I had an i3. Installed a 6-50 Clipper Creek Charger. When I use the adapter Tesla supplied with my X, I’m getting about 21 MPH of charging with the CC. It will cost me about $300 to have an electrician rewire to a 14-50 so I can use the Tesla travel charger. Cost/Benefit--Is it worth the $300 to make the change. What charging rate could I expect with the 14-50 and the supplied T travel charger?
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Ebony Star
Member
It's the amps of the circuit that maters. What is the amperage of your Clipper Creek charger? If you already have a 50A circuit you could just buy the UMC 6-50 adapter and automatically charge at 40A. If your circuit is only 40A there would be two benefits to having the electrician run a 50A circuit-- you would charge 20% faster and be able to use a UMC adapter.
NeverFollow
Active Member
Solarman004
Member
davewill
Active Member
It could be an cheap as $45 to just buy the 6-50 adapter for the UMC...but as TexasEV pointed out, you need to confirm you have the right breaker and wiring to handle 40 amps of continuous load.
Unless you have pretty extreme driving needs, I wouldn't bother. My X has been fine charging at 32A for the last year, and I've never wished for a faster home connection - the only reasons I can imagine it mattering are a short super off peak rate on time of use with a long typical drive or a short turn around between a couple long drives during the day.
Probably not worth it. I have been living with my "previously installed" Clipper Creek HCS 40P "30A" EVSE just fine for at home / overnight charging. It is however plugged into a 14-50 with 50A breaker "on circuit wiring rated for 60A breaker" so I can if needed or wanted just unplug the EVSE and plug in my UMC. Here's what I would consider good reasons to upgrade in your situation
1. You arrive home with <20% charge remaining daily "drive a lot of miles daily" and considering "winter range" which can be considerably less requiring more time on the plug to cover the same distances.
2. You are in a TOU system that has a reduced rate charge window too narrow for you to fully recover the range needs for the next day when charging at 21 MPH or approx. 30Amps.
3. Your schedule takes you off the plug very early in the morning with typically late arrivals back home with no charging support at your destinations daily when in the wild. "see # 2 "
4.Your X is a 100kwh pack and your charge window does not allow enough time based on daily usage to charge to the "Tesla recommended 90% (some would say this is a non issue but hey the engineers who built it recommend it so I'll trust them).
5. You want to maximize available range for quicker "turn arounds" on weekends , evenings, etc.
6. You want to bake in a bit of "future proofing" for unforeseen changes such as a change in commute "job change"?. An additional BEV added to the stable? An additional driver coming of age?
If none of those things "and probably many more" don't affect or apply to you then life @ 30 Amps / 21 mph. is likely just fine.
1. You arrive home with <20% charge remaining daily "drive a lot of miles daily" and considering "winter range" which can be considerably less requiring more time on the plug to cover the same distances.
2. You are in a TOU system that has a reduced rate charge window too narrow for you to fully recover the range needs for the next day when charging at 21 MPH or approx. 30Amps.
3. Your schedule takes you off the plug very early in the morning with typically late arrivals back home with no charging support at your destinations daily when in the wild. "see # 2 "
4.Your X is a 100kwh pack and your charge window does not allow enough time based on daily usage to charge to the "Tesla recommended 90% (some would say this is a non issue but hey the engineers who built it recommend it so I'll trust them).
5. You want to maximize available range for quicker "turn arounds" on weekends , evenings, etc.
6. You want to bake in a bit of "future proofing" for unforeseen changes such as a change in commute "job change"?. An additional BEV added to the stable? An additional driver coming of age?
If none of those things "and probably many more" don't affect or apply to you then life @ 30 Amps / 21 mph. is likely just fine.
Thanks. tccartier. None of these factors concern me. I have solar at my home which generates excess power. I’m all electric and have not paid a utility bill (except water) for 3 years. I don’t have TOC metering since there is no need and you are right, just plugging it in whenever is fine. It is kind of a weird feeling--I plugged in my i3 daily. If I forgot, I was in trouble the next day. With the 100D I just care once or twice a week. I’m actually trying to discipline myself to let it get down to 40% before charging. It is a 50 Amp breaker but only a 32 amp charger draw. To simply swap out the receptacle would cost only $100. I do like using the Tesla cord in contrast to using an adapter.
There is no reason to do that. Get in the habit of plugging in whenever you get home (it takes all of 10 seconds) and let the battery management system manage the battery. Perhaps you haven't read the battery section of the owners manual where it says to do this IN UPPER CASE. Or perhaps you havent seen the question answered dozens of times with a link to this:
A connected Model S is a happy Model S
Sounds like you'd be fine charging at 32A. * One thing I did was pick up a second J1772 adaptor that I leave connected to my Clipper Creek all the time, leaving the other one in the car for J1772 use in the wild. Thanks to years of conditioning driving my Volt I'm used to having to open the charge port door before getting out of the car, so don't miss being able to do it with the Tesla connector, lol!!
A couple of thoughts on opening the charge port. If you have one of the newer cars, like since the 2016 refresh, pressing on the corner of the charge port door will open it. For the older cars that don't have that function, they can still open the door with the key fob--don't know if you knew about that. Press the rear trunk button and hold it for about 3-4 seconds.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
I use a 32a 240v L2 GE Wattstation and am perfectly happy with the charge speed on my S. To avoid having to plug an adapter repeatedly, I just bought an extra L2 adapter from Tesla and leave it plugged in to the end of the EVSE all the time. Works great. Only downsides are no charge handle button to open port and you have to do the semi-awkward double handed disconnect to keep adapter connected to EVSE plug, but those are minor things.
Thanks for the info - I wasn't aware of that, but my concern was unlocking the adapter from the car - there's a physical piece that locks the charging adapter to the charge port.
davewill
Active Member
That's what Skotty was referring to with his "double handed unplug". Pushing the latch button on the J1772 releases the adapter from the car, but you need to pull the adapter out along with the J1772 plug, which takes two hands, one on the plug and one on the adapter, since the J1772 isn't latched to the adapter.
But don't you still need to go into the car, view the controls screen, then click on the "Unlock" section to get that adapter to unlock from the car? Or does holding the trunk button on the fob do that for you? I've even had trouble with that using the button on the connector, with it locking right back in a fraction of a second after unlocking.
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