240V but only 20Amp circuit.

[Zapata]

ClipperCreek has a 240V 12Amp EVSE. I believe it was made for people who changed a 120V line to a 240V line. The input specs are 240V 15A.

If my calculations are correct it should give me 11 miles per hour. I only do long commutes of 100mile round trips maybe once per week so it should be fine..... until my wife decides to go electric too.

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[DevSecOps]

I believe it was made for people who changed a 120V line to a 240V line.

If they have a 15A charger then it should work on your 20amp circuit. You might need to change the outlet to accommodate the clipper. But you can't change a 120 to 240. There's a wire missing. 240 requires two hots while 120 requires 1.

 

[JSeis]

So when I was studying our garage panel the very first thing I did was look at available breakers, amp rating, and… AWG gauge and are they copper or aluminum wires.

Heres the good.. all copper and the bad-odd thing. A disconnected spa with a 60 amp breaker and 8 AWG.. bad! A 30 amp dryer with 8 AWG.. .good. A 30 amp welder outlet with 8 AWG that I occasionally use a 240V table saw on.. ok. A 50 amp oven breaker with 6 AWG and that’s ok.

So I used the dryer circuit, upgraded the breaker to 40 amps and the 8 AWG is fine, swapped out the dryer plug for a new one compatible with the Ford level 2.

In talking with local electricians and utility managers: Older homes are a kludge of service because many were built at the dawn of electrical service and they had sub-panels added from the meter. Every panel was 40-60 amp and ran something: lights, furnace, water pump, hot water tank, oven, etc. my father was a IBEW journeyman and he rewired the 1920’s house (knob and tube!) to a modern 200 amp panel in.. 1962.

Always good to know what powers what with that AWG size.

 

[murphy62]

I have 200 amp service. My house averages 1.5 to 2 kW per hour. 2000 watts / 240 volts = 8.3 amps.
I do not have an electric house. Furnace is oil. hot water heater, clothes dryer, fireplace, and generator are propane. The generator is 20 kW and easily handles the house with only one load shed, the oven. 20 kW is 83.3 amps. I have two BEVs and all of my lawn tools are battery powered. I no longer use gasoline for anything. I have three EVSEs in my garage. 16 amp, 40 amp, 80 amp. The 16 amp was for my 2013 Fusion Energi. It doesn't get much use anymore since the Energi was traded in on a Mach-E which uses the 40 amp EVSE. The 80 amp EVSE is for a Tesla although it is usually run at 50 amps to reduce voltage sag. The voltage sag is in the wires that run overhead from the house to the pole with the transformer that is across the street.

 

[timbop]

I used the ford charger which comes with the car on a 240v 30 amp circuit for a while and had no problem. Just for safety, I have since upgraded to a Charge Point home flex charger direct connected to a 60 amp circuit. That allowed me to go from charging at 20 miles in an hour to 32 miles in an hour.

You were lucky. There's a reason for the safety margin on circuits supporting a long duration continuous load. Had you continued to do it you would have eventually caused fatigue somewhere and had an overheat situation - which in a best case would have melted a connection point that then came apart to open the circuit.

 

[Zapata]

Always good to know what powers what with that AWG size.

Yeah, I knew I should have had the electricians run oversized wires to that outlet. I know when I'm going to be charging the car or welding so after the inspection was done I could have just changed the breaker. I know it's 20 amp max because it was the Yellow insulation 12 gauge wire. Should have had them put in the Black Sheathed 45 amp 8 gauge. A bit late now.

 

[Zapata]

But you can't change a 120 to 240. There's a wire missing. 240 requires two hots while 120 requires 1.

You can use regular 120V circuit for single phase 240V. You just need to rewire at the breaker box.

https://www.electrical-online.com/how_to_convert_an_outlet_or_receptacle_from_120v_to_240v/

 

[Maquis]

You can use regular 120V circuit for single phase 240V. You just need to rewire at the breaker box.

https://www.electrical-online.com/how_to_convert_an_outlet_or_receptacle_from_120v_to_240v/

That's correct only if the 240 load does not require a neutral. Which is true for most all EVSEs.

 

[DevSecOps]

You can use regular 120V circuit for single phase 240V. You just need to rewire at the breaker box.

https://www.electrical-online.com/how_to_convert_an_outlet_or_receptacle_from_120v_to_240v/

Ok well yes, technically you can change your neutral to hot. I would rather not advocate that but yes you could. It's one of those things when you open a panel and think "what the heck is going on here".

The LCS-15 by clipper doesn't require a Neutral so you could go that route.

 

[Maquis]

Ok well yes, technically you can change your neutral to hot. I would rather not advocate that but yes you could. It's one of those things when you open a panel and think "what the heck is going on here".

Nothing wrong with doing this as long as it's done in a code-compliant manner. The white wire must be properly re-identified per NEC 206(C). Anyone who is confused when seeing this has no business taking the cover off of a panel.

 

[oadesign]

Yup. My first house had 60A service, and my second/current house only had 125. I upgraded both houses doing almost all of the work myself, so it wasn't particularly expensive. It is a fair point though that he might at least be able to upgrade to a 30A circuit that would only be drawing 24A - the extra 4 amps is highly unlikely to be that significant to cause an issue.

The only caveat to this is the gauge of the existing wiring, which needs to be sufficient to support the increased amperage.

 

[Zapata]

Nothing wrong with doing this as long as it's done in a code-compliant manner. The white wire must be properly re-identified per NEC 206(C). Anyone who is confused when seeing this has no business taking the cover off of a panel.

I have a feeling that citizens are going to become a lot more literate in Electrical Theory within the next decade. It will just be a necessity.

 

[oadesign]

He did not indicate what the size of his current service is. There are a lot of older homes with a 100 or even a 60A service.

I hardwired my ChargePoint Home Flex with 6AWG THHN to a 50amp breaker, after having calculated that my 100amp panel could support it. However I have gas range, gas dryer, and gas water tank, so wondered if it could also support a 60amp circuit.

I called in an electrician to get an estimate to upgrade to a 200amp panel, but he looked at the panel, said I didn't need it, noting that it could easily support the 60amp breaker as-is.

He has been in the field for decades, and teaches at a local technical high school, so I feel comfortable with his judgement. Getting a professional to confirm that my install is safe definitely gave me peace of mind!

 

[timbop]

The only caveat to this is the gauge of the existing wiring, which needs to be sufficient to support the increased amperage.

correct, as implied (but not stated) by the "upgrade to a 30 amp CIRCUIT" (note I didn't say CIRCUIT BREAKER). I suppose that should have been explicitly stated, but since I was merely agreeing with another poster I'll defer the admonishment to @DevSecOps

 

[PCJohnD]

Agree 100%. If his electrician is either unable or unwilling to perform a proper NEC load calculation, he needs a new electrician!

Different types of breakers can fit into the place where your 20 is . . . however You likely don’t have the right gauge wire . . . find A more knowledgeable electrician

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