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Alright, so I finally found my exact meter. It’s actually in that room about 30ft from my parking space! This job just got a lot easier! No guarantee that I’ll be able to get high current still, given that I have to consider the overall load on the building, but it’s a much better sign. No...

That’s a great idea. I actually happen to know the water shut-offs are on the side of the building, but I’ve never thought to identify my own. I’ll be sure to do that when I’m doing my electrical room recon tomorrow! Tomorrow’s going to give me a lot of answers!

Ah sorry, I think the diagram is confusing you. The actual position of the diagram labels is kind of wrong... look at the numbering instead. You'll see that the 30A circuit is actually for the AC (actually a heat pump). I too was hoping that the dryer circuit would work for me, but it is indeed...

Yeah, I've already got a gas dryer at the moment. My current task right now is to figure out where my electrical meter is. I thought I knew where it was, but now I think it might be a lot closer than I expected. If so, then the amount I save on my installation (which could be quite a lot if my...

To address a few of the ideas being presented... I am most likely not going to be installing just a NEMA outlet of any kind. I will almost certainly be going foe the Tesla Wall Connector because my power company’s incentive makes it free and because it will qualify me for the federal tax credit...

Yeah, it's been hard. I've called the HOA several times. And the far away location is the one the janitor opened for me, but maybe I need to ask them to specifically open this room for me. I feel like nobody I've talked to really knows where it is... looks like I have more phone calls to make on...

So an interesting development... I went to actually go look for my meter to make sure it is where I think it is. Even though I don't have access to the meters directly, it had just a metal gate surrounding it. So I got the idea to stick my hand in with my phone and grab pictures of all the...

Yeah, these are the guys who I have coming over next week. I figured they were stiffing me on the manlift. But the thing is, they're still overall cheaper ($3000 total) than the other guys (the ones who I had over today who want to upgrade my breaker) who just sent me an estimate for $4000...

Good idea to scan that stuff. I see what you're saying about the heat going up as the load increases. P=I^2*R, right? And while I appreciate that the permitting will help with the question of liability... I just don't want to cause a fire lol! I'd love to get an empirical number on what my...

You have me wondering if we've seriously misidentified where my meter is...

Hmm, good point. You know, when I have the other guy come over, I'll ask him about that and get it dealt with if it's not okay. Yeah, so you're thinking even my main feeder has already got too high of a service level for my feeder wire? The 400 feet figure was the run distance from the meter...

I figured it was sounding “too good to be true”... I mean they must have originally put a 70A breaker for a reason, right? I have another electrician coming next Thursday and I will get his second opinion. Perhaps he will be more conservative. I wondered where this guy was getting the 100A...

Also, just for fun, some pictures from the electrician's visit after he cracked open my load center. Couldn't get super close due to social distancing, but kind of interesting I guess. 🤷‍♂️

Really good analysis! I think it shows that I do have a lot of headroom with a 70A breaker for doing 30A charging. I will definitely call my electric company to see if they have my peak usage info. Also, an interesting thing that just happened just now. I had the first electrician (the one who...

Well, that's what I'm doing right now until I have this all sorted. There are plenty of them, I agree, but for me the dream of owning this car is that I basically never have to "fill up"; my car is just always ready to go. Also, in SoCal we have a lot of Teslas and so the SCs do actually get...

I do have all LED lighting here. Not a single incandescent or CFL. As for my power company website, this is all they offer to me. Nothing hourly at all!

Ah man it's looking pretty dire all of a sudden... I would go and check for a smart meter but sadly I don't have access to the electrical room right now. :( Perhaps this is the point where we figure a DCC-12 unit might be worth brining into the mix? Expensive, but if it lets me get around the...

Yup, that's certainly the idea! I'll even put a nice big sticky note on my W&D to make sure I kill the charging before turning them on. ;P

Well, there's kind of the reason I'm overthinking all of this. I do not have access to the electrical room where my main breaker is. The janitorial service is the one who needs to unlock it for me. So if I trip my main breaker, I'm without power for potentially a day or two, depending on how...

Yeah. The idea is to run the cable out from my balcony on the 3rd floor and then down the side of the building into the garage, which is on the 1st floor underneath me. For they'll be doing work outside along the side of my building.

Oh okay, I see. I was likely going to be getting 20A service, even if I get the Tesla Wall Connector. Due to my power company rebate for L2 EVSEs, it's basically free for me. And my hope is to install as big of a breaker as code will allow for (maybe 30A), since the marginal cost is probably not...

Hmm. That's really encouraging, actually. I really hope that means that my cooling power draw is, in fact, much lower than 30A (maybe even just 10-13A?) and that the 30A breaker is literally just for some resistance heaters that I will never use. I am really going to push the electricians to...

I am noticing a lot of support for the NEMA 6-20. It is really that much cheaper to run? Does it have to do with the fact that it doesn't have a neutral wire? My biggest question is whether I can get the federal tax credit if I run that because otherwise I'd be missing out on nearly $1000. For...

This whole situation with my heat pump and fan is just super weird. I think you are reading the label correctly. I think the compressor is actually outside? But I've never had the chance to look at it. Since you noted that my heat pump is small, I want the electrician coming today to somehow...

I'm not opposed to mutual exclusion on the washer/dryer and charging. But I *do* want to be able to run AC, microwave, and charging all at once. 50A sounds ambitious, but according to some load calculations it's supposedly okay. I'm not sure how much credence to put on that and I think I'd want...

Yeah, I've been confused about that too. The only thing that feels like makes sense to me is that the unit with the nameplate is my heat pump. I mean, it does say "UL Listed Section Heat Pump" on it. It also has something about refrigerant on it too. But the rest of the nameplate isn't making a...

