220v install in a condo

[preetham_s]

Hi,

I live in a property which has multiple condos in a single building and we have garages beneath our condo in this building.
However, the power line to garage is shared across all the garages and when i plug in my car, it trips the breaker and all the garages lose power. So im looking to install a 220v outlet coming from my mains. Has anyone had experience doing this?
Adding pictures for more context.

 

[preetham_s]

Fyi- i live in beavercreek, ohio. So if anyone has done a similar thing in this area, please let me know

 

[cbigfoot]

how far is your main panel from your Parking area? are you able to access the same wall? from under neath easily? depending on how the wire is run it may be easy or extremely difficult.

 

[tevman]

Check out the State Of Charge YouTube channel. Tom Moloughney is very knowledgeable on all things related to charging. I had a 220V 50 Amp line installed by a licensed electrician. Key things he did: 1) No Romex, use AWG 6 insulated wires in a conduit which can be ABS. 2) top quality outlet on the order of $100 not the cheap Home Depot $15 unit. 3) UL NEC 2020 and later breaker with GFI, heat and overload sensing tripper. With 50 Amp you can run max 40 Amps. If you install a 60 Amp circuit you can run 48 Amps max but that circuit needs AWG 4 wire. Cheers and charge safely.

 

[appleguru]

Affordable EV Charging at Apartments

Orange designs and creates our hardware and software platform for electric vehicle charging to reduce the installation and management costs of electric vehicle charging at multi-unit properties.

www.orangecharger.com

These would allow metering of each individual’s usage and charging accordingly if your state allows it. You can also use an EVSE like chargepoint to do the same.

With that said, if its reasonable to run a line from your breaker panel (behind your meter) to the garage, that would be ideal.

 

[appleguru]

Check out the State Of Charge YouTube channel. Tom Moloughney is very knowledgeable on all things related to charging. I had a 220V 50 Amp line installed by a licensed electrician. Key things he did: 1) No Romex, use AWG 6 insulated wires in a conduit which can be ABS. 2) top quality outlet on the order of $100 not the cheap Home Depot $15 unit. 3) UL NEC 2020 and later breaker with GFI, heat and overload sensing tripper. With 50 Amp you can run max 40 Amps. If you install a 60 Amp circuit you can run 48 Amps max but that circuit needs AWG 4 wire. Cheers and charge safely.

48A does not need #4 in most circumstances. #6 THHN in conduit is typically to code for 48A charging (per NEC, it’s rated to 65A with 75C rated equipment, which most is. So, derated 20% for the constant load its good up to 52A continuous). #6 romex is only rated to 55A, so only 44A continuous.

 

[wlcs15]

First post... My question is very much inline with this existing post...

How do I approach a central Florida condo association board, prior to purchase of condo, about approval to install a Tesla home Level 2 charger in a dedicated parking spot deeded to the Condo?

Never purchased a condo so it kind of feels like I'm really buying the condo from the HOA/Condo board and not the owner of the property. Don't want the HOA board to reject my offer because I asked about the legally allowed home charger installation.

Does anyone have experience with my scenario or have already worked through as an owner or buyer of a Central Florida condo?

The buildings I'm interested in are newer ( > year 2000 construction ) and I know I have to pay for getting power from a personal electric meter to the parking spot. For typical properties I'm interested in, the parking is not underground but in a multi-story ramp. The buildings have HOA fees ~ $500 per month so not the super fancy buildings.

I know that Tesla Level 2 home chargers can be locked to a particular owner VIN number and I'll put up a sign so folks don't think it is a public charger ( Of course only if allowed by the HOA rules).

Thanks in advance for your advice and stories about this process.

 

[appleguru]

Does anyone else have a parking space with a charger already?

Do you know which spot(s) would be yours? (And is there any opportunity to swap spaces with someone if doing so would make your charger install less expensive?)

Personally? Given that FL law (718.113(8)) says you have a right to install a charger, I wouldn’t even bother bringing it up until after your purchase is complete. But if you want to reach out to the HOA first, I guess I don’t see that causing any major issues unless they’re super anti EV…

 

[tdiggity]

The right to install charger laws dont have any teeth to them in my experience. My HoA in California required me to go through architectural and design review and they said I couldn’t have a line from my panel to my deeded spot because if later on more owners wanted to add a charger it would create a spaghetti mess of conduit. They wanted me to incur the cost of building out the infra to expand to all units even though I was the only one that wanted it. In the end, it was going to cost me $50,000 to have one installed. I sold the unit.

Not saying that will happen to you, but the HoA can put any number of rules on you and still abide by the state laws.

