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Resolved: Whole house is tripped at times when Bolt is charging

6399 Views 80 Replies 41 Participants Last post by GregBrew, 2 mo ago

gupt1857

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

2

As some of you know from my other posts, I had my basement finished which required a new electric panel in the basement. I also at the same time got my Bolt and had a 240 V circuit at 50 amp installed in my existing panel.

Now whenever I have the dryer on while the car is charging the whole garage panel trips from the outside panel. That was kind of understandable, but today it tripped when I was just using the microwave.

It may be that my electrician does not know what he is doing.
I asked him when he installed the charger and he told me at the time that all is fine with the 50 amp circuit.
But he is now saying that I need to get more power from the electricity company. That will be 1000s of dollars!

I am attaching photos of my outside panel and the one in the garage. The garage one has outdated labeling. The lowest left breaker, 50 amp, is for the car.

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Louis Chevrolet

· #2 · 3 mo ago

Get your money back from your "electrician."
Most likely your electrician does not know what he is doing. If that doesn't work you can report him to local authority so he loses his license.

Reactions: 5

cfhgarza

· #3 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

You're pulling too much power if the breakers are tripping. What's is the amperage for the main panel and the sub panel?

What charger are you using?

Easiest solution would be to get a charger with adjustable amperage.

Edit: it looks like the sub panel is feed by 100amps. That looks like a lot of stuff on a 100amp panel. I'm assuming the charger draws 40amp continuous.

Reactions: 3

Optimusprime

· #4 · 3 mo ago

Just to make sure I’m reading this correctly, the large panel in the bottom photo is the one in your basement? All of which is served via a 90A breaker at your outdoor panel? And that basement panel on the 90A breaker was just installed by your electrician?

If that’s right, that seems like a lot of loads for only 90A. The options I can see are: 1) get a new EVSE that charges at a lower amperage (24A maybe?) or even better, one that allows you to dial down the current, 2) increase the size of the service from your outdoor panel to the basement (125 or 150A, would need new wiring and breaker, and would depend on the load in the garage panel), or 3) increase your service from your utility (costliest option).

What’s the Amperage of your existing service? 200A? And what EVSE are you using?

Reactions: 1

PDX Bolt

· #5 · 3 mo ago

The electrician should have done a load calculation to see if your panel had the capability to take on the EVSE load. The fact that you are tripping the main breaker indicates this was either not done or not done correctly.

Reactions: 5

Voldar

· #6 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

As @Louis Chevrolet said, your "electrician" is a fraud. It’s not the Bolt fault that the circuit is tripping, it is the idiot who dimensioned everything. The rule of thumb for a noob like me:
1. check what you receive from the power company to your Main
2. check what you use now out of 1.
3. check what you need to add as new "output"
4. if 2 + 3 is greater than 1, call power company

H8cloz

· #7 · 3 mo ago

Your main is overloading. We have 100 amp service, so after blowing the main a few times, I learned to do the math and calculate the amperage of each item using power. When the Bolt is plugged in, drawing 32 amps, we have to be selective if the air conditioner is in use. When it's not (winter) it's no problem. It's very expensive to upgrade the service amperage, so we work with 100 amps.

Reactions: 2

neutrondrip

· #8 · 3 mo ago

H8cloz said:
It's very expensive to upgrade the service amperage, so we work with 100 amps.

True, but the OP should check with their power utility provider. Some offer incentives to upgrade your service and main panel (e.g., $1,500 from PSE&G NJ).

ARob

· #9 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

Lots of posts on how the main panel may be overloaded...possible. But I had this issue with all of my new AFCI circuits until recently when my contractor came back and fixed it. He redistributed the neutral/grounds to isolate them a bit better and my problems are gone now.

Bottom line, have the electrician troubleshoot it, don't rely on the internet for answers.

EDIT: To clarify, my AFCI problems only happened while charging or preconditioning my Bolt.

Reactions: 2

AFXCAR

· #10 · 3 mo ago

I have a 100A service and an 80A main. Even with gas stove; gas dryer, my electrician would only give me a 30A sub in the garage. He said I can change the main to 100A to match service, 80% doesnt apply (I dont kow if thats code). I ended up leaving it at 80A

My Grizzl-e dialed back to 24A serves me well at 6.2kW/hr (I have stout voltage in my neighborhood). I wanted 50A but wasnt going to chase that goal with $$$. Now happy I didn't do it.

Reactions: 1

jefro

· #11 · 3 mo ago

You do have very old breakers. You need actual amp meter to see or test breaker or just replace it. Your electrician may be correct that your voltage to your panel is low. That would have to be tested also. 5% and 10% rules

From the looks of it you have way over amped the panel.

Maybe some regional deal. 100A service should be a 100A panel and 100A main breaker.

Reactions: 1

gupt1857

Discussion Starter · #12 · 3 mo ago

The forum gives me ideas. You guys know more than I.

The bigger panel is the original panel in the garage .
I did not attach a photo of the new panel in the basement.

