The Deed is FINALLY Started!!

[Kabish]

Just had some quotes to install the 240/40amp in my garage. I know, not exciting but for me it is!!

First quote I got was from a local company here in San Diego. Was pretty interesting, guy was super cool, seemed like he knew what he was doing. Said he could install a 40amp breaker at my main box since that was feeding my sub panel on the garage. Then he would upgrade that box with a 40amp breaker and run all new 8awg wire from the main panel to the sub panel and to the plug in the garage. Mind you the wires from my panel are ran over head, about 70' of wire at $10 per foot.. $1,250 for the install...

In comes quote #2, a guy who works for a company but is just doing side jobs for extra money I'm assuming. Fist thing he says was "you don't have a main breaker, you can't put a 40amp in here." Then he mentions how he would have to use aerial wire because running normal 8awg is against code, especially in the harsh sun in San Diego which is apparently $$$$$. Then he would have to reinforce and anchor the cable cause its much heavier and could sag over time and cause issues. Then he ran down like 5 different options that he saw for a possible install. He even included a "all cash, I was never here" install option lol We ended up agreeing on running 8awg wire from the main panel through conduit under the ground. There is just a foot maybe two of concreate that he said he could just run the conduit under, then up to the garage and to the plug. Think he said it had to be 12" but 18" if it was a "driveway" section which its not. He is moving one of the breakers to a "dual breaker" (I think that is what he called it) which will make room for him to install the 40amp and still be in code. So I will have a dedicated 40amp breaker with all new 8awg wire and a new shiny plug, $600 all in. Although to be honest I might pay him a little more if he does a bang up job. I have no issue paying people for good work and his quote is very reasonable.

So moral of the story, get price quotes from people lol I hope to god this fixes the issues I have with the car not wanting to charge after stopping it, and will fix it from just charging whenever it feels like. Tired of getting the attached screen all the time... Only way is to go back outside and unplug/plug the car back in to get it charging again SO ANNOYING!

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[bp99]

Is the wire, conduit and breaker falling off his employer's truck?

 

[Kabish]

Is the wire, conduit and breaker falling off his employer's truck?

HAHA!! Ya I have no idea...

Although now that I thought about it. The company quoted me $1,250 all in, and the second guy $600. So a whopping $650 bucks difference.. However, the first guy was charging me $10 a foot for cable at 70 feet.. I can go to HomeDepot right now and pick it up for $5.00 a foot, or at least earlier this week I could. So I'm paying a good $350 more for cable for no good reason. And given I'm sure his company buys in bulk it might not even cost them $5 a foot.

So really that makes the second guy only $300 cheaper. Still a big difference, but you don't have the overhead with an individual that you do with a company. That could easily make up that $300. So at the end of the day, its not too big of a difference, just not getting screwed over on cable.

 

[Kabish]

Ohhhhhhh man does it feel good to see this after 2 months of L1 (110v) charging!!! 34% to 80% in little over 6hrs!! With L1 charging that would take at least 3 days of continuous charging to reach!

Install went "fairly" well. The contractor did a really good job, but for whatever reason he just left with a big ass 2" hole in our house with the wire going through it. I was like, "ummm, the hole in the house??" And he proceeds to tell me to use some expanding foam or silicon to seal it up. I have no idea why he did not use some type of junction box, I was at home depot and saw one made exactly for this application. Everything else he did was done really clean and professional.

Not sure how I'm going to go about "finishing" it to make it look cleaner. I did buy some expanding foam, guess I could use that, sand it, then paint it... but still leaves it with this awkward cable coming out the side of the house. Maybe it won't look as bad once its foam and painted...

 

[TTT]

Try the expanding foam to fill the hole in the wall and let it cure. Then use a razor knife and cut it back so you have a 1/2" - 3/4" recess below the outside wall surface. Then get a tube of Stucco repair from Lowes and layer it in if needed but build it up until its flush with the outside wall. Then paint it to match.

The Foam will make a nice sub-straight to hold the stucco repair in place, but its not particularly paintable and it wont have a good weather or insect seal. The stucco repair will give you a good paintable seal that shouldn't crack when the wall heats up and cools down in the sun and shade.

If you have a similar hole on the inside you can repeat the process but inly cur the foam back about 1/4" below the drywall in the garage and then use a drywall repair compound to fill the hole before you paint over that. That will take 2-3 applications as the compound shrinks as it drys.

Tom

 

[RickMachE]

Guess the work didn't include an electrical inspection?

 

[zvez]

Just had some quotes to install the 240/40amp in my garage. I know, not exciting but for me it is!!

First quote I got was from a local company here in San Diego. Was pretty interesting, guy was super cool, seemed like he knew what he was doing. Said he could install a 40amp breaker at my main box since that was feeding my sub panel on the garage. Then he would upgrade that box with a 40amp breaker and run all new 8awg wire from the main panel to the sub panel and to the plug in the garage. Mind you the wires from my panel are ran over head, about 70' of wire at $10 per foot.. $1,250 for the install...

