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Post your Garage charging setup! (pictures, Wall Connector, multi-EV)
- Thread starter Noflash
- Start date
May I show you my self installed wall charger install. The power is run from the main breaker box in the back of my house, a run of just over 56ft. All in 3/4in conduit, all but the jump over the 4in PVC feed (coax and control wiring) to my Amateur radio station. The inverter is 7kw, also 4kw of Enphase feed the system.
After this run, I enter the garage just below the ceiling and run down the wall to the disconnect switch.
At this point I mount the switch and "Solar Control" box to the studs. A word on the solar box. I have lots of solar here, 10.8kw, which is the limit for feedback on my service. So to increase solar power, I have 10 405 watt panels mounted on the south side of the house that are fed to the the charger via the "solar control" box. This box contains a relay that connects the 10 panels to the charger, only when the charger is active. This is the switch box....
Then the feed runs through the switch box and solar box to the charger. Along the way, the solar box senses the flow of power to the car and closes a relay to connect the solar panels to the charger. (solar panels are used with Enphase inverters). While the charger pulls 12,000 watts (48amps times 250volts) the panels only provide about 4000 watts in full sun. Offsetting about 1/3 of my charging load. I know it's only a third, but remember my main solar feed is about 10kw... (10kw plus 4kw = 14kw total minis 12kw charging = NO COST EV CHARGING!).
The 3 12ga wires run to the panels, and will connect to the WAGO connectors at the relay. You can also see the current sensing unit with the black 6ga running through it. After a trail run I have installed two 15amp fuses between the relay and the panels to avert any feed back to the panels. All in all it seems to be the ticket !
After this run, I enter the garage just below the ceiling and run down the wall to the disconnect switch.
At this point I mount the switch and "Solar Control" box to the studs. A word on the solar box. I have lots of solar here, 10.8kw, which is the limit for feedback on my service. So to increase solar power, I have 10 405 watt panels mounted on the south side of the house that are fed to the the charger via the "solar control" box. This box contains a relay that connects the 10 panels to the charger, only when the charger is active. This is the switch box....
Then the feed runs through the switch box and solar box to the charger. Along the way, the solar box senses the flow of power to the car and closes a relay to connect the solar panels to the charger. (solar panels are used with Enphase inverters). While the charger pulls 12,000 watts (48amps times 250volts) the panels only provide about 4000 watts in full sun. Offsetting about 1/3 of my charging load. I know it's only a third, but remember my main solar feed is about 10kw... (10kw plus 4kw = 14kw total minis 12kw charging = NO COST EV CHARGING!).
The 3 12ga wires run to the panels, and will connect to the WAGO connectors at the relay. You can also see the current sensing unit with the black 6ga running through it. After a trail run I have installed two 15amp fuses between the relay and the panels to avert any feed back to the panels. All in all it seems to be the ticket !
This is a very cool setup, but I have zero Idea why people with solar say "No cost charging", when there is obviously a cost for the solar equipment at a minimum, and equipment and installation for most.
Its "pre paid ev charging". It sounds like a small thing, but to me, it falls into the same bucket as anti EV people saying stuff like "it takes 4 times as long to go on a trip, right?", or "I dont want an EV because those batteries might explode". "I charge my EV for free, from the Sun!" is the same thing to me, unless its being said by someone who has already gotten enough credit from their solar install to pay for the system, which in very general terms is like 7-10 years for most people.
I say this as someone who has solar themselves, and enjoy the convenience of my pre paid electricity generation.
The black wire seemingly going to nowhere at the top of the second picture concerns me.
The 12 AWG in the same terminals as what seems to be ~3AWG concerns me too. I don't know where the ~3AWG is going to or coming from, but if that 12AWG ever wants to take the load of 3AWG, things will not go all that well. The good news is that it seems to all be staying in the panel box so if it burns your house might not go with it.
Eric33432
Member
Can you post a schematic diagram of this?
From what I gather, the smaller solar system is set up to only connect when the car is charging, by the current sensing device and relay, but it is connected right across the circuit from your main panel, thus still connected to the utility, but since the car is loading the circuit, the current cannot flow into the grid since it is being sucked up by the EVSE?
I see you also have a second meter? I take it that is for metering the total energy produced by your "official" solar system? Is that required and used by your POCO to somehow calculate billing? Here in FL we have net metering, so I have a special meter that records energy from and to the grid in a single meter.
It would appear that the energy that may be created by these 10 extra panels when the car is not charging is not used. Is that correct?
Thanks,
Eric
W1xxx (not shown for privacy)
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That's OK for you to think.... but... I have had the main system for over 12 years, it's looooong been payed for by offsetting my electric bill. In fact, I haven't payed a penny to the power company for 12 years! Here in Arizona it's common for people in 2500sqft homes to pay 3 to 4 hundred dollars a month on budget payments. To date I have sent back to the utility over 145MW of unused power. My current account shows a $360 credit. Starting with the charger install I plan to "spend" some of that on car charging. Besides, the investment in the car charging will take less than a year to pay for itself.. Your milage my vary! Thanks for the note!
