version because I own my house and it saved some money. The plug version vs hardwired in my mind was just a matter of choice.


I also looked at the hardwired version of the Siemens unit. Version US2:VC30GRYHW I choose spending a little bit extra for the ChargePoint for 2 Main Reasons:

ChargePoint was an 18 foot cord & and was WiFi. There are some other differences but those were the 2 that jumped out at me and impacted my decision the most.
For the Hardwire Install the instructions in the ChargePoint Guide are fairly straight forward and simple for me.


NOTE : I have experience in electrical engineering and wiring etc. If you are just a DIYer and are not sure what is electrical code in your area I would urge you to please call a Licensed Electrician. Installed incorrectly you can easily start a fire and/or worse.


I purchased the Wire, Circuit Breaker, Package of 5- ½” EMT 1-Hole Clamps & Pipe Wrap for just under 27.00 dollars. These items can be found at the local home improvement store. ( Lowes, Home Depot and so on ).

As you look at the pictures you will see why I purchased the EMT 1-Hole Clamps & Pipe Wrap.


Some other people in different reviews on Amazon had mentioned the cable connector to the unit needed extra support and poorly designed, I took those reviews with a grain of salt, many of those reviews were not very well constructed and seem to bash the product. Other reviews did the same thing I did to help support the cable.

When you see the cable for the first time you will notice that it is very Heavy Duty / Industrial.

I sent an email to ChargePoint and just mentioned this. This is why there is need for the extra support. It was an easy fix for a few dollars during installation and I hope that ChargePoint incorporates this into the product in the near future. The plastic clip needs to be changed and they should include some type of clamps like what I did and others have done. I did not feel though that this one minor thing was enough to take away from the 5 stars I gave it.

The last item to mention is that while I was doing my pre-purchase research on the ChargePoint website I found information about how in some states you get a credit towards your income taxes. Here in Arizona it is only a one time 75.00 Dollar Credit. As far as I could tell from the information this credit applies to any electric vehicle charger. The ChargePoint Website referred me to the Arizona State page that had the Form and Instructions. They were in PDF format and easy to download. Not all states do this, but it is worth the few minutes to look it up if you are going to purchase a unit. I will assume that any qualified tax person will know how to help you with this if you qualify and download the forms & instructions. I also made sure to save all of my receipts for the purchase of the Wire, Circuit Breaker, Package of 5- ½” EMT 1-Hole Clamps & Pipe Wrap.
I have tried to include the web link to the ChargePoint Home Incentives Page but for some reason I can not.

If anyone has questions please feel free to ask.

 

I forgot to mention that the App set-up was very easy, even though my home network uses MAC Address "WhiteListing". Once I got the MAC Address for the unit it was good to go.

 

Yes it is the 32 Amp model, I called and spoke with ChargePoint they used to sell 2 versions of Amperage but just went to the 32. Most cars are charged up to that rate ( MOST KEY WORD). I know the Prime is a max of 16 Amps per page 125 of my owners manual but I was looking to the future.

I also wanted to be able to take the suppled cable with on a long trip if I wanted to or leave it at work. Then I can not use Gas for the trip to and from work.

The 4 versions that are available are 18 foot and 25 foot cord. Hard wire or Plug. I did the hardwire to same some money. I also know how to doing wiring/electrical work.
And yes you are correct That charge cable is VERY heavy for being 18 foot. that is why I did the additional support clamps you see in the picts. The wires inside are 8 gauge stranded. There are 4 of them. Green- Ground, Black- Line-1, White- Line 2.

One is like 12 gauge ( The Blue One )It is the signal interface to your Car I am assuming. Tells it that the unit is connected and to begin charging.

The last big concern of mine and I can't believe I left it out was I asked if will still function as a charger if no Wi-Fi (believe it or not some become as dumb as a rock if no Wi-Fi). Yes the Unit will work without Wi-Fi.

Send A note if any more questions

 

Yes I asked about this. I used 8-2 Stranded. NM-B Copper
Which has the Black, White Both insulated as you see and the ground is bare in the picture but is paper wrapped in the black over sheath. All 3 wires are wrapped inside of a Black insulated covering which is pretty robust.

And I know in the past Electricians used to use a "Neutral" the white wire as another hot when they needed it and not mark it. I always thought this was stupid, dangerous and dumb great way to burn yourself. I have either "Shrinked" both ends as you see ( My Panel uses Red as it's second hot so I stayed with that. ) Or I have always just done another "HomeRun" of another Color.

Anyway Back on the subject...
That 8-2 Stranded was not the most flexible stuff but it was what they requested in the install instructions. Solid would have been a total "PIA"
I could have used could have used armored but that would have probably been the worst of them all to fish through the wall from the panel.
EMT - Not an option. My panel is recessed
In the one picture labeled number 7 you can see my panel to the Left. I bought 4 feet of wire. The Guy gave me 6. I used like 2 and 1/2. I still had slack which I like. (I live in a Condo/TownHome and the installed wiring in Piano Wire Tight It sucks trying to put up a ceiling fan and so on.)

Were the wires come up to the KnockOut I was actually surprised that the unit was not metal but plastic. Not sure if you can tell in the other pictures but the KnockOut going South. That is for the Plug Versions.