Dual Charger

[LEKTRON]

looking for model s onboard dual charger

 

[deonb]

Tesla — Dual Charger with Installation

 

[LEKTRON]

Thanks....I'm looking to save some money if someone is selling the part

 

[bart513]

As an FYI I looked into it and found someone willing to sell. The problem is that Tesla won't warranty the part or anything that goes wrong with it if you didn't buy it from them.

 

[bkp_duke]

Installation is not a simple "plug and play". There is significant programming required and this can only be done 99.99% of the time by Tesla (a few here could do it, but I would not expect them to share the secret sauce).

 

[LEKTRON]

Thought I would have Tesla do the actual installation....do you think they would balk at installing a used part??

 

[bart513]

Yes but call to make sure

 

[bkp_duke]

Thought I would have Tesla do the actual installation....do you think they would balk at installing a used part??

Yeah, they won't touch it, no warranty, etc.

FWIW, the $2000 includes installation at the service center, and most of the "slave" chargers I have seen go for $1200-1400. So that $600 difference is worth the warranty and piece of mind it is programmed in correctly.

Also, as a few people in other threads have pointed out, if you are paying for electricity, you will lose some efficiency at higher charging rates. Once the battery starts to get hot from charging it will ramp up the cooling system, which will bleed off some power.

I have a single charger Model S and my wife has a dual charger Model S. We usually charge both cars at 30-40A to minimize efficiency losses, unless we are in a hurry with her car and then we will crank it up.

 

[LEKTRON]

Yeah, they won't touch it, no warranty, etc.

FWIW, the $2000 includes installation at the service center, and most of the "slave" chargers I have seen go for $1200-1400. So that $600 difference is worth the warranty and piece of mind it is programmed in correctly.

Also, as a few people in other threads have pointed out, if you are paying for electricity, you will lose some efficiency at higher charging rates. Once the battery starts to get hot from charging it will ramp up the cooling system, which will bleed off some power.

I have a single charger Model S and my wife has a dual charger Model S. We usually charge both cars at 30-40A to minimize efficiency losses, unless we are in a hurry with her car and then we will crank it up.

Thanks for the info! This makes a great deal of sense. My need is not for home charging but one particular stretch I do between the supercharger in winnemuca NV and boise: requires a "top off" half way at a casino with a 80A charger, and one hour versus two would be significant.

I appreciate the info, I'll save up and go with new.....

 

[bkp_duke]

Yeah, the value of your time would certainly add up in that case.

 

[Ingineer]

Yes, you cannot just throw a second one in there. The charger itself has to be programmed for slave operation (unless it was already), and then the car has to be told to use it, otherwise it will not. Then, you also have to flash the firmware.

In addition, the installation involves breaking into the glycol coolant lines, so it's messy and requires a coolant bleed afterwards.

I've done it and unless you REALLY have a specific need for higher power, it's not really worth it.

If you are really set on one, I can assist with the installation, but I can say from experience; not worth it as you have to carry it around all the time from then on, while most of the time it's not really used/needed.

Somewhat OT, but I'm working on a project that's basically a "mini" supercharger. It will use 3 charger modules and be capable of up to 36kW. I will install this at my shop where we have 3-phase power and then on the rare instances where a quick top-off is needed, we can use that rather than carrying around the extra weight of the 2nd charger in our cars.

 

[agw]

Yes, you cannot just throw a second one in there. The charger itself has to be programmed for slave operation (unless it was already), and then the car has to be told to use it, otherwise it will not. Then, you also have to flash the firmware.

In addition, the installation involves breaking into the glycol coolant lines, so it's messy and requires a coolant bleed afterwards.

I've done it and unless you REALLY have a specific need for higher power, it's not really worth it.

If you are really set on one, I can assist with the installation, but I can say from experience; not worth it as you have to carry it around all the time from then on, while most of the time it's not really used/needed.

Somewhat OT, but I'm working on a project that's basically a "mini" supercharger. It will use 3 charger modules and be capable of up to 36kW. I will install this at my shop where we have 3-phase power and then on the rare instances where a quick top-off is needed, we can use that rather than carrying around the extra weight of the 2nd charger in our cars.

Are you planning to feed DC to the car out of the three charger modules? With which protocol?

 

[Ingineer]

Are you planning to feed DC to the car out of the three charger modules? With which protocol?

It's just like a normal SpC does it, albeit with only 3 chargers instead of 12. It will use the same protocol.

It'll actually be like when you pull into a shared pair of stalls and someone is already charging on one. You'll get one set of 3, because they are using the other 9.