ClipperCreek HCS-40, JuiceNet® Edition

I have the HSC-40 and I did it to future-proof as much as possible.

The other thing about Clipper Creek is their excellent support. My first HCS-40 was defective- in the autumn I was starting my car and seeing a "Charging Interrupted" message, although I was getting a full charge.

What was happening was that while I was asleep, the unit was faulting, then resetting itself then finishing the charge. I didn't realize this until one night I heard my car "chirping" 4 times and then noticed the unit's red lights blinking.

Called Clipper Creek, they asked me a few questions about the blinking lights and said, yup, it's defective. They sent me a new unit with paid return of the old. No fuss, no repeated calls, no crap.

I would not let the fact that my first unit was defective deter you. Many others on this board swear by Clipper Creek, in fact our OEM ESVE turns out to be from Clipper Creek.

Best,
Rick

DonC said:

At least one: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?269593

Click to expand...

I'm the OP on that thread. It's been installed for barely over one day now. So far it's been fine, but with a major caveat: When the unit arrived, it was missing its back plate. I contacted eMotorWerks via both their Web form and phone, and they sent out the missing back plate and screws via 2nd-day delivery. I initially thought the screws were missing, but I later found them buried in the packing material -- too late, as I took the whole unit to the hardware store and spent half an hour finding screws that fit. Anyhow, that's a pretty embarrassing quality control problem on the part of eMotorWerks. (At least, I assume it's an eMotorWerks screwup and not a Clipper Creek screwup; since these units are sold through eMotorWerks and not through Clipper Creek, my assumption is that Clipper Creek sends them to eMotorWerks, which then adds their JuiceNet board and ships them out.) This mixup makes me a bit wary of eMotorWerks, and in fact I nearly returned the box in favor of a plain-vanilla Clipper Creek or ChargePoint unit. Now that it's installed, though, I'm provisionally happy with it. We'll see how it survives the Rhode Island winter.

For the record, the top contenders when I bought mine were (all with 24-25-foot cords; some had shorter cord options for lower prices):

• ChargePoint Home
  • Officially $749 now ($699 when I searched, IIRC; but also on sale now for $637)
  • Up to 32 amps to the car
  • NEMA-3R enclosure (good against rain and snow)
  • UL listed
  • Network connectivity; links with same ChargePoint network as many public chargers
  • Compact and best-looking unit
• Clipper Creek HCS-40 (plain-vanilla)
  • $565
  • Up to 32 amps to the car
  • NEMA-4 Enclosure (good against hose washing, not just rain)
  • ETL listed
  • No advanced networking features
  • Not as ugly as JuiceBox, not as good looking as ChargePoint
  • Made in USA
• Clipper Creek HCS-40 with JuiceNet
  • Currently $749, but was $689 when I bought mine
  • Up to 32 amps to the car
  • NEMA-4 Enclosure (good against hose washing, not just rain)
  • ETL listed
  • JuiceNet networking features
  • Not as ugly as JuiceBox, not as good looking as ChargePoint
  • Made in USA
• JuiceBox Pro 40
  • $599
  • Up to 40 amps to the car
  • NEMA-4 Enclosure (IIRC; I don't see that on their Web site just now)
  • Neither ETL nor UL certified (they say it's in the works, but they've been saying that for many months)
  • JuiceNet networking features
  • Ugliest of the units (but compact)
  • Made in USA

The Clipper Creek with JuiceNet seemed like the one with the most desirable features -- network connectivity, NEMA-4 enclosure, and ETL certification. At the time, it was $10 less than the ChargePoint, but now it's officially exactly the same but really $112 more, so I'd be tempted to drop down to the ChargePoint's NEMA-3R enclosure to save the money -- especially given my qualms about quality control at eMotorWerks. FWIW, a friend of mine has a ChargePoint home in his garage for use with his Kia Soul EV, and he seems to like it. If you're not so interested in the networking capabilities, going for a plain-vanilla Clipper Creek might make sense. You could also save money by dropping down to a 24-amp or 16-amp (to the car) unit; but the real money savings come for the 16-amp unit, and that gives you no future-proofing at all.