Home Charger Reviews and FAQs

[SpaceEVDriver]

I am glad you seem like a reasonable man. I can imagine a year from now you just yanking all our chains for $hits and giggles. Sitting around like, now that 5000 members think I’m a genius watch this…… “I use my old bottles of motor oil to clean the battery pack and water beads off beautifully when I’m driving down the road on a rainy day”. Or in a pinch I use my jumper cables from my neighbor’s engine to the two mounting bolts on the front end of my battery pack-NOT the rear bolts-that would be crazy “

I mean, the neighbor does have a diesel Silverado 3500, but it only puts out 12 volts, so without a DC-DC step-up converter, it’s useless to me. Even with a step-up converter, the alternator only puts out about 200-300 Amps maximum. That would be enough to produce 2.4 to 3.6 kVA, but the conversion process is pretty inefficient, so I could probably only get 2 kW out of the truck. It really would be annoying to have to listen to that diesel for 65 and a half hours to charge from 0% to 100%.

I think I’d rather just get a few more solar panels.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I should mention that just because I don’t need an 80 Amp charger doesn’t mean nobody does.

I don’t commute long distances on a daily basis. Some people do.

If someone drives, say 150 miles a day, and gets 2 miles/kWh, that’s 75 kWh per day.

On an 80 Amp (19.2 kW) charger, the truck would take 4 hours to recover those 75 kWh.
On a 48 Amp (11.5 kW) charger, the truck would require 6.5 hours.
On a 30 Amp (7.2 kW) charger, the truck would require 10.5 hours.

Even at 30 Amps, someone driving a 2 miles/kWh truck 150 miles a day can recover the energy overnight. And even if they have longer days and less time at home, they could recover that usage on 6.5 hours of charging at 48 Amps.

So, it’s not a totally unreasonable charge speed. It’s just not likely to be something most people need.

 

[cyure]

I should mention that just because I don’t need an 80 Amp charger doesn’t mean nobody does.

I don’t commute long distances on a daily basis. Some people do.

If someone drives, say 150 miles a day, and gets 2 miles/kWh, that’s 75 kWh per day.

On an 80 Amp (19.2 kW) charger, the truck would take 4 hours to recover those 75 kWh.
On a 48 Amp (11.5 kW) charger, the truck would require 6.5 hours.
On a 30 Amp (7.2 kW) charger, the truck would require 10.5 hours.

Even at 30 Amps, someone driving a 2 miles/kWh truck 150 miles a day can recover the energy overnight. And even if they have longer days and less time at home, they could recover that usage on 6.5 hours of charging at 48 Amps.

So, it’s not a totally unreasonable charge speed. It’s just not likely to be something most people need.

All I know is that when I have my charger installed I’m checking with you first to make sure it’s right.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I am also a fan of State of Charge with Tom Moloughney. They do good reviews without all the technical nonsense that I can’t help myself from including in my posts.

Best Home EV Chargers Of 2025

Tom Moloughney subjected electric vehicle charging units to a rigorous series of comprehensive tests to determine the best home EV chargers of 2025.

evchargingstations.com

 

[J Alynn]

All I know is that when I have my charger installed I’m checking with you first to make sure it’s right.

Sounds like a consulting gig is happening in the future

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Sounds like a consulting gig is happening in the future

I’ve honestly thought about it.

 

[cyure]

I’ve honestly thought about it.

You totally should.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

You totally should.

The problem is that monetizing things I do for fun makes them less fun for me.

 

[dreamweaver]

The problem is that monetizing things I do for fun makes them less fun for me.

Makes a lot of sense. Kind'a taking the fun right out of it.

 

[J Alynn]

The problem is that monetizing things I do for fun makes them less fun for me.

I get that 100%. Several hobbies I’ve agreed to do for payment and each time it was very short lived

 

[cyure]

I get that 100%. Several hobbies I’ve agreed to do for payment and each time it was very short lived

Same. Every time someone says you should sell your crocheted blankets. If I charge by the hour no one would pay what they are really worth. So I just make them for people who are special to me and that’s that.

 

[J Alynn]

Makes a lot of sense. Kind'a taking the fun right out of it.

