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Opinions Needed on Electrical Panel to Set Up Charger
- Thread starter Grapevine
- Start date
"10-15% more which I have no problem with but some people might prefer do only what they need and to use that on another project or invest it."
I had a Tesla Wall Charger installed. The electrician had to change some single breakers to double breakers in order to make room for the 60A breaker. Fortunately both the panel and the charger are in the same garage so he just ran cable over the other garage door then down to the charger. I got the one with the longer cord so it reaches to the third bay where the car is. Cost all together was about $1500 but he also put in a new outlet in the back yard for that price. I used an electrician recommended by Tesla so I had a bit more confidence that he knew what he was doing.
If I move, I'll take the wall charger with me, and replace where it was with a 14-50 outlet.
If I move, I'll take the wall charger with me, and replace where it was with a 14-50 outlet.
...and switch the breaker hopefully. It's not allowed to have a 50A outlet type with a 60A circuit breaker.
I got quotes all over the place for my install. I thought long and hard about going with the Tesla wall adapter, but in the end, the short cable, extra expense, and only slightly improved charge speeds didn’t really move the needle for me. I ended up removing an unused 30AMP breaker, replacing it with a 50AMP, running my own conduit and 6 gauge wire to a surface mount 14-50R outlet and then paid an electrician to fish it into the load center, connect and inspect everything ($125). Then I got a Grizzl-E Avalanche edition to go with it. It’s got a much higher quality cable and is 24’ long which opens up every spot in my garage and driveway for charging when I need it. Plus…I figure if I want, now I’ve got a spot for welder or other things should I decide to do that or sell the house to someone else.
Opinion needed on a somewhat similar situation. I want to install Tesla generation 3 wall charger.
I have 100 Amp Main panel , which has no available breakers( see picture below).
I want to add subpanel and move one of double 30Amp breaker(60AMP total number 11 and 12 on the picture ) that runs one of my AC units to the sub panel and put 60 AMP breaker for Tesla charger in its place.
Can this work?
I have 100 Amp Main panel , which has no available breakers( see picture below).
I want to add subpanel and move one of double 30Amp breaker(60AMP total number 11 and 12 on the picture ) that runs one of my AC units to the sub panel and put 60 AMP breaker for Tesla charger in its place.
Can this work?
boulder.dude
Member
Yes, it is possible to do that, but you or your electrician absolutely need to do a load calculation to see how much load you can reasonably add to that panel. The good news is that ACs usually have large motors in them and are intentionally overbreakered for starting current purposes. You need to get the nameplate ratings for the two ACs, including their air handler and any strip heaters(assuming you have electric heat for those cold NJ nights)
That seems like a TON of 15 and 20 amp circuits, I'd wager you can double-up on two of them and add your charger circuit right in this panel. Many tandem breaker makers have breakers where they take two breaker spots(to get two poles) and have a layout like(15/30/15) where the 30 amp is a two pole(240) circuit.
bo3bdar
Member
That's a 200 Amp service though, isn't it? Dual breakers for the master at the top, 100A apiece. One for each 120 phase of the 240V.
Check with your actual electrician, but I don't think you can move that AC circuit to a subpanel without leaving the breaker in place. Typically a sub-panel has a large breaker leading to it. So you could add a subpanel, but the subpanel is where you'd add the charging circuit for the car. If you have 2 of those breakers in a spot similar to your charging- like lights for the garage, pool pump, landscaping; you could move those plus charging to a subpanel for the garage.
Would be worth looking to see if you can get a replacement breaker box with more slots to avoid that. You could also go with half-size breakers for low use circuits like the 15A to different rooms, and free up room for a half-width dual breaker.
Consider if you actually need the amount of power that's required for a 3rd gen Tesla charger. It's only a question of how long it takes to charge, and any Tesla will fully charge overnight using a 30A circuit off a 14-50. 3rd gen is wildly overkill and requires twice as much.
Check with your actual electrician, but I don't think you can move that AC circuit to a subpanel without leaving the breaker in place. Typically a sub-panel has a large breaker leading to it. So you could add a subpanel, but the subpanel is where you'd add the charging circuit for the car. If you have 2 of those breakers in a spot similar to your charging- like lights for the garage, pool pump, landscaping; you could move those plus charging to a subpanel for the garage.
Would be worth looking to see if you can get a replacement breaker box with more slots to avoid that. You could also go with half-size breakers for low use circuits like the 15A to different rooms, and free up room for a half-width dual breaker.
Consider if you actually need the amount of power that's required for a 3rd gen Tesla charger. It's only a question of how long it takes to charge, and any Tesla will fully charge overnight using a 30A circuit off a 14-50. 3rd gen is wildly overkill and requires twice as much.
