Charger Installation Q

[daveo4EV]

Definitely a good idea not to melt down an outlet in a rented house!

For my wife's i4 and BMW EVSE, that should be easy, since the app has a slider switch, which I can set at 20a. (No option for 24a, as it goes from Unlimited/48 to 32 to 20 to 16 and then in 1a increments down to 6.)

For my friend's Prius PHEV, do I need to set my Porsche EVSE for him at the 50% setting, or is that moot since his Prius PHEV can't draw more than 3.3kW? (I'll confirm that he has a pre-2023 that maxes out at 3.3kW. I'll also check if he has his own mobile EVSE -- I know that he has a dedicated EVSE at his house.)

it's moot if the EV (the car) can't pull more than 5.7 kW - but the main message is when using "generic" NEMA adapters _YOU_ are responsible for making sure the EVSE isn't allowing the vehicle to consume more power than the circuit is rated to provide

the generic nema adapters do NOT _INFORM_ the EVSE of the breaker size - they are simply passive connections for electrical power - and have no "smarts" to adjust the EVSE capacity to "match" the breaker size.

NOTE: hopefully you would not "melt" anything - the "best case" scenario would be you'd continuously trip the 30 amp breaker because you'd be constantly drawing more than 30 amps - but that assumes the breaker is in good condition and behaving correctly - the job of the breaker is to protect the wire from overheating and causing a short - so when it sees "too much" power flow it cuts off the power flow before the wire would've had time to fail. So you'd plug in your Taycan, start pulling 9.6 kW - and 2-5 min later the breaker would "trip" - because 9.6 kW is more than 30 amps and the breaker will trip - this would happen over and over because that's the breaker's job.

in any case with your proposed setup your EV chargers (EVSE's) will function in terms of providing electrons (power will flow) but it is _YOUR_ responsibility to make sure the power flow is restricted to 24 amp or less…which is approximately 5.76 kW of "raw" power. As long as you stay below that limit you will should not overload the 30 amp breaker and stay with in expected norms for a 30 amp circuit.

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[Jonathan S.]

Ah, so when you buy the OEM adapter cord/plug for EVSE, then it scales back the amps based upon the NEMA type and panel breaker?

Fortunately the breaker at the ski lodge I was staying at in Malalcahuello, Chile in July 2015 after the business part of a business trip functioned quite well when I plugged in a boot dryer (essentially like a hair dryer) with a travel adapter that was not also a voltage converter.
(RIP boot dryer though! And only a few minutes of inconvenience for any fellow guests who needed electricity while I and my Canadian expat ski partner located the panel to reset the breaker.)

 

[Jhenson29]

Ah, so when you buy the OEM adapter cord/plug for EVSE, then it scales back the amps based upon the NEMA type and panel breaker?

It reads the resistance across extra pins in the supply cable connector to know maximum amps for that plug. The breaker is a separate thing that should just be sized correctly for the branch circuit and receptacle it’s protecting.

See below post regarding supply cable pins.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/charger-overheating.11677/page-4#post-172208

 

[Jonathan S.]

Although my friend ended up not bringing his Prius PHEV, the setup seems perfectly straightforward:

• laundry room has 10-30 receptacle
• hooked up to a 30a breaker (#22&24 in the picture, which I tested by turning off while running the dryer)
• receptacle is adjacent to window
• window is adjacent to parking
• window is also close enough to detached garage to run an extension cord

Boring pictures follow below.

 

[Jonathan S.]

More interesting yet not directly relevant pictures of skiing follow below.
(No pictures of above treeline where we turned around ~1,000 vertical feet from summit, since the weather was getting a bit wild.)

Basking in the sun lower down while a winter cog train passes by:

Considerably more bundled up for the descent after getting battered by the winds above treeline:

Behold, the most avid ski mountaineer from Richmond VA:

Topping out from a final mini lap below treeline before the sun sets:

 

[Hirschaj]

More interesting yet not directly relevant pictures of skiing follow below.
(No pictures of above treeline where we turned around ~1,000 vertical feet from summit, since the weather was getting a bit wild.)

Basking in the sun lower down while a winter cog train passes by:

Considerably more bundled up for the descent after getting battered by the winds above treeline:

Behold, the most avid ski mountaineer from Richmond VA:

Topping out from a final mini lap below treeline before the sun sets:

This looks like a blast. I used to live in Sandpoint Idaho but I moved to Austin TX about 5 years ago. Your pictures make me really miss being up on the mountain (although I'm a snowboarder, not a skier). Thanks for sharing, it looks like a beautiful and serene place.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

This looks like a blast. I used to live in Sandpoint Idaho but I moved to Austin TX about 5 years ago. Your pictures make me really miss being up on the mountain (although I'm a snowboarder, not a skier). Thanks for sharing, it looks like a beautiful and serene place.

Small world; Schweitzer, ID used to be my preferred destination for the mid-winter break vacation with my kids. (Alas, the Powder Alliance is now long gone, and Whistler makes more sense even distance-wise.)

 

[Hirschaj]

Small world; Schweitzer, ID used to be my preferred destination for the mid-winter break vacation with my kids. (Alas, the Powder Alliance is now long gone, and Whistler makes more sense even distance-wise.)

Whistler is a great place to ride. Conditions could get pretty strange there though since the base elevation is only around 2k feet. I remember riding down from the peak hitting snow, then sleet, then rain. Spent the rest of my day riding the top half. Do you still buy a single lift ticket for both Whistler and Blackcomb?

