Hey Tesla, there is a need for that NEMA 14-30 adapter still!

[supratachophobia]

Recently got a few adapters - 5-20, 14-30 and 10-30. Going to order the rest to complete the set. Never know where I'll need to get a charge. My mom's house has 10-30 and it was great not being stuck with a 120v outlet.

Ive used them all. Great to have around.

 

[MX75D]

I just placed and order for a 10-30 here
Gen 2 NEMA Adapters
I received an email confirmation. Looks like the 14-30 can be selected as well

 

[bmah]

I just placed and order for a 10-30 here
Gen 2 NEMA Adapters
I received an email confirmation. Looks like the 14-30 can be selected as well

This thread was started well before the Gen 2 mobile connectors were introduced. It deals (dealt?) with a shortage of adapters for the original Gen 1 Universal Mobile Connectors. That problem has (mostly) gone away. There are occasional selling-outs but the situation is totally different nowadays (fortunately!).

Bruce.

 

[Ulmo]

This thread was started well before the Gen 2 mobile connectors were introduced. It deals (dealt?) with a shortage of adapters for the original Gen 1 Universal Mobile Connectors. That problem has (mostly) gone away. There are occasional selling-outs but the situation is totally different nowadays (fortunately!).

Bruce.

Fun fact: if this thread was never started, I would have never ordered the Gen 1 14-30 connector until later, would have never ordered the other connectors until later, and would have postponed my order of my Model S, would probably have also ordered a Model 3 instead of a Model S, done YouTube reviews of the Model 3, and would have done other businesses and home buying that I did differently as a result. But, all of that is prediction. Other forks in the road would have also been chosen and acted upon. Funny how one little thing leads to so many other things.

 

[supratachophobia]

Fun fact: if this thread was never started, I would have never ordered the Gen 1 14-30 connector until later, would have never ordered the other connectors until later, and would have postponed my order of my Model S, would probably have also ordered a Model 3 instead of a Model S, done YouTube reviews of the Model 3, and would have done other businesses and home buying that I did differently as a result. But, all of that is prediction. Other forks in the road would have also been chosen and acted upon. Funny how one little thing leads to so many other things.

Soooo, you're welcome....?

 

[thecloud]

It feels like Tesla has never understood the peace-of-mind benefit that the adapters provide for their customers. While you may rarely use a given adapter, just having the adapter enables additional charging options that aren't possible without it.

I'll freely admit that I haven't used the NEMA 14-30 much since Tesla built out the supercharger network. But that's also because my overnight destinations haven't provided a convenient dryer outlet which would save a supercharger stop in the morning. The adapter is still there in the bag with the UMC, anticipating a destination where 14-30 is an available option, and I really appreciate having the flexibility.

Edit: thanks @supratachophobia !

 

[supratachophobia]

It feels like Tesla has never understood the peace-of-mind benefit that the adapters provide for their customers. While you may rarely use a given adapter, just having the adapter enables additional charging options that aren't possible without it.

I'll freely admit that I haven't used the NEMA 14-30 much since Tesla built out the supercharger network. But that's also because my overnight destinations haven't provided a convenient dryer outlet which would save a supercharger stop in the morning. The adapter is still there in the bag with the UMC, anticipating a destination where 14-30 is an available option, and I really appreciate having the flexibility.

Edit: thanks @supratachophobia !

I own every single adapter, including a TT-30 to 14-30. And I completely agree the peace of mind of being able to charge absolutely anywhere is huge.

Every single one of the adapters has been used at least once in a situation where it made the difference between being completely stranded OR severely delayed by a day or more. Special shout-out to the 10-30 at the inlaws and the 6-50 in an area where electric cars were something straight out of science fiction.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Back a few years ago I made my own 10-30 adapter from a drier cord purchased from a Habitat for Humanity thrift store. Used it several times at my parents' house until they moved into an apartment -- still carry it with me. There is now a Supercharger Station less than ten miles away, so slow charging on family visits is no longer necessary.

Used my TT-30 adapter at a state park campground just over a week ago, so that one continues to be the most useful adapter for me.

Using the TT-30 adapter while camping at Island Acres State Park, on the Colorado River:

 

[KootsChewt]

Does that TT-30 adapter allow you to ramp the amps right up to 24?

 

[wws]

Does that TT-30 adapter allow you to ramp the amps right up to 24?

I have the evseadapters TT-30 adapter for the gen 2 UMC. Yes it automagically sets max current to 24 amps. I even (ab)use it at 240v instead of 120v.

TT-30 is kind of a fun adapter since relatively inexpensive parts like extension cables and other adapters are available for it in the RV world. My "30 amp" charging kit is built around it.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Does that TT-30 adapter allow you to ramp the amps right up to 24?

My aftermarket TT-30P to 14-50R adapter doesn't set the amps at 24 automatically like a proper Tesla UMC adapter would, but it is simple enough to set the amps in the car to 24 before beginning charging. Forgetting to do so would likely trip the breaker on the RV pedestal (or worse).

I do the same with my homemade 14-30 adapter. The car will remember the amps setting at a particular location and use it as the default anytime you are charging at the same location — I have my home 14-50 charging set to 30 amps, to reduce the wear on my older version UMC, and I never have to reset that amperage.

 

[supratachophobia]

My aftermarket TT-30P to 14-50R adapter doesn't set the amps at 24 automatically like a proper Tesla UMC adapter would, but it is simple enough to set the amps in the car to 24 before beginning charging. Forgetting to do so would likely trip the breaker on the RV pedestal (or worse).

