HPWC Failure - melted wire.

[mswlogo]

A couple of more observation on IR photos: I put my HPWC on charge at 40 amps, waited about an hour and put the IR camera on it. First and most interesting: the Cylon eye does not show up except very faintly. The LEDs don't emit in the part of the spectrum to which the camera is sensitive and the amount of heat generated by them is not enough to warm the surrounding area appreciably.

The rest of the unit (covers on) was at pretty uniform temperature representing a rise of about 10 °F above ambient. The wires showed a rise of about 20 °F above ambient except where doubled and tripled in being wrapped around the unit where they showed 40 ° rise. The wires inside the box would be at least as hot or hotter but they did not image through the covers.

Good post.

It’s not the light your IR should pickup on LEDs, but the heat they still put out. Also the circuits driving them also output heat. Try it WITHOUT it cycling. I bet they are a little above average heat there. Every LED I point my IR at lights up far brighter than the eye sees. It’s all relative. If the case was warm from charging the little heat the LED does give off might not stand out.

For shits and giggles here is a V2 Supercharger after 35 minute charge. Should I report this to Elon my car is gonna catch fire if he doesn't lower the current? BTW, the handle was luke warm.

 

[kailm]

To all the DIY in this thread, do you guys have a permitted charger installed on the house? As in city inspected, either self or pro installed?
This is very important for insurance claims in the unlikely event your house catches on fire.

 

[Teedub21]

To all the DIY in this thread, do you guys have a permitted charger installed on the house? As in city inspected, either self or pro installed?
This is very important for insurance claims in the unlikely event your house catches on fire.

Nope.

 

[ucmndd]

This is very important for insurance claims in the unlikely event your house catches on fire.

Lots of people claim this (and I’m not even saying it isn’t true) but can you provide sone reference/evidence to back it up?

 

[ajdelange]

Try it WITHOUT it cycling.

I did intend to mention the low duty cycle of the individual LEDs when they are cycling but forgot to. OTOH when they are not cycling the system is not loaded.

 

[ajdelange]

Lots of people claim this (and I’m not even saying it isn’t true) but can you provide sone reference/evidence to back it up?

In Canada the insurance company will sometimes (I'm not sure what their criteria are) demand a home inspection prior issuing a policy and demand correction of certain items as a condition. In fact, it seems in my limited experience, that the insurance companies assume man of the responsibilities assigned to the municipal inspectors south of the border.

 

[mswlogo]

In Canada the insurance company will sometimes (I'm not sure what their criteria are) demand a home inspection prior issuing a policy and demand correction of certain items as a condition. In fact, it seems in my limited experience, that the insurance companies assume man of the responsibilities assigned to the municipal inspectors south of the border.

It is very rare that insurance companies will inspect your home in the USA (I've never heard of it, but it might vary by state).

But the comment is correct regarding DIY installs need to be permitted.

I do my own electrical work and it is legal to do so with permits/inspections and all. But it is only legal by town and some towns don't allow it.

No towns allow home owner to do plumbing, unfortunately. I've seen some pro's do absolutely abismal work that I had to completely redo after the inspection was over, because it was not safe (Gas).

 

[ucmndd]

In Canada the insurance company will sometimes (I'm not sure what their criteria are) demand a home inspection prior issuing a policy and demand correction of certain items as a condition. In fact, it seems in my limited experience, that the insurance companies assume man of the responsibilities assigned to the municipal inspectors south of the border.

I have no doubt that’s true, and indeed have had my home inspected prior to policy issuance before. That said, they’ve never asked to see permits for work or looked them up otherwise.

Take a scenario where a prior owner did unpermitted work to install an outlet that eventually caused a fire. I’m having a hard time agreeing that MY insurance company could somehow deny a claim based on that.

In fact, as I recall, my policy even has a feature that explicitly COVERS the remediation of discovered unpermitted work.

