Adding a charger to my 100 amp panel

[Mayoo]

i ended up doing my research and went with http://ezsmart.ca electrical

Installed a 14-50 max 32amp using 8 AWG wire on 40amp breaker. My panel is 100amp. They also clearly places stickers and ESA approved it with no issues

 

[Ephraim]

Just in case someone has a pretty maxed out panel or wants to make more amps available, you should look into the DCC-10 DCC-10 Avoids Major Home Electrical Upgrades for an EV Charging Installation which will let you put in a 60A breaker, but will self regulate the amount of charge to the car giving you up to 60A, but will measure what the panel is taking in and bring down the charge if need be.

 

[timboKazoo]

Well.....no handout, and the presentation included a few slides from the CEC training for the inspectors, and a bunch of pictures (like the new 16 MWH Tesla storage battery in Newmarket - Surprise!). A neat presentation, with tons of questions.

@TechnoBabble - He did address the 100 amp panel and EVSE installation
A load calculation is required - but - as more often than not, it would require a new service, there are two other options:

• The use of an EVEMS, Electric Vehicle Energy Management system, a few examples were shown (this has been suggested in this thread)
• The use of a 12 month consumption history. This is now available from ALL Ontario utilities, and it shows an average hourly use, per month, by the hour. ESA will take the largest hourly number, add 25% and see if it does not exceed 80% of the panel rating. He did say that this should allow a significant amount of people to go without upgrading their service.

Inspectors IN ONTARIO will begin to enforce the CEC 2018 on May 16 2019.

I am adding a MY Wall connector to my cottage with 100 AMP service in Ontario. I got 1 year worth of hourly usage data from HydroOne. Highest hourly usage was 7.28 KWh for several hours in December - Think we had construction at the time. I struggle with the math here, but a 100 amp service should provide 24,000 watts but reduced to 19,000 watts (80%rule). If that is all true, my numbers of max 7.28 gets grossed up by ESA by 25% is 9.1KWh ... well below the available 19.2KWh. I should have no problem with ESA? Did I do that correctly?
Below is my daily usage - if that counts.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

I am adding a MY Wall connector to my cottage with 100 AMP service in Ontario. I got 1 year worth of hourly usage data from HydroOne. Highest hourly usage was 7.28 KWh for several hours in December - Think we had construction at the time. I struggle with the math here, but a 100 amp service should provide 24,000 watts but reduced to 19,000 watts (80%rule). If that is all true, my numbers of max 7.28 gets grossed up by ESA by 25% is 9.1KWh ... well below the available 19.2KWh. I should have no problem with ESA? Did I do that correctly?
Below is my daily usage - if that counts.View attachment 601072

I don't think you'll have any issues with this. This 9.1 KW calculation is correct. You are well under the ceiling.

Please hire an electrician to install your EVSE/plug, or at minimum, get a permit from ESA

 

[Double_J]

I live in Cambridge Ontario and went with a place called VCT Group. They were on Tesla’s suggested list and did a good job. They are located in Kitchener.

 

[Donuts]

Does anyone know more about the requirement for any 60a or above device (wall connect) to require a disconnect?

 

[Double_J]

I live in Cambridge Ontario and went with a place called VCT Group. They were on Tesla’s suggested list and did a good job. They are located in Kitchener.

Oops, I meant to say I have a 100amp panel and when my utility company pulled my 12 month usage I peaked just over 7. The installer said that was fine and completed the job.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

Does anyone know more about the requirement for any 60a or above device (wall connect) to require a disconnect?

Yes, a 240 volt 60 amp device needs to have a method of disconnect, per Canadian Electrical Code. It has to be within sight of the device. A common inexpensive switch is a spa disconnect.

 

[Donuts]

Yes, a 240 volt 60 amp device needs to have a method of disconnect, per Canadian Electrical Code. It has to be within sight of the device. A common inexpensive switch is a spa disconnect.

