NX450h+ Wallbox installation

[Lexi450]

British Gas installed our charging point on Wednesday. Due to the location of the main consumer unit/fuse box in the middle of the house, the engineer who carried out the virtual survey concluded that if we wanted to avoid visible surface trunking in the kitchen, the installation would involve significant work which would require two engineers. I was happy to agree to the £160 cost to avoid spoiling our relatively new kitchen.

The two engineers arrived and after examining the proposed route looked at some alternatives. They came up with a better solution utilising a small void under the stairs and behind the kitchen and adjacent cloakroom. This was very tricky to access through a small hatch behind the fridge/freezer. Somehow, the engineer managed to squeeze himself into the void and, with the help of an extremely long drill bit, was able to drill through to the outside wall. They were then able to feed the cable back through to the fuse box in the understairs cupboard. Even more remarkably, the engineer managed to extricate himself from the void!

I was very impressed by their efficiency. They were polite, tidy and helpful, and even pushed the fridge/freezer back into place after resealing the hatch to the void. They talked me through the use of the charger and what to do if the main box in the cupboard had to be reset.  Both engineers were here for about 5 hours with only a short lunch break.

[Ken R]

BG fitted my ev charger today after my energy supplier installed a smart meter and isolator on Tuesday.

All very swiftly completed and all at no cost to me.😁

[Caspa]

BG just finished installing mine so I'm ready for the car which finally went into build last night!

They said it was a simple install and so very straight forward for them. 

[PaulWhitt20]

Are BG fitting the Hive charger and is the App any good?

I am looking at getting a charger installed for a non Lexus and wondered what the best options are. There seem to be a lot of different makes out there.

Thanks

Paul

[Ken R]

2 hours ago, PaulWhitt20 said:

Are BG fitting the Hive charger and is the App any good?

I am looking at getting a charger installed for a non Lexus and wondered what the best options are. There seem to be a lot of different makes out there.

Thanks

Paul

Early days with mine but charger and app appear to be OK. Occasionally the app says the charger is offline but quickly resolves this. I already had the Hive app for domestic gas and electricity so adding the ev charger was simple.

[RXtoNX]

Engineer coming back to ours next week.

No big issue yet, since the car has only just gone in to build stage, but it constantly shows as offline and no white standby light visible.

Just want it resolving before the car is due 

[Harrier Man]

4 hours ago, PaulWhitt20 said:

Are BG fitting the Hive charger and is the App any good?

I am looking at getting a charger installed for a non Lexus and wondered what the best options are. There seem to be a lot of different makes out there.

Thanks

Paul

I can't speak directly regarding the BG installed Alfen charger or the Hive app as I have no car to test them on - yet! However, before I went the Lexus route, I enquired about a Rolec charger because they were guaranteeing installation before the grant deadline expired. They put me onto a local, independent company who provided me with 2 quotes, neither of which was for a Rolec charger. When I enquired why, they said they had experienced reliability issues with them. This appears to be confirmed by a local restaurant who still haven't got working chargers after 3 months of the main boxes being installed.

This was my experience in February and of course things do change. I have no axes to grind, just reporting what I was told at the time.

[The_Doctor]

Mine seems to be working OK, I have had the occasional reporting offline and I don't have a white standby light. The only issue I have had is that after unplugging the car by the time I get to the wallbox to unplug the cable the light has gone green and the cable is locked in! Fortunately it seems to decide to release it again after a few seconds. Anyone had anything similar?

[John Adams]

I have Hive for heating etc but  this Hive charger is a nightmare. First one fitted would not connect to the app. Various things were tried and eventually they concluded the unit was faulty and replaced it under warrant without any fuss which impressed me. The new one worked fine for about a week and was then repeatedly showing off line  and will only work on rare occasions which is quite frustrating. The electrician who fitted it rang me to ask how I was getting on and I told him the problem. He said he has another customer about 5 miles away who has the same problem and BG will investigate. They have now come back and concluded we have a problem with 2G in the area and that's why we have problems connecting. Whether or not this is true I don't know but it is annoying not seeing the data although it charges ok. Not impressed to be honest with the charger but at least BG tried to fix it.

[RXtoNX]

@John AdamsInteresting, they asked me if we are in a poor signal area, which we are although EE signal is fine.
They said that the card in the charger should continually roam for the best signal and that they can’t see our charger on their system which is why they are sending out an engineer to investigate.

