Ocular EV charger review, from an installer

What it is, in one paragraph

The IQ Home Solar comes as a 7.2 kW single phase unit and a 22 kW three phase unit, in a universal socket version or a tethered version with a 5 metre Type 2 cable. It is IP55 rated, it has built in load management, and it is controlled over WiFi from an app that schedules charging and shows you your solar and grid use.

That is a normal, competent specification for this class of charger. The interesting part is how it sees your solar.

The 20 metre CT lead is the headline

Any charger that charges from surplus solar has to measure that surplus, and it does it with current transformer clamps fitted at your switchboard or meter position. The clamps connect back to the charger with a signalling lead.

Most competing chargers ship that lead at around 5 metres. Ocular ship the IQ Home Solar with CT clamps on a 20 metre lead as standard.

That difference sounds trivial written down and it is not. The single most common reason a solar aware charger becomes an awkward, more expensive install is that the switchboard is at the front of the house, the garage is at the back, and the supplied lead does not reach. At that point you are either extending signalling cable properly, or relying on wireless accessories, or mounting the charger somewhere other than where the customer wanted it.

Twenty metres makes a large number of ordinary Queensland houses into a simple install that would otherwise have needed a workaround. If your board and your garage are not close together, this is a genuine reason to look at this charger specifically, and it is the thing I would actually pick it for.

Fast, Solar Assist and Solar Only

Three modes, and Ocular's middle one is a slightly different idea from its competitors, which is worth understanding.

Fast charges at full available power from whatever source, solar or grid. It is the mode for when the car needs to be ready and you are not optimising anything.

Solar Assist charges at a minimum of 6 amps plus whatever excess solar is available. That floor is the point. The car is always charging at at least a trickle, and everything above that floor comes from your surplus. You get most of the solar benefit without the car ever fully stopping.

Solar Only charges from excess solar alone and pauses when there is not enough.

Having used the equivalents across several brands, Solar Assist is the mode I would expect most households to settle on. Pure solar only charging is satisfying in theory and frustrating in practice, because a cloudy week means a car that has quietly not charged. A guaranteed minimum rate with solar on top is the setting that survives contact with real life.

Load management, and the socket question

Load management is built into the IQ Home Solar range. As with any charger that has it, this is what lets a home with limited supply headroom have a charger at all: the unit backs off when the rest of the house is busy instead of pushing the supply past what it can take.

On the socket versus tethered choice, Ocular give you both. The universal socket version takes your own cable, keeps the wall tidy, lets the cable travel with you and means a damaged cable is a cable replacement rather than a charger repair. The tethered version with its 5 metre cable is the more convenient one for a single car that lives in the same spot every night.

If you go tethered, apply the same test as any tethered charger: park the car where it will live and walk the cable route around it to the charge port, rather than measuring the straight line.

Where it suits, and where it does not

It suits you if you have solar and your switchboard is an awkward distance from where the charger needs to go. That 20 metre lead is a real advantage and it is the reason to shortlist this unit over the obvious alternatives.

It suits you if you want solar charging that does not leave the car stranded, because Solar Assist and its 6 amp floor is a sensible compromise rather than an all or nothing setting.

It suits you less if you have no solar, where you are paying for capability you cannot use. And check the WiFi signal where the charger will mount before you commit, because the app is how you control it and a garage at the far end of the house is often where the signal gives out. If that is your situation, a charger with a hardwired or mobile connection may serve you better, and our EV charger brands page covers what else we install.

On the 22 kW three phase unit, confirm what your car will actually accept first. Many vehicles cap their onboard charging well below that figure, and no charger can push past the car's own limit.

For the work around the charger itself, what an EV charger costs to install sets out the general market ranges, and our EV charger installation page explains how we quote it.

Common questions