Charging via standard wall outlet

[Siciliano]

Hey everyone, I've searched around for this, but I'm seeing wildly different answers, so I figured I'd post it up here for hopefully some first hand information.

I'm in the process of selling my house, and I've just ordered my model 3. So, I basically don't want to spend a few thousand for the high speed charger until I'm in my new house.

My question is, has anyone used their regular wall outlet to charge? I'm seeing online anywhere from 2-4 miles added to the range per charging hour. Is this accurate??

Thanks!

 

[user212_nr]

My question is, has anyone used their regular wall outlet to charge? I'm seeing online anywhere from 2-4 miles added to the range per charging hour. Is this accurate??

Yes, it is perfectly fine. It depends on your specific driving habits, but in general it is very reasonable to start with the regular outlet and then see how that goes.

Just make sure that you don't share your outlet with other devices. In general, even if there are 8 outlets in one room or garage, they will all be on the same circuit breaker. Something like a garage door opener is fine, nothing you can do about that. If the garage has a light, make sure not to leave that light on, as it will likely be sharing power.

 

[jjrandorin]

Will be somewhere around that.. 3-5. The main issue with charging off "a regular outlet" is almost all "regular outlets" are daisy chained in series with other items on the circuit.

If you are going to use a "regular outlet (5-15) that is in your garage already, for example, there is a GREAT chance that there is other things on that circuit. Once you know whats on that circuit, you can either unplug the other items if possible.

If its the only thing on the circuit, then sure, no issues there, and it should be between 2 and 5 miles an hour or so, depending on what else your car has to do while its charging, that uses power.

 

[Siciliano]

Thanks guys for the input! Yes it will be plugged in inside my garage. I don't have anything else plugged in or running overnight, so hopefully I'll get on the high end of the spectrum. 5ish would be great - I would have it plugged in about 12-14 hours...I only have to drive about 20 miles round trip so I'll be golden.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks guys for the input! Yes it will be plugged in inside my garage. I don't have anything else plugged in or running overnight, so hopefully I'll get on the high end of the spectrum. 5ish would be great - I would have it plugged in about 12-14 hours...I only have to drive about 20 miles round trip so I'll be golden.

The fact that you dont have anything else plugged in, in the garage, doesnt mean that is a dedicated circuit. In my house (for example) the garage outlet on the wall is also shared by my garage door opener, and every plug on the rear of my home on the outside (where I plug in my BBQ).

Your best bet would be to get a circuit tester (here is an example but you could get one similar at any big box (or local) hardware store :
https://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instr...595708397&sprefix=circuit+test,aps,190&sr=8-5 )

Plug it in, then push the button to see if it trips a gfci. If it does (light goes out) then you can find the GFCI its on in your home and know that at least that one plug is on the same circuit. If it doesnt, find your main breaker box, then try to identify what circuit that garage plug is on by turning off circuits labeled garage or something close, till the lights on the tester go out.

Once the lights on the tester are out, plug in the tester to other outlets in your home (or on the rear outside) to see if any other outlets are out.

Might sound a bit tedious, but worth it to know what is or is not on that circuit. Most likely there is something else on the standard 5-15 in your garage, unless it was a line run specifically for something or other (dryers are usually dedicated lines for example).

You really want to know what is on that circuit before you start "maxing it out" by using an EV charger. Electricity generates heat, so its always good to know whats going on with an outlet, especially a regular one, that you plan to use for charging.

 

[Coasting]

If another data point helps, we have been consistently getting 5 miles / hour from a 110V socket (and the bundled mobile charger) in my parents' garage. We just relied on the room names / information written by the electrician on each circuit breaker to check that the other major appliances were on different breakers. In hindsight, maybe we should have tested the circuits as highlighted by jjrandorin.

 

[jjrandorin]

If another data point helps, we have been consistently getting 5 miles / hour from a 110V socket (and the bundled mobile charger) in my parents' garage. We just relied on the room names / information written by the electrician on each circuit breaker to check that the other major appliances were on different breakers. In hindsight, maybe we should have tested the circuits as highlighted by jjrandorin.

Its not just that "other major appliances" are on different breakers. Its "anything" on that circuit should not be used if you are charging from it. Electricity can be dangerous, but people have normalized it because "we just plug it in".

Thats maxing out that circuit so you woudnt want anything else on it (like a garage fridge or freezer, or anything else being used at the same time. You should definitely check yours as well because the labeling that is on most panels, unless done by the homeowner, doesnt say nearly enough about whats actually on that circuit. Just because it says "garage" doesnt mean its not "garage and backyard", as an example.

Most people have no clue about whats on the actual circuits they plug into and thats normally fine... but for car charging its "not" fine.

