Emporia non-UL listed charger

[Pioneer74]

Does anybody have any insight on what was changed between the UL and non-UL listed chargers?

I drug my feet on ordering it on Amazon and it went up $100. I found the non-UL listed charger on their website on sale, but am kinda nervous about ordering it.

https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/smart-home-ev-charger

Sponsored

 

[FlasherZ]

Does anybody have any insight on what was changed between the UL and non-UL listed chargers?

I suspect you'll have to ask them. My guess is that they made some tweaks to the design and haven't been able to run it through the test suite (either because of cost or time reasons).

If it's a direct descendent of its UL twin, it's likely to be okay. In a commercial environment, building codes generally require that products be UL or ETL compliant.

You might just drop them a request and ask?

 

[metroshot]

I have the Emporia 48A L2 UL charger (paid $10 more) over the non UL.

According to the company, their first run was a non UL model and then they got the certification and are now selling them both.

Basically, it's the same unit - one has a UL and the other not.

Not much difference.

Love mine - works for 2 EV vehicles.

 

[KurtsRPMGarage]

I have the non UL and its been perfect. Like metroshot said its exactly the same as the UL one but from an older batch.

 

[gorwell]

Hi:

I have the non ul version, I'm sure no one could ID a difference. I asked this question when I was buying it before the UL came out. They designed it for UL, it just took a while to go through the process due to COVID-19, so they started selling it in advance


Their reply for what was changed for the UL version:


(03:42:57 PM) Alex: Sure. UL found in particular situations with excessive electro-magnetic interference (way outside of normal) we included a safety feature for the charger to be turned off but UL wanted the charger to keep operating in those scenarios to prevent customer frustration and the potential for electrocution if the customer decided to unplug or trip the breakers out of confusion. Very out there edge case and should almost never occur in residential situations.



I had no issues with this and kept the non UL version (as I needed a charger and it's the one I wanted).

Build quality is top notch , been using it hardwired for full power for the past 4 months. Only complaint is the thick charging cable.

 

[jefro]

Some EVSE company said they delayed due to high cost to certify.

 

[Maquis]

Hi:

I have the non ul version, I'm sure no one could ID a difference. I asked this question when I was buying it before the UL came out. They designed it for UL, it just took a while to go through the process due to COVID-19, so they started selling it in advance


Their reply for what was changed for the UL version:


(03:42:57 PM) Alex: Sure. UL found in particular situations with excessive electro-magnetic interference (way outside of normal) we included a safety feature for the charger to be turned off but UL wanted the charger to keep operating in those scenarios to prevent customer frustration and the potential for electrocution if the customer decided to unplug or trip the breakers out of confusion. Very out there edge case and should almost never occur in residential situations.



I had no issues with this and kept the non UL version (as I needed a charger and it's the one I wanted).

Build quality is top notch , been using it hardwired for full power for the past 4 months. Only complaint is the thick charging cable.

I’m very skeptical of that response. UL2594 does not include a test for EMI.

 

[gorwell]

I’m very skeptical of that response. UL2594 does not include a test for EMI.

I see 4 references to electromagnetic interference in the specs. I'm not an expert though.... But the company is not some Chinese off brand knock off, so I have no reason to doubt them.

 

[Maquis]

I see 4 references to electromagnetic interference in the specs. I'm not an expert though.... But the company is not some Chinese off brand knock off, so I have no reason to doubt them.

You‘re referring to the specs of the unit, not the UL spec, correct?

Everything I’ve heard about the Emporia product has been good, I’m not questioning that. Just thinking the person responding to inquiries might not be up to speed on technical topics.

 

[gorwell]

You‘re referring to the specs of the unit, not the UL spec, correct?

I'm referring to the UL spec.

 

[daveross1212]

I have two of them - both non-UL. Love the product - super reliable, app is bare-bones but works well (Ford could learn a thing or two!)

 

[metroshot]

......
I had no issues with this and kept the non UL version (as I needed a charger and it's the one I wanted).

Build quality is top notch , been using it hardwired for full power for the past 4 months. Only complaint is the thick charging cable.

I agree the build quality is top notch, reliability has been excellent, and the fans inside keep it cool during heavy charging (11kW) inside a hot garage.

The J1772 cable is definitely thick and a bit unwieldy, but over 2 months of use has made the cable straighten out and easier to manage.

My wife's car is a short in the garage but my Lightning which charges outside, the entire cable has to unwind off the holder.

Notice how tight the coils are when first installed - now the cable has straightened out and only loops 2 times making it much easier to use.

 

[PiMatrix]

Does anybody have any insight on what was changed between the UL and non-UL listed chargers?

I drug my feet on ordering it on Amazon and it went up $100. I found the non-UL listed charger on their website on sale, but am kinda nervous about ordering it.

https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/smart-home-ev-charger

I believe they are same except for the manuf date before the UL approved paperwork so reason don’t have the updated sticker. Read that somewhere in a faq or it was manufacturer response to question on Amazon. Here is a coupon for 5% DIYSOLAR I used for my new emporia backup charger arriving today!

 

[Pioneer74]

Well, Emporia sent me an email this morning. I had it in my cart and was completing the checkout when I realized it was the non-UL unit. They gave me a 5% off code to complete the sale. $375 for a 48 amp charger with great reviews is a steal. So I bought it.

 

[PiMatrix]

The delivery truck just pulled up with the charger! I may put one inside garage and the backup outside. My guess is the 80A FCSP will not be the one going out in the hot sun but we'll see how the firmware updates go.

Note it is 48A (11.5 kW) if you hard wire the connection and 40 Amp (9.6 kW) if you use a 14-50P plug. The charger comes with 24" plug you can remove. The 48A requires a 60A circuit breaker and the 40A requires a 50A circuit breaker.

What I really find cool about this charger design is that in conjunction with their Emporia Vue, during grid down situation you can choose to automatically throttle the charger to a low current charge so as not to shutdown the solar due to high load or have to move the charger to a non-critical loads panel.

Going to get the box...

Sponsored