Hey guys. My apartment building installed a 14-50 and I plugged my mobile connector into it with the provided 14-50 adapter. I'm showing a charge rate of ~22 mi / hour (32A @ 183V). This seems low to me... is there anything I should be concerned about? Should I lower the amperage manually in the Model 3?
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183V @ 32A - 22 mi/h
- Thread starter cantsingh
- Start date
I'm not really worried about the charging rate, it's fast enough for my needs - I just mean, as you suggested, it's likely a 208V or 240V line and the fluctuations I've seen make me concerned about the health of the circuit (and my vehicle) more than anything else.
BTW, since I created this thread I looked at my app for charging rate a few more times and saw it once at 24A @ 190V and another time back at 32A @ 181V, 182V and 183V.
BTW, since I created this thread I looked at my app for charging rate a few more times and saw it once at 24A @ 190V and another time back at 32A @ 181V, 182V and 183V.
That's a good question. Assuming there's no potential for damage to the car (or the socket / the apartment building?) then I won't worry about it and just double check next time I go to charge up. I haven't seen any indications the actual outlets in the unit have any issues, but we're also about 10 floors away.
The better metric to use is how much the voltage drops under load, but that's not really that great as well. If the line is really long, you're going to get huge voltage drops under load. And the starting voltage is going to vary based on your location, time of day, weather, other loads, and whatnot. The grid more or less doesn't control voltage, so if you have 208V service its totally possible you can see 190v service into the building unloaded. The incoming voltage is more likely to be low in an industrial area during peak hours, or hot weather. Add a long run and under load 180's are totally sensible. Really the surefire way to check for an issue, is load the circuit and check all connections with a thermal camera. That's usually not very practical for most people though.
CharleyBC
Active Member
Given that voltage, your 22 mi/hour charge rate sounds about right. But, yeah, what's the deal with that voltage? You show your location as "dmv". I'm not sure where that is. Is that a typical voltage there? We typically get about 244V here in Sacramento, which gives us about 31 mi/hour of charge.
This doesn't seem too surprising. You mention it's an apartment, so almost certainly it's the nominal "208V". But big buildings like that frequently have really long wiring runs. So I would say most of the time, these "208" voltage levels are reported as in the mid 190's. Mid 180's is on the lower end of what I see people mention, but still not that unusual. It would have been nice for them to have used thicker wire for this run to make less voltage drop, but it may not be necessary. I concur with @Big Earl that the thing to check on is to look at the voltage when it is first plugged in and then over the next couple of minutes as it ramps the current up to see if it drops quite a lot. The safety systems in the car will key off that too and kick down the amps if it sees a really big reduction there. But if it starts at like 189V without load and then only goes down to about 184V with charging amps running, then that's not a big deal.
Thanks guys, I should have clarified my question was more so about the unusual voltage than the actual charging rate. Glad to hear that it is not an issue and can be considered "typical" for large apartment buildings, and that I shouldn't expect it to damage my vehicle or the apartment / outlet itself.
I'll confirm the starting voltage and try plugging in at various different times to see if there is any rhyme or reason to it and report back.
PS - DMV is an acronym for the DC / Maryland / Virginia area. I guess it's not as well known as I thought!
I'll confirm the starting voltage and try plugging in at various different times to see if there is any rhyme or reason to it and report back.
PS - DMV is an acronym for the DC / Maryland / Virginia area. I guess it's not as well known as I thought!
Reminded me of when someone asked some localized question about what was in the "GTA", with no explanation of where or what that was. Grand Theft Auto? General Transit Authority? Greater Toledo Area? Greater Tallahassee Area? Gainesville Transportation Administration? Regional acronyms are regional.
CharleyBC
Active Member
Dang. And I used to live in NoVA (Northern Virginia), working there and in DC and MD. Missed that one! I thought maybe you were in another country where they have different line voltages. Sorry!
As dedicated a government employee as you might possibly be, I just couldn't picture you actually living in the Department of Motor Vehicles.
davewill
Active Member
This board has an international membership, so I figure we should be as specific as we can.
Sealander
Member
If your actual supply voltage coming into the building is indeed 208, then your voltage drop is 25 volts and at 32 amps that is 800 watts being dissipated somewhere and I would certainly be concerned as that is going to produce a lot of heat somewhere particularly if it is at a connection point. Drop your charging current down to 10 amps and see what your voltage is then. If it goes up significantly that will tell you something about the quality of the connection and it would be safer until the problem can be identified.
You're in a residential mindset. You're thinking of "somewhere" as being one place. It's not. 800 Watts heating up 200 feet multi-wire cable is a lot of thermal mass if this is just a really long wiring run in this apartment building where the panel is really far away. It's probably heating up the entire run of wire by just a few degrees.
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