– Jason Walls, an IBEW master electrician, built ChargeRight using Claude AI despite no coding experience, automating NEC 220.82 load calculations to show 70-80% of EV owners avoid unnecessary $3,000-$5,000 panel upgrades
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upgrades.
– NEC 220.82’s optional method applies demand factors to existing loads like lighting and appliances, often leaving 40-60 amps spare capacity in 200A panels for Level 2 chargers, per industry tools and 2023 code updates.
– The post’s surge in engagement, sparked by Mark Cuban’s repost and DM, underscores AI’s role in empowering trades experts to create accessible software, inspiring similar non-tech innovators.
Yesterday Mark Cuban reposted my work, DM’d me, and told me to keep telling my story.
So here it is.
I’m a Master Electrician. IBEW Local 369. 15 years pulling wire in Kentucky. Zero coding background. I didn’t go to Stanford. I went to trade school.
Every week I’d show up to a home where someone just bought a Tesla or a Rivian. And every time, someone had already told them they needed a $3,000-$5,000 panel upgrade to install a charger.
70% of the time? They didn’t need it.
The math is in the NEC — Section 220.82. Load calculations. But nobody was doing them for homeowners. Electricians upsell. Dealers don’t know. And the homeowner just pays.
I got angry enough to build something about it.
I found @claudeai. No coding experience. I just started talking to it like I’d explain a job to an apprentice. “Here’s how load calcs work. Here’s the NEC code. Now help me build a tool that does this.”
6 months later — @ChargeRight is live. Real software. Stripe payments. PDF reports. NEC 220.82 calculations automated. $12.99 instead of a $500 truck roll.
I’m still pulling wire. I still take service calls. I wake up at 5:05 AM for work.
But something shifted.
Yesterday @vivilinsv published my story as Claude Builder Spotlight #1. Mark Cuban saw it. The Claude community showed up. And for the first time, I felt like this thing I built in my kitchen might actually matter.
I’m not a tech founder. I’m a dad who wants to coach little league and be home for dinner. I just happened to build something that helps people.
If you’re in the trades and thinking about using AI — do it. The barrier isn’t technical skill. It’s believing you’re allowed to try.
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