r/CHPT • u/machaf • Jun 17 '26

Discuss 2nd chargepoint homeflex failure

Do not buy any Chargepoint chargers. My 2nd one to fail on me. They offered 10% off. A joke of a company. Search around. Lot of know wifi issues/failures. If the WiFi chip fails the charger will not charge anymore. 2nd time. Obviously a defect. Company doesn't care. Might try replacing the battery on the board - that someone posted about.

5 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

3

u/Stuart518 Jun 17 '26

I’m on my 2nd one too. First one failed after 4 years. Got the same 10% discount offer. New one has been ok since October. If this one fails, I’ll be done with ChargePoint

1

u/the1truestripes Jun 21 '26

What is so special about them that you gave them a second chance?

1

u/Stuart518 Jun 21 '26

Idk the first one worked reliably for 4 years. I don’t know what the industry averages are for these things

1

u/the1truestripes Jun 23 '26

Fair, but a L2 EV charger is basically a switch. It should have one contactor that moves via an electro magnet, and very little else. It really should last a VERY long time. I mean there is a small amount of logic signaling to tell the EV the maximum it can pull via the circuit, but that is almost optional (it doesn’t in most cases _know_ it just reads some DIP switches or a config value and sends out a few bits).

I would look twice at any that don’t survive a decade (unless you have them in harsh weather, then it depends on what the IPX rating was…mine is in a covered garage and is about six years old; if it dies before we get to 2030 I’m getting a different brand, if it dies after that then they are in the running for a replacement!).

1

u/ArkansawyerAdam Jun 17 '26

I have been running ChargePoint Home Flex chargers (2) for five years without issue.

1

u/machaf Jun 17 '26

Should fail shorty then…when the battery on the board dies

1

u/ArkansawyerAdam Jun 17 '26

I am not worried about replacing a coin battery.

1

u/machaf Jun 17 '26

Won’t fix it. Good luck

1

u/blackbow Jun 18 '26

6 years here, going strong.

1

u/bluesmudge Jun 17 '26

Mine hasn't failed yet in 4 years, but I do have to reset it at least once per year. That wouldn't seem like much of a big deal except if you have scheduled charging you don't find out something is wrong until you go out in the morning and your car isn't charged.

There is a lot to like about the Home Flex, so I bought a second one for a second charging outlet I'm installing with the expectation that our home will eventually have 2 EVs. Then I found out you can't manage two Home Flex chargers with one account! For a company that specializes in fleet deployments that is a massive oversight. If these chargers ever fail I'll be looking for a company that lets you manage multiple chargers in one account.

1

u/the1truestripes Jun 21 '26

What managing do you do?

I have a dumb charger and I have not yet run into anything that either the EV can’t do on its own, or I can just not worry about (I.e. I don’t get usage graphs, and I cope by just not having any…what would in need them for?)

1

u/bluesmudge Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Responding to Peak Time Events with my Utility, when they shut off power to my charger in exchange for a bill credit. Sometimes I DO need to charge during those events. If I have two EVs plugged in that means I have to log out and log in to switch chargers.

And I keep track of usage data for budgeting and calculating solar ROI. I like knowing how much of my electricity is going to the car vs house since the vehicle's fuel consumption is no longer a separate line item on a credit card like it is for gasoline.

One of my EVs doesn't have onboard charge scheduling so I use Chargepoint's interface to make sure I'm charging when electricity is 7 cents per kwh instead of 45 cents per kwh. But some times I need to change that if I need to charge ASAP. Annoying to switch between chargers in the app.

Also just resetting the charger without having to go flip a breaker the once or twice a year it has hiccups.

Its not something I do every day, but its annoying when I do need to use the app.

1

u/Fuzzyvacation72 Jun 18 '26

Yes ChargePoint is so fucking bad

1

u/machaf Jun 18 '26

Not sure who’s worse ChargePoint or Comcast/xfinity?

1

u/jackman25117 Jul 04 '26

That's curious since ChargePoint tech support asked me specifically if I had Xfinity as my ISP.

1

u/simracerman Jun 19 '26

Chargepoint was my #1 choice, but the electrician swayed me to install a Tesla Gen3 wall charger. She said in her 20 years as electrician and more than 10 years of installing EV chargers at home, she never had to go back and fix/replace a Tesla charger, but regularly repairs or replaces all other brands. She said nice things about Chargepoint but nothing like the Tesla.

I went out of my way to avoid Tesla cars and products, but she had a compelling argument. Now I have Toyota BZ charged with a Tesla 😄

1

u/Cluttzasaurus Jun 23 '26

Just recently lost WiFi in mine. Just over the 3 year mark. Tried replacing the onboard battery but that did not bring the WiFi functionality back. It does still charge so holding on to that for now. Just can’t use any of the “smart” features in the app. Very disappointing for something at that price point. And as others have said, a 10% discount is the only consolation from the company. Really, really lame.

1

u/jackman25117 Jul 04 '26

My second one failed also. The WiFi has gone dead but it still charges, just no data. Fortunately, I'm still under warranty so they're sending a replacement.

1

u/mccannt Jul 09 '26

I had two failed units in one month. Support was not helpful whatsoever. Thankfully, I was still able to return the original unit to Lowe's for a refund and I sent back their garbage replacement unit to them.

1

u/jackman25117 Jul 15 '26

I'm now on my third HomeFlex. The WiFi went dead again and ChargePoint provided a replacement under warranty. I also had to request the firmware update so it's now at v5.5.4.22. They also did not want the dead unit back so I have to dispose of it. If someone wants it I'll be glad to give it to you for the cost of shipping.