Wall connector installation

[boaterva]

You really have to do a load calc to see if you have the extra capacity for the circuit (or what circuit you do have the room for). See Flasher’s FAQ in my sig for tons more info.

For cable management I use the Gecko Toes which are great for holding the extra cable if you don’t use it all all the time (we have two 24’ HPWCs and have the long cables so we can charge the ‘other’ car if one of them breaks).

Gecko's Toes Water Hose Rack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KTLP10/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_I.Y.BbFD2CHBD

Be sure to get the water hose size, we’ve found it the best for the HPWC cable

 

[voip-ninja]

You really have to do a load calc to see if you have the extra capacity for the circuit (or what circuit you do have the room for). See Flasher’s FAQ in my sig for tons more info.

For cable management I use the Gecko Toes which are great for holding the extra cable if you don’t use it all all the time (we have two 24’ HPWCs and have the long cables so we can charge the ‘other’ car if one of them breaks).

Gecko's Toes Water Hose Rack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KTLP10/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_I.Y.BbFD2CHBD

Be sure to get the water hose size, we’ve found it the best for the HPWC cable

Why don’t you just wrap it around the HPWC body as it was designed that way?

 

[MaryAnning3]

If you could send pics of the installation area an main panel could give you a better idea of what you are looking at

Here are the pictures. The box is over on the right side, front of the house, the driveway where we park is on the left side.

 

[brkaus]

Looks like 125a service with no available slots and a bunch of tandom breakers.

 

[MaryAnning3]

I asked Tesla to help with the installation. When I ordered the car at the service center I told them I wanted Tesla to help me with the setup. After a day or so I got an email from them for the installation process. I sent them pictures of my garage and electrical panel. Then they sent over a quote. Once I approved the quote they contacted a certified electrician that they work with in my area and I got an email from them to schedule the installation. It was a very easy process going through Tesla for the install.

Now if only the delivery of the car had gone just a smooth it would have been wonderful

That sounds great. I think Tesla only does that in about 15 states and not in California, if I understand correctly.

 

[MaryAnning3]

48 amps is the maximum for Model 3 (other models can go higher) and requires that you install a 60 amp dedicated circuit to the HPWC. Since I was doing part of my installation myself and didn't want to deal with the huge copper wires needed for 60 amp connectivity I opted to run 6/3 Romex behind 50 amp breaker so I can charge the car at 40 amps which still returns over 30 miles of range per hour of charging.

You can look at your main panel and from the main breakers it should be clear if it's 100 amp or 200 amp service. 200 amp service is not typically seen in smaller homes, condos or town homes and I have also seen 100 amp service in newer construction homes depending on where they are (residential service limitations).

Do you own an air conditioner for your home? That would typically be a much more continuous load in use throughout the summer than an electric oven.

Full double ovens can pull 50 amps @ 240V if you are running the cleaning cycle on both ovens at the same time. There would be a sticker on the oven somewhere typically telling you how much current it can pull.

Tripping breakers really shouldn't happen if you do a load calculation (or have an electrician do one) and get a permit so that the work is checked out before you go live with it.

Thanks ninja. We only have a single oven and we never (only once in ten years) run the cleaning cycle. So I guess I think we have a quite a few circuits with more capacity than they generally need.We have no air conditioning at all. Water heater and close dryer are gas. What we do have is:
a portable electric heater (about 10 amps at 115 V)?
an electric oven/ boiler (about 12 amps at 115 V)?
a toaster (about 8 amps at 115 V)?
microwave (? amps at 115 V)
LED TV, modem, misc electronics, chargers, etc, maybe another 5 or 10 amps ?
Our lights are mostly LED
It is a small house.)
I am thinking that 125 amps means 125 amps at 240 V, which is I guess about 30 kVA. Or does 125 amps mean 125 A at 115 V = about 14 kVA?

 

[MaryAnning3]

Looks like 125a service with no available slots and a bunch of tandom breakers.

Does 125 amp service mean 125A @ 115 V, or 115A @ 240 Volts? (or something else?)

 

[brkaus]

Does 125 amp service mean 125A @ 115 V, or 115A @ 240 Volts? (or something else?)

125a at 240v. (Or 2x 125a @ 120v)

There are load calculators online to estimate load. Code generally requires a load calculation to add a large circuit.

 

[gilscales]

Here are the pictures. The box is over on the right side, front of the house, the driveway where we park is on the left side.
View attachment 356237 View attachment 356238 View attachment 356239

This one is a little tricker than most, you do have a 125A main and your panel has almost all tandem breakers leaving no room for an additional 240v breaker, it does appear there is at least one empty slot up top based on the white sticker there above the last breaker on top, if there are 2 spots above this (there are probably 5 empty spots or white stickers above the last breaker on top as this would place the main breakers dead center of the panel with 8 spots below and 8 spots above) then you have room for a double pole breaker.

Depending on what is behind the main panel inside your home it may be easy to remove a small pc. of drywall to run the Romex cable from under the home and into the bottom of the service box, alternatively you can surface mount conduit like what was done for your solar and then go either up or down and into the crawl space under the home or the second story attic to get to the other side.

I would do load calculations first but you might be better off limiting your connection to 50A for a 40A charge rate which is really more than adequate for 99% of the users out there, I have my HPWC on a 50A circuit but decided to set the charge rate on it to 32A so I do not stress the sub panel I am coming off of and I still get 30 miles of rated range charge per hour.

Please send a pic of all the available spaces that are above your top breaker so we can see that you have room in your panel.

