Charging issues

[Laurig14]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some opinions on what might be the issue here.

We had a 14-50 outlet installed and bought the nema 14-50 adapter for the mobile charger from Tesla. However I am only getting 8KW 32/32A 235v. It’s on a 60 am breaker. After reading a few forums and seeing some people mention to check the connections. We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

Could it be the mobile connector?

 

[tengtengvn]

Your stock L2 EVSE is only capable of charging at 32A.

 

[brkaus]

And you shouldn’t have a 60a breaker on a 14-50 outlet.

And the standard wall outlet before the 14-50 adapter was attached should only pull 12a @ 120v or 1.4kW

 

[jjrandorin]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some opinions on what might be the issue here.

We had a 14-50 outlet installed and bought the nema 14-50 adapter for the mobile charger from Tesla. However I am only getting 8KW 32/32A 235v. It’s on a 60 am breaker. After reading a few forums and seeing some people mention to check the connections. We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

Could it be the mobile connector?

Few things here.


The first one right off the bat is, the mobile connector that comes with the car can only charge at up to 32amps, full stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The tesla mobile connector will never charge at a rate higher than that.

Second is, as pointed out, its not supposed to be a 60amp breaker with that 14-50 outlet. Its supposed to be a 50amp breaker, but it seems that more electricians are installing 60amp breakers with this, perhaps because the 50amp is hard to get or something due to supply shortages. This is not impacting your charging speed, however. You will not get faster than 32amp on a tesla mobile connector, as I said above.

If you want faster than that (32amps) you will need to buy a wall connector (evse), either the tesla wall connector or a different one from another company that supports up to 48amp charging. Ones other than the tesla one are more expensive than the tesla one, in general, so if you want to go faster, get the tesla one unless you have another non tesla EV to charge.

Finally, expect this thread to be moved to the model Y subforum when a mod for the cybertruck subforum gets around to it, as this is about a model Y.

 

[cgell]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some opinions on what might be the issue here.

We had a 14-50 outlet installed and bought the nema 14-50 adapter for the mobile charger from Tesla. However I am only getting 8KW 32/32A 235v. It’s on a 60 am breaker. After reading a few forums and seeing some people mention to check the connections. We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

Could it be the mobile connector?

I think you are getting confused with the numbers here. There is no way you were pulling 5kW from a standard 120v (5-15) outlet. You should get around 1.4kW. There is also no way you ever hit 30kW with any home charger. You were most likely looking at kWh, not kW. This tells you how much power was added to your battery, not the rate at which it is added.

As others mentioned you are limited to 32 amps / 8 kW with the mobile connector. The wall connector can do 48 amps / 11.5kW.

As far as the 1kW rate that you are now getting from the 120v outlet… the vehicle is most likely using around 400 watts for other features (HVAC, accessories, preconditioning, sentry, etc.), so only 1kW remains for charging.

 

[Laurig14]

And you shouldn’t have a 60a breaker on a 14-50 outlet.

And the standard wall outlet before the 14-50 adapter was attached should only pull 12a @ 120v or 1.4kW

What breaker do you advise?

Few things here.


The first one right off the bat is, the mobile connector that comes with the car can only charge at up to 32amps, full stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The tesla mobile connector will never charge at a rate higher than that.

Second is, as pointed out, its not supposed to be a 60amp breaker with that 14-50 outlet. Its supposed to be a 50amp breaker, but it seems that more electricians are installing 60amp breakers with this, perhaps because the 50amp is hard to get or something due to supply shortages. This is not impacting your charging speed, however. You will not get faster than 32amp on a tesla mobile connector, as I said above.

If you want faster than that (32amps) you will need to buy a wall connector (evse), either the tesla wall connector or a different one from another company that supports up to 48amp charging. Ones other than the tesla one are more expensive than the tesla one, in general, so if you want to go faster, get the tesla one unless you have another non tesla EV to charge.

Finally, expect this thread to be moved to the model Y subforum when a mod for the cybertruck subforum gets around to it, as this is about a model Y.

Few things here.


The first one right off the bat is, the mobile connector that comes with the car can only charge at up to 32amps, full stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The tesla mobile connector will never charge at a rate higher than that.

