Diagnose first, decide second
Before repair or replace, there is a step most people skip, which is finding out whether the charger is actually the problem.
In our experience a large share of chargers reported dead are a tripped protective device, a knocked isolator, a latched fault code that clears when the cable is removed, or a car side timer. None of those need a new charger. On an EO specifically, the counted red flashes tell you a lot: two flashes is the earthing, three is DC leakage from the car or cable, five is a low supply voltage. Those point at the installation or the car, not the unit.
So the first thing we do is read the light, test the circuit, and confirm where the fault sits. Then the decision is easy.
When repair makes sense
A Mini Pro 3, most of the time. It is a recent unit. Its smart side runs on the ev.energy app, which is a live platform. Faults in the supply, the earthing, the terminations, the cable or the isolator are all repairable without touching EO. Even where the unit itself has a problem, it is worth an engineer’s opinion before you write it off.
Any EO where the fault is in the circuit. A failed RCD or breaker, a damaged cable, a corroded connection in the isolator, water where it should not be. All fixable at normal repair prices, and the charger carries on.
A Mini Pro 2 that only needs a reset or a re commission. If it comes back to pulsing blue and charges, keep it. A working basic charger is a working charger.
When replacement makes sense
A Mini Pro 2 or older with a confirmed internal fault. Solid red that will not clear, or a unit that stays dead with power confirmed at the terminals. EO stopped supplying parts for the Mini Pro 2 from 30 November 2025 and is now in administration. Paying for board level work on a charger with no manufacturer parts supply behind it is money we would not spend ourselves.
Any EO where you want smart charging back and you have a Mini Pro 2. The app is not coming back. If the point of the charger is cheap overnight electricity and the car cannot schedule it for you, a supported smart charger pays for the difference over a couple of winters.
Any EO that keeps switching itself off part way through a charge. We have seen this across whole sites of EO units, some of them only two years old, and the diagnosis has been firmware. That feels wrong to replace, and the owners have said so to us. But we have not found a route to a firmware fix, and a charger that stops after twenty minutes is not a charger. For a workplace, the Workplace Charging Scheme still pays up to £500 a socket, up to 40 sockets, until 31 March 2027, which we claim and deduct.
Any EO where you want a warranty behind the unit. A new charger comes with cover from a company that is trading. An EO has no manufacturer standing behind it now, whatever the paperwork says; your statutory rights and any card protection are a separate matter, and they are on our warranty page.
What a swap actually involves
Less than people expect. If the existing circuit was installed to standard and the test results are compliant, the new charger goes on the same supply, often on the same day as the diagnosis. We check the earthing arrangement and open PEN protection while we are there, because rules changed after many EO units were fitted, and you get the test results in writing.
If the test results are not compliant, we tell you what the circuit needs and why. Sometimes that is the actual fault, and the charger was fine all along.
Our rule of thumb
Mini Pro 3, repair unless proven otherwise. Mini Pro 2 or older, repair the circuit but replace the unit if the unit is the problem. And never buy either answer from someone who has not looked at the light.