The garage panel draws 100 amp max and supplies most of the main house and the car charger. The whole panel trips and not just the car . If only the car tripped it will be less of a problem I guess

The car 50 amp , the dryer 30amp and upper furnace 15 amp together are about 100 amp so it is precarious. I can see that dryer will trip it but why just the microwave.

is it safe to charge? I am getting worried I will have a fire or something

ARob

· #13 · 3 mo ago

gupt1857 said:
The forum gives me ideas. You guys know more than I.

The bigger panel is the original panel in the garage .
I did not attach a photo of the new panel in the basement.

The garage panel draws 100 amp max and supplies most of the main house and the car charger. The whole panel trips and not just the car . If only the car tripped it will be less of a problem I guess

The car 50 amp , the dryer 30amp and upper furnace 15 amp together are about 100 amp so it is precarious. I can see that dryer will trip it but why just the microwave.

is it safe to charge? I am getting worried I will have a fire or something

Is the amperage adjustable? Maybe you can charge at 16 or 24A and not cause issues?

Reactions: 2

jmcbrew

· #14 · 3 mo ago

gupt1857 said:
is it safe to charge? I am getting worried I will have a fire or something

Please tell us which EVSE (charger) you use. You may be able to turn it down to a lower amperage. Almost nobody needs more than 16 or 24 amps. Someone is going to reply to tell me they do need that, but don’t waste your breath, please. I said “almost nobody needs more…”. I didn’t say nobody needs more.

Reactions: 1

gupt1857

Discussion Starter · #15 · 3 mo ago

I have a 200 amp service to the house from the electric utility .
I am using the charger they gave me with the bolt .
Not sure what kind of plug I have in the wall where the charger goes. It fits and charges when it is not tripping 😀
Good part is that we can charge overnight just fine . I guess because few things are on.

Reactions: 1

PhilipD

· #16 · 3 mo ago

gupt1857 said:
I am getting worried I will have a fire or something

Hard to sleep with that thought in your head.

jmcbrew

· #17 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

Another option is to have a DCC load sharing box installed. This is a separate electrical box with your EV charging breaker in it. It monitors the load on your main breaker and will simply turn off the EV charging circuit any time your load is too high, then it will turn it back on when there is enough headroom. Yeah, they’re $700 or so, plus installation…. It cheaper than most service upgrades.

But, as I already mentioned, the best course of action is probably to turn down your existing EVSE to a lower amperage, or buy a lower amperage (or adjustable amperage) EVSE. You could do this for a couple hundred bucks.

EDIT: You can’t turn it down. Since I see that you have the OEM EVSE.

Reactions: 1

jmcbrew

· #18 · 3 mo ago

gupt1857 said:
I have a 200 amp service to the house from the electric utility .
I am using the charger they gave me with the bolt .
Not sure what kind of plug I have in the wall where the charger goes. It fits and charges when it is not tripping 😀
Good part is that we can charge overnight just fine . I guess because few things are on.

Okay, so you have a 32 amp EVSE. That‘s not great news. You could try a 16 amp and see if that works. The Bolt EVSE plugs into a standard NEMA 14-50 outlet. Most 16 amp EVSEs plug into a NEMA 6-20, but a $20 adapter will fix that.

If you want to go that route let me know… I review EVSEs and then sell them off cheap. I probably have 5 or 6 16 amp EVSEs sitting here right now that are essentially brand-new.

It is a shame that GM and many other OEMs do not provide us with adjustable amperage charging equipment.

Reactions: 1

Coastal_Cruiser

· #19 · 3 mo ago

gupt1857 said:
is it safe to charge? I am getting worried I will have a fire or something

In theory, yes. In practice you don't want to rely full time on circuit breakers tripping to inform you of excess load. Suggest you follow the advice of those recommending to charge at a lower rate. Better not to push to near the max load of your service.

I personally wouldn't blame my electrician for this, unless you had asked for and paid for an overall load assessment. That takes more time and costs more money. As you've deduced, noting wrong with the car or the circuit he did. If you are at all DIY you could pick up a cheap AC current meter and learn about how much load you are pulling on each breaker. Opens the door to thinking about updates to energy efficient appliances, LED lighting, etc. You know, an energy audit.

Reactions: 2

Optimusprime

· #20 · 3 mo ago

Coastal_Cruiser said:
you could pick up a cheap AC current meter and learn about how much load you are pulling on each breaker.

I’d be most curious to see what the load is on the 100A circuit that serves the garage panel, particularly when run under conditions where adding in the Bolt charging would trip the breaker. Based on the circuit labels, I’d be surprised if the Bolt at 32A pushes you above 80A without the dryer running, unless you have some really big plug/lighting loads. If you are actually pulling 50+A without the Bolt, you might be able to bring that down adequately with LED lights or other efficiency measures. But if your amp draw doesn’t appear to be the problem, may be worth your electrician checking the neutral/grounds distribution per Rob’s suggestion.

Reactions: 1

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