Dryer Buddy Review

[gfunkdave]

Pretty sure its 240 plus or minus 5%, and they won't actually try to fix it until its notably worse than that. This is 228-252V, so 249.8 is fine. On the bright side, motors work is easier at higher voltages.

Ah, you're right. I just looked it up. I'd just never seen a reported voltage that high.

Though come to think of it, at my house the UPS I have on my server and router usually shows 122-123 V so a 240V circuit would probably show up close to 246...not that far off.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Ah, you're right. I just looked it up. I'd just never seen a reported voltage that high.

Though come to think of it, at my house the UPS I have on my server and router usually shows 122-123 V so a 240V circuit would probably show up close to 246...not that far off.

Charging Voltage vs Amp Question might be an interesting read.

 

[itsRP]

Can one install this themselves or would I need to hire an electrician to install this?

 

[Rocky_H]

Can one install this themselves or would I need to hire an electrician to install this?

There is no "install". That's why people use this. It's just a thing that plugs into your existing dryer outlet and has multiple outlets available on the box.

 

[Pat_finn]

Can one install this themselves or would I need to hire an electrician to install this?

 

[FlatSix911]

View attachment 584926

Just a quick review for anyone looking to buy a Dryer Buddy. I purchased one instead of having a new outlet installed in my garage. My laundry room opens up into my garage so I didn’t have to worry about the cord being able to reach my car. I mounted it to the wall using drywall anchors and installed an official Tesla cable organizer along with it. I use a 14-30 adaptor and limit charging to 24 amps which nets 6 kW. It’s a nicely made unit and works very well. I got the Auto version which will automatically shut power off to the car if the dryer is turned on. I would definitely recommend buying one if you don’t want to spend the money installing a new outlet. Just make sure the outlet you are going to use is close enough to your garage for the charging cord to reach your car.

Well done!

 

[jam43065]

Couple 'dumb" questions about Dryer Buddy. Does it just plug into the existing dryer outlet? The picture by PrisonerofDoom shows middle cable going down from Dryer Buddy....does that have to be wired into electrical box? I read about "extension" cords. Most users would need to extend the power cord out to the garage. Therefore, what type of extension are we talking about. Something I can buy at an electric supply store or something I should buy directly from Tesla? 2019 Model 3. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Sophias_dad]

The cord you see going down from the dryer buddy is plugged into where the dryer used to plug in. The dryer is then plugged into the dryer buddy.

Tesla doesn't sell any extension cords for either side of the UMC. If a user needs an extension cord, its on them to buy it from the open market. You could put an extension cord either on the dryer-buddy side(probably a 14-30) or on the tesla-side(the tesla handle style). The former will be relatively inexpensive, the latter will be very expensive. Neither will be a good idea. The Tesla 14-30 adapter sends a temperature signal to the UMC so the UMC can turn down or off if it sees the outlet overheating. Putting that on the end of an extension cord means the UMC can only measure the outlet temp of the extension, not the outlet temp of the dryer buddy(or the outlet temp of the outlet the dryer buddy is plugged into, of course!)

Unless your dryer happens to be in your garage, you'll be leaving a door open between your garage and your house, and have a heavy extension cord leading into your laundry room. Usually the doors and walls of a garage that lead to dwelling space are fireproof-ish, so if something goes bad in the garage you have extra time to get out of your house. Leaving a door open an inch or two totally eliminates that safety factor.

I mean, I could see doing the extension cord thing if you'll use it once a month or something, but then you don't really need the dryer buddy at all.

 

[MagnusMako]

Couple 'dumb" questions about Dryer Buddy. Does it just plug into the existing dryer outlet? The picture by PrisonerofDoom shows middle cable going down from Dryer Buddy....does that have to be wired into electrical box? I read about "extension" cords. Most users would need to extend the power cord out to the garage. Therefore, what type of extension are we talking about. Something I can buy at an electric supply store or something I should buy directly from Tesla? 2019 Model 3. Thanks ahead of time.

Just get a 'dryer extension cord' - those have proper gauge cable and easy to find online. Home Depot or any number of places sell them and I use one with the dryer buddy as my outlet is at the front of the garage and I often need to keep the car parked outside the garage.

 

[jam43065]

Just get a 'dryer extension cord' - those have proper gauge cable and easy to find online. Home Depot or any number of places sell them and I use one with the dryer buddy as my outlet is at the front of the garage and I often need to keep the car parked outside the garage.

Thanks!

 

[emmiebud]

View attachment 584926

Just a quick review for anyone looking to buy a Dryer Buddy. I purchased one instead of having a new outlet installed in my garage. My laundry room opens up into my garage so I didn’t have to worry about the cord being able to reach my car. I mounted it to the wall using drywall anchors and installed an official Tesla cable organizer along with it. I use a 14-30 adaptor and limit charging to 24 amps which nets 6 kW. It’s a nicely made unit and works very well. I got the Auto version which will automatically shut power off to the car if the dryer is turned on. I would definitely recommend buying one if you don’t want to spend the money installing a new outlet. Just make sure the outlet you are going to use is close enough to your garage for the charging cord to reach your car.

 

[Pdgarrett57]

And right on cue, this right here is exactly why I warned against that. It is offering a fake 50 amp outlet that has no business being there, and relies on people to set the amps to whatever they think it should be. (Really, I put about two thirds of the blame on the company for selling those at all.) And in this case, the person got it pretty close, but still wrong. For a 30A rated circuit, that should be no more than 24A, not 25A.

The car remembers it...until it doesn't for any of a few reasons. Software updates have been seen several times to make the cars forget their memorized amp settings. Also, I've personally had this one happen to me--the car keeps that setting tied to a GPS location. Sometimes the GPS signal is messed up or off for some reason, and it thinks the car is a couple blocks away from your house, so it doesn't think it is at that "25A" location, so it defaults back up to 32A, overdrawing the circuit. If you are fortunate, and the breaker trips as it should, then your house doesn't burn down. If the breaker fails, as they sometimes rarely do, you have a Problem.

So using the correct 30A Dryer Buddy for 30A outlets makes you use the proper 30A Tesla adapter, which forces that 24A limit and doesn't depend on the car having the GPS position always right or risks an update deleting the memorized amp setting.

So insurance for the stupid. I use a simple splitter box and my MY has never “forgotten” the proper amperage setting. AND my M3 has never “forgotten” either. Alarmist much?

 

[RayK]

A corollary to Murphy's Law says that when you least expect a problem, that's when it will come and bite you in the butt. Doing something the foolproof way generally means you are protecting yourself from you.