There is a strong correlation between how a site was commissioned and how much it costs to run. Units that were configured properly on day one tend to be quiet for years; units that were rushed onto the network to hit a deadline generate tickets forever. The difference is usually twenty minutes of work per charger.
This is the checklist we hand to installers. It is deliberately boring.
Electrical
- Earth resistance measured and recorded, not assumed.
- RCD type correct for the charger — Type B or Type A with 6mA DC detection for AC units, per the manufacturer’s specification.
- Cable sizing checked against the actual run length, not the nominal one.
- Upstream breaker rating matches the charger’s configured maximum current, and both are recorded.
- Sanctioned load for the site documented, with the sum of installed charger capacity noted beside it. If the sum exceeds the sanction, charging profiles are mandatory, not optional.
- Phase rotation verified on three-phase units.
Network
- Signal strength measured at the charger’s final position, not at the site entrance.
- SIM data plan active, with the expiry date recorded somewhere other than the installer’s phone.
- Outbound WebSocket on 443 confirmed reachable — many host-site firewalls permit HTTPS but block WebSocket upgrades.
- Static or reserved IP if the charger is on the host’s LAN, so a DHCP lease renewal does not orphan it.
- Reconnect behaviour observed: pull the uplink, wait two minutes, restore, and confirm the charger comes back without intervention.
Protocol
- OCPP endpoint URL and charge point identity entered exactly, including case. Mismatched identity is the single most common cause of "the charger will not connect".
- BootNotification received by the platform and the model, vendor and firmware version recorded correctly.
- Heartbeat interval set to the network standard — 60 to 300 seconds. A 900-second heartbeat makes outage detection useless.
- MeterValues sampled data includes Energy.Active.Import.Register, and the sample interval is set. A charger that reports no energy cannot bill.
- Connector count and connector types match physical reality. A DC unit reporting one connector when it has two will misroute every session.
- Local authorisation list enabled if the site is a depot or has unreliable connectivity.
Functional
- A full test session on every connector, with a real vehicle where possible — start, charge for at least five minutes, stop remotely, and confirm the energy figure is plausible.
- Remote start and remote stop both exercised from the platform.
- Emergency stop pressed and reset, with the resulting state observed on the platform.
- Cable lock and unlock tested, including the remote unlock command.
Commercial
- Tariff assigned to every connector, and the price confirmed on the driver-facing page.
- QR codes printed, laminated and fixed to the correct connector — a QR that points at the wrong gun produces disputes that are painful to unwind.
- Site partner recorded with the revenue-share terms entered, before the first paid session rather than after.
- Support phone number visible on the unit.
- Photographs of the installed unit, the QR placement and the meter reading at handover.
Sites commissioned against this list tend to produce their first support ticket months later, and it is usually a genuine hardware failure rather than a configuration error. That is the whole objective.
commissioninginstallationchecklist