Will R1 automatically accept charge after a power outage to the EVSE?

[Dark-Fx]

I did a firmware update to my Pulsar Wallbox charger with the R1T plugged in and a charge scheduled for the following morning before work. The R1T charge failed. I had to unplug and replug in.

My R1T occasionally doesn't realize that it's allowed to charge if the truck had already errored out about not being able to charge when first plugged in. I don't think it's an issue with my Wallbox because other vehicles don't have the same issue.

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[Jamuso]

My R1T occasionally doesn't realize that it's allowed to charge if the truck had already errored out about not being able to charge when first plugged in. I don't think it's an issue with my Wallbox because other vehicles don't have the same issue.

yeah, not overly concerned - i think it just gets out of sync a bit after the firmware install and reboot when plugged in...

 

[JohnB R1T]

Give some thought to re-jiggering your load shedding setup. If you have an electric dryer and something less than a house full of kids, have it drop that first and work around the times that you're charging. If you have multiple HVAC units, pick one that's cooling a part of your house that nobody is sleeping in and have it drop that (with your charging timer set up accordingly). If you have an electric range, set your charging timer outside of the hours you use it and have that load shed before the charger. You could likely accomplish all this by setting up middle-of-the-night charging anyway, but the load-shedding takes care of "whoops, I forgot".

My house has 200 amps of service that is "split" at the main panel between 100 amps to the main house and 100 amps to the garage (with quarters) and a guest house. I have two 12k btu minisplits, assorted lights, a sewage macerator and a 48 amp charger on that 100 amp sub-panel (with no load-shedding). I don't have it set up to charge at any specific time, I plug in whenever I'm home, and I have never had a problem with "co-existence".

Bear in mind that, counterintuitively, a bigger charger (48 amp) might be best for you because you can get all the charging you need "out of the way" during the "off hours" whereas you would be running a smaller one for a lot longer.

 

[HaveBlue]

Really good points. Setting the car to charge overnight pretty well eliminates the stove and dryer conflicting. Should be ok to run the AC and car if need be depending on the size of the house/AC breaker. Certainly getting the biggest charger is a good idea if your panel has the physical space to put a full size double pole 60A. You can dial the charger back if need be but can't go up later. If you can't twin two sets of 110V circuits to make space, the only choice might be a quad on the AC, stove or dryer. The biggest on those is often a 50/30 combo though. Some creative load balancing on the 110V circuits may also be in order and you may not need some fancy monitoring load balancing hardware that's going to cost a bunch more.

A friend of mine lives in a townhouse which runs on a 60A main. Her electrician wired her Tesla charger to a 50A subpanel! That leaves roughly 10A left over, forgetting the duty cycle calculations. In any case she blows breakers all the time if she charges during the day. Not sure what that guy was thinking... I told her to adjust the charger back to 32A or program the Tesla to only charge at night but she's not really hearing me. She just calls me every time things overload and says she's not "supercharging" so why should it do that.

About half the panel size is the most I'll allocate, especially on old panels. If you have a Federal (Stablok) or Zinsco panel, even better to be conservative and never ever ever use original used or new Federal or Zinsco breakers. Use a CE or other modern replacement breaker.

 

[W1SE]

Keep in mind that breakers are not intended or designed to used as a switch. They do not have the longevity or duty cycle like a light switch.

I have worked in large warehouses that use breakers as the light switch. Major buildings with this design as function and permitted as such. Not a clean install I agree. But still the case.

so with my work charger, I asked my electrician if this was okay to use the shutoff breaker (secondary 50a breaker in a separate shut off box) and he said “not a problem”

again, not clean but technically not anything wrong with doing it.

 

[HaveBlue]

I have worked in large warehouses that use breakers as the light switch. Major buildings with this design as function and permitted as such. Not a clean install I agree. But still the case.

so with my work charger, I asked my electrician if this was okay to use the shutoff breaker (secondary 50a breaker in a separate shut off box) and he said “not a problem”

again, not clean but technically not anything wrong with doing it.

That's because there such a thing as an SWD or HID rated breaker designed for lighting that has endurance.

It brings up a good point when shopping for a wall charger that can be disabled via app. I'm surprised how security is not well addressed in evse industry.

 

[hayduke]

not really answering your question but another solution is a Span panel / EVSE... pretty much built for your use case. Not cheap but a fraction of the service upgrade you were quoted and you get a smart electrical panel too.

 

[HaveBlue]

I pulled this breaker out of a panel a while back. It looked prefect from the front but it wasn't happy. Contacts got oxidized, corroded, hot or just had a bad connection somewhere. I deal with a lot of old panels and it's certainly good to be a bit conservative, keep an eye on them and just replace any parts if they seem at all suspect. In the new age of high power car charging, everyone should keep it in mind like when carrying a container of gasoline around. I've seen old breakers refuse to trip and seen wires detach themselves after years of being perfectly fine. I post this only for the purpose of helping people be safe. It's not a critic. Just passing knowledge as a contractor. My own house has things that aren't strictly to code either and weren't when it was worked on. Nothing's perfect but just so things are reasonably safe.

 

[JohnB R1T]

Yikes...that's an Eaton breaker (not known for being crap or generally starting fires).

Please pay attention to what this man said ^^^^^^^^^

 

[SciGuy]

I pulled this breaker out of a panel a while back. It looked prefect from the front but it wasn't happy. Contacts got oxidized, corroded, hot or just had a bad connection somewhere. I deal with a lot of old panels and it's certainly good to be a bit conservative, keep an eye on them and just replace any parts if they seem at all suspect. In the new age of high power car charging, everyone should keep it in mind like when carrying a container of gasoline around. I've seen old breakers refuse to trip and seen wires detach themselves after years of being perfectly fine. I post this only for the purpose of helping people be safe. It's not a critic. Just passing knowledge as a contractor. My own house has things that aren't strictly to code either and weren't when it was worked on. Nothing's perfect but just so things are reasonably safe.

@HaveBlue thank you for this important post! Was this 50 Amp breaker for an EV charger or something else? Either way it’s a great reminder that you can’t be too careful. How did you discover this one was bad?

 

[HaveBlue]

It was running a central AC which only draws 22A. The rated replacement breaker for the unit is 30A which is what I put back in after checking the bus. The #6 wire is well protected, lol. I found it by accident as I was moving some breakers around and this one was in the way. It actually still worked but when I pulled it out, what was left fell apart. The AC ran better with the new breaker so there's that.

Zinsco's and old Federal's don't like tripping. The wire sometimes gives out first in a melted black mess, haha.

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