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No, that's 100 amp service.
Pretty sure its >always< but I guess it might be possible to feed two main panels from a common disconnect. It would be silly, because then the wires to both panels would have to be rated to the full breaker rating.
Notably @Stanlana could almost definitely swap either(or both) of the AC breakers for a tandem duplex breaker, which supplies two 240V circuits in the same two-space space the current AC breakers each take. Still, there may not be enough capacity left in this box for another big load.
NO, NO, NO, a thousand times NO! The HPWC( any gen) can be set as low as 12 amps, and that's how much breaker you need. See page 5 of the gen3 installation manual, where it tells you the breaker/current you'll get, from a 15 amp breaker supplying 12 amps continuously to a 60 amp breaker supplying 48 amps continuously.
Thank you for the comments. Yes, I would like to have flexibility with charging. I’m not an electrician and I don’t know too much but electric stuff, so I’m reading all this very careful, It’s really appreciate it.
But I am still going to need 60 AMP to get max charging speed of 48 AMP, correct?
Don't think a new panel is needed. Just get a 50 amp breaker and set charge to 40 amp. Even at 30 amps the car will charge at 27mph which is more than enough to get u close to 90% in 8 -9 hrs from no less than 30 miles left on the battery. Wait for supply.prices to come down before a big electrical Job like getting a new panel or subpanel.
Yes, but you will NOT remotely get it from that 100 amp panel. There's just not enough capacity, and you'll be tripping the main breaker every day.
Even if we ignore the 6x20 amp circuits and 10x15 amp circuits, that panel would be in a potentially overloaded condition. Assume each AC is using 20 amps(which you shouldn't assume), that's 40 right there, then add another 60 for the charger, and you are at 100amps, the limit of that main breaker. Add a refrigerator, a range, some lighting, a hair dryer, maybe a laptop charger and a big screen TV, and you have a guaranteed main breaker trip.
Yes, But then I don’t need Tesla charger, I can just getNEMA 14-50 plug, but where do I put 50 amp breaker?
honestly after looking at your panel board picture again, you are using double breakers for every open slot. Unfortunately, it is unsafe to move the wires form 2 physicals breakers (4 wires) into another breaker as it would work but be UNSAFE.
Options:
Swap entire panel and get a new one (COSTLY)
Sub Panel
Or see if you can convert to 6-15 (Yoru car will charge at 11mph at most).
I would take the panel plate off and take a picture of the inside of your panel and see what it looks like. If you arent comfortable just call an electrician.
I always turn the MAIN off anytime I remove the cover even though most dont.
I wouldn't be super surprised if you can't even get another 32 amps out of that panel (putting a 40 amp breaker on a 14-50 is allowed). You NEED to get a load calculation done.
Here's an example of how you'd shoehorn another breaker in there...
Square D Homeline 2-30 Amp 2-Pole Quad Tandem Circuit Breaker HOMT230230CP - The Home Depot
The Square D by Schneider Electric Homeline Quad-Pole Tandem Circuit Breaker consists of (2) double-pole 30 Amp breakers. These innovative circuit breakers help free valuable load center spaces by combining
www.homedepot.com
Note that that breaker is only an example, and may not fit your panel at all. We don't know your panel model/maker, so I can't get more specific. Assuming that style fits, I see there are 30/40 and 30/50 pairs available.
Also note that the panel itself MIGHT not allow any more circuits. We won't know until there's a picture of the model/installation info(usually inside the door).
I wouldn't be super surprised if you can't even get another 32 amps out of that panel (putting a 40 amp breaker on a 14-50 is allowed). You NEED to get a load calculation done.
Here's an example of how you'd shoehorn another breaker in there...
Square D Homeline 2-30 Amp 2-Pole Quad Tandem Circuit Breaker HOMT230230CP - The Home Depot
The Square D by Schneider Electric Homeline Quad-Pole Tandem Circuit Breaker consists of (2) double-pole 30 Amp breakers. These innovative circuit breakers help free valuable load center spaces by combiningwww.homedepot.com
Note that that breaker is only an example, and may not fit your panel at all. We don't know your panel model/maker, so I can't get more specific. Assuming that style fits, I see there are 30/40 and 30/50 pairs available.
Also note that the panel itself MIGHT not allow any more circuits. We won't know until there's a picture of the model/installation info(usually inside the door).
Agree with others. You need to do a load calulation. With some remodeling I've done, I've had to install more breakers to be up to code, for example, a kitchen requires 6+ breakers alone these days. But if I look at my load in the house overall, it has not gone up but down, i.e, all light bulbs are now LED, electric dryer is now gas, etc.
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