Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobb
Since you edited the post to add plugs too be careful with chargers for your ev. You can plug a 20 amp charger into a 15 amp outlet, but you will pop the breaker. Dont just replace the breaker with a larger one, you need a whole new circuit or a 15 amp charger and a circuit in your home with few to no other loads on it. A 20 amp circuit uses different wires vs a 15.
If you home has some age on it you may seriously consider getting a circuit added for your ev or call your power company about getting a line, service or panel and meter just for your vehicle. My local power company came out, talked to me and said they can give me up to a 440 line service.
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In the world of electricity 1 does not always equal 1.
The breaker is there to protect the wiring in side your walls, so if the breaker flips its doing its job.
Also you should not run more than 80% of a circuits capacity for more than an hour (I think it might really be up to 3 hours for safety lets just say its 1 hour). So if your charger draws say 18 amps for several hours thats actually too much for a standard 20 amp home circuit. This greater than 80% problem over heats the breaker, given enough time.
This is why electric vehicles come with such anemic 120 volt chargers, they have to figure some one might be plugging it into a 15 amp circuit, ran using aluminum wiring inside an old mobile home.
If in doubt refer to post #4.
Older homes have 12ga 20 amp circuits. But then during the 1970s and 1980s it seems like a lot of homes were built with 15 amp circuits, sometimes using aluminum wire.
But the modern standard seems to favor 20 amp 120 volt circuits.