Although this forum seems unanimous in it's approval of the Clipper Creek units, I purchased my second hand level 2 charger on Ebay and wanted to share my experience with GE and Siemens, for those looking at other level 2 chargers. I do think these are both great alternatives to the Clipper Creek.
I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.
I picked up the Wattstation for a great price, as it was throwing a code and was being sold as-is. The Siemens Versicharge was in great shape. The Wattstation was by far the more solid-built unit. The cable was much thicker on the Wattstation that the Siemens and the Siemens handle seemed flimsy in comparison. Cable length was similar, around 20'. Both units made a loud "thump" when activated which was a little disconcerting, but totally normal per the manufacturer. Both units also exhibit a slight hum, but nothing obnoxious. The Siemens has an onboard delay start feature, but I prefer to use that feature in the Volt.
The big difference was with customer support after the warranty is up. GE gave me amazing phone support followed by e-mailed information and troubleshooting tips from the techs. With Siemens, I had to wait for a call back and no support was offered for my out of warranty unit. The tech spent 10 minutes trying to explain my date code, even though I read to him the exact build date on the side of the unit. Weird. GE even sent me a missing part at no charge! I never found out if the Siemens actually has trouble codes that flash. I really like this in the Wattstation, as it helps narrow down the problem. In my case, my controller was bad. I found a replacement and easily changed it out myself.
All in all I'm really happy with the luck, feel, and function of the GE Wattstation and even happier to charge in 3.5 hrs at off-peak rates.
I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.
I picked up the Wattstation for a great price, as it was throwing a code and was being sold as-is. The Siemens Versicharge was in great shape. The Wattstation was by far the more solid-built unit. The cable was much thicker on the Wattstation that the Siemens and the Siemens handle seemed flimsy in comparison. Cable length was similar, around 20'. Both units made a loud "thump" when activated which was a little disconcerting, but totally normal per the manufacturer. Both units also exhibit a slight hum, but nothing obnoxious. The Siemens has an onboard delay start feature, but I prefer to use that feature in the Volt.
The big difference was with customer support after the warranty is up. GE gave me amazing phone support followed by e-mailed information and troubleshooting tips from the techs. With Siemens, I had to wait for a call back and no support was offered for my out of warranty unit. The tech spent 10 minutes trying to explain my date code, even though I read to him the exact build date on the side of the unit. Weird. GE even sent me a missing part at no charge! I never found out if the Siemens actually has trouble codes that flash. I really like this in the Wattstation, as it helps narrow down the problem. In my case, my controller was bad. I found a replacement and easily changed it out myself.
All in all I'm really happy with the luck, feel, and function of the GE Wattstation and even happier to charge in 3.5 hrs at off-peak rates.