Standby Generator, Solar and EV Charger Installation in Cream Ridge, NJ | A Charger

Cream Ridge, NJ · Client since August 2019

Chris from Cream Ridge, NJ has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since August of 2019. The generator and the array were bought together and went in five days apart; the charger followed four years later.

A 22 kW Generac, and two well pumps

Commissioned on 23 October 2019. The calculation asked for a minimum of 17 kW under NEC Article 220 Part IV and a Generac rated 19.5 kW on natural gas went in – 22 kW were it running on propane – behind a 200-amp managed whole-house transfer switch. The load survey lists 2,900 square feet, two refrigerators, a dishwasher, a washer, a gas dryer and two half-horsepower well pumps. Out here the well pumps are the whole argument. On a public main an outage is an inconvenience; on a well it means no water at all, and a pump is a motor load that draws a surge every time it starts, so two of them push the sizing well past what the square footage alone would suggest.

37 panels and 12.4 kW

Five days later, on 28 October: 37 LG 335-watt modules on a SolarEdge inverter with optimizers, estimated at 14,422 kilowatt hours in the first year and interconnected by JCP&L in November. The roof needed nothing, so the array went straight onto it.

A ChargePoint on a 60-amp circuit

September of 2023. A ChargePoint Home Flex on a NEMA 6-50 outlet rather than hardwired, on a dedicated 60-amp circuit at 11.5 kW – roughly 36 miles of range an hour – with a load-management module. A plug-in installation is the more flexible of the two arrangements: the unit can be unplugged and taken along, and a failed charger becomes a swap rather than an electrician’s visit.

Four years apart, and still one calculation

With the charger included, the calculated minimum service for this house came to just over 160 amps against a 200-amp panel. That is comfortable, and it is comfortable because somebody worked it out rather than assuming. The more interesting question on a property like this one is not the panel but the generator: a car charger drawing close to fifty amps is not something you want competing with two well pumps while the machine is carrying the house, and that is exactly what the management module exists to arbitrate. The array reduces what the house pulls on an ordinary day and contributes nothing at all during an outage, because a grid-tied system shuts down with the grid. On a well, the outage is the day that decides whether there is water – which is why all three of these were bought by the same household within four years, and why the generator was the first one in.

Questions from Cream Ridge homeowners

SolarAre north-facing panels a bad idea?

They generally produce less annual energy in New Jersey than comparable south-facing panels, but they are not automatically unusable. Roof pitch, shading, the economics and the space available all matter, and a production model should show the expected output before north-facing modules go into a design.

EV chargingCan a non-Tesla vehicle use a Tesla-style NACS home charger?

Many newer vehicles support NACS directly, while others can use approved adapters depending on the vehicle and charger. Compatibility should be confirmed with both manufacturers.

EV chargingDoes a home EV charger need an electrical permit in Cream Ridge?

A new permanently installed EV charging circuit generally requires an electrical permit and inspection under New Jersey's Uniform Construction Code. Where a utility rebate is involved, the programme may also want evidence that the permit was closed out properly.

Standby generatorCan the generator stay connected during a pressure test?

The machine has to be protected from test pressures beyond what its fuel controls are built to withstand. The fuel-gas code sets out when appliances are disconnected or isolated for testing, and the plumbing contractor follows both that code and the generator's installation instructions.