How to test standard 110/120 V outlet?

[doghousePVD]

Ummmm, I'm looking at the picture of that item right now, and one blade is vertical and one blade is horizontal. That is a 5-20 plug. What are you looking at?

Looking closely you are right, the male is 5-20. I was looking at the 5-15 female.

 

[Rocky_H]

That picture shows a cable too small to be 12 awg wire.

You can't judge that by looking at the outer insulation size like that. There could be a lot of different ratios of how thick the internal wire is versus how thick the insulating rubber insulation is, and the choice of that usually would have to do with what kind of use you expect. I have a very heavy duty looking 10 foot cable at home that has a really thick cord, and it's only 16 gauge wire in it. They put extra thick insulation on cords that they expect will be getting rugged use being scraped and dragged across stuff and scratched and gouged, and they're trying to protect it from getting cut too deep in to where the wire is.

But with a short adapter cord like this, they can use cable that has a different ratio of thicker wire with thinner insulation, because it's not going to be subjected to rough scraping kind of use that would need as thick protective sleeve around it.

 

[Rocky_H]

Looking closely you are right, the male is 5-20. I was looking at the 5-15 female.

...which is also a 5-20 female. See the "T" shaped slot?

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I reached-out to the seller to ask about this. Here's the response that I got. I can't wait to see what I actually receive -->

Hi buyer

this is 12AWG SJTW cord, it is 20amp male to 20amp female T blade power cord, it works in 125V 20Amp, the picture of the female with 15Amp mark is not correct, the item you received with 20A mark on the female side.

it is our person edit the picture use 15A receptacle,


sorry for this

Lynn

OMG, you have access to a 5-20 socket !!!
Strongly suggest you get the 5-20 adapter from Tesla ($35) and then you should be able to charge at 16A continuous.

 

[gavine]

OMG, you have access to a 5-20 socket !!!
Strongly suggest you get the 5-20 adapter from Tesla ($35) and then you should be able to charge at 16A continuous.

Yes, but a couple of concerns. One is that this extension cord with which I hijacked this thread is suspect for using on a 20A outlet. I'm not comfortable with that. Second, the 12A charging is plenty fast for my daily needs and, in a pinch, I have two supercharger locations within a mile away. Lastly, these outlets are sharing breakers. I think there are 3 outlets per breaker (maybe only 2) and I'm not the only one charging sometimes. If I charge at 16A, that circuit will be maxed and if someone else plugs-in, the breaker will trip. Technically, it could trip even at 12A if someone else plugs-in at 12A so I guess it's moot.

 

[tameware]

Thanks for all the replies!

I think I figured out what's going on. Some of the outlets can deliver at least 12 AMPs, some a little less. When I plug into one of the "a little less" outlets the car quickly trips the GFCI in the outlet. If I use the touchscreen to lower the amperage draw to 10W the car charges successfully if a little more slowly.

For reference, here are the messages displayed - they might alternate:

AC Charging Interrupted
Check power source and charging equipment

Unable to charge
Check charging equipment

 

[tameware]

I now think I was mistaken about some of the outlets providing fewer than 12 Amps.

I discovered that I will reliably trip the GFCI, even if I've dialed the amperage down to 5, if I plug the cable into the car first and the outlet second. If I plug into the wall first all is well. There's probably something in the manual about this, but it has not caused me problems in other locations.

 

[gavine]

I now think I was mistaken about some of the outlets providing fewer than 12 Amps.

I discovered that I will reliably trip the GFCI, even if I've dialed the amperage down to 5, if I plug the cable into the car first and the outlet second. If I plug into the wall first all is well. There's probably something in the manual about this, but it has not caused me problems in other locations.

I'm not sure why, but I always felt like it was wrong to plug-into the car before the wall.

 

[Rocky_H]

I discovered that I will reliably trip the GFCI, even if I've dialed the amperage down to 5, if I plug the cable into the car first and the outlet second. If I plug into the wall first all is well. There's probably something in the manual about this, but it has not caused me problems in other locations.

I'm not sure why, but I always felt like it was wrong to plug-into the car before the wall.

Yeah, I cringed just reading about it being done that way.

 

[dgatwood]

I now think I was mistaken about some of the outlets providing fewer than 12 Amps.

I discovered that I will reliably trip the GFCI, even if I've dialed the amperage down to 5, if I plug the cable into the car first and the outlet second. If I plug into the wall first all is well. There's probably something in the manual about this, but it has not caused me problems in other locations.

My Model X used to reliably trip the GFCI at my house as soon as it started to actually draw power. I rewired the outlets to use independent GFCIs for each outlet instead of using a single GFCI to provide downstream protection to all the GFCI outlets, but that still didn't help. What did help was switching out the brand-new GFCI outlet with one made by a different company. The triggering current varies significantly from brand to brand, and apparently the ones I used initially were apparently more picky.

 

[gavine]

I can’t believe I didn’t notice that it was stamped with 15A on it. I’m not going to use it with a 5-20 adapter so hopefully it’s better with the 5-15 adapter vs. what I’m currently using. I’ll,report back when I get it and let you all know what it’s like.

I received the cord and it is indeed stamped with "20A" on it (not 15A). It is quite thick and heavy. It also has a UL-certified sticker on it.

 

[gavine]

I received the cord and it is indeed stamped with "20A" on it (not 15A). It is quite thick and heavy. It also has a UL-certified sticker on it.

Used it today. It was cold to the touch after several hours of charging, whereas my 15A cord would get very warm.