ChargePoint HomeFlex HARDWIRED 80amps

[NYCLABORER79]

I belive Leviton have one too.
https://leviton.com/products/ev80w

Looks good, but gonna need some review feedback. Me personally when i was shopping for charger. Main focus was having control of the amps, schedule, not saying this one doesn’t but before i had benz wallbox. That thing was useless on other cars besides benz

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[StevenC56]

Your charger manufacturer did not design it to to have a reliable permanent current derating, whether by a hardware setting or 100% reliable software setting.. If they did, the manual would allow smaller wire to match the max current setting. So in your case, it must be installed for max current as you did.

I looked at my charger's manual again, and they show 2 installation methods which is either the 220 plug using a 50 amp breaker and then you set the max charger output to 40 amps, or hardwired using a 60 amp breaker to obtain the maximum 48 amps. They don't list any recommended wire size like I thought, then I remembered I had contacted them and they told me to use no smaller than 6AWG copper wire on the 2 hots for the hardwired installation.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

#8 copper 75°C max ampacity is 50 amps. By the 80% rule, your charger would need to be set for 40 amps. So you could do it with #8 on a 50 amp breaker.

To use the full 48 amps charging power, the 80% rule requires a 60 amp breaker. #6 copper 75°c max ampacity is 65 amps and is the wire you'd need for that circuit.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Looks good, but gonna need some review feedback. Me personally when i was shopping for charger. Main focus was having control of the amps, schedule, not saying this one doesn’t but before i had benz wallbox. That thing was useless on other cars besides benz

The Emporia 48a does everything you want and then some (Data, Charts, Customization) and has been vetted by many many Lightning Owners.

 

[Maquis]

#8 copper 75°C max ampacity is 50 amps. By the 80% rule, your charger would need to be set for 40 amps. So you could do it with #8 on a 50 amp breaker.

To use the full 48 amps charging power, the 80% rule requires a 60 amp breaker. #6 copper 75°c max ampacity is 65 amps and is the wire you'd need for that circuit.

Just keep in mind that this doesn’t apply to NM (Romex) which is limited to 60°C ampacity.

 

[chl]

Problem is i have it set at 80amps on app, thats what im not understanding. On another note, charger says 6awg is max wiring, but how can you get 80amps with 6 wire. Doesnt make sense.

The truck on-board charger tells the EVSE how much current it can handle (through J1772 signaling) and no matter what your app for the EVSE says, the truck will only ask for the max 48A it can handle, and that's a good thing - would not want to over load the truck charging circuitry, bad things would happen.

The J1772 control pilot signal, also known as the CP-to-PE line, uses a square wave to indicate the maximum current an electric vehicle (EV) charger can deliver. The Control Pilot is used to negotiate charging level between the car and the EVSE, and it can be manipulated by the vehicle to initiate charging and can carry other information. The signal is a 1 kHz square wave at ±12 volts generated by the EVSE to detect the presence of the vehicle, communicate the maximum allowable charging current, and control charging begin/end.

Wire: #6 is for a ground, and #3 would be used for carrying the current (hot1 and hot2) assuming 80A continuous load (100A breaker).

For your max 48A continuous load (60A breaker) you could down size the wires to #6 for the hots (assuming a 90 degree rating and it is THHN or THWN-2 copper) and downsize the ground as well.

But check the installation requirements for your EVSE to get the correct wiring. And think about future proofing as other posts mentioned - maybe you want to be 80A capable for the future when you have a vehicle that can use the full 80A capability.

A hardwired EVSE has terminals designed for a particular maximum and minimum diameter wire and too large or small wire could cause problems. The wire needs to be torqued to the specification of the EVSE installation instructions as well.

All the details are why using an experienced electrician to install the EVSE is recommended and why inspections are generally required in most localities.

 

[chl]

The Emporia 48a does everything you want and then some (Data, Charts, Customization) and has been vetted by many many Lightning Owners.

"...The Emporia electric vehicle charger provides up to 46 miles/hour charging speed via hardwired connection (48 amp - up to 9x faster than a standard wall outlet) or up to 38 miles/hour via the NEMA plug (40 amp)...."

Can only get 40A if a plug-in install (50A outlet/plug/wire/breaker for a 40A continuous load per code).

Can get 48A with 60A breaker wire (hardwired).

The National Electrical Code (NEC) by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 80% rule is a guideline that recommends that circuit breakers should not be loaded to more than 80% of their rated capacity for continuous loads.

