Curious if there's a consensus on the most efficient way to charge your m3 when ordering a wall charger is not an option in a rented house/apt. I've surveyed my house, and I'm not even sure I have a 240v outlet (Washer and dryer seemed to be hooked up to a standard 120v outlet, albeit the upgraded one that Tesla rates at a 4mi/hr charge). Do you just bite your lip and deal with the standard 30 mile charge per night max? Or is there an alternative solution I'm not thinking about.
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Charging strategy living in a rented house/apt
- Thread starter nicenoise
- Start date
e-FTW
New electron smell
Compare your plug with diagrams of plugs. When I purchased an older house it had a 240v 20amp outlet. Tesla sells an adapter for this plug. After investigating I found that the breaker and wire were rated at 30 amps. So, I could have had an electrician swap the outlet for a 30 amp one if I wanted.
A 120 volt circuit can be swapped to NEMA 6-15 or 6-20 which are 240volt 15 or 20 amp depending on the amperage rating of the wire there with simple breaker and outlet swap, no wiring needed, easily reversed when you move out. Just have to know where all the outlets on the circuit are so all are swapped or the other are capped.
interesting! would this just require an electrician to check out? or an deeper understanding of how electric grids work? lol
this sounds like a possible solution. Any idea how to check if the standard sockets are on different phases?
You have to judge your own knowledge level. Maybe the owner has a handyman that could do it?
In simple terms if the wire is 14gauge then is it good for 15amp so the breaker and outlet/s could be swapped for 6-15 and the car would get 12amps at 240volts. If 12gauge it can be a 6-20 outlet and the car can pull 16amps at 240 volts from that 20amp circuit.
Wire is sized for amperage.
RayK
Active Member
Any 'standard' 120V outlet should be able to provide the 4MPH charge rate. I've been plugging my UMC (the standard charger supplied with the car) into a garage outlet to trickle charge my car. Sometimes it's 5MPH (overnight); other times it's 3MPH (the cabin overheat kicked in). Assuming that you start charging around 9-10PM and have to leave for work at 6AM, then that would account for the 30 miles you are estimating.
Follow D0CAL's suggestion: sign up for Plugshare and see if there are any free or fee charging options around you or your workplace. In my case, the Santa Clara Water District office near my house has free Level 2 J1772 stations that allow people to plug in for up to 4 hours. Those stations typically give you 20 miles per hour of charge. I would also suggest you sign up with ChargePoint as they are one of the larger companies providing access to chargers. Both of these company's software (app or website) allow you to filter the types of stations you can search for. Useful for eliminating all of the charging options which will not apply for a Model 3, either because it's too slow (Level 1) or because the car does not support it yet (CHAdeMO).
ChargePoint
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
On my phone can't see location but an often overlooked consideration is winter where it actually occurs greatly increases energy use and if truly cold 120volt won't feed the battery enough to even warm much less charge.
There is a flat 400watt overhead in the S/X so even just the switch from 120 to 240 at the same amperage will more than double the mileage gains.
There is a flat 400watt overhead in the S/X so even just the switch from 120 to 240 at the same amperage will more than double the mileage gains.
stayfocus18
Member
I plan on charging at the gym (Theres a supercharger) and at work (theres an 120v outlet in the parking lot) emergency theres a level 2 at a hospital less than a mile from me.
This can be a nice option but there a few things you need to think about:
1. You need to be able to identify which circuit it is in the electrical panel. This can easily be done with a tester and trial and error (hopefully your panel is nicely labeled).
2. If there are multiple outlets on the same circuit those need to be capped off. Same thing if there’s any lights on the circuit (although that would make it not a good candidate for this).
3. You have to have enough space in your electrical panel for a 240 breaker.
None of this is difficult if you know what you’re doing, and it’s all easily reversible if you move out. An electrician can probably do it in under an hour if you’re not comfortable with it.
