Getting Charger Communications Working

CrowdCharge monitor charger communications continuously.

If your charger’s communications fail then CrowdCharge will send you an email telling you so, with instructions for you to help in getting your charger back online (these are repeated in the questions below). It would help Electric Nation if you would follow these instructions.

If your charger remains offline for more than a week we will send you a text to remind you to try to get your charger online.

If at any point you require assistance please contact support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455

If you suspect your charger communications are not working you can contact support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455

Alternatively, there are a few simple things you can do to check your charger communications are working – see the following questions.

When your charger was installed by Electric Nation two main methods for connecting your charger to the internet were used – Hardwired or Wireless – a third option, power line carrier, was used in a very few cases.

In all cases a CrowdCharge controller was fitted – this is a grey box that looks like this:

A black (Ethernet) communications cable will have been fitted from your charger to the CrowdCharge controller box – this is a relatively thin cable compared to the charger power supply cable that connects your charger to the power switch box also fitted at the time of installation of your charger.

The communications from your charger to your home broadband router (internet box) may be either:

• Hardwired – in which case a second black ethernet cable will have been run from the CrowdCharge controller box to your home broadband router

• or Wireless – in which case a small Internet Gateway Receiver will have been fitted to your home broadband router

Instructions for checking each of these are different, please follow the questions below

In a very few instances power line carrier (plug in wifi extender) modules have been used, where the Ethernet cable from the CrowdCharge Controller goes to a small electronic device plugged into a mains power socket nearby and another is fitted near your home Broadband router, with another Ethernet  cable to your Broadband router – if you find you have these units please contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk or phone 0330 390 0455 to check whether your system is online, if not we will provide assistance to reboot these devices.

If your system is hardwired – in which case a black ethernet cable will have been run from the CrowdCharge controller box to your home broadband router – please check that this is plugged in firmly to the back of your home broadband router box.

Use any ethernet socket that is not coloured/signed red (or has a red box around it)

Now check that the CrowdCharge controller has power:

The CrowdCharge controller is powered from the USB power module that was installed near the power supply switch fro your charger and will look something like this:

The USB power supply module is the bottom right hand box (labelled “DO NOT UNPLUG”) – please check:

• The CrowdCharge USB power cable (or cables – there may be two) are plugged in to the USB power module
• The “Comms” switch on the power supply is ON (usually this means switch is UP) – also check that “Charger” and “Main” switches are ON
• The red light on the USB power module is ON
  • If not then the USB power module fuse or the module itself may have failed
• If possible, look through the ventilation grating on the CrowdCharge controller box – can you see blue and yellow lights? (please DO NOT open the CrowdCharge controller box – you may damaged sensitive components)

If you find that the USB power module is not working – or the CrowdCharge controller is not lit up then please contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455

If everything is switched on and working, as far as you can tell, then contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk or phone 0330 390 0455 and ask to verify that your charger is online.

If your system is wireless – in which case a small Internet Gateway Receiver will have been fitted to your home broadband router – Then start at the router end of the system.

The Internet Gateway Receiver should have two cables attached

• An ethernet cable into socket 1
• a power cable into socket 2

The Ethernet cable should also be plugged into your home broadband router – use any ethernet socket that is not coloured/signed red (or has a red box around it)

The power cable will either be from a plug-in power supply (like a mobile phone charger) or a USB cable from your home broadband router – make sure both are plugged in and the power supply socket is switched on. The Internet Gateway Receiver has four lights: all should be on/flickering when working normally – see next question regarding how these can help diagnose communications issues.

Now check that the CrowdCharge controller has power:

The CrowdCharge controller is powered from the USB power module that was installed near the power supply switch fro your charger and will look something like this:

The USB power supply module is the bottom right hand box (labelled “DO NOT UNPLUG”) – please check:

• The CrowdCharge USB power cable (or cables – there may be two) are plugged in to the USB power module
• The “Comms” switch on the power supply is ON (usually this means switch is UP) – also check that “Charger” and “Main” switches are ON
• The red light on the USB power module is ON
  • If not then the USB power module fuse or the module itself may have failed
• If possible, look through the ventilation grating on the CrowdCharge controller box – can you see blue and yellow lights? (please DO NOT open the CrowdCharge controller box – you may damaged sensitive components)

If you find that the USB power module is not working – or the CrowdCharge controller is not lit up then please contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk or phone 0330 390 0455

If everything is switched on and working, as far as you can tell, then contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455 and ask to verify that your charger is online.

If the the lights on the Internet Gateway Receiver are not all on/flickering here are a few things to check:

• No lights on at all – check power supply cable fitted properly and powered (mobile phone charger or plugged in to back of home broadband router USB outlet)
• “Eth” light OFF – check ethernet cable from home broadband router is plugged in properly (should click when pushed in) – check ethernet cable is plugged into home broadband router
• “WiFi symbol” OFF or blinking occasionally & “AP/CAP” light OFF – this may mean the CrowdCharge Controller is switched off – check it is plugged in and “Comms” switched ON
• If the “ETH” light is blinking slowly, while “PWR” is ON (“Wi-Fi Symbol” &“AP/CAP” lights are OFF) then the unit is faulty and needs to be replaced.  In this case contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455 saying that you think your Wi-Fi Receiver is faulty – we will organise a replacement.

If the above checks do not fix the problem then you can always try a system restart (see next question) or contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk  or phone 0330 390 0455 for more assistance.

To restart the system follow these instructions

1. Switch off the power to your charger and the CrowdCharge controller (“Comms” and “Charger” Switches – Leave “Main” ON)
2. Switch off the power to the Internet Gateway Receiver
3. Restart your home Broadband router (restart switch, on/off switch or unplug from mains and plug back in)
4. When home Broadband router has restarted and you have internet access through your mobile phone or a tablet/computer repower the Internet Gateway Receiver
5. Then switch on charger (“Charger” switch)
6. Then switch on CrowdCharge controller (“Comms” switch)

When this is complete contact CrowdCharge support at support@drive-electric.co.uk or phone 0330 390 0455 to verify that your charger is online