I think your seeing the two WAGO connectors that (after this pix) I have a 15amp fuse between the relay (where the WAGO's attach) and the panels. The large 6ga wires are the feed to the switch and then to the charger... The 12ga from the switched side of the disconnect only feed solar from the relay and are now fused with 15amp inline 250v ceramic (Bussmann MDA-15-R).
BINGO ! Somehow you got it all right. Why we have two meters is beyond me. Also the left meter, between the 10kw system is required, and I had to pay for it! My main problem is of course the power company. Sometime after they started gathering renewable energy credits, they realized they had given away their profit. Ever since then, they had been lowering the payback for excess power... When it gets to the point where I have to pay ANYTHING, batteries will flow into the system and they will flow OUT! 73 Dick
Before taking delivery of my first EV last year, I prepared by installing a Bryant 9450FR NEMA 14-50 receptacle and initially used a Mobile Connector. Shortly after taking delivery, the Wall Connector became Energy Star certified qualifying it for rebate from my electric company, so I ordered and installed one. A few months later, I discovered some free-to-me charging locations around town, so I very rarely charge at home. My breaker box is officially full!
Eric33432
Member
This is a fascinating setup and I have studied it a bit.
I think this is how it works:
The larger wires, which the OP says are 6 AWG, pass through the safety switch and then go to the Tesla Wall Connector, passing through a current sensing device in the second box, which when current is passing turn on a relay.
The 12 AWG wires, which are hanging loose in the photo showing the box with the relay, come from his 4 KW solar system inverters, and just pass through the bottom of the safety switch on their way to the solar box, then are connected to 15 amp fuses (not shown in photo), then to one side of the double pole relay (through the WAGOs), which then feeds the energy back to the load side of the safety switch through additional 12 AWG wires. (His photos are before all this was finished being hooked up.)
This way he avoids problems with his POCO which has a ~10 kW limit on the amount of power he can send to them. He is producing more power than he is using, but of course has to use power from the POCO at night.
Switching on the 4 KW system only when his Tessie is charging ensures that he will never send more than the ~10 KW that his POCO allows. I think he could have connected the 4 KW system up at his main panel as long as when it is operating the Tessie is charging which would ensure that he would never send more than ~10 KW to the POCO, but there might be some POCO reason, or something, that would make doing that not desirable.
My solar is a little simpler, my two 7.8 kW inverters just connect, through a fused safety switch, to the load side of my electric meter. Since we have net metering here in Florida, which is trued up annually, and my solar does not produce even 1/2 of the power we use, I just feed excess power to FP&L when it is making more power than I use (which is not very often!), and take power from FP&L for everything including the power I use to charge our Tessies.
So for every kWh of energy I send to my POCO, I get a 1:1 credit for every kWh of energy I take from my POCO, unless at the end of the year I have sent the POCO more than I have taken for the entire year, which in my case will not happen.
In summary, I really send my POCO very little energy. My solar mainly reduces the energy I buy from my POCO, but again, any energy I do send to the POCO during the few times it is producing more energy than we are using at that instant in time nets against the energy from the POCO on an 1:1 basis.
Whilst the exact electrons I am using to charge our two Tessies do not necessarily come from my solar system, it does not matter in my situation because it is netted. Were I to be producing more solar energy than I could use, it would matter because if you produce more power than you consume in Florida, FP&L only pays the generation cost, not the retail cost, of the power at the annual true-up. In that event I would try and use all the power that I was generating by shifting my usage to the times I was producing the most solar energy, or bank it in some Tesla Power Walls.
At least this is how I understand it works in Florida.
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Gen 3 HPWC w/ 24 ft cable on a 60amp breaker. Supports wife’s MYLR pulled in nose 1st on right and my M3P backed in on left. The cable reaches the charge port on the MY easily without need to pull all the way up to the storage lockers and block the path in front. I am contemplating a solar setup with Powerwalls in the future. Original thought was that the PWs would go on the inside of the garage wall that is to the left of the M3P since the electrical meter is right on the other side. However, I back in inches away from that wall to maximize the space between the cars. Raising them up further on the wall could work, but might look odd. Putting them in the basement on the other side of the wall behind wall charger and down, is another viable option. Electric panel is within a couple feet on exterior wall to the left down there, so it all seems to be conveniently located.
Back to the HPWC: I installed it myself and city I live in had a $500 rebate + refund of permit cost, so it ended up being ~$50 out of pocket after accounting for the HPWC and materials. Took a couple hours and has worked as intended for last 35 months. Since adding the M3P 20 months ago we’ve never had any home charging issues despite it being shared, save for me occasionally forgetting to plug in the wife’s car.
95% of M3P charging is at home, with remainder using only free L2 chargers. 65% of MYLR charging is at home, 20% at free L2 destination chargers, and remaining 15% at SCs while on road trips.
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