Hello
I am considering purchasing a Tesla Model S Spaceballs edition. As far as I know it can be charged at home using a 240v power supply.
Tell me if this is a good idea or not. The power supply to my laundry room (to the dryer I should say) is the compatibale voltage. The laundrey room is immediately adjacent to the garage, so I could re-route my from the wall and run the power supply in two directions. I’d be worried about surge protection and, quite frankly, needlessly putting ‘that’s good enough’ electrics in my walls.
I think there are some problems with this idea or maybe I am just ignorant. Perhaps I don’t understand if Tesla ownership literally requires me to rewire crap in my garage.
Also, I’ve recently acquired a 1957 Plymouth Fury. If anyone is interested I am currently restoring it and can talk all about the buy/restore process right now.
Cheers
The Tesla charger plug MUST be commercial grade. Not the stuff used by dryers. Overheating and damage can happen if you use the home-rated basic dryer plug.
The fact you asked that question here and not on a electrician or EV site tells me you are a bit too amateur for this job even if you get a permit.
Have an electrician experienced in EV charger installs put in a stand-alone circuit. You don’t want the dryer and charger on the same circuit.
Ok well I pretty much admitted to amateur electrics.
In fact, I’m actually speaking of my neighbor who decided it would be a good idea to do this and he is not an electrician.
Basically what he did was split the cable from the dryer to the garage to allow for two 240v charges simultaneously but with an override I guess to the dryer to prevent surge,
To someone elses question about county permits: this guy does not care, but I sure as hell do. And it strikes me as a weird change that might cause red flags should one choose to sell.
I don’t know he means by “an override” but it all sound dangerous and not to code. A 30 amp circuit can’t handle a dryer AND an EV charger. If you run both the breaker will trip. Have it done legally if you want your insurance to cover your house when this circuit catches fire.
BTW, I am not an electrician but I have done permitted work on my own house. I have never failed an inspection because I read and understand the code that pertains to the install I am doing. And my home insurance is happy I do this.
If there was anything I would pay a pro for it’s this exact project. Your neighbor is taking a HUGE risk. Those chargers draw high currents for hours at a time.
I think I would make a call to the city if this clown will not have it done correctly . The last thing you need is a hard to put out is an Tesla battery fire next to you.
You should have made it clear in your first post that you were not the one that did this . Kind of surprised that someone did not really jump on you .
I think each 240 volt device requires its own dedicated circuit. The EV battery charger would need to be on a separate 2 pole circuit breaker of the required amperage. Even if there is space in the service panel for a 2 pole 240 volt breaker, the service to the house may not be adequate. If the service to the house is less than 250 ampere, there may not be adequate capacity to add an EV charger. A friend decided to have a tankless hot water heater installed. His electric service had to be upgraded from the power company transformer to.the service panel. The service panel had to be replaced. I don’t think the change from the tankless water heater that replaced the conventional hot water heater paid off.
Even the charger for my battery powered push mower uses electrical power. I don’t mow our yard as often as Mrs. Triedaq would like to have the yard mowed because I don’t want to waste electrical energy or my limited energy.
OK, he may never actually pay for the change but he will have lower electric bills plus the Tankless can be repaired and last longer that a tank type . He probably needed an upgrade to the electric service panel anyway.
My friend is no longer living. It was over 20 years ago he had the tankless electric water heater installed.
It is interesting to me over the years how the household demand for electric power has increased even though flat screen televisions, LED lighting, etc. use much less power than vacuum tube televisions and incandescent light bulbs.
When I was in school back in 1963, I rented a room in a house for $8 a week. The house ran on one 20 ampere fuse. The kitchen range and hot water heater were gas. The furnace was a coal furnace with no stoker. It burned lump coal. The house wasn’t air conditioned. The landlord and his wife also lived in the house. All worked o.k. until the landlord had a gas furnace installed. When the blower on the furnace tried to come on when the refrigerator was running, the fuse would blow. The landlord put in a 30 ampere fuse. When he wasn’t around, I replaced the 30 ampere fuse with a “slow blow” 20 ampere fuse. The landlord never knew what I did and the fuse I installed absorbed the temporary current draw when the furnace fan motor or the refrigerator compressor started.
A professional will approach this in this way- first, they will determine the capacity of the service drop to your main panel, then do a load assessment and only if the situation permits, install a dedicated feed for the EV charging panel. If you need an upgrade to the main service or a sub-panel wired off the main panel, that is going to increase the complexity and costs.
There is almost zero risk of any surge. A surge is a temporary increase in voltage. The EV panel is sophisticated enough to prevent any back-feeding of energy into the supply line. What is a valid concern is sag. That happens when the load exceeds the ampacity of the supply- which in the case of daisy chained, split lines with simultaneous loads is a very real possibility.
The length of the run and the current being drawn will dictate wire gauge. The wire gauge to the dryer is already sized for that load. And with his split set up there is no automatic way to ensure only one load is active at a time.
Any breaks in the continuous run have risks and require serious consideration. Joining additional runs by twisting wires together for example is problematic. This concern also includes the termination point- as Mustangman pointed out- the box connector needs to be rated to handle continuous load.
As you surmised, what the neighbor did was a very bad idea. You are right to be cautious and not repeat his mistakes. Someone familiar with NEC regs, requirements and permits from your local municipality and unique requirements of the EV panel should at least be consulted or paid to do the work.
Yeah I kind of had the sense this wasn’t thought out too well. If any one is interested in wiring, I am working on my 57 Fury and need help with the battery, the lights and radio keep coming on at random times even when the engine is off.
@thundabutt I agree that your.problem with your Plymouth belongs in a separate thread.
As far as the headlights comong on, it might be a bad headlight relay
I have no clue about the rsdio coming on when it should not.