Orange County, CA, Public Charging stations (J1772 and DCQC)

[hill]

I checked 'em out today. These GE Watt stations require their own access card. With
3 other access cards already causing a wallet bulge - it's no wonder my posture is getting poor.

No card - there's an app for that (iOS and Android). Scans the QR code on the WattStation and links to a PayPal account (if payment is required).

Nope
I called the (VERY hard to understand/India accent) toll-free help line. (At least pertaining to Irvine spectrum and Tustin Marketplace) ... and not only must you have a card, you MUST BUY a card. $10 on Amazon. :lol:
After you buy a card, only then can you use the app. WHOOPS ... I should say AFTER the app is available. Support says the android app isn't even ready yet. Supposedly it will be ready in a few weeks. So when it is ... ... after you pay $10 and you get your card, THEN you can use the stations in Irvine and Tustin. The app is necessary to sync w/ the QR code, so that your PayPal account can get tapped.
So like I said, another bulge in the wallet if I want to use SOME of the WattStations ... and if I want to fork up $10, and then pay $2 per hour - after the app is developed and deployed.
One other funky thing. Their boiler plate on the EVSE's states that if you charge up - and you don't immediately come out to unplug - your billing will continue to rack up the $2/hour until you unplug. :lol:

 

[smkettner]

One other funky thing. Their boiler plate on the EVSE's states that if you charge up - and you don't immediately come out to unplug - your billing will continue to rack up the $2/hour until you unplug. :lol:

And is it $2 for any partial hour like BLINK ? :x

 

[TonyWilliams]

The 25kW Fuji is working now, located on the west wall of the Residence Inn. The use fees will be with a Chargepoint card or a credit card (by calling the 800 number).

The Nissan dealer is across the street and Costco is a short walk down the hill.

Residence Inn
33711 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, California 92675
1-949-443-3600

 

[JPVLeaf]

New station

Host: XP Power
Address: 1241 Dyer Road, Santa Ana, California 92705

Two Chargepoint units with L1 and L2 J1772.

These charging stations are located within a business complex, but appear to be available for public access 24/7.

Each unit had a sign on it that reads: "Plug In Vehicles Only. For Charger Access Key Inquire in Suite 150. XP Power: XPerts in Power"

Both spaces are clearly marked for electric vehicles only.

 

[smkettner]

Did you try your chargepoint card?

 

[JPVLeaf]

Did you try your chargepoint card?

Yup, charged successfully from both L2 units.

 

[JPVLeaf]

New station

Host: Kohl's
Address: 23001 Savi Ranch Pkwy, Yorba Linda, California 92887

This Kohl's has a slew of solar panels on the roof.
There is one Chargepoint bollard with two L2 J1772s.

Currently no fee to charge.

Located to the right of the store front (southwest corner), and
are available for public access 24/7. A few eateries and shops
within walking distance.

Both spaces are not (yet) marked for electric vehicles only.

 

[hill]

New station

Two Chargepoint units with L1 and L2 J1772.

These charging stations are located within a business complex, but appear to be available for public access 24/7.

Each unit had a sign on it that reads: "Plug In Vehicles Only. For Charger Access Key Inquire in Suite 150. XP Power: XPerts in Power"

Both spaces are clearly marked for electric vehicles only.

sweet !!

 

[jackncoke]

Hi folks, I'm going to be attending a get-together of old colleagues in Fullerton next week and would like to bring my Leaf. I can't get back home without a charge, so I'm looking for some help on finding a convenient charger to downtown Fullerton. No maps seem to show anything right there in downtown, so I think I'm looking at parking at Cal State Fullerton and hitching a ride.

An intriguing alternative seems to be plans in the works to install 10 L2 EVSE's at the Fullerton Transportation Center (see http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/visitors/downtown_fullerton/default.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, search for the phrase "electric vehicle" on that page). Recargo shows only the old paddle type, last check-in two years ago. (Maybe these have recently been upgraded to J1772?) If anything were up and running at the transportation center, I could walk to downtown from there. It's a long shot but I figured I'd ask.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[tbleakne]

New station

Host: Kohl's
Address: 23001 Savi Ranch Pkwy, Yorba Linda, California 92887

This Kohl's has a slew of solar panels on the roof.
There is one Chargepoint bollard with two L2 J1772s.

Currently no fee to charge.

A Kohls near me, in La Verne, also has a very similar twin-hose Chargepoint installation, and it also is near several eateries. There are a lot of Kohls out there, so maybe more Chargepoints are coming. See my postings on Plugshare and Recargo for details.

This last Saturday I tried the GE Wattstations at Irvine Spectrum. I had lots of difficulty and did NOT get a successful charge. These stations have a QR code you are supposed to scan. I had set up the GE App and linked it to my Paypal account the day before, which was quite a bother, but I still failed. It was hard to read the screen in the sun, and I could not get the App to work right. It turned out that I needed to log in, which makes sense, but the App didn't tell me that, and the icon was not obvious. The help number connected me to nice gentleman with a thick Indian accent who must have been working the graveyard shift in India. He was fairly knowledgeable but not good enough. Two friends showed up and one got me logged in but the car still wouldn't charge.

In the next few days I have received not one, but two followup calls from GE Wattstation support. How many times have you had Support call you back? The last call, today, Tuesday, explained in detail what I had done wrong. You have to complete the authorization before plugging in.

