Looking for a good and reasonable electrician in Miami

ladhanikarim said:

Hey Guys,

I just ordered my Model S, the 85 KWH version which will be delivered to me in 2 weeks. In the meantime, I received information and calls from the Tesla recommended electricians to install my wall charger. Both guys are quoting me around 600USD to install the regular charger, this seems high to me, I wanted to see if this is a fair price and if not, can someone recommend a different electrician in the Broward area.


Thanks
Karim

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Need some more details to determine if that is fair but if you are getting a $600 quote to install the HPWC (I assume this is what you mean by wall charger) in order to charge at 80amps that is a real good price. Especially if there is a decent run of wire needed.

If you are just getting the NEMA 14/50 outlet installed and it's going right next to your breaker panel than $600 is a little high. This type of install should take less than an hour for any experienced electrician about $35 in parts.

Whatever you do, print out the installation requirements from the Tesla website and provide them to the installer before they give you a final quote and then give it to them again when they come to install. EVEN IF THEY SAY THEY'VE DONE A BUNCH OF THEM. Getting them to come back to fix a wrong is nearly impossible.

If you are getting just a NEMA 14/50 outlet, make sure they position the outlet so the plug hangs normal. My installer mounted the plug so that the UMC plugged in upside down. It's an easy enough fix for anyone somewhat handy but luckily I checked it while he was still here so I just had him flip it around.

ladhanikarim said:

Sorry, I'm still learning the terminology but to answer your question, I'm not installing the HPWC. For now, I'm thinking of just going with the standard mobile connector NEMA 14/50. The quote of 600 dollars seems little high just for that. If anyone can recommend an electrician in Broward, that would be great.

I drive about 75 miles per day and my car will be in the garage charging for at least 6 hrs per night, do I need the HPWC? Would love to hear people's opinion, also I heard the mobile connector is not meant for daily use, any truth to this?

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The UMC is fine for daily charging and the NEMA 14/50 outlet is sufficient for your needs. You'd have to have purchased dual chargers anyway to take full advantage of the HPWC anyway.

However, since the price of the HPWC is now only $750 I went ahead and purchased one just for convenience. It also looks cool in the garage. The electrician can set it so it only charges at 40amps (instead of the full 80amps). Even though many will tell you it'll probably never be needed, I like that the UMC is always in my wife's car just in case it's needed. She doesn't have to wrap it up and throw it in the trunk everyday. Another advantage of the HPWC is that the charger cable is about 10' longer. I only had the outlet installed then wired a standard oven range plug (your electrician can do it) from a Home Depot directly to the HPWC and plugged it in. Couldn't be simpler. Another great added benefit is that if the HPWC malfunctions I can just pull out the UMC as a backup.

$600 is about right for the average outlet install. Since you didn't provide details of how intricate the installation is it's hard to say if it's priced right. As I mentioned, if it's just a short and simple wire run then $600 seems a bit high. $400-$500 would be more reasonable. If you need wire run up in the attic to the other side of garage then $600-$700 is about right.

Here are some pics of the final install.

ladhanikarim said:

Hey Guys,

I just ordered my Model S, the 85 KWH version which will be delivered to me in 2 weeks. In the meantime, I received information and calls from the Tesla recommended electricians to install my wall charger. Both guys are quoting me around 600USD to install the regular charger, this seems high to me, I wanted to see if this is a fair price and if not, can someone recommend a different electrician in the Broward area.


Thanks
Karim

Click to expand...

ladhanikarim said:

Sorry, I'm still learning the terminology but to answer your question, I'm not installing the HPWC. For now, I'm thinking of just going with the standard mobile connector NEMA 14/50. The quote of 600 dollars seems little high just for that. If anyone can recommend an electrician in Broward, that would be great.

I drive about 75 miles per day and my car will be in the garage charging for at least 6 hrs per night, do I need the HPWC? Would love to hear people's opinion, also I heard the mobile connector is not meant for daily use, any truth to this?

Click to expand...

Hi Karim,

Welcome to the forums.

Not counting permitting fees, I paid $250 to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet. It was a very short run of just a few feet from the main panel.

If your total daily round trip is 75 miles it should take less than 3 hours to top off. The NEMA 14-50 should be able to charge at a rate of 28-29 miles per hour.

I have been using the mobile connector for over two years without any problems whatsoever.


By the way, if you are interested in joining a Florida Tesla club, please click on the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts link in my signature.

Larry

Karim,

I used Hernando Uribe (786)-355-8707. He came recommended by Dan from the Boca Showroom. Hernando did an excellent job and was quite reasonable! I'm in Fort Lauderdale.

I used Moe 786-897-4851 he installed my NEMA 14-50 outlet for $350. He even came out same day to do the work ....called him up about 2 days after estimate and about 2 hrs after the call new outlet Great guy, easy to work with and very timely.

I received about 5 other quotes ranging from $600 to $1200. They all gave me different prices for the outlet or the HPWC Moe explained to me he would not charge Extra for the outlet vs the HPWC because he would be running the same wires.....I was going to keep the setting at 50amp as I do not have a dual charger. All other quotes the price went up $300 to $400 more to install HPWC.

Ghostface113 said:

I used Moe 786-897-4851 he installed my NEMA 14-50 outlet for $350. He even came out same day to do the work ....called him up about 2 days after estimate and about 2 hrs after the call new outlet Great guy, easy to work with and very timely.

I received about 5 other quotes ranging from $600 to $1200. They all gave me different prices for the outlet or the HPWC Moe explained to me he would not charge Extra for the outlet vs the HPWC because he would be running the same wires.....I was going to keep the setting at 50amp as I do not have a dual charger. All other quotes the price went up $300 to $400 more to install HPWC.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the helpful information and welcome to the forums.

If you are interested in joining a Florida Tesla club, please click on the link to Florida Tesla Enthusiasts in my signature.

Larry