Electric vehicles (EVs) are often supplied with a portable domestic charger, designed to charge the vehicle when access to a charging point is not possible. Rather confusingly, the units are commonly referred to as 'granny chargers', as it is a lead to use when visiting relatives such as your granny!
Conscious of the number of cheap non-compliant EV chargers on the market, we worked with a leading manufacturer to develop a unit to our own high specification. When compared to our standard charger, this advanced unit features:
- Adjustable charging rate (6A, 8A or 10A).
- Programmable delay (up to 12 hours) in charging starting, in order to take advantage of cheaper overnight tariffs.
- Advanced fault detection, with 12 different charging issues identified by the flashing pattern of the red indicator.
- Extremely robust enclosure, IP67 rated (protected against powerful water jets from any direction).
- Heavy duty H07BZ-F rubber cable.
- Plug temperature sensor ceases charging if the temperature rises above an acceptable limit for added peace of mind.
The granny charger consists of a 13A UK plug, the charging unit, a length of heavy duty rubber cable and a type 2 connector. It simply plugs into a UK socket and any EV with a type 2 plug, to provide convenient charging.
Check That Your EV has a Type 2 Connector
This unit is only compatible with EVs with the most common type 2 connector (right). Type 2 connectors have 7 pins and were adopted as the EU standard for EVs in 2014.
Features:
5m and 10m
The charger has an LCD display, providing clear real time updates on key charging parameters:
- Charging input rate (adjustable 6, 8 or 10A. N.B. 16A as shown in the picture is not available)
- Total cumulative charge in kWh provided over since first use (non-resettable)
- Real time input voltage
- Real time charging output current
- Total charging time for current use
- Status message
- Status icon
- Charging progress
- Working temperature
- Output power kWh
- Time to delayed charging when set (adjustable 1-12 hours)
The flashing pattern of the red indicator (shown below as the number of flashes before a pause) identifies 12 different charging issues:
- Connection error
- Over voltage
- Over current
- Over voltage
- Under current
- Relay failure
- PCB temperature raised
- Earth leakage current
- Not used
- Earth leakage detection failure
- Communication failure with EV
15m and 20m
Ensure that the unit is set to 10A maximum. The 15m and 20m chargers have a slightly different design and LCD display, with faults displayed on the screen as opposed to a Flashing LED:
Specification:
- 5m and 10m units are wall mountable using one keyhole shaped screw recess on the charging unit.
- A storage bag is available separately.