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Whistler is a great place to ride. Conditions could get pretty strange there though since the base elevation is only around 2k feet. I remember riding down from the peak hitting snow, then sleet, then rain. Spent the rest of my day riding the top half. Do you still buy a single lift ticket for both Whistler and Blackcomb?

I've been assimilated - I now have an Epic pass which means 10 free days at Whistler (my local hill and Whistler are both owned by Vail Resorts). But yeah, both Whistler and Blackcomb have been on the same ticket for as long as I remember. My friends tell me it wasn't always so.

 

[Jonathan S.]

Just for the record, as the OP, I strongly approve of the thread drift into skiing!

Back to home EVSE ...
... both I and one of my more technically inclined ski partners noticed the lack of a breaker for the line going out to the garage.
That must mean that the garage has a subpanel?
(Garage access is not included in the Airbnb rental, but would of course be available for a house sale tour.)

My ski partner says the line going out to the garage is most likely 240v, and that the subpanel there must be either 40a or 60a.
If the garage subpanel has room for another breaker, he thinks that another 40a or 60a breaker (for either a 40a or 60a panel, respectively) for a L2 EVSE (of either 32a or 48a, respectively) would be ok (given that the only other load items at the garage are lights and the door openers).

Now back to skiing!

Our Monday crew -- the guy in the center lives in Richmond Virginia (but went to Dartmouth, and ever since then has always had a thing for the White Mountains of NH), and the guy on the right lives in New England (but is originally from Ye Olde England):

Tuesday, skinning up along the Cog railway (yes, that's right, a tourist railroad ascends to the summit from mid-spring to mid-fall, and yes, that's right, totally weird to be skinning up what is otherwise wilderness yet with this kind of industrial infrastructure):

Tuesday summit selfie -- weather conditions weren't actually that bad, only negative 4F windchill according to the summit observatory records:

Ascending to the summit up above the justifiably famed Tuckerman Ravine (which we did not ski on this trip, for various reasons):

 

[Jonathan S.]

My realtor obtained access to the garage earlier this week.
But did not see any subpanel in the garage.
The main panel in the house does not have a breaker labeled for the garage.
Upon some brief experimentation (I was not there, but he was using Facebook Live), we could not determine which breaker controls the garage lights and outlets.
(No garage door opener.)

House was originally built in 1987.
Detached garage was added in 2012 (by a new owner that summer)
The tax card has a reference to extensive interior renovations in 2011 (by the outgoing owner) that included "all new electrical & plumbing" -- so I'm not (too) worried that something weird is going on here with janky 1980s wiring or something like that.
But we'll find out during the upcoming home inspection on Feb 23.
The last sale in 2022 was to two Boston-area real estate professionals (who apparently in their spare time like to invest in their own real estate, and proceeded to upgrade the furnishings even more for use as an impeccably maintained Airbnb via a national company), so seems highly unlikely that anything not up to code would have eluded them.
(My impression is that the house was quite humble when built in 1987, then successive owners kept upgrading it to the point that it's nicer -- albeit smaller -- than our primary residence!)

I talked with a recommended local electrician, and send him some pics.
He's about to leave on a trip, so he won't be able to inspect it in-person until later, but he's confident that in the spring he can install garage door openers off the service line already going out there, then repurpose the existing 50a breaker for the hot tub in the main panel to a new wire going out to the detached garage so that I can have a Tesla Universal Wall Charger (even if set to 40a instead of 48a, but a minor drawback of foregoing all sorts of bigger upgrades).

Until then, instead of plugging into the laundry room 10-30 for a 24a charge with my existing EVSE extension cord and adapter, I'm pretty sure that a mongo ~$160 14-50 extension cord can reach the unused plug for the non-existent hot tub on the rear deck.
I would stop the charging (via both unplugging and also at the breaker, just be safe) before using the clothes dryer or electric stove.
Outdoor air temps would be either cool or cold, so that should be on my side for thermal management.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

? for Voelkl.
Nothing else to add, sorry.

Good luck with the purchase. The things we do for skiing..

 

[Jonathan S.]

Love that you noticed that logo!
An especially obscure and old model yet still one of my favorites:
https://www.alpine-guides.com/volkl-vta88-lite-ski-review/

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Love that you noticed that logo!
An especially obscure and old model yet still one of my favorites:
https://www.alpine-guides.com/volkl-vta88-lite-ski-review/

I’m a resort weenie, so none of that light stuff for me. I started on Salomons, and didn’t like their “(give up and) bend easily” attitude. Stuck with Voelkl since - rode a pair of Mantras into sitting-bench-grade status, on my second currently. Have some RTM V-Werks for icy days, and a bargain-find Katana V-Werks that were my daily drivers during La Niña years.

 

[Jonathan S.]

^ Some excellent ski models there for sure! And far more in fitting with the general theme of the brand. By contrast, my VTA 88 Lite is such an unusual type for them that it's akin to, oh, say, how about if ... a car company known for small two-door sports cars were to make a station wagon EV? (Or is that the other way around?)

Meanwhile, my town motor vehicle excise bills arrived today, yowzers!
Based on this:
https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/cis/tax/motor-excise.htm
... I'm not sure if their valuation accounts for the original MSRP and/or what the RMV recorded for the price paid.
But for your collective amusement, see below - note that based on prior vehicles, the decline from year-to-year is dramatic, so the i4 is a total apples & oranges comparison, but the CT % decline relative to that for the A6ar is interesting:

MY	Vehicle	MSRP	Valuation	Decline
2022	Porsche 4CT	$136,360​	$37,480​	73%
2022	Audi A6 Allroad	$77,985​	$28,960​	63%
2023	BMW i4 M50	$78,295​	$46,977​	40%

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