First, make sure:
Your charger has an internet connection
You have a phone or computer ready
Read our specific guides
Check out our connection guides for specific charger brands.
If your charger isn't listed, continue reading.
Registering your charger in Plugchoice
Find out your charger's chargepoint ID.
Add the charger to the location using the chargepoint ID.
Some chargers come shipped as Plugchoice-ready. If this is the case for your charger, it should already connect now.
If not, continue reading.
Connecting your charger
Find the websocket URL setting of your charger and change it to:
ws://ocpp.plugchoice.com
Nothing goes after .com: no /v1 and no trailing slash. Some chargers ask for the host, port and path in separate fields instead. In that case use host ocpp.plugchoice.com, port 80, and leave the path empty.
Prefer the secure connection
If your charger supports TLS, use wss://ocpp.plugchoice.com on port 443. It is the same endpoint over an encrypted connection, and it is the one we recommend. Some chargers need the root certificates below before wss:// will connect; if yours refuses to come online over wss://, fall back to ws:// on port 80.
A few chargers expect their own identity in the URL. Where the connect guide for your charger tells you to, append it directly to the host, for example wss://ocpp.plugchoice.com/<your chargepoint ID>. Most models do not need this, so follow the guide for your charger.
Root certificates for a secure connection
ocpp.plugchoice.com sits behind Cloudflare, and its certificate chains to Google Trust Services, with Let's Encrypt as the backup issuer. Most chargers already trust these. Some hardware keeps its own small list of root certificate authorities, and those chargers need the right roots installed before wss:// will connect at all.
Install these, from pki.goog/repository:
GTS Root R1 (RSA)
GTS Root R2 (RSA)
GTS Root R3 (ECDSA)
GTS Root R4 (ECDSA)
GlobalSign R4 (ECDSA)
Some chargers limit how many root certificates you can load, or accept only one key type. If you hit that limit, install GTS Root R1 and GTS Root R2 first: those two cover the common case.
We use Let's Encrypt as a backup issuer, so if your charger has room, also install these from letsencrypt.org/certificates:
ISRG Root X1 (RSA)
ISRG Root X2 (ECDSA)
If your charger cannot be given root certificates at all, use ws://ocpp.plugchoice.com on port 80. The connection is not encrypted, but the charger will come online.
Using an older endpoint?
Before ocpp.plugchoice.com we published two other addresses:
ws(s)://proxy.plugchoice.com/v1ws(s)://proxy.volttime.com/v1
Both still work, so a charger already configured with one of them stays online and you do not have to go round every site. We no longer recommend them: the certificate chain behind those addresses is not the one we maintain going forward, so a charger that validates certificates strictly can start failing on them. Move a charger over to ocpp.plugchoice.com the next time you have it open.
Troubleshooting
Connectivity Problems: Ensure the charger is properly connected to the internet before starting the configuration process.
Configuration Errors: Double-check the setup instructions for your specific charger model to avoid misconfigurations.
Operator Linking Issues: Verify that the charger is fully operational and correctly registered under a location in Plugchoice.
Did you setup everything correctly, but the charger still remains "Pre-registered"?
Usually, this is because you got the chargepoint ID wrong.
For a complete guide, check out our troubleshooting article if your charger can't connect to Plugchoice.