TMC is an independent, primarily volunteer organization that relies on ad revenue to cover its operating costs. Please consider whitelisting TMC on your ad blocker and becoming a Supporting Member. For more info: Support TMC

Have a 240V plug on dual circuits - one 30A, one 20A

Discussion in 'Model S: Battery & Charging' started by rklau, Dec 2, 2015.

  1. rklau

    rklau New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    Messages:
    2
    Location:
    San Ramon, CA
    #1 rklau, Dec 2, 2015
    Just picked up my Model S this morning, and adore it. Have a question about charging: we're almost certainly moving in the next couple months, so I didn't bother spending money to upgrade the garage to support a 50A circuit, and was just planning on topping off at home and using the chargers at work or the supercharger down the road from us. But I had a thought tonight: the house was built in 2007 and has a 240V plug which was included in the original construction of the house. In our breaker box, it's supported by two circuits - one 30A, one 20A. I don't think I can treat that as a 50A circuit, but could I set the charge limit in the car to 20A and use the plug as is? If so, that would certainly be faster than using the 110V plug in the garage... anyone have an informed opinion on this?

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. green1

    green1 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2014
    Messages:
    4,548
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    #2 green1, Dec 2, 2015
    If it's truly one plug, fed from 2 differently rated breakers, that's very against code. That said, I'd use it, but I'd consider it a 20a plug and charge at 16a (80% rule for continuous loads)

    To meet code the two breakers would have to be the same rating and have a bar between them such that when one trips it trips both.
     
  3. pgiralt

    pgiralt Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2013
    Messages:
    1,479
    Location:
    Cary, NC
    #3 pgiralt, Dec 2, 2015
    Can you post a photo of the breaker and the plug? Something doesn't sound right. A breaker for a 240V outlet should be a dual-pole breaker which can never have two different current ratings.
     
  4. rklau

    rklau New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    Messages:
    2
    Location:
    San Ramon, CA
    #4 rklau, Dec 2, 2015
    Well, I took the picture and double-checked... sure enough, it's not a 20a and 30a circuits, it's two 20a joined circuits w/a 30a circuit between them. So this is conclusively a 20a circuit, and I'm a moron. :)

    Carry on... and apologies for the unnecessary post! Really appreciate the quick replies.
     
  5. Rocky_H

    Rocky_H Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2015
    Messages:
    1,335
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    #5 Rocky_H, Dec 3, 2015
    I recommend to use the chart on this page to find out exactly what kind of outlet it is. If it is a 20A outlet, then you could build an adapter cable from the Tesla 5-20 adapter to whatever kind of outlet that is (probably a 6-20).
    NEMA connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
  6. FlasherZ

    FlasherZ Sig Model S + Sig Model X + Model 3 Resv

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2012
    Messages:
    7,023
    #6 FlasherZ, Dec 3, 2015
    Ah yes, the quad 240V breakers... unnecessarily confusing. :)

    Downside of this is that Tesla doesn't make a 6-20 adapter. They do make a 6-15 adapter which should work in the receptacle you have (6-20 receptacles generally also support 6-15 plugs)...

    Tesla Accessories and Charging Adapters Charging and Adapters

    As Rocky noted, you can use the Tesla 5-20 adapter and build an adapter to make the 5-20 plug into the 6-20 (the car doesn't care about the voltage difference), but that requires some additional skill (and labeling!)
     
  7. Cosmacelf

    Cosmacelf Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2013
    Messages:
    3,749
    Location:
    San Diego
    #7 Cosmacelf, Dec 3, 2015
    Can you post a picture of the plug? I agree with FlasherZ that buying Teslas 5-20 adapter and then making (or buying) an adapter from your plug (we are assuming it is a 6-20, but would be nice to check) to a 5-20 would be ideal.
     
  8. TexasEV

    TexasEV Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2013
    Messages:
    5,097
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    #8 TexasEV, Dec 3, 2015
    You don't need to make it yourself, evseadapters.com offers a 5-20P to 6-20R adapter for this purpose.
     
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page

Toggle Width
Style
TMC 2016