Oof. Okay. I can't imagine that it'll be easy to find something that will be able to secure it either. A quick Google turns this up but I can't imagine it's going to add much security in terms of theft. I think you are right that the 30A is for the compressor. I switched off the 30A breaker...

Hmm, so you think the electrician would do that if I asked? Is it possible to single out that part of the system and disconnect it? Also, those are some great plots! I just hope I don't get unlucky with those transients stacking up at the same time.

I might have to consider something like this. Now, that's one nice thing about the fact that I'll be installing the Tesla Wall plug. It's not going to let anything but a Tesla work. From my observation, nobody else has a Tesla or any EV at all, so at least in the short term I would be safe from...

You’re right about the amount of agonizing. I do have an electrician coming tomorrow and another one coming next week to really look at this in detail. Hopefully that will be the real load calculation that badly needs to be done at this point. If they suggest that tripping the breaker is...

I think you’re right. There is indeed a condenser on the roof, but I don’t have easy access to it. It would make sense that the condenser and heater would share the single 30A circuit. What I’m wondering is why the fan has a whole 15A circuit if it’s only 2A. Perhaps my electrician could...

Very interesting... I live in SoCal and so almost never need to use the heater. Cooling is almost exclusively what I use. What would we guess amp draw is in cooling mode? Also, I just found the fan, but it doesn't have a sticker on it or anything... it sort of seems like it's part of the same...

Good to know about the breakers being able to deal with a short term overload. I didn't know that! I looked up my fridge online and it does say 15A on the specs. It's this one: GE® 21.8 Cu. Ft. Counter-Depth Fingerprint Resistant Side-By-Side Refrigerator|^|GZS22IYNFS Here's a pic of what I...

I really hope so! I hardly use all that stuff all the time. My washer and dryer are only run like once a week anyway. And I could also tell the car to stop charging if I think I'm going to be creating a perfect storm. Yeah, I think I don't really trust myself to be playing around with my load...

Well, if you look at the breaker panel, you'll see a 15A breaker for the AC fan. So I assume whenever the AC is running, the fan is as well. Seems crazy to me that a fan has its own circuit... even my electrician was surprised. Besides that, I have a fridge, washing machine and dryer (gas)...

Yeah, that's how I look at it. Even a crappy 240V would be better than a 120V, since either way I have to pay to make a run there. AFAIK, I think the actual voltage is less important than the amperage. For example, 20A at 120V would be the same load on my circuits as 20A at 240V, right?

Hah, yeah I think I'll install a 30A circuit if the electrician is willing to do so, and then just soft-limit it to 20A in the HPWC. If I luck out and it's actually fine to use 30A, then great! As for someone coming and stealing my power... I might just have to get in the habit of flicking the...

OH I SEE!! Sharing the same 30A circuit, huh? You know, I'll ask my electrician to see if he's game. But you're probably right that there no decent residential relay I can use. And I see your concern about mingling panel voltage with 24V... it does seem unsafe if I ever have to fiddle with the...

Yeah, now that I think about it, I could also set up something that monitors the Nest thermostat and then sends a command to my Tesla to stop charging via Tesla's API if the sensed temperature is close to the AC trigger temperature. That would be a "soft" solution. The main reason to have a...

That's a really good idea. Now you have me wondering if I could get something like that which is controlled by WiFi. I have a Nest thermostat, so it wouldn't be hard to write some software that checks the Nest website and determines if the Nest is likely to run the AC and then remotely toggle...

Ah yes, I’ve been looking at the DCC units! I might bring that up to the electrician that’s offering to do a run from inside my unit. I’m actually looking into getting the Tesla Wall Connector even if I can only do 20A. My understanding is that it will let me take advantage of the L2 charger...

That's the thing that's a little fishy about upgrading my main breaker to 100A... even if the Tesla has its own separate path, how does he make sure that my unit doesn't accidentally pull that 100A and burn up the 70A wire? I also think you're right about the A/C running 30A. In my picture, it...

You understand the situation correctly. (I had a small typo in the section you quoted which I just fixed.) Yeah, I'm also concerned about load too. The last thing I want is to have my main breaker trip and for me to lose power to my entire unit because I turned my AC on. Since my main breaker...

You mean like the 3mi/hr 110V trickle charge? I suppose I could get away with it since my commute is short, but I'd prefer to have a bit more. My thinking is that if I'm going through the expense of running new cables, I would like the idea of coming to a 80% charged car every time I get in.

Hi everyone! I recently took delivery of a Tesla Model 3 Long Range, and I love it! Unfortunately, it seems that I should have done more homework when it comes to charging. I live in a 1970's condo unit in Los Angeles and I'm trying to get home charging installed. My HOA is receptive to me...

Had my car delivered today!!! Guy came over, I looked it over, and I handed him my financing check. It's looking great. I had a few minutes to inspect it and the only issue is a crease on the passenger seat, but besides that everything looks really good. I took it for a drive and, man, I...

Just got my text message! It says that my car will be built tomorrow and delivered to my home on the 31st. I guess I’m barely making it into this quarter haha! I have yet to get my check from financing. I’m going to do it Monday. Does anyone know how this works with home delivery? Do I just...

So far, I haven’t gotten any communication about scheduling delivery. Which is fine by me, because they gave me my VIN on late enough on Friday that my bank closed and so I can’t get the financing check until Monday. Waiting for the text/call from Marina Del Rey SC. Hope they don’t try to...

Just got my VIN!!! 937XXX

Burbank and Glendale got some craaazy drivers. I used to live in Glendale and I swear there was a street race every night. :P