Electrical Help

[eprosenx]

Getting a second run of wire allows me to leave the dryer plugged in without worrying about someone trying to use it while charging too.

Getting to 32 amps will cost me about $650 getting to 48 would be around $1300 (for 60 amp, not sure what it would cost to get a 100 amp, but I only have a 200 amp panel too) Also, a 14-50 can be used for other things like the welder I may never buy Probably overkill for an electric homebrewing system too but another possible use for it. Hmmmm gotta make a decision eventually.

That is kind of surprising that the delta in cost is so large? Are you including the $500 HPWC in the second # but not including a HPWC or second UMC in the first number?

I personally always want a UMC in my car with me, so even if I was charging with the UMC at home I would buy a second unit to keep with me.

Also, what gauge is being planned for giving you 32 amps? Maybe just 8 gauge NM cable since you only need it rated to 40a? (I would always run a fully 50a capable circuit to a 14-50 generally even though the UMC Gen 2 only needs 40a/32a.

 

[Glamisduner]

That is kind of surprising that the delta in cost is so large? Are you including the $500 HPWC in the second # but not including a HPWC or second UMC in the first number?

I personally always want a UMC in my car with me, so even if I was charging with the UMC at home I would buy a second unit to keep with me.

Also, what gauge is being planned for giving you 32 amps? Maybe just 8 gauge NM cable since you only need it rated to 40a? (I would always run a fully 50a capable circuit to a 14-50 generally even though the UMC Gen 2 only needs 40a/32a.

Yes I was including the wall charger, I have another EVSE J1772 I could throw in the frunk I guess, 16 amp only 14-30 though. I just figured I wouldn't need it since there should be more superchargers popping up and I can take the UMC with me for longer trips. I'm requesting 6awg wire. The price would go up for HPWC wiring but not significantly just the cost of materials.

 

[brucet999]

I had a 10-30 outlet in my garage, chained to another 10-30 outlet. It's for my washing machine and this is how it has been since I moved in 8 years ago. It was behind a 20 amp breaker. !?!

After some discussion on this forum and after I verified a floating ground wire and that the wire's were in fact 10/3 romex I upgraded both outlets to 14-30's, grounded the boxes they were in, and instead of daisy chaining them, I used wire nuts to run to the second outlet which is right next to it. Grounded the electrical boxes (they were not grounded previously!).

Then I changed the breaker to a 30 amp breaker, and re-wired the dryer to use a 14-30.

I ran into some issued with the breaker tripping when I was done, not sure where the short was , I did tape over a wire that split insulation while cramming everything into the metal box, but still had an issue. After a few attempts I finally got everything in there without tripping the breaker (maybe a hot screw was hitting the ground or something I'm not sure, it's a really tight fit!)

I realize it's not great to have 2 outlets, but it allows me to not have to plug and unplug the washing machine all the time, and is a temporary solution until I have have a 14-50 or tesla wall charger installed at a later date.

Currently I'm charging my volt off a 16 amp charger using the new outlet and have not had any problems.

My concern is that the 10/3 wire run may be too long (box is on the far side of the house). I read that if it is over 50ft I should have 8awg, but I also read that if the run is less than 100ft I should be ok? Is there a way to test resistance (between black and neutral, or red and neutral) to ensure the run isn't too long? What should the resistance measure to be safe with the 30 amp breaker?

Probably not too long, as you describe it. I had in my 50-year-old house a NEMA10-30 in my garage for a dryer; 10AWG solid wire 68 feet of run from the 100A breaker panel at the other end of the house. I ran a 42-foot extension on 8AWG stranded in conduit to a 10-30 located where I could use it to charge. The charging screen consistently showed me 24 amps at 236 to 238V and never in two years failed to deliver a full (90%) charge overnight.

You don't measure resistance from hot to neutral. You would measure resistance from end-to-end, which in practice, means disconnecting both ends of both hot wires, wire-nutting them together at one end, and then testing resistance between the other two ends and dividing by 2. Your charger, however, should tell you the resistance by showing voltage while charging. 5% voltage drop is acceptable. No-load voltage measured between hot terminals of the outlet will give you base level, but voltage under load is the true metric and it is always lower than no-load readings.