Breaker Tripping When Charging

[NetArchitect]

I have two EVs - a VW Id.4 and 2024 Porsche Taycan 4s. And I have a a nema 15-40 outlet connected to a dedicated 50A breaker. For some reason in the last few weeks, the breaker is tripping whenever I tried to charge the id 4 after completing the charge of the taycan. aand after a few attempts it will brick thr efse. I used the emporia, juice box, and they all are rendered useless now. An electrician took a look at it but he says nothing is wrong

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[daveo4EV]

have a different electrician investigate - breakers don't trip for no reason and equipment doesn't burn out for no reason - it may be hard to find and it may be due to load related issues - but it's not normal.

 

[Tooney]

I had a somewhat similar experience, only just with my Taycan.
Have you tried to charge either the Taycan or the id.4 at a different known good AC charger - perhaps a public AC charger? If so, does the car charge at its normal charge rate?
If the car's charge rate at different EVSE is greatly reduced, quite likely the problem is with the car's on-board charger.
That is what happened to my Taycan when breaker tripped. On-board charger was faulty and had to be replaced.
Good luck.

 

[WattTurbo]

Is your breaker either a GFCI or AFCI? I remember my electrician told me the GFCI breaker is more prone to tripping for the EVSE. And I had to replace around 10 AFCI ones throughout my house because they kept on tripping for no reason. It’s has been a year now since the last trip.

 

[RPSRPS]

I have two EVs - a VW Id.4 and 2024 Porsche Taycan 4s. And I have a a nema 15-40 outlet connected to a dedicated 50A breaker. For some reason in the last few weeks, the breaker is tripping whenever I tried to charge the id 4 after completing the charge of the taycan. aand after a few attempts it will brick thr efse. I used the emporia, juice box, and they all are rendered useless now. An electrician took a look at it but he says nothing is wrong

I’ve had the same issue with both a juice box and Enel - turned down max charge from 40 to 38 and problem went away. I also had issue during A/C season, the spike in draw when A/C came on would trip my breaker

 

[eisenb11]

What charge rate is your charger set to? If you’re using a 40A outlet, then I believe that the charge rate would need to be less than that.

 

[NetArchitect]

have a different electrician investigate - breakers don't trip for no reason and equipment doesn't burn out for no reason - it may be hard to find and it may be due to load related issues - but it's not normal.

I’ll probablydo that once I got another to EVSE. Goos thing Emporia will replace the unit for free

 

[NetArchitect]

I had a somewhat similar experience, only just with my Taycan.
Have you tried to charge either the Taycan or the id.4 at a different known good AC charger - perhaps a public AC charger? If so, does the car charge at its normal charge rate?
If the car's charge rate at different EVSE is greatly reduced, quite likely the problem is with the car's on-board charger.
That is what happened to my Taycan when breaker tripped. On-board charger was faulty and had to be replaced.
Good luck.

Thanks I did bring the cars to the dealers to and they did tear it with an L2 and they both said they’re fine. Unfortunately I did not look at the charge rate.

 

[NetArchitect]

Is your breaker either a GFCI or AFCI? I remember my electrician told me the GFCI breaker is more prone to tripping for the EVSE. And I had to replace around 10 AFCI ones throughout my house because they kept on tripping for no reason. It’s has been a year now since the last trip.

Its GFCI because that is whats required bu code on garages

 

[NetArchitect]

I’ve had the same issue with both a juice box and Enel - turned down max charge from 40 to 38 and problem went away. I also had issue during A/C season, the spike in draw when A/C came on would trip my breaker

can the A/C impact mine even though they’re different breakers? I have 50a breaker dedicated to the the nema outlet

 

[NetArchitect]

What charge rate is your charger set to? If you’re using a 40A outlet, then I believe that the charge rate would need to be less than that.

If have it at 40a what would uou suggest the rate should be?

 

[eisenb11]

If have it at 40a what would uou suggest the rate should be?

So I did some digging - are you sure you have a NEMA 15-40??? I’m thinking that you have a NEMA 14-50.

If you have a 14-50 on a 50A breaker (like I do) then 40A charging is technically correct.

Note: one other poster suggested 38A.

 

[RPSRPS]

can the A/C impact mine even though they’re different breakers? I have 50a breaker dedicated to the the nema outlet

Mine is wired the same - separate 50a breaker. I’m not an electrician but have a good working and practical knowledge (so take what I say with that in mind) the initial draw/spike when your AC compressor starts up and the sensitivity of connected items in your box (including the charger and the Porsches internal charging mechanisms) one may cause the breaker to trip

 

[eisenb11]

the initial draw/spike when your AC compressor starts up and the sensitivity of connected items in your box (including the charger and the Porsches internal charging mechanisms) one may cause the breaker to trip

All motors can be spikey during start up - if the charger is on a dedicated 50A breaker, it shouldn’t be tripping. The fact that it’s tripping indicates that something is wrong. It could be as simple as the breaker being bad, but nothing should trip when the car starts charging so long as only 1 car is connected to a charger at any given time. Or it could be a problem with the charger drawing more than it’s supposed to or something else. Whatever the cause, this isn’t normal.

I’ll caveat that with I’m assuming OP‘s breaker isn’t an AFCI. Those things can be temperamental AF and I‘ve had problems with them getting triggered by certain types of loads. I removed 3 of the AFCIs at my house because 2 were getting triggered by UPS backup power devices and 1 was getting triggered by my occasional use of an induction cooktop (gotta get my suki-yaki fix from time to time!). Switched those 3 to normal breakers and no problems since.

 

[RPSRPS]

All motors can be spikey during start up - if the charger is on a dedicated 50A breaker, it shouldn’t be tripping. The fact that it’s tripping indicates that something is wrong. It could be as simple as the breaker being bad, but nothing should trip when the car starts charging so long as only 1 car is connected to a charger at any given time. Or it could be a problem with the charger drawing more than it’s supposed to or something else. Whatever the cause, this isn’t normal.

I’ll caveat that with I’m assuming OP‘s breaker isn’t an AFCI. Those things can be temperamental AF and I‘ve had problems with them getting triggered by certain types of loads. I removed 3 of the AFCIs at my house because 2 were getting triggered by UPS backup power devices and 1 was getting triggered by my occasional use of an induction cooktop (gotta get my suki-yaki fix from time to time!). Switched those 3 to normal breakers and no problems since.

I’ll differ to you on this. Mine is not an AFCI Breaker

All motors can be spikey during start up - if the charger is on a dedicated 50A breaker, it shouldn’t be tripping. The fact that it’s tripping indicates that something is wrong. It could be as simple as the breaker being bad, but nothing should trip when the car starts charging so long as only 1 car is connected to a charger at any given time. Or it could be a problem with the charger drawing more than it’s supposed to or something else. Whatever the cause, this isn’t normal.

I’ll caveat that with I’m assuming OP‘s breaker isn’t an AFCI. Those things can be temperamental AF and I‘ve had problems with them getting triggered by certain types of loads. I removed 3 of the AFCIs at my house because 2 were getting triggered by UPS backup power devices and 1 was getting triggered by my occasional use of an induction cooktop (gotta get my suki-yaki fix from time to time!). Switched those 3 to normal breakers and no problems since.

I’ll differ you you on this. Mine is not an AFCI breaker, but I just installed a new panel in my other house with AFCI’s due to code and was aware of that issue.

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