-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Charging @ home
- Thread starter muitec
- Start date
Either get the wall charger, expensive, or have a NEMA 1450 outlet installed, less. You need to buy the adapter for your UMC to plug it in. 35 bucks in the Tesla store. In either case you’ll have to run 6 AWG wire from your panel to where you want to charge and a 50 or 60 amp breaker. Congratulations on your new car. Enjoy.
XLR82XS
D M C
What he said. I home setup is a 14-50 outlet on 60-amp circuit. Perfect.
Gadget-X
Member
IMHO:
My answer won't be popular here but my recommendation is to get the Tesla wall connector. Mine is on a 60amp breaker. Yes it cost $190 install by our electrician (he ran thru the wall of garage and 20 ft to connector location) and cost $500 for the connector. (Your layout may make that more expensive).
Not a fan of high amp plugins. If you go that route get the very best plug receptacle you can get. Also limit plugs and unplugs.
M
My answer won't be popular here but my recommendation is to get the Tesla wall connector. Mine is on a 60amp breaker. Yes it cost $190 install by our electrician (he ran thru the wall of garage and 20 ft to connector location) and cost $500 for the connector. (Your layout may make that more expensive).
Not a fan of high amp plugins. If you go that route get the very best plug receptacle you can get. Also limit plugs and unplugs.
M
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Wall connector looks cool, but otherwise a good quality 14-50 plug is all that is needed.
Lasttoy
Active Member
Maybe u r a geek? Depending on where your breaker box is in your house, and where u park? U can install the 14.50 receptacle yourself. Took me an hour. Go to HD, buy the double 50amp breaker, 14.50 box with receptacle, wire have a fun time. It's not rocket science. When u pull cover off breaker box u will see how simple it is. There a lot of videos on YouTube to assist u. Good luck.
The problem is my breaker box and the garage are not on the same side so that will be tough to do
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
If you have a dedicated 120v outlet in your garage that you won't miss the use of you can convert it to 240v fairly easily. Tesla sells NEMA 6-20 adapters. That's the most cost-effective code-compliant solution.
14-50 on a 60amp circuit is wrong should be 50amp.
If you already have a 10-30 or 14-30 in the garage not in use you can ise that. Those are "dryer outlets" .
I like the wall connector, in part because the mobile unit is then a spare. You should have a backup charging solution, might be a close public option, the neighbors whatever just have something in case of a loss, failure whatever.
BrianS85
Member
Personally, I would get a wall connector installed. I had to have an electrician run a line from my breaker, up into the attic, over the living room, and down into the garage but I think it was worth it. The wall connector is just so clean looking.
I leave my mobile connector, adapters, and an extension cord in my trunk as a backup.
I leave my mobile connector, adapters, and an extension cord in my trunk as a backup.
Missile Toad
MSLR Wht/Blk/19 | OD 6/10/21 | RN11512
If you want to draw your electrons predominantly from the Texas wind turbines, set scheduled charging for 3AM each morning. Winds blow strongest in the panhandle at that time (at least its often the strongest, given wind's variability) -- and it happens, that grid demand is at its lowest. Some nights, over 50% of the electricity on the grid is from the wind turbines. Throw in 10% from nuclear, and you can see that this is the time that the Texas grid is most decarbonated.
As I write this, just past midnight, the Texas grid is producing carbon dioxide at about 260 g/kWh, and going lower. Pretty much on par with the California grid around noon.
██████████████████████████████████████████████Model S70D, >> 110 miles
█████████.....................................New ICE car '17, 25 miles
Shows the comparable distance each car can go with 1 gallon of gasoline's worth of CO2 emissions.
As I write this, just past midnight, the Texas grid is producing carbon dioxide at about 260 g/kWh, and going lower. Pretty much on par with the California grid around noon.
██████████████████████████████████████████████Model S70D, >> 110 miles
█████████.....................................New ICE car '17, 25 miles
Shows the comparable distance each car can go with 1 gallon of gasoline's worth of CO2 emissions.
Last edited:
I got the wall connector because I wanted to keep the mobile connector in the car. Plugging and unplugging the mobile connector can make the socket contacts get loose with possible over heating. An extra mobil connector with 14-50 adapter is 310. A corded mobil connector is 520 and the wall charger is 500. The wall charger will charge at 48 amps, the 14-50 outlet at 40. If you get the wall charger you should use a 60 amp breaker. The wire should be thnn awg 6 wire in conduit, not romex. If you get the 14-50 outlet then you can use romex as the charging rate is less. This year, there is a 30 percent federal tax credit for buying and installing charging equipment. How this helps.
Vague question. Give us more specifics.
For 90+% of the population a 120v outlet and charging each or most nights will be enough.
