Recommended charger types via price/quality

[apvbguy]

wow, some of these numbers are scary!
I am getting the EVSE upgrade and installing the proper plug and breaker in my garage.
my electrician just left and fortunately I have room in my box for the 20 amp breaker and he can mount the recepticle about 30 feet away, he quoted me $350 for the job

 

[devprius]

I feel fortunate my city is $140. I link posted earlier told of a story when a fellow prius owner learned the permit rate was $139 and his electrician was marking up that rate to $575.

The reason for such a high mark up is the electrician has to stop and wait around until the inspector arrives before he can button up his work and finish. Not to mention the trip to the planning office, 2-applications, and the crude drawings that will need to be submitted. He should be getting paid for all this and thus the significant markup.

I think what I will do is have him do the work to the point where the inspector is needed. I will do the paperwork and supervise the inspection and button the drywall back up all for the $140. I just cant stomach paying the premium.

I was that prius owner. And to be clear here, this was the Leviton electrical contractor who was trying to gouge me on the permit fees and such. Ultimately I told Leviton to take a hike, got my $100 inspection fee back, bought a new-in-the-box AV unit from cwerdna, and had my friend the electrician install the unit for much cheaper. He only charged me $200 total for the permit and to wait for the inspector when it came time to finish things up. It didn't hurt that he was doing other work in the house at the same time, so he wasn't just sitting around waiting for the inspector.

I think the extra $400 to $500 that the electrician was quoting you was probably to cover the cost of potential electrical panel upgrades you would have to do if the inspector deems it necessary. It sounds like you have a 90A main breaker, which is on the small size these days. And that main panel is a bit scary looking...

 

[cgaydos]

He did not know the criteria when something "had" to be inspected ...

Get another electrician.

Without a question.

I have to agree. Early in my homeowner life I let a couple of contractors talk me out of inspections in order to "save me money". Later I learned that both of them cut corners knowing that there would be no inspections. In the worst case we actually had a small fire that I put out myself as a result of the cut corner. Now, the funny thing is that both of them were extremely knowledgable and seemed extremely competent - but even in that case they can be making mistakes and it helps to have the work reviewed by someone else.

Any electrician who adds a circuit should proactively discuss load limits and how close the new circuit is to putting the board over the limit. At a minimum the electrician should be able to answer a question about that. The fact that this discussion didn't occur should be a deep concern.

You also wrote:

If it means anything my main breaker switch is stamped "90" and I dont use an electric dryer or water heater, both are gas. The next highest draw would be my 55" tv(wattage unk at this time), 2 years old, and my 10 y/o fridge. The electrician did not look at my minor breaker box that runs the house. This has breakers to shut off all the different areas of the house.Should the guy have looked at this thing?

IMHO he should have looked at the subpanel (the "minor breaker box") because without that he can't know the load on the system. It sounds like you have little electrical usage - no dryer, no A/C, no hot tub, one refrigerator (if the TV runs off normal wall power then that's not a special concern). You might well be able to fit the EVSE into this system without exceeding the load limit, despite the apparently low capacity of the overall system. But your electrician should be able to state that for a fact up front.

 

[apvbguy]

in addition to the potential dangers of cutting corners, not getting a permit can bite you hard when you try to sell your home and the government refuses to issue a new c/o because they detected alterations to the home that were never permitted properly, sometimes penny wise is pound foolish, YMMV

 

[ehunter]

The Versicharge infrastructure has been installed for $950. The run of cable through walls ended up being about 15 feet for the 40A circuit, plus GFI type breaker(expensive@$130) and drywall repaired at a small area.

The building department charged me $139.20 like reported but along with the paperwork came a document stapled to the permit.

The document says I am to have Smoke alarms (each bedroom, hallways and living spaces) and Carbon Monoxide alarms (outside each bedroom and every floor of dwelling).

Did your inspectors not only inspect your EVSE install, but also walk your whole house making sure all said units are present and in workable condition? Kinda seems like a person opens himself up for more scrutiny on topics that have nothing to do with the original intent of the inspection. Not that I am worried, it is just sort of intrusive. And spare me from any "it is for your own good" lectures please. I know what is better than anyone else would, thank you.

 

[cdherman]

Other, lower-cost options not yet discussed include open-EVSE (if you don't mind a project) and scouring ebay. Currently on ebay there are a couple of refurbished CS-60s which are a bit of overkill for the Leaf (up to 48a charging on a 60a circuit) but are nice quality units with 25' of cable and are cheaper than any other pre-assembled 30a+ EVSEs. I'm getting one of these for my Rav4-EV. I've often seen the Nissan-recommended Aerovironment 30a EVSEs on ebay as well.

