I am not an Electrician

[Octo]

Why did you pull three wires? You can also only have 3 90s before a junction box (or LB)

The city building department / inspector for electrical required this (L1, L2, N all 3/0 copper and a #4 bare copper ground).

I asked about the 90s because there’s one section that has four 90s between boxes. This is apparently less about safety/functionality and more about feasibility/difficulty and with long sweeps and the Simpull wires it was possible (but difficult)

 

[qdeathstar]

The city building department / inspector for electrical required this (L1, L2, N all 3/0 copper and a #4 bare copper ground).

What did you do with the neutral wire? There is nothing to connect it to in the wall charger?

I asked about the 90s because there’s one section that has four 90s between boxes. This is apparently less about safety/functionality and more about feasibility/difficulty and with long sweeps and the Simpull wires it was possible (but difficult)

NEC, 358.26 living on the edge with the 4 bends...

 

[Octo]

What did you do with the neutral wire? There is nothing to connect it to in the wall charger?



NEC, 358.26 living on the edge with the 4 bends...

Yeah, it was borderline.

The 3/0 wires ended in a sub panel. This is not just for the car but for an addition to the house. There’s a 60amp breaker in the sub panel for the wall charger and then three 6 gauge wires (L1, L2, ground) to the wall charger. No neutral.

This panel will also supply power to a kitchen and the A/C, hence the 3/0 wires.

Car charges around 40 miles each hour with this setup.

 

[pscarroll]

I took the easier route. I bought a Dryer Buddy, used a long RV NEMA 14-50 extension cord to the detached garage, and manually set the car to charge at 24A (80% of 30A for continuous load). It works, but currently working on getting a proper underground install laid with 60A service to allow charging at the full 48A using the Tesla Wall Connector (which is also necessitating an upgrade in the house service amperage as it's an old house). I plan to keep the Dryer Buddy to use if and when I move to a place I have to rent, great product.

 

[voip-ninja]

What did you do with the neutral wire? There is nothing to connect it to in the wall charger?



NEC, 358.26 living on the edge with the 4 bends...

I ran a neutral wire (in Romex) for my HPWC installation. I did it so that if I ever wanted to repurpose the connection for a different type of charger or other application the neutral was already there. I terminated it in my sub-panel and capped it at the HPWC side. It's exactly what the county inspector had recommended.

 

[jebinc]

I ran a neutral wire (in Romex) for my HPWC installation. I did it so that if I ever wanted to repurpose the connection for a different type of charger or other application the neutral was already there. I terminated it in my sub-panel and capped it at the HPWC side. It's exactly what the county inspector had recommended.

Same. Ran 4 AWG as well. Future proof for 80 amp service.

 

[Octo]

Same. Ran 4 AWG as well. Future proof for 80 amp service.

I’m going to replace my 6 AWG with 4 AWG. It’s about 15ft long and I get quite a bit of voltage drop from the breaker to the Tesla wall unit when the car pulls 48A and the wire gets fairly warm (not hot but feverish warm to be scientific).

 

[jebinc]

I’m going to replace my 6 AWG with 4 AWG. It’s about 15ft long and I get quite a bit of voltage drop from the breaker to the Tesla wall unit when the car pulls 48A and the wire gets fairly warm (not hot but feverish warm to be scientific).

That's exactly why I used 4 AWG for my HPWC. It costs more, but what the heck...

 

[liuping]

I took the easier route. I bought a Dryer Buddy, used a long RV NEMA 14-50 extension cord to the detached garage, and manually set the car to charge at 24A (80% of 30A for continuous load).

I do not recommend doing this. My Model S periodically resets the charge rate to 40Amps.

If you have to do it, I'd get a NEMA14-50 to NEMA14-30 or NEMA10-30 adapter for the extension cord and put a NEMA 14-30 or 10-30 on the UMC. That way the Tesla will never charge higher then 24Amps. But that's also a lot of adapters, which would make me nervous.

At a minimum, please check the charge amps every time you do a software update.

 

[Akikiki]

So if the landlord won't acquiesce to his request for a subsidized EV outlet he should go see if he can get city/state to hassle the guy to give it to him?

Did the landlord advertise that the home/apartment came with EV charging? No? Then if they don't see any value in adding it then it's nobody's damn business but theirs as it's their property.

Oh, I see you're from Hawaii.... well that explains a lot.

Good points ninjia.

 

[teqnic]

Hi. Electrician here. The dryer outlet without a ground is perfectly fine to use to charge the tesla. Old dryer outlets had the case of the dryer bonded to the neutral of dryer, as the dryer required 110v for its lightsgue and timer circuits. However, the neutral wire of the circuit is bonded to the ground at your panel. Because the tesla charger does not require a neutral, you can essential treat the neutral eire as a ground wire in this case.

The goo is definitely anti oxidation compound, which is perfectly fine. My only concern is now that you took the outlet out, making sure you have the correct torque on the screws is important, most homeowners do not tighten them enough, and that will result in a fire.

Choice 2 is the better choice because it will ground the tesla charger, despite the fact it is using the “neutral” conductor.

You definitely do not need to run a new wire, but the extension cords will really need to be monitored and replaced at the first sigh of corrosion/damage

Hey thanks, that definitely helped clear things up. I figured #2 was the better option. Against others recommendations, I will be trying the extension cord route. I will be sure to monitor it during the first few times for excess heat.
I went with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KNRY1Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another electrician. Please note, that is Aluminum wire Thus the compound. It requires special consideration and handling. Do not ring strip the cable. If you are just replacing, you should be OK if you torque the connections well. You can also put a DYMO tape on the receptacle with some words (just to raise letters) if the letters shrink back down you have a HEAT ISSUE.

See those are the cool tricks that us DIY'ers have no idea about. I went ahead and scheduled an electrician to come out on Monday and will learn from him. This Aluminum wiring seems to take a little extra special care, so I'll leave it to the pros. Thanks!

Also just make sure the new outlet you bough is compatible with aluminum wire, if it isn't you'll need to get one that is, or if it is allowed in your area get some al-cu splices and make some pigtail cables to the outlet. You don't want to use a copper only outlet with aluminum cable.

That was a good point. I almost got one that wanted copper only, that could have turned out bad in the long run. I double checked the one I got and it looks to be happy to receive both copper and aluminum, but I'll let the electrician give me the thumbs up!


Thanks for everybody's help with this, it definitely made me realize that it's just not worth the risk because of my inexperience. However, there are many who have been successful with extension cords -- so I will take the warning to heart and proceed very cautiously. Hopefully the electrician gives me the big thumbs up on Monday.