Do you have a white standby light showing on the charger. We don’t and others have mentioned that they don’t but BG told me on the phone that a standby white light should always be visible to show that the unit is connected to power.

we’ve done all sorts of tests remotely so we’ll see if the engineer can sort it when he comes on Tuesday next week

[SA1]

17 hours ago, The_Doctor said:

The only issue I have had is that after unplugging the car by the time I get to the wallbox to unplug the cable the light has gone green and the cable is locked in!

I have the same happening but it isn’t too much of a problem, patience seems to work as it does release it after a couple of seconds. I did have a momentary panic when it first happened but it hasn’t locked in permanently (yet)

[John Adams]

40 minutes ago, RXtoNX said:

@John AdamsInteresting, they asked me if we are in a poor signal area, which we are although EE signal is fine.
They said that the card in the charger should continually roam for the best signal and that they can’t see our charger on their system which is why they are sending out an engineer to investigate.

Do you have a white standby light showing on the charger. We don’t and others have mentioned that they don’t but BG told me on the phone that a standby white light should always be visible to show that the unit is connected to power.

we’ve done all sorts of tests remotely so we’ll see if the engineer can sort it when he comes on Tuesday next week

Firstly. we live literally 300 yards away from a mobile mast  and have excellent coverage in the area. I am with EE and get 140mbs on 4G which is more than good. When I first rang BG about the problem they suggested I was in a poor signal area which obviously I am not.  I have got to know the electrician who installed it quite well as he lives a couples of miles away and I know from him that other people are having issues. It cant all be down to poor signals as far as I am concerned.  I have just charged the car and I confirm that I don't have a white standby light. It goes green when I plug in and changes  to blue when it starts charging and that is it. I am not sure if there is a problem with these chargers but signal certainly is not a problem in my area.

[Ken R]

Mine is exactly the same, no white light, green when plugged in and blue whilst charging. It occasionally drops to offline. BG had arranged an engineers visit next week but called today to cancel this and rearrange for some unknown reason. I said that as it was working I would leave things as they are however BG indicated a move fro phone signal to wireless is being introduced shortly and have added my name to a "waiting list " for this to be updated on my device.

[John Adams]

18 minutes ago, Ken R said:

Mine is exactly the same, no white light, green when plugged in and blue whilst charging. It occasionally drops to offline. BG had arranged an engineers visit next week but called today to cancel this and rearrange for some unknown reason. I said that as it was working I would leave things as they are however BG indicated a move fro phone signal to wireless is being introduced shortly and have added my name to a "waiting list " for this to be updated on my device.

That's interesting. I asked my electrician if it would work off wi-fi as I have a strong signal in the garage. He told me it was impossible as it wasn't designed for this only 2G. I think I will mention this to him and see what he says.

[RXtoNX]

Thanks guys for posting your experiences, I am noting many of the comments down in readiness for being given a load of bullshine during the engineer’s return visit next week

[The_Doctor]

So I definitely don't have a white light when in standby, maybe I will follow up with BG. When I select "troubleshooting" in the app it just seems to ignore the button press. Also interesting to know it's connected via cellular, I was wondering ... but only 2G that's going to be Edge speed at best isn't it? That also explains why the installer didn't want me to connect it to WiFi ...

[zanderblue]

I had mine installed yesterday. 2 engineers arrived and carried it out. They installed a matte:e box and connected via that so not through my consumer unit. Tidy installation all done in 5 hours. 
No white light, just green when connected and blue when charging.

I tried to use Alfen Myeve app but was unable to connect. I got no charging station detected message. Documentation appears contradictory with one part saying wireless connection and another saying needs to be wired. Has anyone used Myeve and how have they connected??

I did eventually use hive app and connected to it no problem, but functionality seems a little limited even more limited than Lexus link for scheduling.

[RXtoNX]

BG arrived today and resolved my issue of the charger continuously showing on the app as “offline.” It was a signal issue and the engineer told me that the charger supplied will only work on the Hive app if there is a strong signal present and that the charger has a fixed mobile provider card and not a roaming GSM card like smart meters.

He called back to the office and was told that the fact we live in an area devoid of a Vodafone and O2 signals should have been spotted by the survey team before the charger was installed and that this particular charger, although being the specified one for their partners (incl Lexus) should not have been installed.

He was instructed to change it for the latest Easee WiFi charger FOC. Luckily he had one on the van.

This charger is a much smaller than the Alfen taken out and it connected to Hive instantly through our home WiFi.

- Result! - now just need that ship to speed up a bit whilst crossing the oceans.

[John Adams]

1 hour ago, RXtoNX said:

BG arrived today and resolved my issue of the charger continuously showing on the app as “offline.” It was a signal issue and the engineer told me that the charger supplied will only work on the Hive app if there is a strong signal present and that the charger has a fixed mobile provider card and not a roaming GSM card like smart meters.

