I thought I'd share my story (or should I call it an Odyssey?) to get a JuiceBox EV charger installed at my beach condo in San Diego. This is probably not a unique situation, and I hope others can learn from it.
Background:
In 2018 a friend and realtor showed me a totally run-down 2BR/2BA condo in an older building in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Its an area I have always liked, and the location just one building away from the beach was tempting. Price was not super cheap but acceptable, so I jumped on it.
I quickly developed a vision of what I'd want it to be. But first, the inspector told me the wiring is outdated and a fire hazard, there was mold in the bathrooms, and the ceiling contained asbestos. OK, so we gutted the whole thing, re-imagined it, and rebuilt. Thanks in part to San Diego's "Construction Prevention Agency" (aka Building Department), it took about 7 months to complete and cost more than twice the original budget. Oh well...
It turned out fantastic, but whenever I came with the Tesla, charging became a real chore. There were some L2 chargers in the area, but the closest bank of them was all defective, and they told me it would take 3 months to fix. Nearby Blink chargers only added 18 miles per hour. The Supercharger at Qualcomm was not only quite far, there was always a long line, and the downtown Supercharger - equally far away - required me to pay $5 for parking. The Friars Road (Fashion Valley) Supercharger didn't exist, yet, so I embarked on a project to get my own charger installed.
In an older Multi-Unit building with limited power supply (90 Amp breaker for my unit), lots of obstacles between electric room and my parking spots and an HOA that had the ultimate say in how the conduit could be routed. I guess the pain of the remodel just wasn't enough...
Solution:
I searched the Interwebs for an electrician with experience in installing electric vehicle chargers, and came across Peter Steglitz from Steglitz Power. He loves alternative energy projects, has done lots of charger installs, and I quickly realized he is very detail oriented. So I decided to work with him on this project.
The first hurdle was how to deal with the limit of the 90 Amp breaker. We discussed the option to add a separate meter (which would have required a dedicated Meter address as well), but I was worried about cost and the unknown time it would take to get this installed by the local utility.
However, Peter had a better solution anyway: He recommended using an intelligent switch called "DCC-9" that routes power to the charger whenever the condo isn't using too much load. This saved us the major hassle, time and money for getting a new meter.
Installation:
The install itself brought many challenges, including finding the right spot in the storage room to mount the DCC-9, and the water and drain pipes that were near the path of the conduit route approved by the HOA. It took a lot of effort to work around all the constraints, but I just got word that the install is complete.
I'm super thrilled and can't wait to go and charge my car right there at my own parking spots! The DCC-9 was the magic bullet that made it all possible in the first place, and I'm glad I had an electrician who recommended this magic switch and followed-through on this challenging install.
Now our place (called "Bluhaus") is the first Vacation Rental in San Diego's Pacific Beach area that has an electric vehicle charger.
PS: I attach some pictures that were taken last week, prior to finishing-up. You can see we had to angle the charger to ensure we don't encroach on the neighbors' parking space.
View attachment 424894 View attachment 424895
Background:
In 2018 a friend and realtor showed me a totally run-down 2BR/2BA condo in an older building in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Its an area I have always liked, and the location just one building away from the beach was tempting. Price was not super cheap but acceptable, so I jumped on it.
I quickly developed a vision of what I'd want it to be. But first, the inspector told me the wiring is outdated and a fire hazard, there was mold in the bathrooms, and the ceiling contained asbestos. OK, so we gutted the whole thing, re-imagined it, and rebuilt. Thanks in part to San Diego's "Construction Prevention Agency" (aka Building Department), it took about 7 months to complete and cost more than twice the original budget. Oh well...
It turned out fantastic, but whenever I came with the Tesla, charging became a real chore. There were some L2 chargers in the area, but the closest bank of them was all defective, and they told me it would take 3 months to fix. Nearby Blink chargers only added 18 miles per hour. The Supercharger at Qualcomm was not only quite far, there was always a long line, and the downtown Supercharger - equally far away - required me to pay $5 for parking. The Friars Road (Fashion Valley) Supercharger didn't exist, yet, so I embarked on a project to get my own charger installed.
In an older Multi-Unit building with limited power supply (90 Amp breaker for my unit), lots of obstacles between electric room and my parking spots and an HOA that had the ultimate say in how the conduit could be routed. I guess the pain of the remodel just wasn't enough...
Solution:
I searched the Interwebs for an electrician with experience in installing electric vehicle chargers, and came across Peter Steglitz from Steglitz Power. He loves alternative energy projects, has done lots of charger installs, and I quickly realized he is very detail oriented. So I decided to work with him on this project.
The first hurdle was how to deal with the limit of the 90 Amp breaker. We discussed the option to add a separate meter (which would have required a dedicated Meter address as well), but I was worried about cost and the unknown time it would take to get this installed by the local utility.
However, Peter had a better solution anyway: He recommended using an intelligent switch called "DCC-9" that routes power to the charger whenever the condo isn't using too much load. This saved us the major hassle, time and money for getting a new meter.
Installation:
The install itself brought many challenges, including finding the right spot in the storage room to mount the DCC-9, and the water and drain pipes that were near the path of the conduit route approved by the HOA. It took a lot of effort to work around all the constraints, but I just got word that the install is complete.
I'm super thrilled and can't wait to go and charge my car right there at my own parking spots! The DCC-9 was the magic bullet that made it all possible in the first place, and I'm glad I had an electrician who recommended this magic switch and followed-through on this challenging install.
Now our place (called "Bluhaus") is the first Vacation Rental in San Diego's Pacific Beach area that has an electric vehicle charger.
PS: I attach some pictures that were taken last week, prior to finishing-up. You can see we had to angle the charger to ensure we don't encroach on the neighbors' parking space.
View attachment 424894 View attachment 424895
