Am I crazy - L1 at home is adequate?

[MBM]

Data/Kw from my home ChargePoint charger, includes:

Charging on the left side of pic, then periodic current draw to warm battery in extreme cold temp on right side.

Other pic is preconditioning, which started about an hour prior to departure time.

 

[cvalue13]

Well, it's not just a plug to deal with the bonded neutral. You have to put in a transfer switch and sub panel. Should be easy to do.

yes yes, all of that - and I agree you’d *think* it should be easy to do.

but that has not been my experience to date. Lots of blank stares, confusion, and ultimately work proposals that don’t reflect the needs/issues discussed

 

[cvalue13]

Wiring the FCSP is no different than wiring any 240V device. 3 properly-sized conductors in an approved cable or raceway.

The genny inlet to use ProPower for backup is completely unrelated installation.

Good luck finding a competent contractor…there has to be one in your area.

yes, it’s an unrelated installation, except to the extent I’d like to do the work all at once and both installations do implicate the overlapping issue of panel space, etc.

It’s seemed like, for the FCSP, it’s a minor challenge for folks to wrap their mind around the panel space, variable amperage, and associated wiring requirements - but I believe I could get there if those were the only variables.

However add in the genny inlet, the bonded neutral complication, the transfer switch (needing a floating neutral), sub-panel, and associated flourishes - and people seem to think “I’d rather just be wiring a new house”

 

[Maquis]

yes, it’s an unrelated installation, except to the extent I’d like to do the work all at once and both installations do implicate the overlapping issue of panel space, etc.

It’s seemed like, for the FCSP, it’s a minor challenge for folks to wrap their mind around the panel space, variable amperage, and associated wiring requirements - but I believe I could get there if those were the only variables.

However add in the genny inlet, the bonded neutral complication, the transfer switch (needing a floating neutral), sub-panel, and associated flourishes - and people seem to think “I’d rather just be wiring a new house”

Just to clarify…the transfer switch must switch the neutral, it’s not really a matter of bonded or not in the transfer switch. You have a neutral bond in your service disconnect and one in the truck. A transfer switch will never have a bond unless it also serves as the service disconnect - usually only the case when the genny provides whole-house backup.

I’m not trying to nitpick, just want to give you a better picture hoping it will help with the discussions with your potential contractors.

 

[cvalue13]

I’m not trying to nitpick, just want to give you a better picture hoping it will help with the discussions with your potential contractors.

I’m just speaking loosely, to broadly convey that with more than 2 or 3 variables to address ideally at once, I’ve run in to only dunce responsiveness.

and so haven’t installed the FCSP single variable.

 

[RickLightning]

It is not

I’m just speaking loosely, to broadly convey that with more than 2 or 3 variables to address ideally at once, I’ve run in to only dunce responsiveness.

and so haven’t installed the FCSP single variable.

It's pretty scary, isn't it, when you, the customer, is more knowledgeable from reading forums than the contractor who is licensed?

I got 1/2 dozen estimates for wiring for our charger. They ranged from $900 to $4,000. The $4,000 was written on a scrap of paper, and insisted we needed another meter and box. Another insisted we needed a load shedding device. Another was the cheapest, they were going to use two apprentice electricians and have the teacher come and check their work at the end. We went with the next highest, after he agreed to shed (pun intended) the load shedding device after speaking with the inspector.

 

[cvalue13]

I got 1/2 dozen estimates for wiring for our charger.

totally

which circles back to the OP: still limping by on L1 due to fatigue

 

[RickKeen]

First two weeks I had my F150 Lightning, L1 charging from 120v was sufficient to keep up with my driving. But I only go into the office 3 days a week and its 30 miles round trip. Some weekend errands.

Now that I have L2 charger installed, I am not finding much advantage to having L2 other than alleviating the fear of needing to make an unexpected longer drive when battery happens to be low and cannot charge back up quickly.

 

[Sklith]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here or not but maxing out a standard NEMA 5-15 120V outlet for 12+ hours a day will cause problems down the line. If you plan on doing this long-term I suggest buying a receptacle annually.

