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Charging Setup 10-30R

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I just ordered my MY and I'm trying to get my charging situation setup. I bought my house from my parents and my dad had a woodworking shop with plenty of 240V hardwired to his equipment. There is an old hardwired planer on a 240V 30A circuit that I want to get rid of and install an outlet for my mobile connector with adapter. There are three wires coming out of the wall box (2 hot and one bare ground wire). I was planning to install a NEMA 10-30 receptible but the wiring diagram indicates 2 hot and 1 neutral wire. Is my ground wire essentially the same thing as a neutral wire in this situation or is this a mistake? Any help is appreciated.
 
Don't Tesla sell a NEMA 10-30 adapter: Gen 2 NEMA Adapters


10-30-gen-2.jpg
 
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The NEMA 10-30 has two Hot and one Neutral.
The NEMA _6-30 has two Hot and one Ground.
The NEMA 14-50 has two Hot, one Neutral, and one Ground.

The Ground and the Neutral are connected together inside your electrical panel
so they have the same potential, but they don't serve the same purpose.

The Neutral can bring back current to the transformer if only one phase is need,
some accessories, like a timer, a fan, or a light inside a stove range might only use one phase.

While the ground protect in case a Hot wire touch a metal part of a device.
New plugs should have a ground, or even be GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter).

Basically the difference between Neutral and Ground is that the Ground provides a better protection against choc.

- If one accessory uses only one phase, so some current will go through the Neutral,
creating a difference of potential along the Neutral between the front Panel and the plug.

- In this situation, if a person touches the Neutral and the Ground (the wire or the ground soil)
at the same time, the current might goes directly from Neutral to the Ground if there is less resistivity,
using the person body thus creating a choc.

Note: This is not a scientific explanation, just some layman narratives.

The Tesla charger don't use the Neutral, but there is a test for Ground or Neutral.
Some people using a portable generator were not able to use a Tesla charger for that reason.
But there a workaround explained in some other threads.

Note: You might consider getting a ToU (Time of Use) from your local electrical company to get a discount rate at night.


NEMA_simplified_pins.svg
 
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If you have two hots and a bare ground then the appropriate plug is a 6-30, which Tesla doesn’t make an adapter for. You can either:
  • Install a 6-30 and buy a third party adapter from evseadapters.com. They get good reviews and include the same safety circuits as Tesla in its adapters.
  • Run a neutral wire and install a 14-30
  • Install a 14-30 without a neutral and put a sign on it warning there is no neutral. This is an illegal installation and totally unsafe for plugging in anything but a Tesla
  • Install a Tesla wall connector, which doesn’t need a neutral either
  • Install another manufacturer’s charging station and use the included J1772 adapter.

The third option is illegal but easy. The other options are all the valid ones for your situation.
 
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If you are going to purchase, install a Tesla Wall Connector then you can hard wire the Wall Connector to the existing 240V / 30 amp circuit and wiring.

If you are going to use the Gen2 Mobile Connector that comes with every new Tesla Vehicle you can install either the 6-30 receptacle or the L6-30 (twist lock type) receptacle. You can purchase a third-party 6-30 power plug or L6-30 locking power plug adapter that will fit the Gen2 Mobile Connector from EVSEAdapters.com NEMA 6-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S/X/3/Y Gen 2 – EVSE Adapters
 
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There are three wires coming out of the wall box (2 hot and one bare ground wire).
I was planning to install a NEMA 10-30 receptible but the wiring diagram indicates 2 hot and 1 neutral wire.
Is my ground wire essentially the same thing as a neutral wire in this situation or is this a mistake?
Any help is appreciated.
Well, this is a NEMA 6-30 which has two Hot and one Ground.

So technically the NEMA 14-30 which has two Hot, one Neutral, and one Ground
would be a better fit but without connecting the Neutral which is not used.
But the NEMA 14-50 plug would not be legal in this case.

Installing a NEMA 10-30 which has two Hot, one Neutral, and but No Ground would not be legal.

You could put a Wall charger directly connected or put a NEMA 6-30 plug if you want to stay legal,
and use a NEMA 6-30 adapter.
 
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I was planning to install a NEMA 10-30 receptible but the wiring diagram indicates 2 hot and 1 neutral wire. Is my ground wire essentially the same thing as a neutral wire in this situation or is this a mistake? Any help is appreciated.
The 10-XX series of outlets were forbidden since 1996, so you can't install a new one of those, so don't do that.

The wiring you've got there is exactly what a 6-30 is supposed to have. It's dumb that Tesla doesn't sell a plug for that, but go with what @gfunkdave and @jcanoe are recommending for that: buy a 6-30 adapter plug from EVSEadapters. They make excellent look-alike Tesla plug adapters that are made by them buying official Tesla ones and then modifying them to other plug types, so they keep the proper current signaling and temperature sensors. They are very well made.
 
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Is my ground wire essentially the same thing as a neutral wire in this situation or is this a mistake? Any help is appreciated.

As mentioned above, you should not install a 10-30 outlet. Tesla only sells the plug for compatibility with older outlets. The neutral is used as the ground, yes, but technically you would be mis-wiring the outlet.

You should install the Tesla Wall Connector if it is in stock and set it to the 30A breaker setting. People like to debate this, but the mobile connectors do break, and it is advisable for you to keep one in your car for emergencies and travel. The price comes out fairly good when you take out the $275 second umc, the outlet, the adapter, outlet cover / outdoor enclosure, the replacement UMC if/when it breaks.

Wall Connector vs Mobile Connector (UMC) - Tesla Info Wiki
 
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