Thank you. I’m partially worried about keeping the look clean and simple. Might have to downgrade to 50a because of this. Do you see any issues with this aside from loosing about 7mph of speed?

 

[hingisfan]

50 amp more than enough.

 

[darkenergy]

We've been using a 240V 40A circuit to charge both our Model 3 and Smart. It'd been working fine for seven years.

 

[sigop215]

Does anyone know more about the requirement for any 60a or above device (wall connect) to require a disconnect?

Page 5 of the charger manual states external disconnects switches are neither required nor recommended

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

Page 5 of the charger manual states external disconnects switches are neither required nor recommended

The Canadian Electrical Code over-writes the Tesla manual. I have an inexpensive spa disconnect on mine. Not expensive, and installed to code

 

[Donuts]

I’m seriously considering using 50a just to avoid the disconnect. I want to keep my exterior install clean looking..

 

[Ol'Blue]

The Canadian Electrical Code over-writes the Tesla manual. I have an inexpensive spa disconnect on mine. Not expensive, and installed to code

View attachment 608537

what size of switch do you have inside the box? I’m running a 30amp, but am looking to upgrade so I ca have a little more power to my 14-50 and Tesla charger.

your setup is similar to mine, except my Tesla charger is outside and my 14-50 is inside on the backside of the wall.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

what size of switch do you have inside the box? I’m running a 30amp, but am looking to upgrade so I ca have a little more power to my 14-50 and Tesla charger.

your setup is similar to mine, except my Tesla charger is outside and my 14-50 is inside on the backside of the wall.

I have a 60 amp spa disconnect on mine. It's basically a box with a 60 amp GFCI breaker in it. Electrical/spa wholesalers stock them. Most wholesalers also stock inexpensive IEC disconnect switches,30/60 amp, 2/3pole - and they are smaller and in the 50-$75 CDN range. Leviton, Hubbell are a couple of examples....and here's an amazon example: https://www.amazon.ca/Leviton-N36NC...ocphy=9000889&hvtargid=pla-306108240165&psc=1


If you want to go really inexpensive - you can use an A/C disconnect - 60 amps, pull-out or switched. Here's one from a BC wholesaler for $19.01: CANADA HAND DRYERS U065P 60Amp 1 Phase Midwest Electric Products Non-Fusible AC Disconnect

If you upgrade the power to your 14-50 (up to 40 amps load), make sure you upgrade the wire to it. The new Tesla 14-50 UMC adapter will only allow 32 amps, though.

 

[MD-2000]

I have a NEMA 14-50 socket in my garage on a 50A breaker (6ga wire) setup. I originally had the 14-50 plug in wall charger, but it got replaced due to heating issues, and they don't make those any more so I got a gen2.

Rather than re-wire the whole thing, I used this:
General Electric WX09X10037 4-Feet 50-Amp 4 Wire Range Cord
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00LQDFOMY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and turned my wall charger into a plug-in charger limited to 40A continuous to satisfy code for a 50A breaker, using the rotary switch setting on the charger.

I had to snip off the lugs, the cable is stranded and it was a bit of a struggle to get everything connected within the confined case. The charger just uses black and red (and green, ground) so the white is capped. But - it works, it's a plug-in appliance now, etc. etc. while charging, the cable does not even feel warm to the touch.

I don't feel I'm losing anything since the max a model 3 (LR AWD) will do is 48A anyway.
Plus in the event of a charger problem, I have the 14-50 wall socket I can also use with the portable charger.

It sure beats hiring an electrician, getting permits, and losing the 14-50 wall socket.

EDIT: I see in my earlier ost I said a 40A breaker. When we got the plug-in charger, we decided to up the circuit to 50A and re-run with 6Ga not 8Ga (about 30 feet). Still had the 14-50socket, so with the Gen2 wall charger, I wanted to keep that socket. When trying to diagnose the heat problems with the plug0in, we switched to a Hubell 9450 industrial socket. Those suckers are $170 so why throw it away?

