I’m installing a 32 amp plug in EV charger in my Upstate house. Right now I have the Hubbell outlet installed and the wire pulled from the garage to the Squrare D panel. I need to have ground fault interrupt in this circuit.
I ordered a Square D GFI curcuit breaker but it’s the wrong one and I don’t think I can return it because I unwound the wire and twisted up the end. My panel is over 30 years old and I’m not sure if I can find a GFI breaker for the QO panel.
I’m thinking that I can install a regular 40 or 50 amp breaker and mount a small sub-panel in the garage with the modern 40 amp CFI breaker next to the outlet and then connect the outlet to it.
It’s extraneous. I’m imagining that what you bought for a Sq. D GFCI breaker was a Homeline, not a QO?
QO has always been Sq. D’s higher end stuff, and - as far as am aware - any QO breaker made now will fit any QO panel no matter how old.
Now, companies do stupid shit like change how breakers mount all the time. And although they generally change the line designation when this happens, I cannot say for 100% certainty that any QO breaker produced today will fit any QO panel built in the past. But, it should.
Have to be on-site the next couple of days for an install in eastern NY (Plattsburgh) but I’ll try to watch this and give you any advice I can.
Home Depot still carries QO. I don’t think anything changed with QO. I have an old QO main panel and two newer QO subpanels I installed a few years ago and the same breakers fit in all 3.
I’m Upstate in Shandaken. Ther is no electrical supply around here. I’d have to go to Kingston or Newburgh to find a supply house. I’m going to go to an electric supply when I get back to Long Island.
Will I be able to get a GFCI QO breaker? Also, do I need it?
It seems that the GFCI is for the outlet and the Chevy charger is already ground fault protection, and that the 2 gfi’s can cause problems. I’ll be delayed for about week, but I the hardest part, running the wire is finished, so when I come back I should be able to finish it.
Did a little research for you and apparently if you hardwire the EV charger no gfci is required. But if you are installing the 14-50 outlet yes you need one as you thought per code. They do make 40 amp gfi QO breakers.
Take what I say as reference and make your own informed decision (Im not a certified Electrician) but if it were me and the install was indoors I would forgo the code and wire the outlet without a gfi (seems like it is a hassle). As long as you ran 8 gauge wire I think any risk would be very minimal.
@Sweeney did you get the ChargePoint? If so, the plug can be removed and it’s easy to do the hardwired install (which is generally the better option anyways, fewer pieces and the outlets tend to be the weak part of the chain for continuous draw - I think the higher end Hubbell is one of the good outlets though).
Well, you almost nailed it: no, you shouldn’t need a gfci breaker if it’s hardwired; no, you do not want to put a gfci on a gfci (it really does some funky tripping); but the gauge of the conductors has nothing to do with being protected from a ground fault.
A ground fault is just that: the ‘hot’ conductor finding a lower impedance path to ground, typically through your body. A gfci is engineered to trip when there is a 5 mA discrepancy between the outgoing/feed amperage on the line/live/ hot conductor and the return/neutral conductor. Since it only takes around 10 mA (? Been a while so that figure was pulled from not far up my bum-bum) to stop your heart, that is how a gfci protects you: it trips before allowing enough current that could screw you up.
That sounds correct. I know the GFCI is meant to protect you and being in an area that should be low risk for electrical shock I think I’d chance it lol especially when the charger itself has a GFCI built in.
I mentioned wire gauge because that and breaker size are the things that most scare me with this type of work as in starting a fire or damaging other components.
Alright, I finished it yesterday. I was originally thinking that I should have the GFI in the garage so that if it tripped I’d be right there, but it really would have required me pretty much undo everything and start over.
I got the right QO GFIC breaker and put it in yesterday and I tested it with the RAV4 Prime. With a 40 amp breaker, it gave me about 19 miles per hour with no heating up anywhere. I’m very happy with it. Next time up here we can take the Blazer EV and really go in style!