Granny charger

[Overworked]

to average 10mph you would have to be averaging 230wh/m year round and that is excluding any charging losses, preheat, sentry, or other losses which are going to be somewhere in the region of 15-30% based dependant on your circs so for that to be true your average year round driving wh/m would have to be somewhere between 170-209wh/m. Even an SR+ is not going to achieve that.
If you did a true measurement by dividing the number of miles covered by the number of hours on charge you would be more likely to find
7m/h summer 5m/h winter for an LR M3/Y maybe slightly better for an SR+M3

That is what it says it is charging at in the app with the 3 pin plug and it says it is drawing 2kW. It shows higher rates for single phase, three phase and SC.

I dont really care, as it charges to the level I want when I plug it in and is sufficient for my needs. I am not on any particular energy constrained tariff or timings.

 

[seadog]

I ran my previous M3P with the granny charger for 2 years without any real issues but have recently got the Telsa wall charger fitted. Honestly it makes life a whole lot easier. We have 4 hours off peak charging, with the granny charger we had to plug in virtually every night and if we did a long run we had to leave it charging overnight with much of that at peak rates and would still only have added around 25% charge to the battery. Now we only have to plug in every 5 days or so, if we do a long run a couple of consecutive nights charging for 4 hours and the battery is back up to normal level, and if we need to go from a low state of charge to full we can now do it overnight. EV's appear to be the future so my advice is to get a proper wall charger fitted now and make life easier as you will likely use it for many years to come.

 

[jdwuk]

Hi sorry to go slightly off topic but I too use a granny charger and have done for a year on my M3sr+ with no issues. I run an extension lead from the garage to the car on the drive. I do about 15% on my daily commute and my 4 hours off peak charge that back most nights. On occasional big commutes it is annoying having to stagger or pay the on peak rate but at the moment can’t justify the 1k cost of installing vs the cost of on peak (~30p kwh)

My question was about using the Tesla granny charger on a different vehicle. We recently got a Ford Kuga PHEV which comes with its own granny charger. The Ford charger works fine on both cars but the Tesla charger does not charge the Kuga for some reason. Has anyone else tried to charge another EV/PHEV with the Tesla granny charger?

I’m now using the Ford charger daily but would prefer to use Tesla just because it’s easier to open the charge port with the button!

I’ve done some Googling on the issue but can only find solutions for the dedicated Tesla wall charger.

Any help appreciated

 

[Adopado]

Has anyone else tried to charge another EV/PHEV with the Tesla granny charger?

In theory it shouldn't be a problem as AFAIK it uses standard Type 2 protocols. I used mine to charge an Audi e-tron a few weeks ago without an issue (at 32amps via commando adapter).

 

[spooksman]

We've used our Tesla granny charger on our Peugeot e208 a number of times without issue.

 

[jdwuk]

It does seem to be a software issue as far as I can tell. The Ford app says that there is an 'error with charge station' and the port flashes orange.

It seems really odd that you cant just plug in and go

 

[Adopado]

It does seem to be a software issue as far as I can tell. The Ford app says that there is an 'error with charge station' and the port flashes orange.

It seems really odd that you cant just plug in and go

Seems like a question for Ford… given that other brands of EV seem to charge ok with the Tesla UMC.

 

[MrBadger]

It does seem to be a software issue as far as I can tell. The Ford app says that there is an 'error with charge station' and the port flashes orange.

It seems really odd that you cant just plug in and go

Is this with the Gen 1 charger (as supplied with many Model S and X) or Gen 2 (as should have been supplied with all Model 3 and Y and more recent S and X)?

There are known reasons why Gen 1 should not be used with the models of cars that it was not supplied with (and stated by Tesla).

Gen 2, certainly on single phase, should not give issues on other vehicles. I’ll hold off saying same for 3 phase as iirc there are no official 3 phase adaptors available for Gen 2.

 

[yessuz]

I ran my previous M3P with the granny charger for 2 years without any real issues but have recently got the Telsa wall charger fitted. Honestly it makes life a whole lot easier. We have 4 hours off peak charging, with the granny charger we had to plug in virtually every night and if we did a long run we had to leave it charging overnight with much of that at peak rates and would still only have added around 25% charge to the battery. Now we only have to plug in every 5 days or so, if we do a long run a couple of consecutive nights charging for 4 hours and the battery is back up to normal level, and if we need to go from a low state of charge to full we can now do it overnight. EV's appear to be the future so my advice is to get a proper wall charger fitted now and make life easier as you will likely use it for many years to come.

why would you do once in 5 days charges of more kw than plug in every night and every morning have a fully charged car ready for anything?

