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Two Tesla chargers

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sk19

Member
Mar 20, 2019
61
26
uk
Hi ilI' likely need two Tesla chargers for my single phase property at some point but for now just want to put one in .

Has anyone done this?

Does the electrician send one wire from a junction box up to a single 32A RCD in the fuse box, and in the future two Tesla chargers can share the load off this single RCD? or should he route two parallel wires up to two separate RCDs ?
 
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...That's the wrong manual...

Thanks for the correct manual.

Each HPWC must have its own RCD (which is missing in USA manual):

"Every Wall Connector needs to be equipped with a separate device against overcurrent and with an own RCD. This applies for an installation of a single Wall Connector as well as for all units involved in a load sharing installation."
 
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Ok great thanks guys. Yeah I couldn't find that in the first manual. I obviously missed it in the UK manual too but your quote makes sense thanks even if the logic doesn't make sense to me. Tesla checked with an installer who said they only use one RCD for both,which is confusing but it sounds like they were wrong .

I'd have thoitho a single would also work as only one unit can request charge at any one time, or only halve the current for each. But I'm no electrician!
 
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...only one unit can request charge at any one time, or only have the current for each...

The purpose of this setup is load sharing at the SAME TIME.

If you have 4 HPWC setup, all 4 can charge 4 Tesla cars at the same time.

The circuit breaker won't trip because the communication cable would reduce the current for all cars to match the maximum allowable ratings from the source.

So, in the USA, with this setup and with one single 100A circuit:

1 car can draw 80A maximum
2 cars can draw 40A each maximum at the same time
3 cars can draw 26A each maximum at the same time
4 cars can draw 20A each maximum at the same time
 
The purpose of this setup is load sharing at the SAME TIME.

If you have 4 HPWC setup, all 4 can charge 4 Tesla cars at the same time.

The circuit breaker won't trip because the communication cable would reduce the current for all cars to match the maximum allowable ratings from the source.

So, in the USA, with this setup and with one single 100A circuit:

1 car can draw 80A maximum
2 cars can draw 40A each maximum at the same time
3 cars can draw 26A each maximum at the same time
4 cars can draw 20A each maximum at the same time

Right yeah thanks my typo I meant to write halve not have . So yeah if only half current is used for two then surely they can both connect to a junction box and only one cable needs to go from that to only one RCD . It makes no sense to me that two parallel wires with two separate RCDs are needed because that one wire will only be carrying the same maximum current. Unless each of them can do a random spike I guess .
 
- only one unit can request charge at any one time,
- or only halve the current for each.
You can also use different starting time for each car if you want to prioritize which car get loaded first,
(such as getting all the power to get charged faster and to be sure to get full charged)
in particular if you have a Time-of-Use overnight discount.
 
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Does the electrician send one wire from a junction box up to a single 32A RCD in the fuse box, and in the future two Tesla chargers can share the load off this single RCD? or should he route two parallel wires up to two separate RCDs ?

It depends what you need/want to pay for. Unlike many EVSEs, Tesla wall chargers can cooperate to share the available power, so you could share the 32A across your two cars.

If you had a particular need for both cars to each charge at 32A simultaneously, you could have an electrician install sufficient cabling/breakers/RCDs to handle this - but there is a possibility that your supply might need to be upgraded, which would further add to the cost. I think few people have daily mileage which would necessitate simultaneous 32A charging. 32A single phase => 22 miles per hour. Is the daily mileage, summed for both cars, likely to be higher than 22 mph for 10 - 12 hours?
 
So yeah if only half current is used for two then surely they can both connect to a junction box and only one cable needs to go from that to only one RCD . It makes no sense to me that two parallel wires with two separate RCDs are needed because that one wire will only be carrying the same maximum current. Unless each of them can do a random spike I guess .

This is a complicated subject, but you need to be thinking about overcurrent protection and RCD protection separately.

Certainly you can have a single 32A-rated cable from the house to the garage and split it there for the two chargepoints; the issue is what switchgear you have to install at each location and what type of cable you have to use.

Tesla quotes IEC60364, but the UK wiring regulations are based on that nowadays and the same requirement appears, requiring you to have a separate 30mA RCD for each chargepoint. The need for no higher than 30mA RCD is for safety in the event that you are able to touch a damaged cable or similar: 30mA is the minimum sensitivity considered sufficient to save the life of the typical person in that scenario. The specification of two separate RCDs rather than one shared one is not a safety issue; I can't be certain what was in the mind of the people writing the regulation, but there are two things they might have been concerned about: selectivity - not wanting a fault on one EV to knock out all charging at that location; and concern that the natural leakage from several non-faulty EVs might add up to more than 15mA (noting that an RCD marked "30mA" is actually "guaranteed to trip at 30mA, guaranteed not to trip at 15mA, might or might not trip at levels in between). All EVs will have some leakage in their chargers; the Renault Zoe is notable for having a particularly high leakage due to the unconventional charger design. Personally I think the 'RCD for every chargepoint' is overkill for a domestic 2-chargepoint situation, though very sensible for larger commercial sites, however that's what the regulation says (though since its not a safety issue you could in principle go with a documented non-compliance with the regulation since the only legal requirement is to be safe).

So, sticking with the regulations you could select a suitable cable to run from the house to the garage that didn't itself need RCD protection (armoured cable, for example), have _no_ RCD at the house end (only overcurrent protection, ideally a fuse), then at the point where the circuit is split for the two chargepoints (in the garage) you have a small consumer unit with two RCDs. The regulation also requires separate overcurrent protection, so either a pair of MCBs as well or else use RCBOs in place of RCDs. The separate overcurrent protection is almost pointless in this scenario as it can't possibly be selective with respect to the upstream device using breakers, and is a pretty tall order even using a fuse upstream and a breaker downstream, however these devices are cheap.

Note also that with the current generation of Tesla WC the two RCDs are going to be rather expensive, as since 2019 those RCDs need to be Type-B unless the chargepoint has internal DC leakage detection (which most other manufacturers have been adding to their chargepoints recently but Tesla doesn't yet appear to have got around to).
 
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not wanting a fault on one EV to knock out all charging at that location

My Rolec has tripped several times in its life, dunno why but possible "rain". Its a right royal PITA getting up in the morning to find the car has not charged, so if I had multiple charging points I would be quite happy to pay extra to ensure that one of them tripping was extremely unlikely to have any impact on any other.

Not sure that needs any extra gubbins (.e.g individual RCD/RCBO), but if it does count me in :)
 
Make sure you purchase and route cable that’s good enough to power two charges, better to put fatter cable in now than need to replace it at a later date.

I installed 50meters of 6mm 3core SWA cable for my single Tesla charger but could have gotten away with 2core, I think sparkle was lazy and didn’t want to use steel wire as earth so used one of the cores
 
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