 

[ucmndd]

I do my own electrical work and it is legal to do so with permits/inspections and all. But it is only legal by town and some towns don't allow it.

No towns allow home owner to do plumbing, unfortunately. I've seen some pro's do absolutely abismal work that I had to completely redo after the inspection was over, because it was not safe (Gas).

Interesting. Even in the Peoples’ Republic of California, owners can pull permits themselves for any and all work as an owner/builder. You have to pass all the same inspections a licensed contractor would of course, but I’d imagine the state or municipalities trying to tell property owners that they can’t work on their own place would lead to bedlam.

 

[mswlogo]

Interesting. Even in the Peoples’ Republic of California, owners can pull permits themselves for any and all work as an owner/builder. You have to pass all the same inspections a licensed contractor would of course, but I’d imagine the state or municipalities trying to tell property owners that they can’t work on their own place would lead to bedlam.

I think owners can do residential building in most, if not all towns, you can in my town. As well as Electrical in my town, but many towns do not. But none that I know of allow plumbing by owners.

I believe the thinking is, with electrical and building, if something does go wrong (because inspectors can't catch everything, nor are they responsible for everything, they generally just spot check, mostly to check your competence), you will mostly only harm yourself. With plumbing, you could contaminate the water supply if you are really stupid. I like that rule

 

[ajdelange]

AFAIK in Fairfax County VA you can do anything yourself as long as you pull the permits and have the inspections. Same in the adjacent county (Loudon). Across the Potomac in DC plumbing must be done by a licensee and and it's probably the same with electric. Guessing the Peoples Republic of Maryland is the same. Depends on how blue the state is.

Insurance companies have more ways to dodge paying claims than Carter's got pills. Pays to read your policy's fine print.

 

[GHammer]

Having been a party to dozens of electrical inspections, they are a joke. I've never once seen an inspecter check a wire termination. I dont bother for the stuff i do on my own house, my work is not going to catch fire.

 

[mongo]

You could legally use the Neutral for the burned out hot Red. Just mark both ends with black tape.

That is true for NN-B (Romex) type wire. With that (cable assembly), you can run 240V with the Black and White. For individual wires in conduit (this setupl, it needs to be over 6 AWG to allow recoloring. I think the code section is around 200.6 or 200.7(C)

 

[Runt8]

To all the DIY in this thread, do you guys have a permitted charger installed on the house? As in city inspected, either self or pro installed?
This is very important for insurance claims in the unlikely event your house catches on fire.

I always get my work inspected:
1. I'm not a licensed electrician and there's always a possibility I've overlooked something.
2. It's the law where I live.
3. Compared to the cost of my Tesla and my house, the inspection cost is negligible.
4. If something were ever to to happen, I don't need the hassle of arguing with my insurance company over it.
5. And most importantly, my family lives in the house. Having an extra set of eyes look over my work isn't going to hurt anything, and will possible make it safer.

 

[kailm]

I always get my work inspected:
1. I'm not a licensed electrician and there's always a possibility I've overlooked something.
2. It's the law where I live.
3. Compared to the cost of my Tesla and my house, the inspection cost is negligible.
4. If something were ever to to happen, I don't need the hassle of arguing with my insurance company over it.
5. And most importantly, my family lives in the house. Having an extra set of eyes look over my work isn't going to hurt anything, and will possible make it safer.

Yes the key point being inspected after a permit. This is absolutely important to the insurance company, not to get insurance, but when you do file if you have a fire. An EV charger is a high amperage device, just like electric stove/central AC/Dryer. All high amperage devices must be inspected by city with load bearing calculations. You can do the work yourself, that is not the problem. It must be permitted and inspected. Because when the house catches fire and the Charger is to blame, If it wasn't permitted and inspected, I can guarantee you, the insurance company will not pay for the fire damage at all. There is no exception to high amperage devices that are not inspected.
Books just care about was there a legit second pair of eyes on it, regardless how crappy of the job the 2nd set of eyes did.