Level 2 at Home Idea

[DadzBoyz]

So, I had an idea.
Getting ready for buy MME, Surely (Surely you can't be serious. I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.) I ordered my EVSE. It is an Autel 50 Amp, which is hard wired. Got a great deal on Amazon...
Anyway, the thought is around redundancy and utility.
I thought I might have the line from the fuze box run into a Changeover switch. This would allow me to have the hard wired Autel EVSE AND a NEMA 14-50 plug and switch between them.
Why?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
1. Redundancy - If there is an issue or failure with the EVSE, I can switch to the 14-50 plug and use the Ford charger....temporarily.
2. Utility - Who knows what else you could use a 14-50 plug for.

So, am I crazy, stupid, both?

Example of the Changeover switch:
https://a.co/3evF4I6

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[bshaw]

Probably better to just skip the hardwire and get an installed EVSE that has a 14-50 plug on it.
Or, if you are set on that particular EVSE, attach a plug to its cord instead of hardwiring it.

The only thing hardwire gets you is an option to go up to a 60A circuit, which can deliver 48A to the car.
Some have had outlet failures, but those seem due to faulty equipment or sloppy wiring connections.

 

[awp0]

With all of the debate around the quality of commercial versus industrial rated 14-50's and how common it is to melt things.....I'd be super careful to vet this thing out. There's actually a question on the Amazon product page about whether this is appropriate for an L2 charger, and there are multiple different opinions on it. One answer suggests it might not even fit 10 gauge wire.

 

[Maquis]

So, I had an idea.
Getting ready for buy MME, Surely (Surely you can't be serious. I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.) I ordered my EVSE. It is an Autel 50 Amp, which is hard wired. Got a great deal on Amazon...
Anyway, the thought is around redundancy and utility.
I thought I might have the line from the fuze box run into a Changeover switch. This would allow me to have the hard wired Autel EVSE AND a NEMA 14-50 plug and switch between them.
Why?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
1. Redundancy - If there is an issue or failure with the EVSE, I can switch to the 14-50 plug and use the Ford charger....temporarily.
2. Utility - Who knows what else you could use a 14-50 plug for.

So, am I crazy, stupid, both?

Example of the Changeover switch:
https://a.co/3evF4I6

That would be a code violation.

 

[West1134]

Decent idea. I don't know you need the switch though. I think (assuming the leads have enough room) you could have it wired into both (piggy backed if you will) to accomplish the same thing. IE wires come from breaker off breaker box, to NEMA outlet, then another set of wires insert into the same outlet and go directly to the EVSE. Both would be live/active simultaneously but of course you'd only be drawing from one at a time per use.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not an electrician.

 

[Vulnox]

When dealing with high amperage/voltage, I definitely wouldn't mess around with some transfer switch. If your EVSE fails, just use the 120v plug on the portable charger. It's plenty for 95+% of MME owners since it can charge enough overnight to cover most daily usage until you get a replacement EVSE.

Even if you drive 100+ miles/day, for the couple days you are without the EVSE while waiting for the new one to arrive, you can 120v charge or go to any of the, I am sure, good number of local L2 chargers or DCFC and top off.

If you are among the fewer than 1% of MME owners that both have 100+ mile daily commutes and have no L2 or DCFC infrastructure nearby, then yeah some redundancy seems reasonable.

 

[DadzBoyz]

All very helpful. Thank you to everyone! ?

 

[Nemy]

I can't address your utility concern but for redundancy you could just swap out the hardwire for an outlet if the EVSE ever failed.

I recently did the reverse in swapping out my plug-in juicebox for a hardwired chargepoint. I kept my surface mount 14-50 just in case (plus I'm a what-if hoarder). If I had to switch back it'd probably only take 10 minutes. But now that I'm hardwired I don't know why I didn't do it earlier - faster speeds, less failure points, and the only time I took my juicebox off the wall was to fix it or when I finally moved.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Probably better to just skip the hardwire and get an installed EVSE that has a 14-50 plug on it.
Or, if you are set on that particular EVSE, attach a plug to its cord instead of hardwiring it.

The only thing hardwire gets you is an option to go up to a 60A circuit, which can deliver 48A to the car.
Some have had outlet failures, but those seem due to faulty equipment or sloppy wiring connections.

I'll disagree. Hardwiring eliminates what is becoming a more common failure: the 14-50 outlet itself.

I've wondered about the same thing the OP is proposing but using a much more robust switch than what was pictured.

Shame it's a code violation.

 

[Mach-Lee]

1. Redundancy - If there is an issue or failure with the EVSE, I can switch to the 14-50 plug and use the Ford charger....temporarily.

This issue is easily solved by installing a plug-in EVSE. If it fails you can unplug the bad EVSE and plug in the Ford charger or a different EVSE. I'm not seeing the benefit of the switch here. Swap plugs vs. turn switch for a similar outcome.

As mentioned it is also a code violation to use a changeover switch, and I would have serious reservations about the robustness of said switch for EV charging. You're introducing another point of failure.

 

[Logal727]

I wouldn't trust a Chinese amazon switch with constant 50 amps for 8 hours a night.

 

[DadzBoyz]

Understood on the quality of the switch itself. I guess I was using that as an example.
The idea would have been to have the electrician identify and use the better quality part.
That said, it seems that an electrician here has shared that using a switch like this (but not the one I originally shared) would not be to code. Shame.

 

[DadzBoyz]

This issue is easily solved by installing a plug-in EVSE. If it fails you can unplug the bad EVSE and plug in the Ford charger or a different EVSE. I'm not seeing the benefit of the switch here. Swap plugs vs. turn switch for a similar outcome.

As mentioned it is also a code violation to use a changeover switch, and I would have serious reservations about the robustness of said switch for EV charging. You're introducing another point of failure.

I wanted to use the 50amp EVSE to get the fastest charge I could at home. I understand that is limited to 48amp, but 50amp will get there.
From there, my understanding is that a 48-50amp EVSE has to be hardwired.

The idea was simply a way to try and have my cake and eat it too. LOL
Hardwired EVSE and option to have a 14-50 plug, while only having room for one or the other in my breaker box. If I had spots for another double breaker, I'd just do that. I could have a second breaker added, but now we're adding more $$, more space on the wall, etc.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I wanted to use the 50amp EVSE to get the fastest charge I could at home. I understand that is limited to 48amp, but 50amp will get there.
From there, my understanding is that a 48-50amp EVSE has to be hardwired.

The idea was simply a way to try and have my cake and eat it too. LOL
Hardwired EVSE and option to have a 14-50 plug, while only having room for one or the other in my breaker box. If I had spots for another double breaker, I'd just do that. I could have a second breaker added, but now we're adding more $$, more space on the wall, etc.

These exist if you're out of room:

 

[bshaw]

These exist if you're out of room:

I did *NOT* know these existed. At our vacation house, the panel is full, and already has some tandem single slot breakers. I will be looking to see if I can swap in one of these to get a 240V outlet in the garage.

Thank you for posting.

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