First, I’m in the US and talking about US home power. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time who’s dealing with other setups. Here’s my issue: When I charge my car using the 110 outlet outside, it trips a completely different breaker—the one that the fridge is on. I’ve noticed a lot of strange things with the wiring in this house since moving in, and the previous owner definitely cut corners while renovating.
Details:
2023 Ioniq 5 plugged into a 110v 15a GFI outlet.
The breaker that trips controls the fridge, an outdoor light, and the washing machine.
The outlet I use to charge doesn’t trip, it’s the other one that does.
I haven’t had a chance to install a dedicated outlet for the car yet. The car came with a generic charger, not the OEM one. The breaker that trips is GFCI, but the outlet doesn’t trip at all, which is weird. Could the breaker just be bad? I’m thinking of replacing it, but long-term, I want to get all the circuits on their own breakers. Thanks for any advice!
I’d suggest checking out the ask an electrician forum, and you could also look at your car’s settings to reduce the amps for Level 1 charging. I’ve heard of an ‘EV Settings’ menu with ‘Charging Current’ options. But yeah, even if that helps, you really need to fix the wiring.
@Peggy
Thanks, I’ll look into those settings. And yeah, the wiring is definitely something I need to fix long term. Right now, I just need to charge the car at home. Charging at work is fine, but public chargers around me are super expensive.
You might want to get an electrician to do a full inspection. Did the previous owner get the place inspected? If your house has older wiring, the car charging might not be the only issue—you’d probably have the same problem if you had another big appliance like a second fridge. Modern setups need modern electrical specs, and you might need to upgrade the whole system, adding more breakers.
@Howard
Yeah, we’re thinking of calling an electrician soon. The house was inspected before my girlfriend bought it, but there’s a mix of older and newer wiring. I haven’t seen any of that old paper-insulated stuff, it’s all plastic, and the main breaker is 200 amps. The AFCI/GFCI breakers are newer, probably added to meet code. And no, I haven’t seen another outside outlet.
No one can say for sure without looking at it in person, so you’ll probably need an electrician unless you’re pretty comfortable with electrical work. My guess would be that the neutrals are tied together somewhere they shouldn’t be, but that should cause any load on the EV circuit to trip the other breaker. Another theory could be that the circuits are running next to each other, and the draw from the EV is interfering with the other circuit, causing enough imbalance to trip the breaker.
@Imani
Good point. But we’re talking about the neutral at the fridge and the neutral at the car, and they should both be tied together at the subpanel or main panel, depending on how it’s set up.
kwame said: @Imani
Good point. But we’re talking about the neutral at the fridge and the neutral at the car, and they should both be tied together at the subpanel or main panel, depending on how it’s set up.
Yeah, but with a GFCI breaker in the mix, it sounds like they’re connected somewhere before the breaker.
What I don’t get is why the fridge is on the same circuit as an outside light. If the light gets wet, you lose your fridge!
Imani said: @Kenneth
My best guess is the neutrals are tied together somewhere
That’s where I’d put my money too.
I had an electrician install a subpanel, but he wired it like a main panel with the neutral and ground connected. That could mess with GFCI operation, depending on how the circuits are set up. The fridge and washer should be on dedicated circuits, and the EV charger needs its own too. And yeah, a fridge on a GFI circuit makes no sense.
@abidemi
Maybe there’s some arcing on the car’s circuit, and the other breaker is sensitive enough to detect it. Could be something like a nail through both sets of wires causing a poor connection across the circuits. Not super common, but it’s possible.
@jeff
Look into a Ting arc detector. State Farm gives them free to policyholders, but it’s worth buying even if you have to pay for it. It monitors for arc faults and alerts you automatically. It also tracks power line quality.
2023 Ioniq 5 plugged into a 110v 15a GFI outlet on the side of the house.
You really shouldn’t do that. Why spend $50k on a car and then cheap out on the charging setup?
The breaker that trips is a separate breaker.
What kind of breaker is it? GFCI, or does it also have arc protection? GFCI could trip if there’s messed up wiring. You need an electrician to check it out; it’s not safe.
If you’re charging on 110v, that’s 15 amps max. The car pulls 15 amps on Level 1 unless you tell it to pull less, like 12 amps. If you’re using a 110v outlet, the car should be the only thing on that circuit.
Even at 12 amps, the fridge compressor can spike the current and trip the breaker. You want that to happen to avoid overheating.