Now that Juicebox is on the brink of non-support, I decided to return Juicebox back to Costco (It has just been 2 yrs where the box is supposed to have 3 yr warranty).
Looks like pretty much only option now from Costco is Wallbox Pulsar Plus 40. Now, they DO have Battery Tender 40A EVSE for about $50 cheaper and is pretty much stand alone charger without any app or remote management nor onboard smart feature other than "delay charge" which apparently has to be set every time that you plug it in (or just prior to plugging it in) Now, to make up for only $50 difference in price, it does look like Costco is throwing in NACS adapter so I guess it is worth something so it is an option for others.
Now, I just installed Wallbox and I will start with BAD first to get them out of the way:
Installation - The mounting bracket is entirely made of plastic, and it does not feel as robust as Juicebox's metal bracket. Especially the charging cable wrap which is separate to the actual charging unit. It may or may not be plus depending on how accessible your charger unit is so that you can actually mount the cable wrap near the car if you have wall space where as the cable wrap plastic felt quite flimsy.
Also, since it is 40A unit, it came with plug cord with NEMA 14-50 plug. That part is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than the one that came with Juicebox. It looks BARELY 12" long. I literally put the unit only like 6" away from the plug and I was struggling to plug in the unit because of the plug orientation - Ground on the top. Now, can I rotate the plug and mount the charging unit above the plug? Yes, but I did not want to bother with doing it.
Now, for GOOD:
The local configuration option - The unit supports local configuration via Bluetooth so that is good. The app connected to the unit and I could setup everything and I could even update the firmware using bluetooth connection and it did not require internet access. I now have setup the internet access and the dashboard through their website is quite pretty. Software wise, it is much better looking than one that of EnelX.
Charging cable is longer (by about 4') than one that came with juicebox.
Plug has rubberized handle which seem more robust than the one on juicebox. I have set it up to charge at 40A for now, I will have to test the charging to see if I am able to charge it at that power. Maybe the plug will fit better and will allow me to charge at 40A on I5. Juicebox could only do about 35A during winter and about 33A during summer without throttling.
Another advantage of this unit is that there is physical access to limit the power in the back of the unit, there is a physical dial which one can adjust in 8A increment (using app/webpage, one can further adjust in 1A increment as well) So, if one has to limit amperage due to the circuit size, you do not have to depend on software/app adjustment, one can do it physically as well which is to the code (Software only adjustment, as far as I understand it, is NOT to the code if you are going to connect any unit to undersized circuit)
I do not have chance to test it but my understanding is that if needed, one can purchase additional unit and connect them together and do dynamic load balancing so that one can plug in 2 cars at once in 1 circuit which may come in handy later.
Looks like pretty much only option now from Costco is Wallbox Pulsar Plus 40. Now, they DO have Battery Tender 40A EVSE for about $50 cheaper and is pretty much stand alone charger without any app or remote management nor onboard smart feature other than "delay charge" which apparently has to be set every time that you plug it in (or just prior to plugging it in) Now, to make up for only $50 difference in price, it does look like Costco is throwing in NACS adapter so I guess it is worth something so it is an option for others.
Now, I just installed Wallbox and I will start with BAD first to get them out of the way:
Installation - The mounting bracket is entirely made of plastic, and it does not feel as robust as Juicebox's metal bracket. Especially the charging cable wrap which is separate to the actual charging unit. It may or may not be plus depending on how accessible your charger unit is so that you can actually mount the cable wrap near the car if you have wall space where as the cable wrap plastic felt quite flimsy.
Also, since it is 40A unit, it came with plug cord with NEMA 14-50 plug. That part is SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than the one that came with Juicebox. It looks BARELY 12" long. I literally put the unit only like 6" away from the plug and I was struggling to plug in the unit because of the plug orientation - Ground on the top. Now, can I rotate the plug and mount the charging unit above the plug? Yes, but I did not want to bother with doing it.
Now, for GOOD:
The local configuration option - The unit supports local configuration via Bluetooth so that is good. The app connected to the unit and I could setup everything and I could even update the firmware using bluetooth connection and it did not require internet access. I now have setup the internet access and the dashboard through their website is quite pretty. Software wise, it is much better looking than one that of EnelX.
Charging cable is longer (by about 4') than one that came with juicebox.
Plug has rubberized handle which seem more robust than the one on juicebox. I have set it up to charge at 40A for now, I will have to test the charging to see if I am able to charge it at that power. Maybe the plug will fit better and will allow me to charge at 40A on I5. Juicebox could only do about 35A during winter and about 33A during summer without throttling.
Another advantage of this unit is that there is physical access to limit the power in the back of the unit, there is a physical dial which one can adjust in 8A increment (using app/webpage, one can further adjust in 1A increment as well) So, if one has to limit amperage due to the circuit size, you do not have to depend on software/app adjustment, one can do it physically as well which is to the code (Software only adjustment, as far as I understand it, is NOT to the code if you are going to connect any unit to undersized circuit)
I do not have chance to test it but my understanding is that if needed, one can purchase additional unit and connect them together and do dynamic load balancing so that one can plug in 2 cars at once in 1 circuit which may come in handy later.
on that note I definitely agree that it’s a big plus to have a physical switch inside the case for limiting power so I never worry about it over drawing when it’s disconnected from the network.
