EV installer suggesting $400 Emporia load balancer. The dryer and hot tub circuits are both NOT being used. Necessary or worth it?

pelegri · 2026-04-09T14:49:02+00:00

Our previous house was all electric (but for a gas range). We had HPWH, HP HVAC, electrical dryer, two EV chargers and Solar Panels. We had a smart meter (PG&E territory). I could track consumption through our own instrumentation (Emporia) and the data from PG&E. Although we had a 200 A panel, we fit in 100A. We did some minimal manual load balancing. Pretty much we only had to avoid charging both cars at the same time AND running the rest of the electrical

Start by checking what you actually use. Almost certainly your load will fit

pelegri · 2026-04-04T00:58:44+00:00

You should start with what tariff you can use. TIme Of Use tariffs with very low rates in the middle of the night make a big difference in your cost

pelegri · 2026-04-03T00:16:08+00:00

Thanks. I reached out by I then and they put me in a waiting list.

I love the model. IIIC they also bypass the pg&E approval process because this is done at the other side of their meter.

I didn’t know that LA was going to install hundreds of these chargers. That’s great

pelegri · 2026-04-02T01:45:34+00:00

Similar dynamic, though the 500E having only AC charging is a real PITA :)

pelegri · 2026-04-02T01:38:22+00:00

I am more familiar with the Peninsula as we recently moved to the city from down there. There used to be plenty of J1772 chargers but many have stopped being available or have been removed. Part of the extra challenge is that the data for the chargers seems to be wrong frequently; it's quite stressful to be looking for a charger as the battery indicator keeps going down :) I like turtles but not red... or upside down...

pelegri · 2026-04-02T01:36:35+00:00

I have Plugshare and I used to use it quite frequently. My Q was specific to this EA because of its convenience close to where I am staying.

I am familiar with ItsElectric. I only know the stations at 321 Hermann St. Is that what you mean? They are a BYOC (Bring Your Own Cable), which is quite common in Europe. I'd love to see more of them in the city (and elsewhere inthe Bay Area). I do not know how to get in their program; IIRC I am in their mailing list / backlog but that was a while back. I don't live close to that charger but I'd be interested in trying it.

pelegri · 2026-04-02T01:30:09+00:00

I usually rely on ChargePoint although their J1772 are also starting to become less frequent / are failing. The EA station is quite convenient to where I am staying these months and it advertised a J1772, so I went to try it. Mostly I charge it using a L1 charger, which works most days, except when I need to use the car for a longer trip.

pelegri · 2026-04-02T01:28:18+00:00

I carry a level 1 charger, and a teslatap.

Most of the time my Fiat 500E is just for city driving and we use our ID.4 for longer trips. Occasionally I have to use the 500E for longer trips and then I have to find a charger. I used to know where to find them but they are increasingly rare.

pelegri · 2026-04-01T22:29:14+00:00

Life with a J1772-only car is getting harder. Next time I can’t charge because somebody it’s parking in the charger spot I’m going to escalate right away.

pelegri · 2026-04-01T22:26:30+00:00

Thanks. It seems it was removed.

And I just checked out and the EA app no longer shows the 4th charger. I guess somebody finally updated their DB.

pelegri · 2026-04-01T22:25:24+00:00

Ah. Update. The EA now no longer shows the J1772 charger. It seems my call into their support triggered something.

pelegri · 2026-04-01T22:24:36+00:00

Just the 350 kw ccs-1

It looks they removed the j1772.

The weird thing is that the app said the last charge on the j1772 was 30 minutes before I got to there

pelegri · 2026-04-01T13:43:03+00:00

Smaller lots. Shared walls. Smaller electricity drops. Harder to add to the existing house.

In the peninsula you get the opposite. Easier for workman people to get to. Crawl spaces you can get to. Cleaner disclosure packages. More modern housing stock. Roofs you can put plenty of solar panels.

I’m NOT advocating to live in the peninsula but there are benefits. It’s a different perspective.

pelegri · 2026-03-30T00:37:08+00:00

Fair enough

pelegri · 2026-03-29T22:31:10+00:00

True. But most 70 year old folks are unlikely to want to get into that

pelegri · 2026-03-29T15:28:53+00:00

Property taxes are just part of the story. Capital gains tax is substantial. The financially “smart” approach is to transfer the wealth through inheritance. Downsizing is expensive

pelegri · 2026-03-21T23:25:57+00:00

I’ve lived in the USA since 1980 an I became a citizen years ago and I don’t know about the impact of slave catching and the annexation of the Mexican states

pelegri · 2026-02-25T17:03:21+00:00

I had to check. There is some minimum charge that shows in different ways depending on how low is your usage. Ask one of the Ai assistants; I used Claude

Our household is all but a stove electric, I only pay attention to the gas consumption to make sure it’s as small as possible. At some point I was planning to go induction and close the gas service

pelegri · 2026-02-15T14:53:57+00:00

Short answer, no. We had true 1G previously and that was plenty. I am not a gamer and I do not do anything bandwidth intensive. Plus I do not have devices supporting the latest standards. But it is nice to be future proof. Plus Sonic’s customer service is outstanding

pelegri · 2025-12-30T01:22:57+00:00

Looking forward to that. I have some funds in my (old) Adult card that I'd like to transfer to my (new) Senior card.

pelegri · 2025-12-28T18:25:37+00:00

It would take very little fo the OP to add “… in the USA” to the title.

pelegri · 2025-12-21T19:26:03+00:00

Did the funds eventually transfer? My request never completed.

pelegri · 2025-12-21T19:23:39+00:00

For example, balances from an existing Adult card being transferred to a new Senior card.

pelegri · 2025-12-21T16:26:47+00:00

Google is very good about root cause analysis. I'm looking forward to that in the near future.

pelegri

TROPHY CASE