Well, the electrician came out today to wire my house for the NEMA 14-50 for my upcoming Tesla arrival. Only charged $350.00 to run the wire from the breaker panel to an outdoor NEMA 14-50 using 8 ga wire. I was originally skeptical about this, as I thought you needed 6 ga or 4 ga wire, but he assured me that 8 ga is sufficient wire size for the outlet.
Now, my concern. This breaker box is a secondary one, in the workshop in my house (second garage converted to workshop). I had originally thought that the panel was 100 amp service, but he showed me that it is only 60 amp, run from the main panels with 6 ga wire. The run is at least 100 feet.
I'm also not terribly happy about the prospect of not being able to use much at all in the workshop while the car is charging (things like my cyclone are 20-30 amps at 240V, others 15 amps at 115V, but this equipment has real 5HP motors, so they really do draw sizeable power), but realistically, if I set the car to charge from midnight to 6am, I'm hoping that the car will have enough time to charge at 30-40 amps (how much will I realistically get in amperage from this setup? I thought that breakers are rated to blow at 80% rated, so that immediately lowers things to 40 amps. Are there any other substantial losses in 5 feet of 8 ga wire to the outlet?)
So, long-winded explanation, but will this work with only 60 amp service to that panel? I can't imagine what it would cost to run >100 feet of 4 ga cable through a circuitous route in my attic to make this happen).
Now, my concern. This breaker box is a secondary one, in the workshop in my house (second garage converted to workshop). I had originally thought that the panel was 100 amp service, but he showed me that it is only 60 amp, run from the main panels with 6 ga wire. The run is at least 100 feet.
I'm also not terribly happy about the prospect of not being able to use much at all in the workshop while the car is charging (things like my cyclone are 20-30 amps at 240V, others 15 amps at 115V, but this equipment has real 5HP motors, so they really do draw sizeable power), but realistically, if I set the car to charge from midnight to 6am, I'm hoping that the car will have enough time to charge at 30-40 amps (how much will I realistically get in amperage from this setup? I thought that breakers are rated to blow at 80% rated, so that immediately lowers things to 40 amps. Are there any other substantial losses in 5 feet of 8 ga wire to the outlet?)
So, long-winded explanation, but will this work with only 60 amp service to that panel? I can't imagine what it would cost to run >100 feet of 4 ga cable through a circuitous route in my attic to make this happen).