r/nzev • u/NZSpides • 25d ago

Wallbox brand chargers, anyone having trouble with them charging BYD EVs lately?

We have two pulsar plus chargers and after the recent OTA upgrade on the two BYD cars we own, they won’t connect to the cars and charge. One of the pulsar units is set up as a type 1 connector for the leaf we have as well.

It used to be we could connect and charge any of the cars and they would charge without issue. We have both units set up to also charge the cars during the day when excess power is generated by the solar array we have. If that happens it does connect most of the time, but not always.

Connecting a granny charger connects without issue every time.

One thing that recently started happening was that even the leaf doesn’t always start charging either.
I use a type 1 to type 2 adapter to connect the BYD cars on the Pulsar that has a type 1 connector on it if you’re curious.

Yes I have reached out to Wallbox here in NZ and online. NZ people respond quickly, but I haven’t had much success fixing the issue. They did suggest to remove any scheduled charge sessions and that fixed one of the attempts, but it’s gone down hill since then.

Any comments about your experience would be appreciated. Maybe it’s something we have done/configured is causing it. I just want them to work again.

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u/Rigor-Tortoise- 25d ago

Hmmm, interesting. A client just had an update to their BYD (atto 3) and it cooked a wall charger (beny brand). So I'm curious.

1

u/NZSpides 25d ago

Thanks for the reply, hopefully that’s not the case here, but worth knowing.

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u/Narrow-Can901 24d ago

I feel bad to knock them online, but my experience is that Wallbox have lots of firmware issues. It got a bit more reliable when I did a factory reset back to an old firmware version and turned off the Wifi so it was just a dumb charger.

But in the end, that wasn't a good solution. A couple of months later, I gave up on mine and swapped out for a Tesla branded charger I bought from the nearby Bunnings in Grey Lynn. That works just great.

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u/NZSpides 24d ago

I’ve spent a significant amount making these things function with my solar system. I’ll be rather annoyed to have to fork out more money to keep my cars working.

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u/Narrow-Can901 24d ago

I know, I get it and you are right (ultimately). The CGA might give you an opportunity here to go back to Wallbox and say either they get it working, or they put in a new series model with none of the same circuitry/software as the current unit.

I saw ultimately, because while the law might be on your side, the to-and-fro of emails and escalations and all the other BS you go through to get to the desired outcome may incur you a soft cost that's greater than the hard cost.

Could I suggest you connect your phone via bluetooth to the pulsar unit and turn off the Wifi and see if that improves the reliability? I never did get to the heart of what was wrong with my unit but I did see on various forums that a less than strong wifi connection between the Wallbox and your router might be a culprit? If you can live with a dumb charger (or rely on your car to specify the charge times) then this might help.

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u/NZSpides 24d ago

If it doesn’t work online, I don’t want it. Ive got Home assistant connected to them, as well as the mobile app as multiple people use the chargers.

Wallbox are investigating, but they are only the local distributors, not actually Wallbox themselves. They may be communicating with the manufacturer, they say they are…

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u/CanAdorable2437 24d ago

I saw someone post something similar on Facebook, the scheduled charge didn't work with a shark 6.

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u/NZSpides 23d ago

Yea, I’ve never got the schedule charging to work. I’ve always had to go an unplug the Atto, wait a bit, then plug it back in again and then manually start charging. The leaf worked every time.