EV owner revived a secondhand charger with a hotspot, then hit a dead end

Almost immediately after an EV owner bought a fully functional secondhand charger, problems started to roll in. 

Here's what to know

The EV owner posted their story to Reddit's r/ElectricVehicles forum. In the thread, the original poster said the outdoor-installed charger was about four years old and worked normally until the network change. But once the Wi-Fi credentials were changed, the app could no longer find the charger.

During support, the owner said support had them flip the breaker multiple times. When that did not help, support suggested removing the charger from the account. That also failed to restore access, and the OP said support later sent what they described as "a generous 10% off coupon" toward another charger.

Roughly 30 minutes later, the poster said they used a phone hotspot to imitate the old Wi-Fi network. That brought the charger back online, but the account association was still missing. 

For some commenters, the charger's design was the bigger problem, not just the support experience. One commenter called the lack of a hardware reset button a design defect, writing, "Every device should have one." 

Several other Reddit users framed the issue as a common smart-device frustration. One said they keep the same Wi-Fi name and password when changing access points because changing credentials can be "a hassle on many IoT devices to change networks."

Another commenter pointed out that a charger can still work without its connected extras, saying theirs had been "dumb" for years and adding, "I don't miss a thing."

What can be done?

A home charger is meant to make EV ownership easier and reduce reliance on public charging and slash fueling costs in the process. 

But unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. Among the suggestions, the clearest next step was to set up the unit again through the installer's version of the app rather than the standard user app.

Some commenters suggested more hands-on fixes. One wrote that the owner could "swap the brains with a board from openevse," describing that open-source hardware and software as a strong alternative for people comfortable modifying equipment.

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