Mostly positive reviews, but some negative ones about customer support when things go wrong:

"So far, the charger is working well, but it won't allow me to use the mobile app which controls all of its functions. I've been trying customer support for three days with no one answering, no contact, no call back and no email response (they requested I leave a message with my email). I will follow up this review with any new developments. Update: I am unable to use the app which is the only way to get to settings. After multiple attempts to reach customer support for over two weeks, still no luck. I assume everyone's "working from home" and no one's home. Buyer beware! "

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2024 [Amazon]

 

[NYCLABORER79]

The truck on-board charger tells the EVSE how much current it can handle (through J1772 signaling) and no matter what your app for the EVSE says, the truck will only ask for the max 48A it can handle, and that's a good thing - would not want to over load the truck charging circuitry, bad things would happen.

The J1772 control pilot signal, also known as the CP-to-PE line, uses a square wave to indicate the maximum current an electric vehicle (EV) charger can deliver. The Control Pilot is used to negotiate charging level between the car and the EVSE, and it can be manipulated by the vehicle to initiate charging and can carry other information. The signal is a 1 kHz square wave at ±12 volts generated by the EVSE to detect the presence of the vehicle, communicate the maximum allowable charging current, and control charging begin/end.

Wire: #6 is for a ground, and #3 would be used for carrying the current (hot1 and hot2) assuming 80A continuous load (100A breaker).

For your max 48A continuous load (60A breaker) you could down size the wires to #6 for the hots (assuming a 90 degree rating and it is THHN or THWN-2 copper) and downsize the ground as well.

But check the installation requirements for your EVSE to get the correct wiring. And think about future proofing as other posts mentioned - maybe you want to be 80A capable for the future when you have a vehicle that can use the full 80A capability.

A hardwired EVSE has terminals designed for a particular maximum and minimum diameter wire and too large or small wire could cause problems. The wire needs to be torqued to the specification of the EVSE installation instructions as well.

All the details are why using an experienced electrician to install the EVSE is recommended and why inspections are generally required in most localities.

I switched everything back to #6 awg thhn and 60amp breaker. Thats max rated in the charger terminals. Theres no torque spec since their just push tabs. This is the max output i can get on my truck.

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

The Emporia 48a does everything you want and then some (Data, Charts, Customization) and has been vetted by many many Lightning Owners.

+1 for this. I installed the Emporia at a family members house. It's been rock solid thus far, and I even installed the Emporia Vue system to monitor individual circuit loads in the house. The real time data is great to have. Was able to diagnose a faulty water heater with the load data last year.

If Emporia made an 80A version I'd consider removing my FCSP if the dollars made sense.

 

[Firn]

I switched everything back to #6 awg thhn and 60amp breaker. Thats max rated in the charger terminals. Theres no torque spec since their just push tabs. This is the max output i can get on my truck.

Just to be clear, changing the wire size and breaker won't "change" anything. And if you got a different charge rate that is scary as hell.

The charger doesn't "know" anything about the wire size used or the breaker size. You could make solid copper bars fit and the charger should work the same, heck you could use speaker wire and a 2 amp breaker, and the charger should still try and draw 40+ amps, it will just pop the breaker.

Make sure YOU set the limits in the system to match what your wiring and breaker are rated for.

 

[NYCLABORER79]

Just to be clear, changing the wire size and breaker won't "change" anything. And if you got a different charge rate that is scary as hell.

The charger doesn't "know" anything about the wire size used or the breaker size. You could make solid copper bars fit and the charger should work the same, heck you could use speaker wire and a 2 amp breaker, and the charger should still try and draw 40+ amps, it will just pop the breaker.

Make sure YOU set the limits in the system to match what your wiring and breaker are rated for.

I did i re install the charger in app and set the settings to 60amp breaker. Thats the highest charge i got on the truck. I thought you can change the amp settings on the app but you cant you gotta reinstall the charger in app to do so. Kinda sucks

 

[Firn]

I did i re install the charger in app and set the settings to 60amp breaker. Thats the highest charge i got on the truck. I thought you can change the amp settings on the app but you cant you gotta reinstall the charger in app to do so. Kinda sucks

Iirc when setting the maximum current, per NEC that setting cannot be easily changed. In my charger the electrician was to set the max current, then lock that setting behind a pin that the owner wasn't supposed to have.

Basically per code you cannot easily change the "max". You can easily change it to anything below max, you just cannot increase max. That's so homeowners don't decide they just need to charge a little faster and up the current beyond what the wiring is rated for.

 

[StevenC56]

This is why if you are running new wiring do so for the charger's maximum output. Just my opinion.

 

[NYCLABORER79]

Looking to install additional charger, its either wallbox 48 hardwired or emporia. Looking to get feedback from you guys. So far good things about emporia. Thanks

 

[Scorpio3d]

Fun Fact, model year 2024 Lightnings show the energy input to the battery in the IPC {Instrument Panel Cluster} aka 'Dash board' as OP and another member mentions above.

Another one of those features older model year owners would love to have @Ford Motor Company.

AMEN to that!

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