Lucid Home Charger

[Bubbie]

Took delivery of GT November 2, 2022 & need advice on home charging alternatives. I was excited the Lucid Home Charger arrived only to find out it used 100 amp service that no one mentioned when I bought it. Unfortunately, the electrical box is approximately 40’ from driveway, wires being in an almost impossible narrow crawl space under the house & only 3 wires to where my Tesla home charger was located outside.

(1) Since the existing setup will only utilize 40-50% of the Lucid home charger should I buy a Charge Point Flex instead? Seems like such a waste…Lucid charger is unopened in original box.

(2) Should I have Lucid charger installed? Electrician scheduled for this Friday.

At my second location I have another Tesla Home Charger installed inside my garage.

(3)Not sure if using often will compromise the Wunderbox? Any thoughts?

(4) Is installing a NEMA 14-50 with J1772 a safe alternative for charging? Is it safe to leave it plugged in for long periods of time?

I so want to enjoy this car but the problems with Alexa, frozen screens, navigation, audio system continue to be a source of frustration and disappointment.

Thank goodness for this forum & the members as the manual is useless!

 

[Sandvinsd]

My (possibly flawed) recollection is that my LHCS did not update its firmware while I had the Ethernet cable connected overnight, on either of the two times I tried. After I disconnected the cable and on Customer Service's recommendation, I changed my home lan subnet to 192.168.2.xxx. A short time later I noticed that the LHCS had updated its firmware. Not sure exactly when that happened, before or after my subnet change. It definitely did not happen during several weeks of the LHCS present on my wifi at 192.168.1.xxx.

What is the current firmware you have? I don’t think I have had any updates since the initial update after install.

 

[DeaneG]

What is the current firmware you have? I don’t think I have had any updates since the initial update after install.

It took me about three weeks to get mine to communicate on my wifi and self-update. IIRC it did not update over Ethernet while my home net was 192.168.1.xxx. I know this sounds unlikely, but it was surprising and quite frustrating at the time.

 

[rchandra]

It should update firmware fine on Ethernet, though the chip is a 10/100mbit chip, so gigabit won’t negotiate anyway - but you’ll get 100mbit.

The Ethernet is only intended for those that have wifi issues, and I believe recent firmware updates have fixed the IP name spacing issues, but don’t quote me on that.

I am not fully understanding. If I have an ethernet cable, it will attach via this method? Will the HCS then put out a wi-fi signal to the car as well? Or is it better and faster to have a separate router attend to both the HCS and the car?

 

[DeaneG]

I am not fully understanding. If I have an ethernet cable, it will attach via this method? Will the HCS then put out a wi-fi signal to the car as well? Or is it better and faster to have a separate router attend to both the HCS and the car?

The LHCS communicates with the cloud, not directly with the car. You can certainly use an Ethernet cable to the LHCS, but it has no advantage over using a WiFi connection. The LHCS broadcasts a WiFi SSID of it's own for 15 minutes after power-on. This SSID can be used used to initially configure the LHCS if you contact a phone or laptop to that temporary SSID.

 

[rchandra]

Ah ok! Thanks. This is all very helpful!

 

[jsf1993]

I am not fully understanding. If I have an ethernet cable, it will attach via this method? Will the HCS then put out a wi-fi signal to the car as well? Or is it better and faster to have a separate router attend to both the HCS and the car?

I had the LHCS installed earlier today. I used both Ethernet and wifi and had no issues with the installation. I was able to log onto the LHCS while on ethernet and before I configured wifi by accessing 192.168.1.10. After configuring wifi, I noticed that it now has an ethernet IP address AND a wifii IP address. Regardless, the unit updated to current firmware w/o any issues and seems to be running fine. Hope this info helps those considering an ethernet connection. Not sure if I could have configured wifi to 192.168.1.xo if the unit hadn’t been connected to ethernet first as I don’t know when the unit updated to the newest firmware. The unit shipped with FW 01.01.24 and now has FW 01.01.25.

 

[PatrickC]

Is a surge protector necessary for the home charger?

 

[DeaneG]

A whole-house surge protector is a good idea if you are having an electrician install a new circuit for the charger anyway. It's not expensive to add if the electrician is already there with the panel open. It'll help protect all the electronics in your house.

 

[jsf1993]

Is a surge protector necessary for the home charger?

To answer your specific question, I don’t believe one is required. The unit itself has built-in GFCI protection, as is required of all hard-wired chargers, I believe.