In comes quote #2, a guy who works for a company but is just doing side jobs for extra money I'm assuming. Fist thing he says was "you don't have a main breaker, you can't put a 40amp in here." Then he mentions how he would have to use aerial wire because running normal 8awg is against code, especially in the harsh sun in San Diego which is apparently $$$$$. Then he would have to reinforce and anchor the cable cause its much heavier and could sag over time and cause issues. Then he ran down like 5 different options that he saw for a possible install. He even included a "all cash, I was never here" install option lol We ended up agreeing on running 8awg wire from the main panel through conduit under the ground. There is just a foot maybe two of concreate that he said he could just run the conduit under, then up to the garage and to the plug. Think he said it had to be 12" but 18" if it was a "driveway" section which its not. He is moving one of the breakers to a "dual breaker" (I think that is what he called it) which will make room for him to install the 40amp and still be in code. So I will have a dedicated 40amp breaker with all new 8awg wire and a new shiny plug, $600 all in. Although to be honest I might pay him a little more if he does a bang up job. I have no issue paying people for good work and his quote is very reasonable.

So moral of the story, get price quotes from people lol I hope to god this fixes the issues I have with the car not wanting to charge after stopping it, and will fix it from just charging whenever it feels like. Tired of getting the attached screen all the time... Only way is to go back outside and unplug/plug the car back in to get it charging again SO ANNOYING!

are they going 40 amp because that's all your existing breaker box can handle? Because using the ford portable evse the car comes with they require a 50 amp breaker for the 32amp 240v setup. THis is the info sheet from ford Home_Install_Spec_Sheet_0831_FINAL.pdf

 

[Kabish]

are they going 40 amp because that's all your existing breaker box can handle? Because using the ford portable evse the car comes with they require a 50 amp breaker for the 32amp 240v setup. THis is the info sheet from ford Home_Install_Spec_Sheet_0831_FINAL.pdf

Ya I’m aware it recommends a 50amp as it’s a 14-50 connector. However a 32amp charger is perfectly fine for a 40amp circuit. I have the plug labeled as well so it’s marked if someone did not want to take the time to look in the box.

We are planning on moving in the next 6 months or so and I did not want to spend the extra money on wire as it’s stupid expensive right now. 40amp is more than enough to get me charged up nightly, even if I wanted to go to 100% Once we move I’ll end up hardwiring a larger aftermarket charger.

No an inspection was not included, I’d have to get it on my own. Even the fully licensed company that was asking two times more did not include an inspection. /shrug

 

[Kabish]

Let me see your 50amp circuit beat my 40amp.

LOL this software……..

 

[Kabish]

Got to use the departure time today for the first time. Holly hell it gets the car freezing cold when set to "Cold" for the temp. lol I sat down in my seat and my shirt came up a little and I about jumped out of that seat lol

One thing I did notice, the car was blacked out when it was preparing the car. I wish when you remote started it would operate the same way as the pre conditioning where no lights or anything are on. I don't like the idea of drawing attention to a car that is not occupied.

 

[TheSteelRider]

for whatever reason he just left with a big ass 2" hole in our house with the wire going through it. I was like, "ummm, the hole in the house??" And he proceeds to tell me to use some expanding foam or silicon to seal it up.

Annnnnnnnnnd now you know why his quote was so much less ?

 

[Kabish]

Annnnnnnnnnd now you know why his quote was so much less ?

So... Ya.. But on the other side, the first guy would had broken code after code with his install. Guess I'd rather have it up to code and have to fix the hole, then not have it up to code.

I think he did not evaluate the job good enough when he did the quote. He had to leave like 3 times to go over to Home Depot to buy stuff that he did not have on hand. He got there about 9am and did not finish till about 5:30pm, and there were 2 people..

Odd part, the area where he drilled into the side of the garage, he used the correct "housing", although did not seal it. The side of the garage has like 2 foot between it and the fence. Like NO ONE would ever see that side.... Hell I don't even think that side of the garage is even painted fully lol I went expecting a hole and when I saw the housing I was actually more annoyed lol

 

[Garbone]

Ohhhhhhh man does it feel good to see this after 2 months of L1 (110v) charging!!! 34% to 80% in little over 6hrs!! With L1 charging that would take at least 3 days of continuous charging to reach!

Install went "fairly" well. The contractor did a really good job, but for whatever reason he just left with a big ass 2" hole in our house with the wire going through it. I was like, "ummm, the hole in the house??" And he proceeds to tell me to use some expanding foam or silicon to seal it up. I have no idea why he did not use some type of junction box, I was at home depot and saw one made exactly for this application. Everything else he did was done really clean and professional.

Not sure how I'm going to go about "finishing" it to make it look cleaner. I did buy some expanding foam, guess I could use that, sand it, then paint it... but still leaves it with this awkward cable coming out the side of the house. Maybe it won't look as bad once its foam and painted...

Would like a photo of the rest of the conduit run. Off hand, ehhh, zip ties and not just a 90% pull box an proper clamps. Ugggg. Glad I did my own, I would be pissed.

 

[Kabish]

Would like a photo of the rest of the conduit run. Off hand, ehhh, zip ties and not just a 90% pull box an proper clamps. Ugggg. Glad I did my own, I would be pissed.

Leading up to the sub panel he did use zip ties I'm assuming because of how crowed it was with the other cables from the HVAC. As far as where he ran it on the garage its all done with metal fasteners and the 90 degree boxes. I have no attic space and apparently I also have no venting of any sort on the roof which I never realized till he was asking me about it.

Everything else looks good and was done well, just that one spot where I think he was just over it and wanted to leave.

Live and learn I guess..

 

[theo1000]

For all that effort you could have put in a 50 amp circuit with 6 ga wire. I have both and the 50 amp is a blessing on the MachE big battery. In future the batteries are going to get bigger. or atleast put in a 6 ga wire for future.

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