New Owner Got Questions about EVSE

[Axel]

I took the plunge and bought a Leaf after having to rent one from Hertz when a fork lift took out the door of my Prius. Hertz has since given up on the Leaf as a rental, which is a shame, but it gave me a chance to fall in love with how it drives and I got to debug the whole going to work drive over Hwy 17 - it worked like a charm for 10 days. It was incredibly painful to go back to the Prius, and even more painful to go back to gas stations to get gas.

I don't get range anxiety, but I sure get my share of charge anxiety, i.e. finding a charging station at work so I actually get to go home at the end of the day. So far, so good, and I've had to pay only once at $0.50/hour. (And I've learned to boycott BLINK stations that charge $2/hour in front of Wallmart - I say, WTH? BLINK, are you crazy?, this is not how you give an incentive to go electric.) Thankfully electric is free everywhere in Santa Cruz, but not over the hill in Mountain View. Sadly there are more charging stations in Santa Cruz where there is no grid promotion program than there is over the hill if you don't count Google. Just about everywhere I shop in Santa Cruz I get to plug in - Wallgreen's Staff of Life, Pacific Avenue, etc....

To relieve the issue, and perhaps get better battery life, I need to be able to get a full charge in 8 hours at home. So I took the plunge and ordered a modified charger from EVSE since I have a 240V in the garage. I think that's the Ingineer user on this board? Our Nissan Dealer gave him rave reviews. I certainly got excited over this solution, which is way more attractive to me than buying a charging station and seems like it provides far more value to an end user than a charging station ever would.

Does anyone know how long it takes? I paid and sent in my waiver, but I haven't gotten a "will ship in x days" confirmation. It's not even been a week, so perhaps shame on me for my desire for instant gratification, but I am still curious as to how long I can expect to wait.

 

[ebill3]

Hi Axel and welcome to the forum.

Good choice, evseupgrade.com.

Not clear - did you order a new modified unit? Or send yours in for modification? I don't recall my specifics, but they are normally quite efficient. If you sent yours in, of course you have to allow for two-way shipping and if you happen to be on the east coast, well...................
Did you receive an email notice of payment received?

You might want to email them.

HINT: You can include a location in your profile, perhaps city and state. Often it helps in others understanding a question or comment you might have.

 

[KillaWhat]

Again, don't know if you sent yours to them for modification.
I tracked mine, and they had it only a day, before it was coming back at me.
UPS took forever (it seemed) to ship both ways.

Works Great for about 25% of the price.
You DID choose the full 16AMP upgrade I hope?

Good luck

 

[MrIanB]

Ok, if you sent yours for upgrading, the way it works is they will send you one they already have from someone else that they upgraded. The one you sent them, will be upgraded and someone else will get it. The hold up is only if they do not have one in hand to send you when they get yours. Give it two weeks and you should hear if not get it by then. They are awesome. I recommend you get the 110 adaptor in case you go somewhere with the car where there is no 220 and you can still use 110. My car charges from very low battery, --- miles displayed to full in about 6 hours. The upgrade is very efficient at charging. One good thing with the exchange too is that when you go to sell/return/trade the Leaf, you can send the cable back and they will send you an original one back to return with the car. Also, you can sell/exchange it with a forum member here.

Congrats,

Ian B

 

[Axel]

I couldn't send my unit in, because then I would not be able to go to work. My commute to work round trip is about 80 miles, and I can't always rely on a charger at work. I don't have any charging stations I can walk to or bike to easily. So I opted with their other option and shelled out $800 up front. Including the $48 firmware upgrade and the pigtail for 110V, I ended up shelling out somewhere around $1,200. I know I'll get my $800 back once I send them my unit, but I need to receive theirs first.

Perhaps that was my mistake and I should have just send him my unit.

 

[jackncoke]

I couldn't send my unit in, because then I would not be able to go to work. My commute to work round trip is about 80 miles, and I can't always rely on a charger at work. I don't have any charging stations I can walk to or bike to easily. So I opted with their other option and shelled out $800 up front. Including the $48 firmware upgrade and the pigtail for 110V, I ended up shelling out somewhere around $1,200. I know I'll get my $800 back once I send them my unit, but I need to receive theirs first.

I just went through the same exact process 2-3 weeks ago. They shipped the day after the transaction, and emailed me a tracking number at the same time. I presume you sent in your release form that you have to sign, right? Without that they won't ship your new unit out.

On the other end of the exchange, I shipped on a Wednesday, they received on a Friday, and my PayPal account was credited that evening. I'm in Southern California so UPS Ground is two days for me but still the whole process was a week and a day.

My advice is, be patient, feel free to call their office if it's been a couple days and you haven't gotten a shipping email with tracking number, and in a few months you won't even remember that you were anxious for a little while, you'll just be enjoying your Leaf.

John K.

 

[MrIanB]

I couldn't send my unit in, because then I would not be able to go to work. My commute to work round trip is about 80 miles, and I can't always rely on a charger at work. I don't have any charging stations I can walk to or bike to easily. So I opted with their other option and shelled out $800 up front. Including the $48 firmware upgrade and the pigtail for 110V, I ended up shelling out somewhere around $1,200. I know I'll get my $800 back once I send them my unit, but I need to receive theirs first.

Perhaps that was my mistake and I should have just send him my unit.

I just remember that I did this too. Dont worry, it will be fine, you will get the upgraded unit and your credit $800.00 back asap. This company does awesome work and customer service.

Ian B

 

[Reddy]

Don't forget to send yours in ASAP after receiving the new modified one. Those things are expensive and Phil only keeps a small supply on hand for the next customer.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

Phil/Ingineer has sold many of these to members here. He is a good guy. If you have any doubt about your order, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a phone call.

 

[smkettner]

I think my upgrade took 8 or 9 days from shipped to received.

 

[KillaWhat]

I couldn't send my unit in, because then I would not be able to go to work. My commute to work round trip is about 80 miles, and I can't always rely on a charger at work. I don't have any charging stations I can walk to or bike to easily. So I opted with their other option and shelled out $800 up front. Including the $48 firmware upgrade and the pigtail for 110V, I ended up shelling out somewhere around $1,200. I know I'll get my $800 back once I send them my unit, but I need to receive theirs first.

Perhaps that was my mistake and I should have just send him my unit.

Not a mistake.
You are in good hands.
Welcome.

 

[garygid]

If he has an EVSE in stock, he often has one or two day
response time. If you have heard nothing for almost a week,
I would go to the website and send an inquiry message.

You will enjoy the faster charging with the upgraded
EVSE. Use the same box to ship your EVSE back to him.

I bought a new upgraded EVSE from ingineer, and
then sent mine in for an upgrade after I got the new unit.
Now, I keep one in the car (rarely used, but always available),
and another in the garage for convenient charging there,
without having to pack and unpack the one from the car.