Speaking of ebay, if you go with evseupgrade.com just go through their site direct, don't use ebay. Another option is making me an offer on my already-evseupgraded unit.

Just be aware -- those CS-60's, while good, well built units, are subject to a certain sort of overkill.

--- The cord is very heavy and stiff, sized to actually handle 48A continuously
--- You'll need a dedicated 6-3 wire from a 100A main panel or sub-panel. Expensive....

How do I know? Well I bought one.....

 

[devprius]

The Versicharge infrastructure has been installed for $950. The run of cable through walls ended up being about 15 feet for the 40A circuit, plus GFI type breaker(expensive@$130) and drywall repaired at a small area.

The building department charged me $139.20 like reported but along with the paperwork came a document stapled to the permit.

The document says I am to have Smoke alarms (each bedroom, hallways and living spaces) and Carbon Monoxide alarms (outside each bedroom and every floor of dwelling).

Did your inspectors not only inspect your EVSE install, but also walk your whole house making sure all said units are present and in workable condition? Kinda seems like a person opens himself up for more scrutiny on topics that have nothing to do with the original intent of the inspection. Not that I am worried, it is just sort of intrusive. And spare me from any "it is for your own good" lectures please. I know what is better than anyone else would, thank you.

It's California law that you must have smoke detectors in every bedroom, and a carbon monoxide/smoke detector in the hallways outside of the bedrooms. It is totally within the powers of the building department to demand to see them before signing off on the permit for the EVSE. While we didn't go through this for the EVSE permit, we did have to go through this for the new roof that was put on right before the EVSE was installed. The various communities around California are taking advantage of the local permit process to ensure that smoke/carbon-monoxide detectors are installed in every house.

If you have your house appraised, and you don't have the requisite smoke/carbon-monoxide detectors, it'll get noted and the value of the house will be lowered. Smoke detectors are cheap. I think I paid $10 or $15 for a pair of them at Home Depot recently. The smoke/carbon-monoxide detector was a bit more expensive, but under $30.

 

[davewill]

... If you have your house appraised, and you don't have the requisite smoke/carbon-monoxide detectors, it'll get noted and the value of the house will be lowered. Smoke detectors are cheap. I think I paid $10 or $15 for a pair of them at Home Depot recently. The smoke/carbon-monoxide detector was a bit more expensive, but under $30.

When I sold my home, I had to add carbon monoxide detectors (smoke were already in). Luckily it was easy and cheap. Just bought the 8-pack and mounted them on the walls. It's the law, no sense trying to dodge it.

 

[ehunter]

I had my inspection today... passed !

Inspector was mentoring an underling which was fine.

Since there was a form stapled to the inspection card, for the smoke/CO detectors, he initially displayed interest in seeing and testing those. For some reason he decided not to (after I told him of my vaulted ceilings).

My take on the situation is that the smoke/co part is not a hard requirement if the inspector does not want to make it one. That is, the inspector may or may not feel like looking into that part. It may all depend on his mood or schedule.

Bottom line is, I paid:
$950 - Versicharge + shipping
$950 - Electrician with 15foot cable run up the rafters, down a finished wall(Parts+labor)
$139 - Permit+Inspection
------------------------
Total $2039

Note: the first electrician wanted $700 which included the inspection, but I was not so comfortable with him. Not worth trying to save an extra $400 IMHO.

Next step... finish buying the car !

 

[cwerdna]

Glad to hear that my references to devprius and his postings helped.

 

[TonyWilliams]

The various communities around California are taking advantage of the local permit process to ensure that smoke/carbon-monoxide detectors are installed in every house.

I had to have them installed for a permitted outside deck. The deck also had to have florescent lights.

 

[RonDawg]

If you have your house appraised, and you don't have the requisite smoke/carbon-monoxide detectors, it'll get noted and the value of the house will be lowered. Smoke detectors are cheap. I think I paid $10 or $15 for a pair of them at Home Depot recently. The smoke/carbon-monoxide detector was a bit more expensive, but under $30.

It gets noticed alright but does not lower the value of the home. It shouldn't since we are talking about less than $100 worth of items for the majority of houses.

No, what happens is that the seller cannot legally close escrow until these items are installed and working.

Unlike most other home repair contingencies, this is one that the seller cannot just offer a lower selling price to the prospective buyer in order to circumvent. For that reason, a good agent will advise the seller of such a requirement when they first list the property.