 

[EfficientWatts]

Its not just that "other major appliances" are on different breakers. Its "anything" on that circuit should not be used if you are charging from it. Electricity can be dangerous, but people have normalized it because "we just plug it in".

Thats maxing out that circuit so you woudnt want anything else on it (like a garage fridge or freezer, or anything else being used at the same time.

There is an exception to this. If the circuit has a 20A breaker, then the UMC could charge at the full 12 amps with 4 amps left over for other stuff, and in practice could actually go over 16A for short periods of time. That being said I still wouldn't run another continuous load or run a major power-hungry load/appliance like a vacuum, space heater, or a blender off the same circuit at the same time (as that will push it way over), so it is still good to check just to see what else is plugged in.

If there's anything major on the circuit you can dial down the amps in the car, though with it being 120V you should avoid this if possible (and unplug the other items while charging).

 

[SSedan]

I think there is a lot of confusion based on different vehicles and weather conditions.

An X gets fewer miles added per hour because it uses more power.
Cold weather leads to battery heating which is hard on a 15amp 120volt circuit because it can use more power than that.

When will you be in your new house? I wouldn't try to get thru a NY winter on a 15amp 120volt circuit, a GA winter sure.

 

[Siciliano]

So my baby is finally home and I'm consistently getting 5 charging miles per hour, which I'm very happy with! In my particular case, 99% of the time I only drive maybe 35-45 miles a day, max. I typically get home around 8:00PM and leave at 10:00AM, which is 14 hrs of charging time, netting ~70 miles.

I ran the charger from a ceiling outlet which is shared with one of the garage door opener motors...I don't think anything else is on the circuit, and I'm not worried about the opener since that's obviously not being used while the car is in the garage.

Is 5 charging mph the max you can get from a standard outlet??

 

[Siciliano]

I think there is a lot of confusion based on different vehicles and weather conditions.

An X gets fewer miles added per hour because it uses more power.
Cold weather leads to battery heating which is hard on a 15amp 120volt circuit because it can use more power than that.

When will you be in your new house? I wouldn't try to get thru a NY winter on a 15amp 120volt circuit, a GA winter sure.

We're hoping to sell well before the winter. I'm just finalizing some little repairs before I put it on the market. I was assured it's a very hot seller's market, and we're pricing it right, so I don't foresee any issues. *crossing fingers*

 

[Gasaraki]

yes. 4-5 miles per hour is the max.

 

[jjrandorin]

So my baby is finally home and I'm consistently getting 5 charging miles per hour, which I'm very happy with! In my particular case, 99% of the time I only drive maybe 35-45 miles a day, max. I typically get home around 8:00PM and leave at 10:00AM, which is 14 hrs of charging time, netting ~70 miles.

I ran the charger from a ceiling outlet which is shared with one of the garage door opener motors...I don't think anything else is on the circuit, and I'm not worried about the opener since that's obviously not being used while the car is in the garage.

Is 5 charging mph the max you can get from a standard outlet??

its likely (as I said) that there is something else on that circuit other than the garage door opener, and you WANT TO KNOW if there is. It is HIGHLY unlikely that the outlet for a garage door opener in the ceiling of your garage is on its own, dedicated circuit.

As I said up thread, people "normalize" electricity because "we just plug it in and it works" but for an EV pulling the max load an circuit can pull, its important to know what else is on that circuit. Also, if you are plugging in "into the ceiling" hopefully you have some sort of strain relief or something to prevent the chance of the outlet just falling out (and possibly damaging something on your car from hitting it, or causing a spark or something as it falls out).

You really want to know whats on that circuit. You may not have anything else plugged into it, but at a minimum you want to know..... and as I mentioned I am virtually certain that a ceiling mounted outlet for a garage door opener is not run as a dedicated line.

If (for example) the circuit is also outside, it would be nice for you to know, in case you are the type that puts up christmas lights (as an example).

 

[smatthew]

I know you're worried about spending thousands of dollars, but have you considered installing or having someone else install a 14-50 outlet? You would just need the Tesla NEMA14-50 adapter for your mobile charger and then you could charge fairly quickly (7kW or approx 30 miles per hour).
If the outlet can be near your electrical box it should be fairly cheap. And having an EV charging outlet is a bonus when selling a house.

 

[SilverString]

Charging with a regular wall outlet may be okay now, but in reality it is insufficient as you will quickly discover when your life returns to normal ;-) A common 30 amp dryer circuit by comparison is generally enough.

 

[robl45]

Yes, you could plug into the dryer outlet with the right adapter depending on where it is. I was in this same situation while I waited for the wall charger and having it installed. I plugged into normal AC outlet at home and charged at some free level 2 chargers around town.