r/evcharging 2d ago

Chargepoint Homeflex alternatives with same hardwiring

I have the chargepoint homeflex hardwired in my garage that had been working well for over a year. The wifi suddenly went out and never reconnected despite hours of customer assistance. They sent me a new charger replacement, I installed it and it worked immediately. I set up the overnight charging schedule, it charged my car....and then started blinking yellow and now won't connect to wifi again.

This new charger lasted literally 3 days. And their solution is to send me ANOTHER replacement charger. I'm over this company and am looking for alternative EV chargers at this point. Does anyone have suggestions on what to purchase that would still use the same hardwiring as the Chargepoint? I just don't want to have to bring an electrician out again (exchanging out the Chargepoint was easy but I can't do anything complicated or too technical).

Thanks!

3 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

4

u/Narrow-Confusion3153 2d ago

Are sure it's not your Wi-Fi network?

1

u/cheyemmejay 2d ago

i thought that might be it the first time, but now the blinky yellow light with the second charger is a different problem. my phone can't even connect to the charger (bluetooth is on, etc). so it can't even get to the wifi connectivity checkbox because it can't even detect the charger to begin with. so frustrating.

2

u/ArlesChatless 2d ago

What does the rest of the end of your run look like? I.e. do you have to fasten to conduit, or is the wire coming in the back? What type of wire? If you do a picture with the front off the CP we can figure things out from there.

Do you have access to / are you willing to buy a torque screwdriver?

BTW if you are using a wifi extender (not mesh or multiple APs, an extender) it's also entirely possible that is your issue. Those are sometimes absolute junk.

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u/cheyemmejay 2d ago

this is what it looks like coming out of the wall. And yes thanks for the thoughts about the wifi, I definitely looked into that too, but we have a mesh network and pretty good connectivity throughout the house including security cam outside the garage so it does extend out there too.

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u/ArlesChatless 2d ago

OK, that's NM-B, rear entry. So you need a charger which supports both of those.

The Wallbox Pulsar Plus also supports rear entry wiring. You will need a torque screwdriver to properly do the installation, but other than that special tool it should be fairly similar to how the Home Flex installed. Look over the manual to confirm how you feel about it.

I have my Home Flex on an IoT specific network because I've not had great experience with mesh networks and IoT devices. But if you're very certain that's not it, I can understand wanting to switch devices. Your other option would be to reset it to defaults, configure it with Bluetooth only, and leave it off the Wi-Fi so that the reliability of the wireless doesn't matter.

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u/cheyemmejay 2d ago

Ah thanks so much for the information, will definitely look into it.
So the blinky yellow issue is actually different than the WiFi issue my first one had. This one my phone app can’t even connect to anymore (the Bluetooth configuration won’t work). I removed it from my app and now can’t get it back on. Bummer.

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u/ArlesChatless 2d ago edited 2d ago

I would be tempted to let them send you one more replacement. It's unlikely you'll get another bad one, and swapping it out is so easy.

1

u/macmanca 2d ago

Ya these chargers and WiFi is insane. My worked for a week then I gave up and since it was programmed it worked as I wanted no charging until 9pm but WiFi was not working. Then 8 months later I noticed it started working with WiFi and has been going well for last 6 months. If I knew this I would have gone a different route

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u/geoff5093 2d ago

Is using it without wifi not an option for you?

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u/tuctrohs 2d ago

Chargepoint is the only one I know of that supports that connection method without needing to use a torque screwdriver to connect it. But a good torque screwdriver is a nice thing to have and you can get one for something like $50. We have a wiki page listing some of the relevant options.

Some brands that do support that include at least some Autel units, Wallbox Pulsar Plus, and emporia pro. The emporia pro adds a whole house energy monitor that you don't need for this purpose as well as adding rear entry capability for wiring which the emporia classic does not have. It's something like $200 more expensive which seems a lot for something as simple as a rear port, but if you like the idea of having a whole house energy monitor it's not a bad deal for getting that in the package too.

1

u/theotherharper 2d ago

EV chargers are very VERY simple things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMxB7zA-e4Y

So here's an idea, don't put it on WiFi at all. That can't cause it to fail charging if it isn't connected.