Second is, as pointed out, its not supposed to be a 60amp breaker with that 14-50 outlet. Its supposed to be a 50amp breaker, but it seems that more electricians are installing 60amp breakers with this, perhaps because the 50amp is hard to get or something due to supply shortages. This is not impacting your charging speed, however. You will not get faster than 32amp on a tesla mobile connector, as I said above.

If you want faster than that (32amps) you will need to buy a wall connector (evse), either the tesla wall connector or a different one from another company that supports up to 48amp charging. Ones other than the tesla one are more expensive than the tesla one, in general, so if you want to go faster, get the tesla one unless you have another non tesla EV to charge.

Finally, expect this thread to be moved to the model Y subforum when a mod for the cybertruck subforum gets around to it, as this is about a model Y.

Thanks so much for you reply!

However Im not trying to get more than 32a, my question is. Aren’t I supposed to be getting 29miph with the 14-50 adapter? Maybe I’m just not understanding this whole charging thing correctly. I’m just going off of reading and viewing several YouTube video. From this those it was my understanding that the nema 14-50 would give me 29miph.

Oops! I didn’t realize I posted this in the cyber trunk thread. New to this whole forum thing.

 

[cgell]

What breaker do you advise?


Thanks so much for you reply!

However Im not trying to get more than 32a, my question is. Aren’t I supposed to be getting 29miph with the 14-50 adapter? Maybe I’m just not understanding this whole charging thing correctly. I’m just going off of reading and viewing several YouTube video. From this those it was my understanding that the nema 14-50 would give me 29miph.

Oops! I didn’t realize I posted this in the cyber trunk thread. New to this whole forum thing.

Charging speeds slow as you approach a higher state of charge. That is most likely why you are seeing slow rates than you were expecting.

 

[Sophias_dad]

What breaker do you advise?


Thanks so much for you reply!

However Im not trying to get more than 32a, my question is. Aren’t I supposed to be getting 29miph with the 14-50 adapter? Maybe I’m just not understanding this whole charging thing correctly. I’m just going off of reading and viewing several YouTube video. From this those it was my understanding that the nema 14-50 would give me 29miph.

Oops! I didn’t realize I posted this in the cyber trunk thread. New to this whole forum thing.

240x32 = ~8kw = 8000 watts Divide that by about 275 for wh/mile on a model Y and you get 29.09 mi/hr.

As far as the breaker, it should technically be no more than 50 amps, and in many areas of the country it should also be a GFCI breaker($100-$150).

 

[jcanoe]

The only circuit breakers allowed for use with the NEMA 14-50R (receptacle) are 50A or 40A if there is insufficient capacity for adding a 50A circuit to the existing service in the home. You should have the circuit breaker changed to either 50A or 40A, a 60A circuit breaker should never have been installed on a circuit with a NEMA 14-50 receptacle.

Tesla states that when charging the Tesla Model Y with the Tesla Gen2 Mobile Connector that this will enable adding up to 29 miles of range to the Tesla Model Y's battery per hour while charging. The actual number of miles added will vary depending on your driving style, the weather and road conditions. For example I consistently get ~25 miles per hour when charging at 240V/32A.

 

[Rocky_H]

What breaker do you advise?

its not supposed to be a 60amp breaker with that 14-50 outlet. Its supposed to be a 50amp breaker,

Answered.

We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

There is no way you were pulling 5kW from a standard 120v (5-15) outlet. You should get around 1.4kW. There is also no way you ever hit 30kW with any home charger. You were most likely looking at kWh, not kW.

I don't think that's looking at kWh numbers. I think it's the charging speed but it's the mph unit, not kW. I see people mix that up often. The 32A level would be about 30 mph it could have jumped to, and the 120V outlet would be about 5 mph. The numbers are too coincidental to what those charging speeds would be for it to happen to be the amount of energy added in the kWh number.

Helpful tip for @Laurig14 and others: The charging screen flips the units for that charging speed number between the power in kilowatts or in rated miles per hour, based on a display setting. There is a units toggle for the battery meter where you pick between "Energy" or "Distance", which will switch the battery meter between % or rated miles. Switching that also changes the units for the charging speed shown. People mix that up frequently where they just see a number, without paying attention to the units after it and think their charging got messed up when the unit flipped from 5 to 1. But that was just going from 5 mph to 1 kW. It's the same speed.

Charging speeds slow as you approach a higher state of charge. That is most likely why you are seeing slow rates than you were expecting.