He called back to the office and was told that the fact we live in an area devoid of a Vodafone and O2 signals should have been spotted by the survey team before the charger was installed and that this particular charger, although being the specified one for their partners (incl Lexus) should not have been installed.

He was instructed to change it for the latest Easee WiFi charger FOC. Luckily he had one on the van.

This charger is a much smaller than the Alfen taken out and it connected to Hive instantly through our home WiFi.

- Result! - now just need that ship to speed up a bit whilst crossing the oceans.

Very interesting. This morning I again spoke to the electrician who fitted it and he has given me a different story. He from day one repeatedly told me  that it is a roaming sim card and I must be in a weak signal area. I again mentioned connecting to WI-FI and he said he had checked with the office and there is no facility to connect the Alfen to WI-FI and no plans to introduce it.

Must admit I have never heard of a Easee charger but I will call him again and mention this to him and see what he says.

 

[RXtoNX]

The engineer told me that they had always been informed that it was a roaming GSM card but they told him something different on the phone today.
I was able to show him that if it was a roaming gsm card in it then it should connect to EE because that’s the only signal we can get and my phone had a 4 bar signal strength on it.

BTW, he also says that the “white light scenario” is a myth and I shouldn’t have been told that one should show when on standby, even though it is in the handbook.

 

[Ken R]

2 hours ago, RXtoNX said:

BG arrived today and resolved my issue of the charger continuously showing on the app as “offline.” It was a signal issue and the engineer told me that the charger supplied will only work on the Hive app if there is a strong signal present and that the charger has a fixed mobile provider card and not a roaming GSM card like smart meters.

He called back to the office and was told that the fact we live in an area devoid of a Vodafone and O2 signals should have been spotted by the survey team before the charger was installed and that this particular charger, although being the specified one for their partners (incl Lexus) should not have been installed.

He was instructed to change it for the latest Easee WiFi charger FOC. Luckily he had one on the van.

This charger is a much smaller than the Alfen taken out and it connected to Hive instantly through our home WiFi.

- Result! - now just need that ship to speed up a bit whilst crossing the oceans.

I have just experienced the same problem with my Alfen charger and spent 20 minutes on the phone with the BG warranty team who were extremely helpful. Ended up doing a reset of the app and charger. Now working but don't have a huge amount of confidence that this has solved the issue permanently. The Easee charger appears to be the best option so will mention this to BG.

[RXtoNX]

@Ken R @John Adams TBH guys I am not sure that they will agree to change it due to intermittent signal issues, they agreed to change mine since the signal strength needed for the mobile network that the Alfen charger uses is zero where we live.

You can but try, but I imagine they may suggest waiting for a software update or something. It does sound as though the Alfen charger, only using 2g, is a little outdated when it comes to connectivity of mobile signals

[John Adams]

3 minutes ago, RXtoNX said:

@Ken R @John Adams TBH guys I am not sure that they will agree to change it due to intermittent signal issues, they agreed to change mine since the signal strength needed for the mobile network that the Alfen charger uses is zero where we live.

You can but try, but I imagine they may suggest waiting for a software update or something. It does sound as though the Alfen charger, only using 2g, is a little outdated when it comes to connectivity of mobile signals

They actually did change my first one because it would only connect occasionally. They subsequently said it was a faulty modem. The new one connected first time and was fine for a few weeks and then started dropping out. This has gradually got worse and goes down muliple times a day.

[Harrier Man]

I started a new thread, "Hive App" which is related to this one. I would welcome people's experience on this particular aspect of the Wallbox installation. Thank you.

[AlanDL]

I am having a Hive EV charger installed by British Gas as the installation is free as part of my purchase of the 450H.  BG have been fine, and I did a virtual survey which showed that I had to upgrade my meter with an isolation switch. Unfortunately I am a customer of EON, and even though I contacted them in March, I have still not had an electrician out. As the energy supplier, they are the only ones who can touch the meter. I can't even get a smart meter upgrade. Their so-called energy experts seem to have no control over the activities of their electricians, and have to fill out long forms and send emails.  The first person didn't even send the forms off, the second sent the forms off but it was "rejected" as they didn't know why the meter tails needed to be replaced, and now the third attempt has gone into a black hole of no-one looking at it.  This week I am now making a formal complaint and going to ring every day until I get someone to come out.  How difficult is it to explain that I need the meter upgraded to take the load of an EV charger.  If I could switch to British Gas I would just to get all the work done under one company, but no-one is allowing switching at the moment.

Does anyone have experience of using EON, and have any useful advice to get this moving quicker>