Indra charger having issues with connectivity

Hi, does the charging session data show up in the Indra's History tab? If so, it should be reconciled automatically with Charge Anytime, normally pretty quickly. If that doesn't happen within 48 hours I'd get in touch with Indra Tech Support and ask them to sort it out.

I had a lot of connectivity issues with my Indra at first. Initially they were blamed on flakiness of the local 4g signal, but when they persisted even after changing to a direct ethernet connection to my router, Indra decided to replace the charger comoletely. The replacement has been 100% rock solid so far - almost 3 months as I write this.

Hi, logged into my OVO app this morning, and it does look like it has now reconciled.

Just tried to log in again and it now saying there is a probvlem connectring with your charger, please try again later.

So it looks like my Comms has dropped out yet again, at work so cant confirm if its flashing purple.

Not looking good at all.

Shouldnt be any problem with the 4G signal, have a strong signal in my area.

I purchased the product from OVO and was installed by an OVO engineer, surely OVO should resolve the issue if its not fit for purpose??

Hi @neil0129 

You can contact our Charge Anytime team directly via email, chargeanytime@ovo.com.

We don’t have access to accounts or such on the Forum, so you’d need to get in touch with the team directly about this specific scenario. They can look into this in detail for you based on your own personal setup.

From what I’ve observed, Ethernet seems to be the most reliable connection method for Indra chargers, since there’s no 4G or Wi-Fi signals that can be randomly knocked out.

If you’re up for it, Indra can most likely assist with switching your charger to Ethernet - you’ll need a free Ethernet port on your router or a switch on your network. Nothing too fancy, any port will work fine.

Not really feasible to run a ethernet cable to where my charger is installed.  And i should noy need too, as i said 4G signal is very good in my area, and i paid good money for this charger which stares it will work with 4G, if it dont then its a flaw and i be asking OVO for a refund. (they supplied and installed it so buck stops with them)

It does do 4G. I’ve spoken a lot of folks who use theirs that way and report no issues.

Obviously i know it does 4G, that how mine is connected.

But i shouldnt need to reboot it almost every day as it loses signal, in a very strong signal area

I got some info from the team that might be helpful:

Charger flashing purple indicates "A flashing purple light on the Smart PRO indicates that it has lost communication with the Internet" if you’re experiencing this issue you would need to contact Indra on
 01684 770 631 or atsupport@indra.co.uk to troubleshoot.

Same problem here - daily reboots required making it useless in relation to smart charging. 

If you charger is WiFi then make sure you don’t have 5ghz signal on your router 

if it’s 4g then best do what I’m doing and get it converted to Ethernet 

I’m an engineer for Ovo and my Indra “Smart” Pro charger keeps flashing purple. I’ve tried everything possible to get it to connect back to the WIFI but it just won’t have it. I need this sorted as I need to charge the van for work. 
 

I’ve already been onto Indra multiple times but my charger is out of warranty and they won’t do anything with it!

I have seen in other posts that the Indra doesn’t like when your broadband router is broadcasting a 2.5GHz and a 5GHz WiFi signal under the same SSID (network name). Try changing your router settings to broadcast each band with separate name and select one band or turn off one band so its only broadcasting on 1 band….then reconnect. Apparently Indra did a firmware release recently that changed how it connected to WiFi routers. 

​@Brucey85 it sounds to me like you might actually have the 4G dongle, not the Wi-Fi dongle.

How many times do the purple lights flash and what sequence?

No, I don’t have the 4g dongle. It’s purely WiFi. It’s flashing purple 4 times and it’s done this a lot of times before. They are a terrible charger 

Your not the only one to have connectivity problems  - the charger itself may be fine but the connectivity to the internet only seems stable if you connect to it via Ethernet.

​@Brucey85 have you spoken to Indra directly?

If not, their contact details can be found here: https://www.indra.co.uk/contact/.

Let us know how you get on!

Yes, I spoke to them the last time this happened and they won’t do anything as it’s out of warranty 

Have you checked your WiFi , like I said I switched off my 5ghz signal and it made a difference. Not perfect still but far more stable.  But I am having mine hardwired next week to get rid of the poor WiFi. 

I’ve just spoken to Indra again. They’ve reviewed this thread and have reason to believe there may be some crossed wires here. I like to maintain good relationships with them because it proves useful for situations like this one.

They ARE willing to assist anyone who’s out of warranty - it’s just that they don’t do it for free.

For those who are out of warranty, Indra can and will be happy to replace dongles for a cost of about £60 for the dongle + £250 for the site visit. Please contact them again and reference this thread, they’ll sort this out for you.

If you are in warranty, these fees may be waived but requires discussion with Indra first to confirm.

For me, and I am doing this on Monday, as I am out of warranty, a local electrician is going to convert mine to Ethernet so I can just get rid of WiFi. The cost of that is cheaper than Indra offer to replace the dongle. So anyone with issues I’d suggest that. 
 

to be clear my router is not near my consumer unit where the charger cable with built in cat 5 comes into the house.  But I am having an extra socket installed and will be using powerline adaptors to get the signal there. Still cheaper than Indra price 

Thanks for your help here ​@Blastoise186 👍.

​@Bobbych thanks for your update - if this does the job then this could be a helpful solution for others too! Please do let us know if it solves the problem, we’d appreciate it.

I have a possible theory as to a potential culprit. However, I cannot promise that this is definitely the root cause, so please use this information purely at your own risk.

I get the feeling it’s Band Steering related snafus. Some Routers/Access Points implement it WAY better than others - Ubiquiti is known for working like mad on it for example - while others just dump the code in there and don’t care much about whether it works or not.

I would suggest anyone affected tries to turn off Band Steering while leaving the 2.4GHz/5GHz SSIDs combined and see if that helps.

I’ve also sent this theory to Indra to see if they can figure out a fix on their side.