The whole QR scan thing is too hi-tech and tricky for me. I ordered a GE Wattstation card from Amazon, which avoids the QR. Only 4$, not 10$.

http://www.amazon.com/GE-WattStation-Connect-Payment-Card/dp/B0092QWD9O

Let us know if someone gets these units to work on LEAF. The RAV4 EV guys say they work for them.

 

[davewill]

...This last Saturday I tried the GE Wattstations at Irvine Spectrum. I had lots of difficulty and did NOT get a successful charge. These stations have a QR code you are supposed to scan. I had set up the GE App and linked it to my Paypal account the day before, ... The whole QR scan thing is too hi-tech and tricky for me. I ordered a GE Wattstation card from Amazon, which avoids the QR. Only 4$, not 10$.

http://www.amazon.com/GE-WattStation-Connect-Payment-Card/dp/B0092QWD9O

Let us know if someone gets these units to work on LEAF. The RAV4 EV guys say they work for them.

Wunderbar. Am I right in reading this as them ONLY taking Paypal? I do not and will never have a Paypal account (at least until they are regulated as the bank they really are), and I'm not alone. What a waste.

 

[br14n22]

I charged successfully at the Irvine Spectrum. I had already planned for it and had the Wattstation App loaded up with all my information before hand.

 

[TonyWilliams]

We have a brand new GE Wattstation near my house in Poway. I put it in PlugShare.

They are easy to find at night with the distinctive colored light ring.

 

[richard]

The whole QR scan thing is too hi-tech and tricky for me. I ordered a GE Wattstation card from Amazon, which avoids the QR. Only 4$, not 10$.
..
Let us know if someone gets these units to work on LEAF. The RAV4 EV guys say they work for them.

My smartphone is neither Android or iOS, so I ordered the card as well. Got it last week, and logged into my GE Wattstation account and tried to set up the Paypal link and activate the card.

Went to Irvine Spectrum on Friday and got rejected at all four stations. Same sequence every time. One white flash of the card and money icons together, and then a solid red card icon.

Spent over an hour on various calls with customer support in India. The support tech asked me my account info, and asked if I had gone through all the steps properly. I thought I had. Once they looked at the logs for the machines at Spectrum, they finally reported back that the logs were reporting a missing Paypal link.

My situation is that when I'm in my GE Wattstation account, and go to Settings | My Payment Information | Set Up Account, it takes me to Paypal, where I log in. Then I press on the Agree.. button. I'm supposed to be taken back to my GE Wattstation account to do the final confirmation, but instead I'm dumped back at the GE login page. So it's not possible for me to set up this link at this time. I suspect the issue lies with the GE Wattstation site accepting the Paypal token.

Still waiting for something concrete from Customer Support. I keep hearing that they have to verify the paypal link with their "backend" staff. It's clear that I'm missing the link, because every time I log into my account, the button says Set Up Account. If I had a link, I'm pretty sure it would say Remove Account.

So if your My Payment Information has a button labeled "Set Up Account", you're not linked properly, and the pay Wattstations won't work.

Another thing to check is whether GE is listed as a Service Provider in your Paypal account. (My Account | Profile |My Settings | Service Providers) Can someone with a working account confirm that GE appears in this list?

On Sunday I was back at the Spectrum, and Customer Support had asked me to try again. But it didn't work, and there's been no apparent change in my account. There was a Volt charging at one of the stations at the time, by the way.

The Customer Support assured me this morning this was a priority and that he'd get back to me as soon as possible. If I don't hear back today, I'll try dropping my current Wattstation account and setting up a new one, just in case this issue only affects older accounts (I created this account in May)

 

[hill]

It took me weeks to finally get the GE system to work reliably. One thing good I can say is their pricing keeps plugin's away - so I've never been ICE'd their by plugins - and their signs clearly state you can be towed .... not just for parking an ICE there ... but even if you don't get your lazy rear out of there when your charge is complete.

 

[richard]

It took me weeks to finally get the GE system to work reliably. One thing good I can say is their pricing keeps plugin's away - so I've never been ICE'd their by plugins - and their signs clearly state you can be towed .... not just for parking an ICE there ... but even if you don't get your lazy rear out of there when your charge is complete.

How did you get it to work for you, Gary? Any tips? Are you using the card, or a phone app?

 

[smkettner]

South Coast Plaza (Lower level, SCP West) 3333 Bear St. Costa Mesa CA 1 L1/L2 Chargepoint

The Clipper Creek unit next to the Chargepoint for MINI EV has now been changed to J plug. No network, just plug in and charge

 

[TonyWilliams]

The DC charger in San Juan Capistrano will be down until Dec 26 for a transformer change.

 

[hill]

How did you get it to work for you, Gary? Any tips? Are you using the card, or a phone app?

Sorry for the slow reply Richard . . . I use the card and it seems to work 100% (so far ... crossing fingers). I haven't (successfully) tried the app yet. I'll be up in Orange later today so maybe I'll give the Chapman College EVSE a try. There's no fee there, but (unlike Irvine HQ) it still needs either the card or the app to bring it to life.

The DC charger in San Juan Capistrano will be down until Dec 26 for a transformer change.

Yea - I noted that on their web/map. BUMMER, as we were going down to SD for Christmas w/ the family. Now we'll have to take the hybrid/guzzler. I wonder if there's a snowball's chance that it'll be running early. Guessing by how long it took to come on line, maybe it'll be better to think, "Easter"

 

[Evoasis]

Happy Easter-Lake Forest Leaf Driver!
Our DC Quick-Charger at San Juan Cap is up and operating. I'll leave you an Easter Basket at the hotel front desk...Angus