 

[seadog]

why would you do once in 5 days charges of more kw than plug in every night and every morning have a fully charged car ready for anything?

I could do, but normally only do 15-25 miles every day, there's not much point plugging it in every night to top up such a small amount, Even after 5 days I still have around 35-40% remaining which should get around 100 miles which is still plenty for any emergencies.

 

[yessuz]

I could do, but normally only do 15-25 miles every day, there's not much point plugging it in every night to top up such a small amount, Even after 5 days I still have around 35-40% remaining which should get around 100 miles which is still plenty for any emergencies.

ABC - always be charging. tesla loves to be plugged in. even god elon said that

 

[init6]

ABC - always be charging. tesla loves to be plugged in. even god elon said that

Guess where else says it?

Model 3 has one of the most sophisticated battery systems in the world. The most important way to preserve the high voltage Battery is to LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE PLUGGED IN when you are not using it.

There is no advantage to waiting until the Battery’s level is low before charging. In fact, the Battery performs best when charged regularly.

 

[jdwuk]

Is this with the Gen 1 charger (as supplied with many Model S and X) or Gen 2 (as should have been supplied with all Model 3 and Y and more recent S and X)?

There are known reasons why Gen 1 should not be used with the models of cars that it was not supplied with (and stated by Tesla).

Gen 2, certainly on single phase, should not give issues on other vehicles. I’ll hold off saying same for 3 phase as iirc there are no official 3 phase adaptors available for Gen 2.

I suspect Gen 2 as I got the Model 3 in December 2021.

I've been asking over on a Kuga owners forum and nobody seems to have any idea either!

 

[Adopado]

I suspect Gen 2 as I got the Model 3 in December 2021.

I've been asking over on a Kuga owners forum and nobody seems to have any idea either!

It’s definitely a gen 2 UMC if supplied with your Model3.

 

[jdwuk]

I have checked with folks over on a Kuga owners' forum and they all suggest it should work fine and that I should contact Tesla. I have emailed Tesla (Expecting a long wait) and emailed Ford as well.

It feels like this should be a lot simpler!

 

[jdwuk]

Finally got a response from Tesla on this. They said:
“Many thanks for reaching out to us regarding your “Granny Charger”. I can confirm that this unit should only work with a Tesla as the charger itself communicates with the vehicle in order to determine it’s charge rate. Additionally as it monitors its temperature it will amend its charge rate to ensure that it doesn’t trip.”

A bit disappointing really as this seems a bit backwards. Also strange that others have been successful in using it.

 

[ACarneiro]

Gonna be honest, that sounds like rubbish…

 

[thewishy]

why would you do once in 5 days charges of more kw than plug in every night and every morning have a fully charged car ready for anything?

My habit is to keep it between 50 and 80% for general pottering. I'll generally keep an eye on carbon intensity and charge on a windy night; to me it seems worthwhile charging on a night where we're not having to burn gas (or worse coal) to charge my car. Also lower charger contactor cycles and wear on the charging port.

 

[Adopado]

Finally got a response from Tesla on this. They said:
“Many thanks for reaching out to us regarding your “Granny Charger”. I can confirm that this unit should only work with a Tesla as the charger itself communicates with the vehicle in order to determine it’s charge rate. Additionally as it monitors its temperature it will amend its charge rate to ensure that it doesn’t trip.”

A bit disappointing really as this seems a bit backwards. Also strange that others have been successful in using it.

I've charged a friends Kia eniro and also an Audi E-tron using the Tesla UMC at full 32amps connected via a commando socket. Not strange at all.

 

[yessuz]

Finally got a response from Tesla on this. They said:
“Many thanks for reaching out to us regarding your “Granny Charger”. I can confirm that this unit should only work with a Tesla as the charger itself communicates with the vehicle in order to determine it’s charge rate. Additionally as it monitors its temperature it will amend its charge rate to ensure that it doesn’t trip.”

A bit disappointing really as this seems a bit backwards. Also strange that others have been successful in using it.

it BS. I am sure the granny charger cable would not really work with the le'ts say laptop and/or fridge, but it's type 2 charger - standard implementation