That's definitely not what this is. This is home charging, and that's not going to be relevant. Sure, the tapering curve always exists, but people only get to observe that at Superchargers, where the charging speed is really high, and then you get to see it gradually, gradually reducing for a long time. Home charging is so very low power that it doesn't get limited by that charging curve tapering down until the car is almost full, like 98%+. That doesn't seem to be what someone is talking about here.

 

[howardnj]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some opinions on what might be the issue here.

We had a 14-50 outlet installed and bought the nema 14-50 adapter for the mobile charger from Tesla. However I am only getting 8KW 32/32A 235v. It’s on a 60 am breaker. After reading a few forums and seeing some people mention to check the connections. We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

Could it be the mobile connector?

Laurig14

Welcome to this site. Lots of good information here as well as some misinformation posted by non licensed electricians who have some limited electrical knowledge.
Although I have a electrician in the family (non licensed who has never installed a HPWC), after reading numerous posts on this site regarding charging an EV, I decided to use a professional recommended Tesla electrician.
I am glad that I did. A very professional 100 Amp sub panel and a Gen 3 HPWC was installed in my garage if my Tesla ever arrives.

What I don't understand is why many are spending north of $60k on a vehicle yet are going cheap on the charging hardware?
What I learned is that professional licensed electricians who are proud of their work and know exactly what the inspectors are looking for, and do an excellent job. They do not purchase inferior electrical hardware at HD or Lowes but obtain better quality material at electrical supply houses.
Yes it costs more but buying cheap very often results in buying twice
I don't like buying twice like many have ended up doing by using Jiffy Lube or Pep Boys for cheap work on their ICE vehicles.

 

[boulder.dude]

What I don't understand is why many are spending north of $60k on a vehicle yet are going cheap on the charging hardware?

I’d also add that in many states, and with many electric providers, there are rebates and tax credits for purchase and install of EV chargers. In addition to convenience, charging speed, and looks, they also increase your home resale value.

 

[jcanoe]

If you have unable to purchase the Tesla NEMA 14-50 power plug adapter for the Gen2 Mobile Connector because the adapter has been out of stock it is now available for purchase. (Sometimes the email notification feature on the Tesla site is sketchy.)

 

[stevehockey4]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some opinions on what might be the issue here.

We had a 14-50 outlet installed and bought the nema 14-50 adapter for the mobile charger from Tesla. However I am only getting 8KW 32/32A 235v. It’s on a 60 am breaker. After reading a few forums and seeing some people mention to check the connections. We did, and it did spike up to 30KW but then dropped back down instantly.

Worth noting that the mobile car adapter was originally charging 5KW (before we put the nema 14-50 adapter) but we had a power outage in our area. Since then it charges at 1KW.

Could it be the mobile connector?

One thing of note electrically: I'm not saying you can't physically do it, but it is improper and likey not to code in your area to install a 60A breaker upstream of a 50A receptacle and what I would imagine is the proper 6 gauge wire for that 50A receptacle. Spend the $10 and swap that breaker out with the proper 50A breaker so you minimize your risk for a fire down the road.

 

[SageBrush]

Spend the $10 and swap that breaker out with the proper 50A breaker so you minimize your risk for a fire down the road.

You missed a zero. 50 Amp GFCI breakers are closer to $100.
IIRC the mobile Tesla EVSE has GFCI so I don't really feel strongly about GFCI in the breaker, but the 60 Amp breaker is a big safety mistake

 

[jcanoe]

You missed a zero. 50 Amp GFCI breakers are closer to $100.
IIRC the mobile Tesla EVSE has GFCI so I don't really feel strongly about GFCI in the breaker, but the 60 Amp breaker is a big safety mistake

The built-in GFCI in the Tesla Mobile Connector and the Tesla Wall Connector EVSEs protects the user while plugging and unplugging the charging connector from the Tesla vehicle. The protection provided by the GFCI circuit breaker is to protect the user when plugging and unplugging the Mobile Connector power plug adapter from the wall receptacle. If you turn off the power at the service panel before plugging or unplugging the EVSE power plug adapter from the receptacle this risk is fully mitigated. With a hard wired EVSE such as the Wall Connector there is no need for a GFCI circuit breaker as there is no power plug and no receptacle.