You are far better off with a local electrician. Cheaper, faster, etc. Solar city was overpriced and has other priorities.
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You are far better off with a local electrician. Cheaper, faster, etc. Solar city was overpriced and has other priorities.
umuhk
Member
Given the recent discussion about peak demands and 200A service, I thought it might be useful to report my experience. I have 200A service into a nearly-full breaker panel (there was exactly one double-breaker space left before installing the HPWC). The house is equipped with a lot of electrical appliances, plus a hot tub, well pump, septic pump, etc. The diversity calculation came out with decent headroom, since the well pump is digitally modulated and the lighting is all fluorescent and LED, so we installed a 100A breaker for the HPWC. We were doing fine charging at 80A for a while. And then...one evening, the lights went out. It was a perfect sync of the Tesla charging, the hot tub heating, refrigerator on, etc. We'd peaked above 200A, and the whole-house breaker tripped.
It was easy to recover, just open the HPWC breaker and close the house breaker (once it had cooled down). But it definitely spooked me enough that I reconfigured the HPWC to think it had an 80A breaker. I've been charging ever since at 15kW (64A), and we've not had another episode. Honestly, I've not really noticed any inconvenience from the slightly lower rate.
It was easy to recover, just open the HPWC breaker and close the house breaker (once it had cooled down). But it definitely spooked me enough that I reconfigured the HPWC to think it had an 80A breaker. I've been charging ever since at 15kW (64A), and we've not had another episode. Honestly, I've not really noticed any inconvenience from the slightly lower rate.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
An alternative solution is to keep the dip switches set to the 100 Amp breaker, and dial down the current in the car to 60 Amps or so. The day that you really need the fast charge rate, you can make sure the hot tub is off and charge at 80 Amps without having to find the Torx driver, open up the HPWC, and change the dip switches. The car remembers the current limit with the GPS location and will not change it until you dial it back up again.
Enjoy those dual chargers on the Sun Country Highway!
A few weeks ago I received an email from Solar City who installed my HPWC that they wanted to do an inspection of the charger setup. We scheduled a visit for last week. Master electrician showed up, cut the power to the HPWC, took some pictures and then redid all the wire connections in the main panel and the HPWC. He did not replace the actual wiring though. Took him about 45 min after which he cleaned the charger cable and left. I have no idea what prompted that service visit (never had any issues with the charger) but I am happy about the level of attention to detail. Anyone else had such a visit?
I missed this post originally. This was exactly the kind of issue I was worried about. I think I worked out in our case that unless I was charging in the day and the oven and cooktop (and possibly dryer) were being used, I would probably be fine; however, I started looking into a 200 Amp service (as I have 150 right now) due to not wanting to have to worry about it - or have my wife needing to become as involved in current calculations as I have been. In another thread I have detailed that our electricity provider are suggesting that it would cost about 100K to increase my service which is ludicrous and a non-starter. As a result I think I will normally use the car to "dial it down" and when I really need maximum current make sure we don't have a perfect storm.
This is exactly why I had my 200A upgraded to 400A. It only cost me $2500, but I feel more comfortable drawing tons of electricity when needed. I too have a hot tub, pool heater, etc, AND my heating in winter is electric.
Mayhemm
Model S P85+ "Lola"
I'm going to run this option by my electrician (if I ever hear from him again). The cost is certain to be astronomical, but it would eliminate the chance of a "perfect storm" event shutting down the whole house. I could also put in a 14-50 plug for when the X arrives.
We don't have a pool or hot tub, but everything else in the place is electric (heating, cooling, cooking, etc).
Bugeater
Member
Chris,
I got the same call and e-mail today! I wonder if this has anything to do with the garage fire in So Cal? Do you have any ideas of what they might have been looking for?
Bugeater
Member
Wow, someone saw my HPWC listed on PlugShare and is using it! Just when my new solar panels got the green light from PG&E. Love giving away free energy!!!
How cool is that! I listed mine a few weeks ago but have not yet had any takers. My solar is going to be installed early next week. Got TVA approvals a week ago for my 10 KW system and now waiting for EPB to provide the same. All panels and hardware are already in and available for install. I am REALLY looking forward to this.
Bugeater
Member
10 KW! That's big. Mine is only 6.4KW with the recent addition. Mine has been listed for over a year now. I think this is the first taker... Yea, the process can be pretty painful. Good luck!
Congratulations. I put 9 kW on my shed last year, and will do another 9 kW system this year (Illinois rebates are limited to 25% of the project, maximum $10k, so you can only build a certain-sized system once a year).
HPWC installed today in the garage! Just a few more days until delivery!
I have a dumb question. In the instructions for the cable organizer it says to thread the cable through the hole/channel on the back of the organizer. Yet the vast majority of pictures I see (even Tesla's own pics of the HPWC) do NOT show the cable threaded. Does anyone know if there is a technical reason for this? Is it to limit stress on the cable? If not, in my case, it seems to hang better without it threaded. Two pics attached!
I have a dumb question. In the instructions for the cable organizer it says to thread the cable through the hole/channel on the back of the organizer. Yet the vast majority of pictures I see (even Tesla's own pics of the HPWC) do NOT show the cable threaded. Does anyone know if there is a technical reason for this? Is it to limit stress on the cable? If not, in my case, it seems to hang better without it threaded. Two pics attached!
In your case it's offset. In my case, I coil the cord directly beneath the HPWC, so I threaded it through. It helps to relieve strain just a bit on the cord coming out of the HPWC. It doesn't really matter whether you use it that way, IMO.
Blaze
Member
Bugeater
Member
Mine looked like your second pic when I first got the cable organizer. It didn't really work and seemed to just shorten the cable. So I undid it. Now mine looks like your first pic! Well, except that it usually lays on the ground outside the garage door now...
I ran the cable through the holder which is placed directly below the HPWC. I think the reason is to create additional strain relief for the wire that goes into the HPWC. It's not an issue if your charge port is always close by but if some one needs to stretch the cable to reach a car, the strain, over time, might cause problems. Better safe than sorry.
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