Huge disappointment today

[pacman7474]

Dare I ask if 110 is even an option? I've had mine for almost a month on 110 and it works just fine for my driving needs. I've put about 800 miles on the car during that time.

It would be a last resort, but it is an option. I bought my current car new in 2013 and I've only put 57k miles on it.

Sponsored

 

[bgentilesco]

It would be a last resort, but it is an option. I bought my current car new in 2013 and I've only put 57k miles on it.

I'd honestly say give it a shot and see if it works for you. We have our cars in the garage a lot more than we realize. At least, that's what I realized. I stopped moving forward on my 220 once I got an estimate at $1200 and decided to "see" if I really need it. I'm not disappointed in my decision. I may change my tune some day, but week 4 has made me happy with waiting.

 

[DevSecOps]

The guy today said he could install a separate box for the dryer outlet and the new outlet I want to add and just have a manual switch between the 2. This would mean everytime I want to charge my car or run the dryer I'd have to switch the box to which I want to use.

Check out Dryer Buddy https://www.bsaelectronics.com/collections/dryer-buddy-plus-auto.

The guy who makes these is really a great guy and it supports his family. He makes auto switching devices. This way you don't have to "manually" switch between the two. Set your charger to charge at midnight (doubtful you do laundry then) and you never have to worry about switching. Laundry during the day, charging at night. Also, you can install it yourself, no electrician needed. He'll make them exactly to your specification. Just explain the situation and he'll make a device that will work.

I am in no way affiliated with BSA. I was an owner of a Dryer Buddy when I first got an EV in 2018 and before I put in a dedicated circuit. My recommendation is from personal experience.

Best of luck!

 

[Tbird]

I would say your electrician did not open the cover to determine if the 50 amp breaker was wired to something or if it was open and available for your ev charger. If the 50 amp breaker is not in use then it should be acceptable to use to re wire your charger. I have a 100 amp service at my fishing camp and I have an electric dryer and electric air conditioner I use in the summer. I had a spare 50 amp breaker used to back feed a generator when power was out. I had that re wired to my EV charger. It works great but I do take care not to use the dryer, AC, and EV charger all at the same time.

 

[RosarioM]

I was told today that the junction box coming to our house is only 100amps (not the breaker box on the house). I wanted to add a 40a so that I could charge my car coming later this summer, but the latest electrician said its not possible with what we currently have. I'm at a loss at what I can do and still be in code (regulations from the park). The guy today said he could install a separate box for the dryer outlet and the new outlet I want to add and just have a manual switch between the 2. This would mean everytime I want to charge my car or run the dryer I'd have to switch the box to which I want to use.

I'm hoping to find a solution before my car comes in July.

What about switching to a gas dryer if you have Natural gas? You would need to make sure you are venting it outside and not into the garage.

 

[Earplug]

If the 50 amp breaker is unused it is perfectly acceptable to use it. It may have been pre-wired to an outdoor disconnect box where the AC was to be installed. You can either connect the charger at that point or disconnect and rewire.

 

[Ming]

there's also NeoCharge let you share EV with dryer (or else). of course, you don't have to use one, you can just plug dryer and EV back and forth (the socket may wear out soon though).

and if you don't drive too much each day, you can always just use 120V socket.

 

[Rust Sleeps]

We live in a mobile home park and the power provided to the house is what they call a pedestal. The pedestal is only 100A so we wouldn't even be able to upgrade our panel to 200A. We don't have AC, and actually our stove and oven are gas. I looked at our panel at there is actually a breaker for an AC unit, so maybe there is hope.

What about a gas dryer. I believe you said you have an electric dryer.

 

[Mach-Lee]

In the picture I realized that #12 is to the nonexistant AC unit (30 is the dryer).

Yes this is a mobile home park with a 100A pedestal. The park does not have a way to upgrade to provide more power to the house. Can we tap into the AC breaker for the 40A outlet?

Yes, you can use the unused 50A breaker and install a NEMA 14-50 receptacle with 6 gauge wire. Your service can just barely support charging at 40A/9.6kW, that is the max. This is assuming the dryer is the only 240V load.

 

[ChuckA]

Even if the panel is full, if they are modern breakers, chances are some can be doubled up with a modern dual breaker or two. Something like 4 of these:

This will enable a 40A larger double breaker to fit.

If the panel is full it may mean that all available 100A is assigned. I upgraded from 60A to 200A when I had a kitchen remodeled. Figured it would add to home value. Cost was $1800. Luckily when I later added solar and the 240v line there was plenty of room in the panel and plenty of available capacity.

 

[devmach-e]

Yeah I was hoping to see a panel full of non tandem breakers. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.

I see a free slot available. Move the GFCI breaker from slot 9 to slot 7, replace the breaker/circuit that was in slot 7 with a tandem 2-slot 20A/50A setup: 2 individual 20A breakers coupled with a dual-pole 50A breaker. Still have the unused 50A breaker in slot 12.

 

[dlau83]

If your service is not adequately sized to accommodate a new circuit. You can install a demand charge controller. A demand charge controller is a listed device and it is designed specifically for undersized service panels. You should be able to pull a permit with this device without upgrading your service panel.

https://dccelectric.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DCC_Specification-Sheet_DCC-10_LONG_V11-VF.pdf

 

[Green Machine]

I was told today that the junction box coming to our house is only 100amps (not the breaker box on the house). I wanted to add a 40a so that I could charge my car coming later this summer, but the latest electrician said its not possible with what we currently have. I'm at a loss at what I can do and still be in code (regulations from the park). The guy today said he could install a separate box for the dryer outlet and the new outlet I want to add and just have a manual switch between the 2. This would mean everytime I want to charge my car or run the dryer I'd have to switch the box to which I want to use.

I'm hoping to find a solution before my car comes in July.

The dryer solution might work. The switch could be near your dryer, just flip it when you use dryer. On a weekly basis you don’t charge that many hours when you are awake to drive 2500 miles per month. Wouldn’t be perfect but would be fine I think.

 

[Matt Bagne]

Just use a clothesline in the backyard? For me if it comes down to my clothes or my MME . . . MME wins.

 

[entenna]

You can combine some circuits into a quad to free up space in the main panel. Then get a wallbox charger with an energy meter to enable Power Boost (cost me about $400 extra including install). It will sense how much current you have available and then adjust the capability of the wallbox charger dynamically without any manual interaction necessary. This is what I did with my outside charger I just got installed. With this approach, the energy meter and power boost feature does the load balancing and the worst case load assessment is no longer applicable which made your electrican tell you that an EV charger is not possible as he had to consider the max loading scenario. This approach got permitted today as well (un the SF Bay Area which is pretty strict)

Sponsored