 

[appleguru]

The right to install charger laws dont have any teeth to them in my experience. My HoA in California required me to go through architectural and design review and they said I couldn’t have a line from my panel to my deeded spot because if later on more owners wanted to add a charger it would create a spaghetti mess of conduit. They wanted me to incur the cost of building out the infra to expand to all units even though I was the only one that wanted it. In the end, it was going to cost me $50,000 to have one installed. I sold the unit.

Not saying that will happen to you, but the HoA can put any number of rules on you and still abide by the state laws.

That… doesn’t seem like it would fly with most state laws. The CA law specifically says they cannot impose unreasonable restrictions:

“For purposes of this section, “reasonable restrictions” are restrictions that do not significantly increase the cost of the station or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance.”

$50k would count as “significantly increasing cost”, so per state law you can go ahead and ignore the HOA and do the installation anyways

 

[tdiggity]

That… doesn’t seem like it would fly with most state laws. The CA law specifically says they cannot impose unreasonable restrictions:

“For purposes of this section, “reasonable restrictions” are restrictions that do not significantly increase the cost of the station or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance.”

$50k would count as “significantly increasing cost”, so per state law you can go ahead and ignore the HOA and do the installation anyways

Who is to say what is unreasonable? It’s not black and white and to fight means spending money, too. I agree that my situation was unreasonable, but my HoA showed that they were willing to make it difficult. It was my foray into why HoAs suck.

 

[appleguru]

Who is to say what is unreasonable? It’s not black and white and to fight means spending money, too. I agree that my situation was unreasonable, but my HoA showed that they were willing to make it difficult. It was my foray into why HoAs suck.

The statue defines “unreasonable” as a “significant” increase in cost. While “significant” is certainly a subjective term, I would personally put that somewhere between 10-25% more than the install would cost without the additional requirements. If it costs $2k to install the charger, nobody can successfully argue that an additional $50k to add conduit for future expansion is insignificant. If, instead, that charger cost $500k, then an additional $50k might be reasonable.

Might be a minor inconvenience if your HOA won’t play ball, but worst case, you take them to small claims court. The HOA would then be compelled to pay you a small (up to $1000) fine, approve your install, cover filing and attorney fees, and hopefully not mess around with future tenant requests for charger installs.

 

[RandyS]

This product could help you out. It is called a DCC-9 and is an energy management device that works with your existing electric service. It is UL listed for safety.

DCC-9 | Charge controller for electric vehicles | RVE

The DCC-9 is an Electric Vehicle Energy Management System that allows a charger to be connected directly to an electrical panel in multi-unit residential buildings.

dccelectric.com

You would intercept the cable that comes from your meter in the electric room and goes to the panel in your condo (the intercept point probably would be closer to the meter). You install the DCC-9 box in series with that cable. You connect an EV charging station to the charging output terminals on the DCC-9.
The way it works is that the DCC-9 monitors the electrical load from your unit. It lets the car charger start up and will let it run as long as you don't exceed 80% of your breaker/service rating. If the combined load from your home and the EV charger goes over 80%, then the DCC-9 interrupts the circuit to the vehicle charger.

For best operation, I would use a timer on the car and start charging when your house load is smallest (say, at midnight). If you have TOU rates, that is the best time anyways. As long as your house and charging load are less than 80% of your circuit rating, all is well and your car will charge.

No need for upgrading anything, just use the DCC-9 box and install the EV charging station to connect to it...Much simpler than getting an electric service upgrade, etc.

 

[dafish]

Things To Make Your Shudder:

• Honey, we need to talk
• My mother is/says/thinks
• Lets buy property controlled by an HOA.
• He's really just a friend
• Are red lights on the dashboard bad?
• All my friends think __

 

[FLRifleman]

@wlcs15
First of all, I strongly discourage anyone from buying a condo, or anything with an HOA. I learned that lesson the hard way.

The cost of the installation will of course be beared by the owner, and the cost will increase with the length of the run, and whether it is above or below ground. For that reason, the best option would be to have a 1st floor unit where your deeded parking space is adjacent to the unit. Mine was longer run from the circuit box, all above ground, and it cost me $1,000 at the time. There is no self-install options in a commercial building. All the work needs to be done by a licensed and insured electrician. It also goes without saying that people can't be making modifications which affect the common elements without approval.

If you're not willing to go to a regular car if needed, and no-one should be foolish enough to own an EV without the ability to charge at home, then you'll need an approved Architectural Modification Form from the Board as a contingency for the purchase. You'll get the written estimate and job description details from an electrician, and submit the required form.