Tripping Apt's 110v breaker

[jaseam]

I rented an apt with a detached garage with an outlet specifically to charge my MY. It's been charging fine for 2/3 months now at 12/12 amps until last night when I got a random notification that my car stopped charging and my garage door was stuck closed. Since I don't have access to the breaker I had to contact maintenance. They sent me this email:

"We received the service request for your garage and maintenance has informed me that your garage’s breaker keeps tripping. Your garage is not working because you are using the outlet in your garage to charge your electric car. Those outlets are not wired to withstand that much energy. Also, the energy that you use from that outlet is charged as a community fee, which all residents end up paying every month."

Would reducing my amperage to 9 or 10 amps reasonably prevent the breaker from tripping in the future? I probably can't tell them to check their circuits since they are already not pleased that I'm charging my car. There's technically no rules/contracts and was never told of any limitations about my garage's outlets, so I would like to still trickle charge there as that was my initial intent ...but without having to stir the pot by having the breaker trip again.

 

[jaseam]

Also I should note that it's plugged into a gfci outlet. I'm not sure if the breaker or the gfci was what actually tripped. There's also a non-gfci outlet on the ceiling that the garage door is plugged into. Would using that non-gfci outlet help at all?

 

[Rocky_H]

It's been charging fine for 2/3 months now at 12/12 amps

I think I should explain a little bit about capacity of circuits. If that is a regular 15A circuit, your charging at 12 amps, is consuming 100% of the usage of that circuit. There is no room for ANYTHING else on that circuit. That is because electric code rates things where a circuit can have small intermittent uses up to the full rating, but any long term continuous load can only be up to 80% of the rating. So your 12 out of 15A is 80% and is fully utilizing the whole thing. Anything else extra shared on that circuit would be overloading it.

Would reducing my amperage to 9 or 10 amps reasonably prevent the breaker from tripping in the future?

9 or 10 is still probably a bit high. Other small electric cars, like the Nissan Leaf have the default setting only using 8A because they do expect that people are just plugging them into whatever outlets they find, which are shared with other appliances and outlets. 8A would probably be OK.

 

[Rocky_H]

Also I should note that it's plugged into a gfci outlet. I'm not sure if the breaker or the gfci was what actually tripped. There's also a non-gfci outlet on the ceiling that the garage door is plugged into. Would using that non-gfci outlet help at all?

The way GFCIs work, though, is that they only need one outlet to have it, and it will trip for the whole thing, so that other "non-GFCI" is still GFCI covered, since it's on the same circuit, since it all went dark at the same time.

That's probably a trip from regular overload. If you can see the GFCI buttons on the outlet, you would be able to reset it there, rather than it tripping at the breaker, which is probably just a regular breaker.

 

[SSedan]

Wonder if someone else plugged something into the same circuit causing the sudden change.

 

[jaseam]

That's probably a trip from regular overload. If you can see the GFCI buttons on the outlet, you would be able to reset it there, rather than it tripping at the breaker, which is probably just a regular breaker.

Unfortunately the GFCI outlet/buttons are in the garage, that if tripped I am locked out of haha, and requires maintenance to reopen.

 

[Rocky_H]

Wonder if someone else plugged something into the same circuit causing the sudden change.

Oh yeah, hadn't thought about that possibility yet. With this being an apartment, are there 2 or 3 garages next to each other, where the circuit might be shared even farther than just your garage?

 

[jaseam]

Oh yeah, hadn't thought about that possibility yet. With this being an apartment, are there 2 or 3 garages next to each other, where the circuit might be shared even farther than just your garage?

There are many garages next to each other, but I'm not sure if it's just mine or multiple garages on the circuit.

 

[glide]

Also it seems management has made it clear you are stealing electricity from other tenants in the complex. You may want to sort that bit out as well.

 

[captanzuelo]

I would lower charging to 8amps and offer to pay extra into the community fee, maybe $10 a week.

 

[user212_nr]

Unfortunately the GFCI outlet/buttons are in the garage, that if tripped I am locked out of haha, and requires maintenance to reopen.

This happened to me. It is called a "nuisance trip" and it happens when the GFCI outlet is too old or defective. The UMC cable leaks a small amount of electricity to test the ground connection. Normally this is too small to trip, but the outlet is defective.

Sure it could also be the breaker, but you are not going to be drawing that much current. Another way to test this is to leave your garage door open when you charge.

You need to ask them to replace the GFCI outlet, about $20.

Oh yeah, hadn't thought about that possibility yet. With this being an apartment, are there 2 or 3 garages next to each other, where the circuit might be shared even farther than just your garage?

It would not be. The outlets are provided for power like a refrigerator or vaccum and are shared with the opener. It'll be a regular 15-20a circuit.

He said that he "can't get in" when the power is off, so its probably such a detached garage with a few other ports.

 

[jaseam]

You need to ask them to replace the GFCI outlet, about $20.

The issue of asking them to replace it is that they already basically requested (though not really requiring me to) not to charge my car there. I'd rather not be 'that guy'.

He said that he "can't get in" when the power is off, so its probably such a detached garage with a few other ports.

Correct, they are detached garages connected to my apt complex building, but the only entrance is through the garage door. Inside is a GFCI outlet on the wall (that I can charge up to 12 amps), and another set of outlets on the ceiling that the garage door is plugged into. If you think it's an issue with the GFCI, should I use the non-GFCI outlet on the ceiling instead?

 

[MP3Mike]

Correct, they are detached garages connected to my apt complex building, but the only entrance is through the garage door. Inside is a GFCI outlet on the wall (that I can charge up to 12 amps), and another set of outlets on the ceiling that the garage door is plugged into. If you think it's an issue with the GFCI, should I use the non-GFCI outlet on the ceiling instead?

You can open the door, trip the GFCI, via the test button, and then test to see if the garage door still has power. If it does you are tripping the actual circuit breaker, not the GFCI. Which is probably the case, and the outlet is probably shared with the other garages as it is only intended for incidental use. (Cleaning your car, etc.)

 

[jaseam]

You can open the door, trip the GFCI, via the test button, and then test to see if the garage door still has power. If it does you are tripping the actual circuit breaker, not the GFCI.

Good idea, I'll try that tomorrow. If it looks like it was the actual breaker then I'll try sticking with limiting to 8 amps. If it actuality is the GFCI, maybe I'll think about trying the ceiling outlet.

Im a little confused why the office said, "maintenance has informed me that your garage’s breaker keeps tripping," since this is the first time I've gotten the "stopped charging" notification from the Tesla App.

 

[Rocky_H]

Inside is a GFCI outlet on the wall (that I can charge up to 12 amps), and another set of outlets on the ceiling that the garage door is plugged into. If you think it's an issue with the GFCI, should I use the non-GFCI outlet on the ceiling instead?

I already answered this.

The way GFCIs work, though, is that they only need one outlet to have it, and it will trip for the whole thing, so that other "non-GFCI" is still GFCI covered, since it's on the same circuit, since it all went dark at the same time.

Your garage door stopped working. Therefore it is on the same circuit as that GFCI outlet you were plugged into. And if ANY of the outlets have the GFCI on them, they all are covered by that.

 

[MP3Mike]

Your garage door stopped working. Therefore it is on the same circuit as that GFCI outlet you were plugged into. And if ANY of the outlets have the GFCI on them, they all are covered by that.

Not necessarily. It can be wired that way, but it doesn't have to be.