Extension cord of a different sort

[ai4px]

I just changed jobs and will be travelling 100%. Sold my beloved Bolt EV and got a LR model 3. I'll be dependent on hotel charging as much as possible and ICEing is a real problem.

Several weeks ago I bought a 20' extension cord with a Tesla female at one end and a J1772 pistol grip at the other. With the addition of an extra j1772 -> tesla adapter from ebay, I have what I think is a universal extension cable. With this setup, I can extend a tesla destination charger or a J1772 type charge cord 20' away to my car. With a pair of small padlocks I can lock the tesla adapters to the J1772 plugs as well.

The extension cable I got was from quickchargepower.com and it's a hell of a cable... good cord and a very rugged tubular cover over the tesla end connector. It all fits in a 12" square bag I had left over from an old road flare kit, so two square bags in my trunk and I'm all set!

 

[eprosenx]

I just changed jobs and will be travelling 100%. Sold my beloved Bolt EV and got a LR model 3. I'll be dependent on hotel charging as much as possible and ICEing is a real problem.

Several weeks ago I bought a 20' extension cord with a Tesla female at one end and a J1772 pistol grip at the other. With the addition of an extra j1772 -> tesla adapter from ebay, I have what I think is a universal extension cable. With this setup, I can extend a tesla destination charger or a J1772 type charge cord 20' away to my car. With a pair of small padlocks I can lock the tesla adapters to the J1772 plugs as well.

The extension cable I got was from quickchargepower.com and it's a hell of a cable... good cord and a very rugged tubular cover over the tesla end connector. It all fits in a 12" square bag I had left over from an old road flare kit, so two square bags in my trunk and I'm all set!

Nice!

I would probably also invest in some other adapters and cords just in case. Perhaps they may only have a NEMA 5-20 but that might be better than nothing in some situations.

Hotels are interesting as you generally won’t find readily accessible dryer plugs like you do in homes (though one hotel I stayed at I could have plugged into a ground floor dryer outlet, but I did not need to charge).

So I would at least get a NEMA 5-20 adapter from Tesla and an extension cord as well (maybe 12 gauge with 5-15 ends on both ends). Plus a NEMA 5-15p to 5-20p to let you use that cord but with a full 16 amps.

 

[ai4px]

Nice!

I would probably also invest in some other adapters and cords just in case. Perhaps they may only have a NEMA 5-20 but that might be better than nothing in some situations.

Hotels are interesting as you generally won’t find readily accessible dryer plugs like you do in homes (though one hotel I stayed at I could have plugged into a ground floor dryer outlet, but I did not need to charge).

So I would at least get a NEMA 5-20 adapter from Tesla and an extension cord as well (maybe 12 gauge with 5-15 ends on both ends). Plus a NEMA 5-15p to 5-20p to let you use that cord but with a full 16 amps.

I kinda cheated. I “stole” the gen1 umc from my wife’s model s because it’ll charge faster if I stop at an rv campground. Thanks for the suggestion of a 5-20 adapter... now that you mention it most commercial buildings will have heavy duty 20 amp plugs if at all.

 

[eprosenx]

I kinda cheated. I “stole” the gen1 umc from my wife’s model s because it’ll charge faster if I stop at an rv campground. Thanks for the suggestion of a 5-20 adapter... now that you mention it most commercial buildings will have heavy duty 20 amp plugs if at all.

Yeah, I need to go double check the code, but I think all receptacle circuits in commercial have to be 20a. They may just have 15a receptacles on them, but they are typically 20a rated (hence the adapter).

I was at dinner when I posted that before so I was more brief. I do have to add that using that adapter at greater than 12 amps is not within the specification of the device (but clearly that is what folks do with it). The same goes for using that extension cord at 16a continuous. It is 12 gauge which is good, but the ratings on the box are only for 15a of load. In theory, the connection ends may not be rated for 16a.

So I would do some testing, but as long as nothing is getting hot (warm is OK) then it is likely fine.

If the full cord is outside the risks are somewhat low, but just don’t start any grass fires or anything...