I’ve also hit the point though that I do t do work for free for friends and family as they tend to take advantage and don’t appreciate the time and effort. When I do design as a favor I tell people to give me a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant in an amount they think is fair. I get to try new restaurants and generally they spend $100-$150 which forces them to put a little skin in the game. And a bargain to say the least

 

[J Alynn]

Same. Every time someone says you should sell your crocheted blankets. If I charge by the hour no one would pay what they are really worth. So I just make them for people who are special to me and that’s that.

Yeah-same with cookies. With how I do it I’d have to charge $40 a dozen +shipping and then also have people telling me what they want

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I refuse to do work for friends and family with any sort of “friends and family discount.”
Either you pay full price for the work or you accept it for free.

IMVSO (In My Very Strong Opinion), friends and family should pay self-employed or small-businesses more, not ask for a discount. I always add a substantial “tip” to any work a friend or family do for me—this is their livelihood and it’s not something I’m willing to take advantage of.

 

[J Alynn]

I refuse to do work for friends and family with any sort of “friends and family discount.”
Either you pay full price for the work or you accept it for free.

IMVSO (In My Very Strong Opinion), friends and family should pay self-employed or small-businesses more, not ask for a discount. I always add a substantial “tip” to any work a friend or family do for me—this is their livelihood and it’s not something I’m willing to take advantage of.

I agree on tipping. We have neighbor 2 house down that own a very good Asian restaurant. Everytime we go and she sees us the discount is like 20% and we turn around and do a larger tip. But I hear you and we do same thing. It’s good practice. Same if a neighborhood kid does a paid chore. If they bust their butt we give them more. It’s a win-win.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

SigEnergy claims to have an EVSE that enables V2X for many different EVs that don’t necessarily have V2X enabled by the manufacturers. I don’t know how they do this, but I’ll try to figure it out.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Related, this a list of EVs that have V2H capabilities, either ready to go or with a software update. They all require additional hardware installed on the home.

https://insideevs.com/features/770430/evs-with-v2h-vehicle-to-home-power/

Note that V2L is different from V2H.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Okay. Some more information on the SigEnergy V2X charger.

The SigEnergy V2X charger requires its own SigEnenStore backup system to enable V2X.
A key point about it is that the SigEnergy V2X Charger is not an EVSE, it’s a DC charger. This is where the terms “Charger” and “EVSE” become non-interchangeable.

Its operation is proprietary information as far as I can tell in my short time searching. What I believe it does is convince the vehicle to open its DC charging capability. In other words, it convinces the vehicle that it will provide a DC Fast Charge and then instead of charging, it discharges. For some reason some vehicles do not automatically shut that off.

This is a clever work-around, and really should have been part of the main specification of V2X at the start. With it, nearly all EVs (including PHEVs and their bigger siblings, EREVs) could automatically be capable of doing V2X.

I’d like to install this at my home, but it’s a $10k package before labor costs.

 

[apex96]

Okay. Some more information on the SigEnergy V2X charger.

The SigEnergy V2X charger requires its own SigEnenStore backup system to enable V2X.
A key point about it is that the SigEnergy V2X Charger is not an EVSE, it’s a DC charger. This is where the terms “Charger” and “EVSE” become non-interchangeable.

Its operation is proprietary information as far as I can tell in my short time searching. What I believe it does is convince the vehicle to open its DC charging capability. In other words, it convinces the vehicle that it will provide a DC Fast Charge and then instead of charging, it discharges. For some reason some vehicles do not automatically shut that off.

This is a clever work-around, and really should have been part of the main specification of V2X at the start. With it, nearly all EVs (including PHEVs and their bigger siblings, EREVs) could automatically be capable of doing V2X.

I’d like to install this at my home, but it’s a $10k package before labor costs.

Took a look at the vehicles they say they've been able to discharge and there appear to be no GM vehicles. Not sure if that's because they haven't tried on one or if GMs software won't allow it to be discharged.

 

[apex96]

In the video for the SigEnergy you can see the cybertruck pull energy first before it's tricked into allowing its battery to be discharged... Wonder how their system is fooling the vehicles software. It does appear to be using the DC pins to pull power.