 

[DeaneG]

To answer your specific question, I don’t believe one is required. The unit itself has built-in GFCI protection, as is required of all hard-wired chargers, I believe.

They are two different things. A surge protector clamps brief voltage spikes caused by nearby lightning, grid issues, and even an EMP. A GFCI stops current flow to a load if it detects that some of the current is going to ground rather than returning properly through the intended return conductor (neutral for 120V circuits, or the other mains leg for 240V circuits).

 

[jsf1993]

They are two different things. A surge protector clamps brief voltage spikes caused by nearby lightning, grid issues, and even an EMP. A GFCI stops current flow to a load if it detects that some of the current is going to ground rather than returning properly through the intended return conductor (neutral for 120V circuits, or the other mains leg for 240V circuits).

Thanks for the explanation. Sorry for not appreciating the distinction and going off track in my reply.

 

[DeaneG]

Thanks for the explanation. Sorry for not appreciating the distinction and going off track in my reply.

No worries, this was career-related for me so I'm pretty familiar with it.

 

[Sheena]

I've struggled getting charger connected to wifi. I think might have succeeded today.
The charger serial number now shows up as a wifi signal when I'm near garage.
Is that it?
I still don't know how people state the charger updated to latest software.
How is that known?

 

[Negan1000]

If you see the wifi SSID that matches the serial number of your charger, you are in setup mode. Follow instructions on page 22 of charger manual. Use laptop wifi to connect to the charger. Use serial number (on side of charger) of charger as the password to connect. Once connected open web browser enter 192.168.5.1. This will load the web configuration login screen. Use serial number to log into configurator. After setup, you need to search all the devices on your network to find the new IP address for your charger. The static 192.168.5.1 IP address is no longer valid after setup. If you need to put charger in setup mode, power off at circuit breaker. Wait a few minutes and power on the charger. The Lucid logo on charger will blink and go solid white. Look for the charger on you wifi network. Need to do this within 15 minutes of powering the charger.

 

[DeaneG]

I've struggled getting charger connected to wifi. I think might have succeeded today.
The charger serial number now shows up as a wifi signal when I'm near garage.
Is that it?
I still don't know how people state the charger updated to latest software.
How is that known?

The charger will emit its own wifi signal with an SSID of the charger's serial number for 15 minutes after it is switched on, every time it is switched off and back on again. You connect your phone or laptop to this SSID per the instructions. Then you can set the charger to use your home wifi network SSID and password.
You can see the charger's firmware version by logging into it (either on its IP address using its power-on wifi SSID for the first fifteen minutes after power-on, or by its IP address on your home network. Click on the "maintenance" tab at the top right.

 

[Sheena]

I’m still not clear on how one knows if wifi and charger are communicating….how do you know it worked? I see no lucid charger icon anywhere on laptop I used to connect….no light on charger indicating Wi-Fi connection….nothing on lucid phone app

 

[DeaneG]

I’m still not clear on how one knows if wifi and charger are communicating….how do you know it worked? I see no lucid charger icon anywhere on laptop I used to connect….no light on charger indicating Wi-Fi connection….nothing on lucid phone app

It's probably best to find a tech-savvy friend who is familiar with wifi router setup. and have them follow Lucid's instructions.

 

[SaaSManKS]

Not sure how many "midwesterners" we have here, but huge storms rolled through last night with 100 mph winds and all kinds of craziness! Power outages for almost 200k people, I cannot tell you how many people asked me why I didn't use the Lucid home charging setup to power my house...

Now, as I get older the more I learn the more I realize I don't know, but I believe this to an OTA update, so I'm really confused why this is taking so long to release. It was a huge selling point to my wife that we didn't need to buy a separate generator for the house.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

No worries, this was career-related for me so I'm pretty familiar with it.

Me as well, with mains power. No wonder I like ya @DeaneG. Siemens whole house surge protectors are on every panel. One gave its life last month. Not from a storm, but kid racers crashing and plowing into a substation. Nothing in the house damaged. RIP.

 

[DeaneG]

.... people asked me why I didn't use the Lucid home charging setup to power my house...I believe this to an OTA update, so I'm really confused why this is taking so long to release...

Vehicle-to-Home will require additional hardware and installation as well - at least a transfer switch and possibly a subpanel. The details haven't been announced yet. The NACS connector fiasco elsewhere in the industry will probably delay this further.