Charging the Roadster with the Yellow 120V cable...

[Roadster2010]

Southern California... If it dips below 50F, it's already "freezing" for us...

Ha! Just go ahead and rub it in, @AEdennis! Southern Cal has to be the best place to own a Roadster! Here in Virginia, it's either to cold or too humid -- not too many ideal Roadster days.

 

[chrisro]

Hello
Can somebody send me a pic of yellow cable plug inside?
How I can convert it to 240v to use in Europe? Is just enough to change plug?
Thanks

 

[Stefan T]

I think you need to change the plug to a schoko plug insted

 

[chrisro]

Thanks
Will it be enough?
My car will automaticly detects input voltage and change mode to 230v ?

 

[chrisro]

Is the pilot signal somehow connected or configured with yellow cable?

 

[Stefan T]

It works without pilot signal

 

[Stewie26]

Since I do not drive the roadster daily, I use the yellow chord. (My wife's Tesla S model hogs the 220 volt outlet in the garage)
One thing I noticed is the ideal range is usually 2 to 4 miles higher with the yellow chord compared to when I have used the 220 volt charger. I have no idea why.

 

[chrisro]

It works without pilot signal

Thanks Stefan!
So it means I just need to make a 230v plug and works?
Is your cable original from Europe or you did same conversion?

 

[dhrivnak]

It works without pilot signal

Very common, and that feature has been confirmed by many. We are not 100% sure of the reason but we assume the slower fill rate allows for more accurate fill-ups.

 

[gregd]

One thing I noticed is the ideal range is usually 2 to 4 miles higher with the yellow chord compared to when I have used the 220 volt charger. I have no idea why.

My mental image for this (perhaps totally bogus) is that the lower charging speed allows the charger to "sneak up" on full charge, and so can more accurately determine when to stop. When you're running at a brick wall, you tend to stop a bit earlier than if you walk or crawl. Overcharging a Li-Ion battery can result in more than a sore nose.

 

[slcasner]

For US cars, trying to charge at 240V with the yellow cable does not work (I tried it). As has been noted, the yellow cable does not include a pilot signal wire, so the car interprets the lack of the signal as an indication to operate at the lowest current rating (16A for US cars, corresponding to the maximum allowed draw for a 20A circuit). But the US car also looks for the voltage to be 120 rather than 240.

However, I did help a friend convert the yellow cable for 240V use by opening the car connector to hook up a pilot wire and adding a box inline to contain one of Martin Eberhard's pilot signal generator circuits. That allowed taking advantage of the availability of a 20A 240V shop outlet.

 

[chrisro]

Thank you slcasner for reply.
So to charge at 16A 230v do I need any pilot signal or just shorten to ground or I found as well that I need 1,5k resistor to gnd?
Can somebody from EU user, check resistance between pilot and gnd pins, please?

 

[slcasner]

I don't know how the EU cars behave. The reply from @Stefan T implies to me that they are programmed to assume a low current in the absence of a pilot signal, and in EU they would have to expect 230V.

But @chrisro do you have a yellow cable that came from the US? That is, with a NEMA 5-15P plug on it? Or a GFCI plug with that pin configuration? If so, then perhaps some change to the pilot signal grounding or resistance might be needed to be the same as yellow cables originally delivered with EU cars.

I would say it is safe to try just replacing the plug so long as you don't misconnect the line and ground wires. That's the same as the experiment I did with my yellow cable connected to 240V. And that is assuming you have some experience working with electrical wiring.

 

[chrisro]

Yes I have yellow cable with GFCI from US. I will try to change connector only and see what happend.
Don't worry. I am electrician
Thank you for your help.

 

[Stefan T]

EU cars charge with 13A without pilot signal