Tesla EV charger/eaton breakers

yo_ryco said:
The homeowner has reported to me that he turned the charger back to 10a and let the vehicle charge overnight. He's telling me that none of the breakers tripped and during charging, all the test buttons operated as they should....now I'm really at a loss. Can anyone tell me - does lower current mean lower harmonics?
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting this update, and interesting that the lower current does NOT trip the breakers. Certainly something to let Eaton know about if you are involved in any kind of dialogue with them.

As for your question - I would think certainly that lower levels of charging current are going to result in lower levels of harmonic current. The onboard charger in the car will appear as a non-linear load and can distort (flatten) the top of the voltage waveform when the rectifier diodes conduct. So they tend to create very commonplace odd harmonic distortion (3rd, 5th, 7th etc). Just like the front end of any VFD.
 
jaggedben said:
This just confirms what I'm saying, try another car. It may well be that the homeowner wants to change the breakers and not the car (though maybe they should also have the car looked at) but you might as well try to eliminate the EVSE from the equation.
Click to expand...
Sure, try another car. But ultimately, if he wants to keep his car it's going to boil down to the breakers. The breakers need to be replaced and not just with more from Eaton. If trying another brand breaker is successful, it means two new panels of another brand with their breakers.

-Hal
 
To the OP...

Not sure if you have seen this, but I just found a Tesla Forum thread with a very similar problem. It's old, from 2019, and it's not an electrical forum, so you need to sort of separate the wheat from the chaff, but...

teslamotorsclub.com

Wall Charger Tripping AFCI's on Other Circuits

I purchased a wall charger when I got on the reservation list and installed it last week when I ordered my Model 3. I have it on a 100 amp 240V dedicated breaker. I metered open circuit between L1 and L2, and from L1 and L2 to ground. The ground meters short to the ground bar. A short while...
teslamotorsclub.com teslamotorsclub.com

The OP states in Post#1... "A short while after plugging the charger into the Model 3, all of the AFCI's on other circuits trip".

In Post #8 he indicates he is using Eaton combination AFCI/GFCI.

In Post #15... "I have been able to charge at 10 amps without tripping my breakers, but they trip when I charge at 16 amps."

In Post #16... "I tried replacing two combination breakers; one with an arc fault only breaker, and the other with a ground fault only breaker. These did not trip.

And finally in Post#26, another user with the exact same problem posts... "Swapped out the breaker this afternoon for a brand new one. Old one is maybe 10 years old. So far so good. Full load charging for maybe 2-3 hours and no issue."

Certainly sounds like your problem. And possible shame on Eaton if they are telling you they've never heard of this before.
 
yo_ryco said:
Just a follow up for anyone who might me curious/willing to weigh in on this. I made a site visit today and ran a few random tests.

1. I picked up a new dfci breaker to install as a test. I landed the breaker in the panel, but did not install any wiring on the breaker. When the Tesla charger was in use the breaker tripped...with no wires attached to it.
Click to expand...
Old new stock maybe?

-Hal
 
yo_ryco said:
Hi All -

I am having an issue with a tesla gen 3 charger that has been installed in a new residential home. The client brought their existing charger from their previous home and had it installed in their new home. The service on the home is a 400a service with (2) 200a Eaton BR series panels and breakers. Everything in the home works completely find until the tesla charger is connected to the vehicle. Once the charging process has started, every gfci/afci/dfci breaker in both panels eventually trips. The timing and order of the breakers tripping is completely random. Breakers trip in both panels, on both legs of the service. We have checked and re-checked all connections multiple times. I am not able to find anything that is causing this problem within the panels or wiring of the home. It seems to be a problem with either the charger or the vehicle itself...Has anyone seen this before?
Click to expand...
ebhorsman.com

Nuisance Tripping Arc Fault Breaker Findings

Your new home may differ from your previous home, in that your new home has arc fault breakers.
ebhorsman.com ebhorsman.com

Here is a good read on issues resulting nuisance tripping.
 
I wonder if installing a transformer would help With this. To isolate the charger from the rest of the electrical system. 🤷‍♂️ I am taking a transformers class this semester...but I haven't finished it yet! 🤣
 
yo_ryco said:
Hi All -

I am having an issue with a tesla gen 3 charger that has been installed in a new residential home. The client brought their existing charger from their previous home and had it installed in their new home. The service on the home is a 400a service with (2) 200a Eaton BR series panels and breakers. Everything in the home works completely find until the tesla charger is connected to the vehicle. Once the charging process has started, every gfci/afci/dfci breaker in both panels eventually trips. The timing and order of the breakers tripping is completely random. Breakers trip in both panels, on both legs of the service. We have checked and re-checked all connections multiple times. I am not able to find anything that is causing this problem within the panels or wiring of the home. It seems to be a problem with either the charger or the vehicle itself...Has anyone seen this before?
Click to expand...
 
General note, I have had to replace Eton GFI breakers three times with Square D and that worked. Anyone want to but Eton 2p50 breakers cheap.
 
yo_ryco said:
The homeowner has reported to me that he turned the charger back to 10a and let the vehicle charge overnight. He's telling me that none of the breakers tripped and during charging, all the test buttons operated as they should....now I'm really at a loss. Can anyone tell me - does lower current mean lower harmonics?
Click to expand...
Lower current can certainly mean lower heat somewhere upline, hence less or no arcing. You need to "stress test" the house. Turn everything on, measure VAC and AAC at all points and thermal scan all points in panel, meter base and possibly overhead connections. Prove or disprove no open or failing neutral, no other accruing mains connections. *check neutral plug in buss connections to neutral bar. I have not seen this mentioned yet. Did you say this is a plug on neutral panel, or not?
 
Article 90.1 said:
Lower current can certainly mean lower heat somewhere upline, hence less or no arcing. You need to "stress test" the house. Turn everything on, measure VAC and AAC at all points and thermal scan all points in panel, meter base and possibly overhead connections. Prove or disprove no open or failing neutral, no other accruing mains connections. *check neutral plug in buss connections to neutral bar. I have not seen this mentioned yet. Did you say this is a plug on neutral panel, or not?
Click to expand...
Don’t forget, the AFCIs that trip are not protecting the EVSE circuit. Arcing in one circuit should not trip a different circuit.
IMO, this is a clear case of nuisance tripping from electrical noise, not a true detection of any arcing.
 
So, I spoke with the homeowner earlier this week. He was able to get the charger to work and no breakers to trip as long as he was only charging at 8a. This week, he has been slowly increasing the charger and is currently up to 32a with no breakers tripping. This makes absolutely no sense. Previously when we tried at 32a all the breakers tripped. This has me wondering...is this an issue with the vehicle? Is there a connection in the vehicle that is loose? Also, Eaton is now offering to send out all new breakers for us to install.
 
yo_ryco said:
I agree. I initially wanted to try another charger, but I'm not convinced that the charger would be a problem. Maybe I don't understand fully what the wall charger does, but it seems to me that all the complexity is in the actual vehicle.
Click to expand...
All the wall charger does is turn the power off or on according to handshake with the EV. Other functions are ground fault protection, and maybe metering.
 
I'm reluctant to blame the breakers because the breakers all function properly until the Tesla charging is introduced. I believe there is something in the relationship between the Tesla charging and the afci, GFCI, and GFCI breakers that is causing a problem. And if Eaton is not aware of it, they should be. If Eaton was aware of it, the consumers should have also been aware of it. I sincerely appreciate all the feedback and attention this has gotten. Hopefully at the very least it will help someone else in the future
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top