As I posted, I charge automatically starting at 1AM, so odds are dishwasher, stove, dryer will be done by then. Only competition on the service would be A/C which is 30A so highly unlikely I pop the main breaker. 40A is 57km/hr charge, so 1AM to 7AM will add almost a complete 80% charge to the battery.

 

[Books]

I’m moving to Brant County rural part of town and want to setup a charger for my parents when they come visit and for us as we plan to order a Model Y soon.

However I noticed some of you have the charger outside. Is there a particular reason why or better yet what are the advantages.

Last, when we move in, what’s the first thing I should look out for in determining which charger to add.

 

[MD-2000]

As I mentioned, I have a 14-50 plug in my garage. Some people use this for a welder if that's what you do for fun; some use it also with a stove, if you cook things so spicy it's better to add fragrance to the neighbourhood than your indoors. And others, like me, just use it to charge your car.

The portable charger you'd get with the car comes with an assortment of plugs (sold separately) as discussed in this thread; a 14-50 plug allows for some serious current, although Model 3's are limited to 48A continuous. You can just use this, or you can invest in a Tesla wall charger - either hard wire it, or do what I did and make it a plug-in appliance. This allows me to use either charger, should the need present itself.

the wall chargers can be programmed to a max current draw, so you do not exceed the circuit breaker standard. The portable charger, I think, gets its "max" from the plug adapter used or you can set the max on your vehicle.

Location only matters for convenience. If you will have visitors who may need to charge, locate the charger where it can reach your vehicle or the visitor without doing the EV Shuffle to reach the other vehicle. Plus, some people in our neighbourhood park outdoors. The purpose of a garage in 50% of the cases is to store junk. However, the colder the climate, the more even an unheated garage is appreciated.

So obviously, the other consideration - is there a 240V plug0in in the garage? If so, what Amperage? If not, how far from the electrical panel to the charger location? How easy to run a big wire (i.e. attached garage or do you have to trench? Do you have to drill through a concrete foundation?) Then, is there room on the panel for a 50A circuit breaker? Will the building accommodate an extra 40A draw? (Unless you have electric heat on a 100A panel, the answer is probably yes - since you would generally schedule your charging for overnight. When the parents visit, simply don't do dryer and dishwasher while they are charging during the day, and avoid having multiple plug-in room heaters going)

perhaps someone more local can talk about hydro billing options, which I understand are no fun in Ontario...

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

I’m moving to Brant County rural part of town and want to setup a charger for my parents when they come visit and for us as we plan to order a Model Y soon.

However I noticed some of you have the charger outside. Is there a particular reason why or better yet what are the advantages.

Last, when we move in, what’s the first thing I should look out for in determining which charger to add.

My station is outside, as I wanted to list it on Plugshare; picture, above; Adding a charger to my 100 amp panel. The HPWC and NEMA 14-50 are both 240 volt, 40 amp rated. It does make it a lot easier for vehicles other than your own, to charge there.

As mentioned by @MD-2000 you can look at a NEMA14-50 plug, but you are limited to 32 amps using the UMC adapter. The Tesla HPWC will give you up to 48 amps (hardwired) or up to 40 amps, if you wire on a 14-50 male plug to the input ( not recommended unless you know what you are doing). The HPWC is made for your Tesla, with a charge port open button, but will not charge any other EV's. It's competitively priced with other EVSE

Should you have another EV in the family (or perhaps in the future ), you may wish to consider a J1772 EVSE. Lots of choices - Chargepoint, Flo, Juicebox are a few examples. Most of these are available in 30 and/or 40 amp models. Flo and Juicebox are Canadian made. You can use these with the J1772 adapter that comes with all Tesla models. Other EVs will also be able to use it.

As mentioned above, there may be some electrical restrictions, especially if the service is 100 amps. I do recommend hiring a licensed electrician for any installation - inside or outside