Basic Tesla Charger charging at 32A?!

[ammar_YVR]

Guys,

I used to use the basic charger that came with the car plugged into a regular 110V outlet. I used to get 6km/hr using around 8A of current.

I just plugged it in a 240V outlet and I’m getting 48km/hr using around 32A!

That’s pretty fast! I wasn’t expecting that from the basic charger that came with the car.

Is that ok for the charger or should I limit it to say 16A?

Thanks.

 

[Rocky_H]

Well this caught me by surprise. I was expecting it was going to be a complaint about how it is slower than the older mobile connectors that used to supply 40A. Instead, it's being happily surprised with how fast it is.

Yes, it's made to do that. You didn't really say what the circuit is set up for. I presume it is a 14-50 outlet type and set up on a 50A circuit breaker, right?

 

[ammar_YVR]

Well this caught me by surprise. I was expecting it was going to be a complaint about how it is slower than the older mobile connectors that used to supply 40A. Instead, it's being happily surprised with how fast it is.

Yes, it's made to do that. You didn't really say what the circuit is set up for. I presume it is a 14-50 outlet type and set up on a 50A circuit breaker, right?

Thanks for your reply. And cool that’s it’s designed to do that. I’m not sure about the circuit as I’ve just rented the place, but the landlord told me he specifically asked for a proper outlet for EVs. I’m happy with the 32A frankly. It can fully charge the car overnight so that’s great.

 

[Rocky_H]

Thanks for your reply. And cool that’s it’s designed to do that. I’m not sure about the circuit as I’ve just rented the place, but the landlord told me he specifically asked for a proper outlet for EVs. I’m happy with the 32A frankly. It can fully charge the car overnight so that’s great.

I asked about the outlet type mainly for curiosity since you seemed concerned about it, but it shouldn't be something to worry about as long as it is a pretty standard code-compliant outlet and not some hacked together kludge thing. The adapter that you attach to the Tesla charging cable has an internal resistor to tell it how many amps to use for that outlet type. So as long as it's a legit outlet, and you can plug an official Tesla plug into it, it will set the current properly.

 

[mreynolds767]

Lucky surprise for you!
Yes the max the cable that comes with your car will flow through is 32 AMP ; keep it at 32

The Wall Connectors for separate purchase and need to be hardwired can allow you to get up to 48 AMP on the LR models but the speed difference between 32 and 48 is not huge.

 

[ewoodrick]

What you are seeing is correct. I'm charging at 30 mi/hr right now.

 

[Matsayz]

... The Wall Connectors for separate purchase and need to be hardwired can allow you to get up to 48 AMP on the LR models but the speed difference between 32 and 48 is not huge.

*Wall Connector aka the specific Tesla wall connector that is ~$500 and designed to push more than 32amps. This is different than the mobile connector that came with the car.

Just Want to make sure the OP understands the difference since Tesla has changed nomenclature and if you’re not a Tesla. Red it can be a pain to keep up...kinda like their pricing and blah blah blah

 

[srs5694]

Thanks for your reply. And cool that’s it’s designed to do that. I’m not sure about the circuit as I’ve just rented the place, but the landlord told me he specifically asked for a proper outlet for EVs. I’m happy with the 32A frankly. It can fully charge the car overnight so that’s great.

If you're using what came with the car, then it's a NEMA 14-50 outlet. (All Teslas' Mobile Connectors used to come with plugs for NEMA 14-50 [240v, electric range plug] and NEMA 5-15 [120v; ordinary wall outlet]; but a few months ago, Tesla dropped the NEMA 14-50 outlet from the standard kit.) Tesla sells adapters for several other types of outlet; check them out on Tesla's Web store. It's possible to buy or build adapters to go from one of those to more exotic sockets, and some third parties make compatible adapters to go to others, too. I mention all this mainly because you may be unaware of the options, but might want to use one of them. For instance, if the car is normally charging on a NEMA 5-20 outlet (most of which can tane NEMA 5-15 plugs, too) with the NEMA 5-15 plug, updating to a NEMA 5-20 plug will improve the charge rate a bit. (I'm far from an expert, but I believe that electrical code in Canada requires all garages to have a NEMA 5-20 outlet. I don't know how recent that requirement is, though.) Likewise, it might be possible, and cheap, to upgrade a current 120v plug to a low-amperage 240v plug, which will at least double the charge rate. You'd need to consult a local electrician, or at least a friend who's savvy about such things, to determine what's practical.