So i had an electrician go out to my house and say they may not be able to install a home charger due to the main panel not having enough voltage. Said he had to contact an engineer. Sound correct? Also my wife was there to relay his info to me so who knows if she repeated it right
Getting a home charger installed
- Thread starter thebeezknez
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Model 3
Tam
Well-Known Member
Old houses may only have 120V and not 240V. That's not enough voltage. I think in this case, utility needs to set up an additional wire for 240V availability.
Most likely they mean your main panel has used up all the Amperes and you need a new one with more Amperes like 100A or 200A...
JeffK
Well-Known Member
Many times the panel is labeled. You might consider taking a look at it and tell us if it's 100 or 200A
355rockit
Member
Another option is doing NEMA 14-50. It uses two 120V, 50AMP breakers to get the 240 V. If your panel currently is maxed out and cannot support the extra load, then your panel would need to be upgraded. I am no electrician, but this is what the electrician that installed my NEMA 14-50 told me.
It's actually only one 50 amp breaker. It's bridged over 2 positions for the 240V.
355rockit
Member
You are half right.. Two bridged 50 amp breakers to get 240v. See pic below.
Attachments
-
IMG_20170713_200814.jpg
Your right. One is the actual breaker and the other a common to double the 120 to 240. Same for the magority of electric dryers, AC and electric stoves.
Kira
Member
Is there a simple way to tell whether you have 120V or 240V just from looking at the electrical panel? Google Images isn't proving so helpful...
That is a 240V panel. You can tell by the A and B labels. Double breakers that are on A and B are 240V breakers.
Kira
Member
Kira
Member
lol.. how is there not enough amperage there, it looks empty? Whats with the 4 pole 200 amp main? Dang Canadians
I'm guessing this is about my panel photos... We've not had an electrician come by yet, I was asking just for my own knowledge - which is presently non-existent when it comes to this topic, so I'm afraid I don't know what's up with the 4 pole 200 amp main (adds that to list of things to Google). Hopefully it's not a bad thing... I think all I need is a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed for charging in our driveway.
Yeah, I see 200 amps too. That's what I upgraded to last year, when I put in my 14-50. I think I had more load on my prior 125 amp service than you have right now. You should have ample headroom, unless there's some local code that prevents it.
The apparent 4-pole mains is just a pair of wires in parallel, sharing the load to drive each phase. My new Square-D panel does the same thing. Still just the normal "split-phase" 240/120 volt busses, like everyone else has. Nothing unusual, nor grounds for concern.
The apparent 4-pole mains is just a pair of wires in parallel, sharing the load to drive each phase. My new Square-D panel does the same thing. Still just the normal "split-phase" 240/120 volt busses, like everyone else has. Nothing unusual, nor grounds for concern.
Actually, looking at the image again, I've given you bad information. Your panel is labelled differently than mine. It looks like a single A/B group are on the same phase, while adjacent A/B groups are on different phases. So 1(A/B) are on one phase while 3(A/B) are the opposite phase. Still a 240V panel though.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
Not necessarily. To really know he would need to get a load test done or at least perform some load calculations.