Likely if parking in the garage there is some sort of high voltage outlet you can use with an optional $35 adapter.
Otherwise if you drive high distances each day and just need more charging or if can’t be bothered with overnight charging a $1-4K rewire and install will work.
For 90+% of the population a 120v outlet and charging each or most nights will be enough.
Likely if parking in the garage there is some sort of high voltage outlet you can use with an optional $35 adapter.
Otherwise if you drive high distances each day and just need more charging or if can’t be bothered with overnight charging a $1-4K rewire and install will work.
The HD receptacle is NOT-rated for frequent plugins or 6-8 hours usage at maximum rated amperage. I learned this the hard way. The breaker isn’t either. Industrial grade parts rated for frequent plug inns and heavy duty service are $50-85 at electrical supply houses.
This question is similar to "What kind of dog should I get?"
How much do you plan on driving? What is your living situation (house / apartment / condo / age of house / where do you live / will the car be parked in a garage or outside).
Charging an EV is basically the worst-case-scenario for the home electrical system. Short of running a datacenter in your house, there is no other workload that runs a circuit at 80% of the rated capacity for hours at a time. Running a circuit at 80% of capacity will reveal any weakness in the wiring, typically with lots of heat and potentially fire.
My *personal* opinion is that you should always use a hard-wired setup not a plug. Plugs are another mechanical junction to fail. High current plugs are either very expensive or will wear out very quickly (they're designed for a dryer / oven that gets unplugged / plugged once ever decade). Modern code also requires that plugs be GFCI protected, and that will require a very expensive circuit breaker. If you hard-wire the EV charger you can skip the expensive receptacle and the expensive circuit breaker.
As to what variables affect your decision:
Higher current charging is more efficient; from 120-240 there's a big jump in efficiency, from 12a to 16a there's another big jump; each jump from 24a and up gives less added efficiency in charging.
Are there superchargers nearby if you're in a bind or do you need to rely on your home charger?
How many miles do you expect to drive at a time?
Does it get cold where you live?
My personal decision tree looks like this:
I live in old house with a full 100a panel; updating the panel would be extremely expensive.
I had an existing 120v / 20a circuit next to my driveway; it has no other plugs on the circuit.
I had an electrician install a 20a / 240v breaker where there was a 20a/120v breaker before (He didn't seem to think the added load would be enough extra to require updating the service; the plug is on a 50a sub panel that's also got my furnace/AC and baseboard heat... hopefully he's right.) The electrician also replaced the NEMA 5-20 plug with a NEMA 6-20 plug. I bought a cheapo 240v / 16a charger on amazon that seems to work (I have an extra j1772). My total out of pocket was about $400.
If I lived in a typical modern house with a garage I would get a 30 or 50a hard wired charger; probably not a tesla model just because I know my wife will want a non-tesla car.
Gadget-X
Member
The last 2 posts are exactly how I feel about a plugin .vs. hardwired connector. I actually learned my lesson from a 3 motor hot tub.
M
M
You don't need to spend that much on a plug unless you need to (un)plug multiple times a week, in which case, get a second UMC or a wall connector.
I installed a "Pass & Seymour/Legrand" 14-50R last year on a 40A breaker and have had zero issues. As for breakers, with the exception of 3 phase, commercial and residential breakers are generally the same product line and are rated to 100% of their load, but shouldn't be run over 80% on continuous loads.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
I have a regular Square D 40A breaker connecting my Solar inverter. Cost me $10 at the local Home Depot. I've pumped ~140,000kWh through over the last 8 years. Doing fine
beatle
Active Member
You can use 6/3 romex for a 60A circuit. 6/3 romex is rated for 55A, but NEC 240.4(B) allows you to round up to the next capacity breaker which would be 60A. There was another thread where this was discussed a few months ago:
Anyone use this Romex 6/3 cable during install?
I'd consider this moot in most cases though as I don't recommend a HPWC unless someone wants to daisy chain more than one to a circuit, so installing a 14-50 receptacle with a 50A breaker is all an owner of a single Tesla should need.
For the OP: as for what to plug into the 14-50 receptacle, I would buy a second UMC. A new gen 2 UMC + 14-50 adapter is $310, though you can find them used. A gen1 UMC + 14-50 adapter will give you up to 40A for $20-30 more, though they are only available used. Tesla also sells a "corded mobile connector" which is basically the gen1 UMC with a hard wired 14-50 plug on it. They want $520 for it which I think is pretty ridiculous.
The advice to not plug and unplug your UMC from the receptacle is pretty sound. There are many cases of people melting their receptacles and mobile connector plugs with them. I am in the "don't waste your money on expensive receptacles and breakers" club.
Similar threads