I do the same with my homemade 14-30 adapter. The car will remember the amps setting at a particular location and use it as the default anytime you are charging at the same location — I have my home 14-50 charging set to 30 amps, to reduce the wear on my older version UMC, and I never have to reset that amperage.

This is another reason it's nice to have the proper amperage adapter for the application. You don't have to remember to manually set amps this way.

 

[Rocky_H]

My aftermarket TT-30P to 14-50R adapter doesn't set the amps at 24 automatically like a proper Tesla UMC adapter would, but it is simple enough to set the amps in the car to 24 before beginning charging.

This is another reason it's nice to have the proper amperage adapter for the application. You don't have to remember to manually set amps this way.

For those of us that have those old TT-30 to 14-50 or 10-30 to 14-50 adapters that we used with the old 1st gen UMC, that's why it is not a bad idea to get the Tesla 14-30 and cut the neutral pin off. That way, you can use that to plug into those, and the current will automatically be set right because the Tesla 14-30 adapter attached to the UMC will have the right value.

 

[wws]

For those of us that have those old TT-30 to 14-50 or 10-30 to 14-50 adapters that we used with the old 1st gen UMC, that's why it is not a bad idea to get the Tesla 14-30 and cut the neutral pin off. That way, you can use that to plug into those, and the current will automatically be set right because the Tesla 14-30 adapter attached to the UMC will have the right value.

IMHO Tesla should simply ship the 14-30 adapter with the neutral blade pre-eliminated. Besides being more flexible, it would save them a few pennies in production costs too. I find 24 amps (@240v) is a fairly decent overnight charge rate.

 

[Rocky_H]

IMHO Tesla should simply ship the 14-30 adapter with the neutral blade pre-eliminated. Besides being more flexible, it would save them a few pennies in production costs too. I find 24 amps (@240v) is a fairly decent overnight charge rate.

I would guess that they would want to steer clear of a legal issue there, since a plug without that pin cannot legitimately be called a 14-30.

 

[Dithermaster]

I have the evseadapters TT-30 adapter for the gen 2 UMC. Yes it automagically sets max current to 24 amps. I even (ab)use it at 240v instead of 120v.

I have the same one. How can you use it on 240v instead of 120v? Is that up to the socket, or something you did with the adapter?

 

[wws]

I have the same one. How can you use it on 240v instead of 120v? Is that up to the socket, or something you did with the adapter?

I have a 6-30 receptacle in my garage. Historically the circuit was used by the previous owner of my house for a kiln. (It was actually a 50 amp circuit, but I've 'derated' it.) Since Tesla doesn't make a 6-30 adapter for the UMC, I made a 6-30P to TT-30R adapter/extension cable. Yes I could have just ordered a 6-30 adapter from evseadapters. But for various reasons I felt a TT-30 adapter would be more useful for more use cases.

It is a temporary situation. Eventually I plan to replace the old subpanel in my garage with something modern, and redo some of the wiring. That circuit will get relocated and perhaps changed to a 14-30 at the same time.

 

[Rocky_H]

I have the same one. How can you use it on 240v instead of 120v? Is that up to the socket, or something you did with the adapter?

You don't need to do anything at all to it. The adapter is important in telling the car how many amps are properly available, but it is a nice unpublished kind of feature that the car does not have any specific tie to a voltage level from the adapter. It will just detect and properly use whatever voltage comes in on the two pins.

So it does allow convenient adapting between 120V and 240V with no issues as long as you do match the current levels.
So if there are adapters Tesla did not offer, you could convert things like 14-30 to TT-30 or 5-20 to 6-20, etc.

 

[jboy210]

You don't need to do anything at all to it. The adapter is important in telling the car how many amps are properly available, but it is a nice unpublished kind of feature that the car does not have any specific tie to a voltage level from the adapter. It will just detect and properly use whatever voltage comes in on the two pins.

So it does allow convenient adapting between 120V and 240V with no issues as long as you do match the current levels.
So if there are adapters Tesla did not offer, you could convert things like 14-30 to TT-30 or 5-20 to 6-20, etc.

Is that the Adapter, or the car's charger circuit doing the adjustment? I always assumed it was the car's charger circuits since it can handling things like 206V at the local mall's chargers, etc. with just the Tesla to J-1772 adapter.

 

[tga]

Is that the Adapter, or the car's charger circuit doing the adjustment? I always assumed it was the car's charger circuits since it can handling things like 206V at the local mall's chargers, etc. with just the Tesla to J-1772 adapter.

If you mean voltage adjustment, it's handled by the charger in the car. The charger can handle a wide international input range, something like 90-277V, 50/60Hz.

The adapter contains a resistor that tells the UMC's J1772 control electronics the amperage rating of the plug. The UMC then uses J1772 signalling to tell the car the max amperage available (plug rating - 20%).

The UMC doesn't care about the voltage applied to the plug, with one exception - when feeding it 120V, line/neutral, it matters which plug blade gets line, and which gets neutral (definitely an issue with the old Gen 1 UMC, but I don't know about the newer Gen 2). The only time this is really an issue is when making a TT30 plug to 14-30R adapter, to charge from a 30A 120V RV outlet. If you get it wrong, you'll get a red LED on the UMC and it won't work. Swapping the leads at the plug fixes it.