JuiceBox Woes

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For those of you looking at a JuiceBox, I'd offer this cautionary tale… I bought one before Christmas and it worked fine until just a few weeks ago when it lost its way to the router. The support at eMotorwerks has been very helpful, we tried to revive the wifi on the box several ways, with no success. So they sent a replacement unit. I reinstalled the replacement unit only to find that it too can't connect. Not only that, but within two days, it lost its ability to transmit - no blue light at all. I reopened a ticket with eMotorwerks, but I haven't heard from support yet, so I don't know what they'll suggest.

I work with statistics, so I know it's quite possible to get two bad boxes without it being some kind of indictment of the mfgr as a whole. But it makes me wonder about the build on these boxes. I am hoping they'll send me another one (then I'll have three (!!) since I haven't even had time to return the first box yet).

So take this for what it's worth. I can say that support (so far) has been responsive and helpful in resolving this, but they can't fix boxes that are coming off the assembly line when they don't work. As always, YMMV.
 
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At this point I wouldn't recommend the JuiceBox. Shortly after installing our first one it came up with a fault. We sent it back and bought a replacement. The second one too came up with the same fault (ground fault internal to the device), also disconnecting from the WiFi network. That self corrected but now I don't trust it to be working in the future.
 
I have had two, with no problems charging. The older one had an optional wireless unit that required WPS to connect, and I never got that working. But the new Pro40 has been flawless for about 2 years now.
 
I have been shopping around for an affordable and reliable level 2 evse in anticipation of the arrival (date unknown yet ) of my Clarity. Have been intrigued by the Juicebox and at one point was top on my list. Hearing about your experience and the fact that out of all the makes of evses, Juicebox is the only brand that I have encountered that sells "refurbished" units on Ebay.

Thanks for the warning, have scratched off Juicebox from my shortlist.
 
I was dead set on buying a JuiceBox Pro but now I’m looking for alternatives.
The only other EVSE I know of that has 1) Wifi/Smart App 2) 40A for future needs is the OpenEVSE model. But it doesn’t qualify for the Canadian EVCIP $500 rebate.

So do I “settle” for the ChargePoint at 32A max?
 
Hobbesgsr said:
I was dead set on buying a JuiceBox Pro but now I’m looking for alternatives.
The only other EVSE I know of that has 1) Wifi/Smart App 2) 40A for future needs is the OpenEVSE model. But it doesn’t qualify for the Canadian EVCIP $500 rebate.

So do I “settle” for the ChargePoint at 32A max?
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Same here. OpenEVSE is tops on my shortlist. It is also portable which is a huge plus if you travel.
 
When I had my Prius I was looking for a cheap 240-volt charging station, found one at Costco for $599 (Canadian). Installed it a year ago and it has been operating flawlessly so far, not fancy looking or WI-FI capable but I use the timer setting on the vehicle to charge after 7 pm, to 7 am, when rates are .065 cents (Canadian) a kilowatt hour or use the Honda Link to start charging, or key fob to start charging immediately. The charger is also capable of downgrading to amp service should you not have 240 volts available. My installation was easy as I already had a 240-volt socket in the uninsulated part of the garage, just had to run a 240-volt stove cable through the wall and plug it in the welder socket. The GE Duratation also had a lot of room for me to install a kilowatt meter to it so I can keep track of the cost of charging. Not sure if this interest you or not , I think they might be available at Home Depot too. Here is a picture of mine and a link to utube of one.
IMG_0331.webp
 
While the box sends electricity as expected, without the wifi capability, it's kind of a dumb box. The extra cost for one of these units is to enable wifi capability. so when it's flaky or simply doesn't work out of the box, it doesn't engender confidence for the rest of the components. I can say that support and the company itself seem quite interested in finding out what's going on and fixing it, so at least that piece is in place. I don't know that any of the other EVSEs have a better "track record" as far as QC or "out of the box" experiences go. I hope we can get this one solved - and that the solution then becomes something that they can generalize to the rest of their product line. I get that mass produced items have variance in how they come off the line, but it just shouldn't be so difficult to get a box that works right out of the box. Especially one that retails for well over $500.
 
Could it be a problem specific to compatibility with your WiFi router? It’s hard to imagine 3 units all having WiFi issues. I guess I’m lucky mine has been flawless :-)
 
ManKo said:
Could it be a problem specific to compatibility with your WiFi router? It’s hard to imagine 3 units all having WiFi issues. I guess I’m lucky mine has been flawless :)
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If it is, then it is only with the JuiceBox. We have any number of computers (Mac and PC) iPhones, iPads, Ecobee, AppleTV, Refrigerator, several smart TVs and DVD players all running flawlessly on the wifi here. So if the problem is a wifi issue - and it very well could be - it would seem likely to be one that is JuiceBox-centric.

We've looked at everything from signal strength to WPA/WPA2 issues, to how the network is setup. When all is said and done, the system should work. But so far, it's been sketchy. We'll see what round three brings. Since this newest box seems to be OK in other respects, lights not dimmed out, broadcasting an SSID and supposedly connecting to the home network, charging OK, etc. what it really comes down to is retaining a connection to the network. The wifi router is literally feet away - albeit on the other side of a wall. Still, the signal at the box is plenty strong.
 
OpenEVSE runs using OpenEnergyMonitor which lets you do some pretty cool things with energy use, solar, etc. https://openenergymonitor.org

I have a very simple dashboard set up on mine (see below) as I never really had a need for anything more serious. Honestly, the only reason I keep the Wifi module on mine is so I can send it commands when needed (change pilot level, start/stop) via it's built in command page. Even that's pretty rare. Mainly I added the wifi because I wanted to tinker. Mine is DIY so I flashed the HUZZAH wifi board myself and hooked it all up. If I was building another one, and planned to use it portably, I'd probably forgo the LCD screen and the wifi module. They just add too many wires and extra parts that I wouldn't want on a portable unit subject to bumps and shakes.

upload_2018-4-8_20-35-43.webp
 
Most EVSE units are "dumb boxes". One of the only ones than has WiFi is the Juicebox.

How far is it from the wifi router to the EVSE location?
 
Hobbesgsr said:
I was dead set on buying a JuiceBox Pro but now I’m looking for alternatives.
The only other EVSE I know of that has 1) Wifi/Smart App 2) 40A for future needs is the OpenEVSE model. But it doesn’t qualify for the Canadian EVCIP $500 rebate.

So do I “settle” for the ChargePoint at 32A max?
Click to expand...
I will, for data point purposes, chime in here and say that I have no issues with JuiceBox and its connection to my wifi. I have it in the garage where the signal is pretty low. I share in OP's frustration as I am sure he has ripped his hair out trying to make it work.

I am assuming that OP knows that JuiceBox only supports 2.4GHz and not 5GHz. I don't know if there are WIFI units that only broadcast on 5GHz, but sometimes people set up these 2 bands using different names and this could cause an issue.
 
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