 

[MBM]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here or not but maxing out a standard NEMA 5-15 120V outlet for 12+ hours a day will cause problems down the line. If you plan on doing this long-term I suggest buying a receptacle annually.

I agree and it really should be on a 20 amp circuit with #12 wiring.

 

[MBM]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here or not but maxing out a standard NEMA 5-15 120V outlet for 12+ hours a day will cause problems down the line. If you plan on doing this long-term I suggest buying a receptacle annually.

I agree and it really should be on a 20 amp circuit with #12 wiring.

 

[RickKeen]

The mobile charger limits itself to 12 amps so that it can run on a standard 15 amp outlet continuously. That presumes the 15 amp outlet is wired properly to start with and is not degraded with age or corrosion.
Strongly agree to inspect the entire chain of wiring involved in charging frequently (like monthly). Just check if anything is getting hot after the truck ha been charging for a while. Most likely place for problems is going to be the outlet and plug.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Would be great to find someone in central Texas that would take my money, but good help is hard to find

I guess if you want to give someone a lot of money, you could try Sunrun. I haven't gotten my truck yet (2/13/23 build week) but I had Sunrun come out to look at my garage (I'm in San Antonio). They want $1,250 to install the 80-amp charger that comes with my Lariat ER and $8,900*** to install the Intelligent Home Backup (since that cost $3,900 for the equipment, that $5K for install, permits, and 12-yr warranty!). I thought, Wow!, that's pretty steep, I'll check out the competition. So, I called Qmerit. The person that I had on the line said the $8,900 for the Home Backup was a great price and they couldn't match it. He claimed it often runs $14K to $15K?! When I asked Sunrun and Qmerit both why so much, I got stuff like "it's usually quite a few hours with two licensed electricians on the job, there's often a lot of panel work, we like to split off all the circuits you want to back up to their own panel, there may be a lot of sheet rock work, etc." I thought I'd just be feeding the power into my house and letting it go where it was needed, flipping off circuits I didn't want to run before I let the truck kick in, but Sunrun isn't comfortable with that approach. Does Ford even have a white paper on the Home Backup and how to best set it up? Sunrun implied the reason they want to isolate the circuits that the truck feeds is that Ford has plans to make the transition to the truck powering the home fully automatic at some point.

Coming back to finding a competent electrician in Central Texas, the Sunrun surveyor who came out to my house said that they do the most business in Texas in Austin, followed by San Antonio. So, if you're anywhere near Austin and have a lot of money in the piggybank, they might be able to help you and actually know what they're doing.

BTW, I have two panels. The outside one by the meter has all the heavy stuff on it. Two AC condensers, electric stovetop, and electric oven (furnace and hot water are gas). No problem, I thought, I'll just have the truck back up the interior panel, which is outlets, lights, refrigerator. But the interior panel also has the electric dryer on it. When it's running, it's 6.5 kW (240 x 27). So, hopefully, all I have to do is split that circuit off and I'm good to go. I don't think based on what I've heard so far that Sunrun will buy that I'm just going to run and turn the dryer off when the lights go out while the dryer is running. Haven't gotten their estimate based on survey yet and I'm an ignorant newbie undergoing on-the-job training!

*** The $8,900 for the Home Backup includes installation of the 80-amp charger.

 

[cvalue13]

I you could try Sunrun.

Oh hell no. Dealt with them for 2 months, and they’re the worst of every option I’ve tried, which is really saying something. Bunch of colossal idiots with zero customer service or execution.

besides, I don’t want the home backup system - for me more like $11K all-in, in order to have a vehicle-specific tech commitment for a product that doesn’t actually accomplish all that much.

I’ll await a vehicle-agnostic system that does more for less, and anything that doesn’t involve SunRun.

 

[cvalue13]

He claimed it often runs $14K to $15K?!

because it often does. Don’t believe what SunRun has quoted until they come out and “assess” your actual needs. If you happen to come in at that $8,900 figure, it’s going to because you’re a relatively rare example of a home that just happens to have all requisite parameters (distance to panels, space in panels, adequate service to home, etc.).

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