 

[MaryAnning3]

There are load calculators online to estimate load. Code generally requires a load calculation to add a large circuit.

Thanks. I'll check those out. 30,000 Volt-Amperes seems like a ton of power to me.
I guess the Wall Connector would take over about half of that 125 amp capacity with a 60 amp breaker and a 48 amp current draw. I am thinking I can easily live with the other half for everything else, but I guess I will understand better if that is true when I do the actually load calculation. I am thinking not having any air conditioning helps. I am actually pretty surprised that an ordinary house has that much load capacity (125 Amps at 240 V). I would have guessed less.

 

[MaryAnning3]

to run the Romex cable from under the home and into the bottom of the service box, alternatively you can surface mount conduit like what was done for your solar and then go either up or down and into the crawl space under the home or the second story attic to get to the other side.

Thanks a lot! How about just running the cable along the front of the house along the line about 8' high where the colors change? And then just drop it down once you get to the driveway? Is that safe/consistent with code? It seems like the shortest route from where the box is, to the right of the 4 small windows, to where the wall connector needs to be by the driveway (on the left).

 

[MaryAnning3]

Please send a pic of all the available spaces that are above your top breaker so we can see that you have room in your panel.

I won't be able to get a picture of that for a few days.

 

[gilscales]

Thanks a lot! How about just running the cable along the front of the house along the line about 8' high where the colors change? And then just drop it down once you get to the driveway? Is that safe/consistent with code? It seems like the shortest route from where the box is, to the right of the 4 small windows, to where the wall connector needs to be by the driveway (on the left).

Yes it would be fine, you could even paint the conduit the corresponding paint colors to make it more asthetically pleasing if you want

 

[brkaus]

Thanks. I'll check those out. 30,000 Volt-Amperes seems like a ton of power to me.
I guess the Wall Connector would take over about half of that 125 amp capacity with a 60 amp breaker and a 48 amp current draw. I am thinking I can easily live with the other half for everything else, but I guess I will understand better if that is true when I do the actually load calculation. I am thinking not having any air conditioning helps. I am actually pretty surprised that an ordinary house has that much load capacity (125 Amps at 240 V). I would have guessed less.

Not having air conditioning helps. Not having electric heat, hot water, or dryer helps a lot more!

You do have two 240v breakers - I think. Probably oven and not sure what else. Edit - it actually says dryer . That makes it easier to figure out. You might be able to steal this circuit if that top slot that wasn't fully in the picture isn't available. You have an unused outlet next to the dryer?

 

[MaryAnning3]

Not having air conditioning helps. Not having electric heat, hot water, or dryer helps a lot more!

You do have two 240v breakers - I think. Probably oven and not sure what else. Edit - it actually says dryer . That makes it easier to figure out. You might be able to steal this circuit if that top slot that wasn't fully in the picture isn't available. You have an unused outlet next to the dryer?

Hmmm. We have been thinking about getting a gas oven. Our stove top burners are gas: just our oven and broiler is electric. Our water heater is gas and our heat is also gas. I am pretty sure the dryer is gas. Is there an interactive online web site for load calculation or an application I can buy (to use on a Mac or Iphone) for load calculation?

 

[brkaus]

Hmmm. We have been thinking about getting a gas oven. Our stove top burners are gas: just our oven and broiler is electric. Our water heater is gas and our heat is also gas. I am pretty sure the dryer is gas. Is there an interactive online web site for load calculation or an application I can buy (to use on a Mac or Iphone) for load calculation?

Electric ovens are far better (IMHO) for cooking.

Unless you have excessive driving habits, 30a would be plenty for most people. I'd have to think you could get 40 or 50 based on the gas heat. I could have put in 60a, but put in 50 due to utility pricing. I mostly charge at 32 and we have two Tesla cars now and only one WC.

Google "electric load calc". There are lots out there, many free.

 

[gilscales]

Hmmm. We have been thinking about getting a gas oven. Our stove top burners are gas: just our oven and broiler is electric. Our water heater is gas and our heat is also gas. I am pretty sure the dryer is gas. Is there an interactive online web site for load calculation or an application I can buy (to use on a Mac or Iphone) for load calculation?

you do have a 240V 30A breaker marked "Dryer" now you may also have a gas connection as I have seen many households provided with both, if you are not using the Dryer electrical outlet you may want to buy an adapter from Tesla for your mobile connection and try charging at 24A to see how that goes(assuming it is within reach), it would be sufficient for me and we put a lot of miles on our car already, here is a link to a load calc
Electrical Load Calculations for Residential Panel - Online Load Calculator

 

[MaryAnning3]

I

Google "electric load calc". There are lots out there, many free.

I did load calc. It was about 60 amps, 15 kVA. Okay. We'll keep the electric oven. Thanks.

 

[MaryAnning3]

as I have seen many households provided with both

Thanks. Yes, I think that is our situation. I was puzzled by seeing breakers saying "Dryer" when I was pretty sure our dryer is gas. It seems me we have 60 amps to spare. I did a load calc at that site you linked and it totaled to just 60 amps.
I am guessing that we have a bunch of circuits that are under-utilized. Not sure how we can tighten that up. Even though 30 amps wouldwork 90% of the time, I think it might by nice to have that full 60-48 possibility for the occasional night before a trip.

 

[MaryAnning3]

but put in 50 due to utility pricing. I mostly charge at 32

Utility pricing? I am not sure why? Do they price based on your peak draw or something? I thought they just charged by the Watt?

Mostly charge at 32? Do you mean you can choose that? Can you select or control your charging rate when you have a Wall Connector?