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Charging on a 50 amp service?

Discussion in 'Prime Plug-in Charging' started by bobjames868, Jan 5, 2018.

  1. RobH

    RobH Senior Member

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    LOL! My house fully meets the code requirements as of 1957. GFCI? Next thing you'll propose is grounded outlets! PushMatic breakers - it's hard enough to find them, let alone GFCI versions.

    I had several outlets upgraded to 3 prong with actual ground wires. Connected to the galvanized cold water piping. New main copper pipe connected to the galvanized with an insulating junction, which meant the grounds were all floating...

    I installed dual grounding rods when I put in solar panels, and regrounded the cold water piping.

    At least I don't have aluminum wiring like some of the local houses. That's actually a fire hazard when combined with non-aluminum rated outlets.

    Toaster is protected from falling in the sink by too short a cord. Is that code?
     
  2. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    A line-to-neutral short circuit in the toaster or its cord should cause the branch circuit fuse or circuit breaker to open, assuming it’s properly sized and coordinated.
    Yes, both, and also AFCI, though not (yet?) in the garage.
    The short cord may be safer, but it is not an electrical code or listing requirement, as far as I know. ANSI/UL 1026, UL Standard for Safety for Electric Household Cooking and Food Serving Appliances (complete with Appendix B, Toast Color Chart, for gauging the medium brown required for certain tests; white bread only, please) permits cord lengths, for counter top or table-top appliances like toasters, of 2.0 feet to 7.0 feet.

    This is PriusChat, not ToasterChat, so since you asked about cords, I should mention that power-supply cords and output cables for EVSE are limited by National Electrical Code section 625.17(C) to at most 25 feet of overall usable length, unless the EVSE has a cable management system.
     
  3. SteveMucc

    SteveMucc Active Member

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    yes, of course... and the same thing should happen to the prime. I see no plausable fault where the charger could possibly draw more current than allowed other than a line to neutral fault which would trip the breaker in the same manner as your toaster. the short time period that a short would take place in the 15A feeder cord would not be sufficient to heat it up substantially before the 50A breaker tripped.

    I any case, I'd just use an adapter and sleep peacefully. if someone is really bitchy about it build (or a smaller breaker) into the adapter.


    now, if you really want to get sticky about things... my neighbor across the street recently tried to change a ceiling fixture in their house (this is an 1800's farm house with electric that has been patched by people who know not what they do for the last 200 years). they had a 3-way switch pair controlling the light, but also a branch off that same circuit to a bedroom and then back down to the kitchen. somehow he wired it up so that if you turned on the light it would go on, but if you turned on the bedroom light the hallway would go off, but the kitchen would go on. this would have been so much easier if part of the wiring wasn't knob-and-tube, part romex, and part who-the-hell-knows. and even worse is that the knob and tube had decayed so much that everything was black so there was no differentiating colors. had to get out my meter to figure out even what the hot was and figure out what the hell went where. got it hooked up correctly, but told the guy he really needs to have an electrician fully rewire the house (the basement beams are logs... with the bark still on them!). makes the larger breaker discussion seem a bit trivial!
     
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