Just noticed that my garage door opener is plugged into a 6-20 outlet in the ceiling. I visit relatives and charge on the standard wall plug in their garage over the weekend on my Model 3 at about 3 mph of range. If I got the 6-20 adapter, I could unplug the garage door opener and use that outlet and charge at 15 mph instead Just need to make sure that the weight of the charger wouldn't pull the plug out of the outlet causing it to fall on the car.
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Found a quicker way to charge at home instead of using a standard outlet.
- Thread starter xxxotic
- Start date
That seems super sketchy. Are there no other outlets in the garage that are also on 20A circuits?
Also be careful - that door opener might be on an outlet with other outlets. It would be good to track down everywhere that circuit goes and what all is plugged into it.
Also be careful - that door opener might be on an outlet with other outlets. It would be good to track down everywhere that circuit goes and what all is plugged into it.
Are you sure that's not a 5-20 outlet? They look almost the same(which blade is sideways is the only difference between 6-20 and 5-20). Unless your garage is an aircraft hanger, I assume it isn't a 240V garage door opener!
Additionally, unless you don't have a duplex receptacle up there, you don't really need to unplug the door opener to charge. The GDO isn't much load and it doesn't last long enough to trip a breaker even when added to a continuous EV load.
Additionally, unless you don't have a duplex receptacle up there, you don't really need to unplug the door opener to charge. The GDO isn't much load and it doesn't last long enough to trip a breaker even when added to a continuous EV load.
It’s highly unlikely that the garage door opener is 240 volts.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
That's a 5-20 not a 6-20. A 6-20 plug won't fit in that outlet. The right prong needs to be horizontal not the left one.
5-20 is 120v @ 16A. 6-20 is 240v @ 16A.
Funny thing is that I have a 6-20 outlet in my garage but it's for a hot water heater.
I think they changed the code and new ones have to be hard wired in. Most new water heaters are about 4500 watts and take more than 20 amps. I'm lucky that mine is 25 years old and still working.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
I would repurpose that to charge your car and hardwire a heat pump water heater. The energy savings will be almost enough to offset your car depending on how much you drive.
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I already installed the 14-50 plug and mistakenly thought most garage door openers used the 6-20 plug so that I could charge faster than a regular plug when visiting friends. The 5-20 doesn't change much faster than a regular outlet.
For some reason they don't use heat pump water heaters or home heating units around me. I am in South FL and my water heater is in my garage that is about 80 to 85 degrees or more in the summer since the sun beats against my garage door most of the day. I have it on a timer to go on for half an hour before I get up each day to shower and it keeps the water warm all day long..If I need to run the dishwasher or do laundry using hot water, then I just turn it on for an hour and shut it off..Maybe that's why it lasted so long.
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