Ive seen it all now .... car charging unit.

[Darkwood]

Got a call from one of my customers today who is having a car charging point fitted at home from BG in conjunction with the car suppliers all free of charge, he said they have issues with the existing set up and refuse to fit it so i trundled along and found Main Earth was 6mm to which i said it should really stop them fitting it but after a chat they said they can but with a note on the installation cert' --- ok fair enough...

Now it get good , the supply is PME (TNCS) so they said they cant fit the socket charging point anywhere near earthed metal and for them to fit their charge point i had to remove the metal light fittings around the front, they also put the gas pipe riser on the outside of the garage in plastic trunking ...very aesthetic on stone work and they also created the outlet into a TT by sinking a Rod in.
They told me that they cant have any external metalwork earthed from the mains within 10m of the outlet as the risk of shock if the PME N/E was lost and i assume they were looking at it as outside the equipotential zone hence the TT set-up.

Ps.. the rod was sunk 600mm from the house wall, so not exactly at the end of the garden.

So in effect an external charge port which it basically is a lead and trailer socket has had to be done with its own TT earth set-up and any earthed metal that can be touched at the same time as the car has to be removed or insulated fully..... I understand they have their hands tied behind their back as they have been instructed so and they also expressed a change in regulation to avoid this issue later in the year... but i find it OTT that my customer has had to have all his metal OS lighting remove so he can charge his car!

 

[iamelectric]

was it british gas by any chance

 

[iamelectric]

just notices the BG , you would not believe the price they charge for fitting these sockets

 

[ipf]

Get the lights changed to battery operated so that he can use the charger for them ??? :smug:
OTT to say the least.

 

[Darkwood]

It was free for the my customer so aint a concern in this case .... although my time of course is billable

 

[iamelectric]

yeah i should have read your post properly , we were asked to fit 2 charging points outside a renault garage , BG quoted them 60grand they have the contract for all renault stuff in the uk

 

[Guest55]

reading recent IET commentary the whole car charging industry is up its arse with regards to getting the supply & earthing parameters sorted out.

for example , the regs have decreed that vehical charging points in public places pretty much need to be tns to reduce to risk of metalwork going live from a loss of the pme neutral.
however dno's these days only deal in tncs supplies........

you'll be waiting till the 18th edition regs come out before its all presented in any sort of practical workings by my reckoning.

 

[Guest55]

as a thread high jack , electric cars are a total waste of effort anyway , 120 miles range with several hours recharging time ?
yeah right , i'll wait for hydrogen fuel cells before ditching the combustion engine.
;-)

 

[iamelectric]

aye its a joke , when you buy the car or van you do not own the batteries the car company own them , they only last 6 years and cost 7 grand to replace , only local councils are daft enough to buy them

 

[Darkwood]

I did comment about the car been cleaned with vac while plugged in and the risks you introduce in other ways using that set up .... and expressed it really OTT when your client has to take down anything earthed like light fittings etc .... a really thought out set-up they got!! yes Mr Smith here's your new car but we want your coach lights, the outside tap removed and the council to take away the street lamp too :shame:

They didn't appreciate the street lamp comment lol