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50 amp circuit
- Thread starter hsfrank
- Start date
You can think of it this way: your normal house wall outlets can source 15 or 20 amps, but your phone charger draws less than one.
The charge connector tells the car the maximum allowable current it can support, so you'll be fine.
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While I have 60amp circuit for Tesla Wall Charger at home, I use 14-50 plugs with mobile charger in different places and it charges with 32amps with no issues.
If I wouldn't be a geek "I need the fastest charging I can get" and electrical engineer, I would go with installing 14-50 plug and using Mobile Charger. 32amps still charge Model Y to 80% overnight, so no real difference in outcomes. Way cheaper to install and you reuse existing mobile charger that you already have.
NEC limit for continuous use is 80% of circuit breaker capacity. 60 amp circuit will give you 48amps for charging, and NEMA 14-50 plug can give you 40 amps in theory. 32 amps is a limit of Tesla Mobile Charger itself. You can buy (or get almost for free from the utility company) a wall charger that plugs into 14-50 plug and you will get 40 amps out of it.
If I wouldn't be a geek "I need the fastest charging I can get" and electrical engineer, I would go with installing 14-50 plug and using Mobile Charger. 32amps still charge Model Y to 80% overnight, so no real difference in outcomes. Way cheaper to install and you reuse existing mobile charger that you already have.
NEC limit for continuous use is 80% of circuit breaker capacity. 60 amp circuit will give you 48amps for charging, and NEMA 14-50 plug can give you 40 amps in theory. 32 amps is a limit of Tesla Mobile Charger itself. You can buy (or get almost for free from the utility company) a wall charger that plugs into 14-50 plug and you will get 40 amps out of it.
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Not just possibly - it will be drawing 32 amps for hours and hours of charge unless you specifically reduce it to 30 amps in the app. While I think your concern is reasonable and I also don't understand why Tesla decided to put 30amp-rated plug into 14-50 adapter, they've designed the whole chain adapter-charger-app-car to work at 32amps and I wouldn't be worried about it.
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It's a strange thing, but no one has had issues due to it. Labeling was originally 32A.
NEMA 6-50 and 14-50 adapters are labeled 30A
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The plug has a sensor (probably a resistor) in it to tell the mobile connector the max amperage it can pull. The Mobile connector will then tell the car that’s the max it can pull.
Install the correct wiring, industrial grade 14-50R and 50A breaker (GFCI, I would imagine) and you’ll be fine. Permits as required.
My 14-50 and 6-50 adapters also say 30A and I haven’t had any issues pulling 32A for what it’s worth.
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Yeah, as @davewill mentioned, this showed up several years ago and confused a lot of people. It is designed and built and fully intended to operate at 32A. We never got any answer from Tesla as to why they printed that "30A" on the adapters. It's not what it actually does. The prevailing theories are that it was because of some obscure +/- margin range of testing policy or something, so it's some kind of bureaucracy thing.
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The charging cable and charging connector may feel warm when touched. You would need to use a handheld infrared thermometer to determine how hot. I have measured temperatures of ~115F to 120F where the charging connector/cord meet using a public charging station. One charging station measured consistently warmer at 130F. I contacted the charging equipment provider about my concern about their equipment running warmer than expected. Eventually all 8 of the charging stations were replaced. The 130F temperature has not recurred with the new charging station equipment.
My current home setup does not appear to become warmer than 110F, most parts are at or under 100F after several hours charging (240V/32A). My garage temperature was in the upper 80s. (The charging equipment is not exposed to sunlight, ever.)
Infrared thermometers start at under $10 on Amazon. They can be very educational; did you know molten lead is ~650F?
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Benito1283
2021 MYLR 19"
Yes most likely normal unless it's too hot to touch. The charging cable that plugs into the car will get warmest close to connections where there is increased resistance. Mine gets warmest where it enters the mobile charger unit with the green lights. Wouldn't worry. Enjoy the car.
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carlos31820
Member
It's normal for it to get quite warm while charging.
In the case it should get too hot, there is a temperature sensor built into that Nema 14-50 adapter that will cause the car lower your charge rate from 32 amps to 16 amps and you will see an error on the car telling you so.
For example..
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My cable overheats and drops to 16 Amps if my Tesla is set at 32 Amps during summertime when the temperature exceeds 85F or so. Just set your Tesla to charge at 22 to 28 Amps and it will work fine. I drive 130 miles daily, connect my 32 Amp-rated Tesla cable into an outlet fed by a 240 Volt, 50 Amp breaker on a separate electric meter and charge at 22 Amps for about 7 to 8 hours overnight (off-peak charging costs about 1/2 price). You really don't need 32 Amps to charge unless you are in a hurry. If you are really in a hurry, use a supercharger. If you really want to save money, charge at home at 22 to 28 Amps, at 240 Volts.
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