Is your best friend a 3 pin plug?

[elecTED]

Would be interesting to know how folks are getting on with charging with just a 3 pin plug (Tesla Mobile Connector/Domestic Adapter)? ie, with no Tesla or other 3rd party EV wall connector installed

What kind of charge rates are you seeing?

Do you think you will be able to survive without an EV wall connector long term?

My use case is <10 miles on weekdays, perhaps 20-50 miles on weekends and 1 longer drive every 2-3 weeks, say 200-300 mile round trips. During school holidays my mileage goes up a fair bit.

Due to pickup SR+ on Friday, looked into some wall connectors but haven't rushed into a purchase yet as want to see how long I can comfortably survive without one.

 

[LukeT]

I can't give you a long term view because I'm only a month in but I have not been troubled much thus far going without a proper charge point. I have plans to put them in at two locations but have been very slow to make it happen, and this doesn't bother me. This is despite generally doing longer journeys (200 miles is common).

Overnight 3 pin charging will probably serve your needs on charge rate alone but you may have other issues. I use a few locations and experinces vary:
- Home has easy access to a 16a socket. Easy and materially quicker than 10a on a 3 pin.
- 1 Place I stayed a number of nights has a decent 13a socket but it's at nearly full cable stretch. OK. It won't be a regular stop.
- my stop for a couple of nights a week while working has shonky garage electrics so is at risk of tripping even charging at reduced amps. I just use superchargers til I sort this out.
- I've already left my UMC at home for one trip.
- the inconvenience of 15 mins at a supercharger is so small that I've done this quite a lot. I'm making the most of my referral miles.

 

[interbear]

I’ll need to do standard plug charging when visiting my parents in Scotland or in laws in rural Normandy but will need an extension cable to reach the car. Or 2 cables as I’ll need a different one in France obviously.

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

 

[davidmc]

I myself do not have a home charger (On Street Parking). I have used the UMC once on a Sunday and it adds roughly 10 miles every hour. Be careful with your milage! you may need to add a zero to the end of those numbers for the first few weeks/months! You will enjoy driving it too much I have done 1200 miles in 2 weeks (although half of that is work driving)!

If you have a good network of 50kw chargers around you this helps a lot (Polar is 15p/kw on their monthly subscription) or charging at work? The 50kw you can charge for about 12mins and add around 50 miles - Also some supermarkets/shopping centres that have free charging which are usually 7kw (this adds about 32 miles every hour) and handy for a top up.

It will take you a week or 2 to get use to it and find your own rhythm in how you want to charge.

And just enjoy it!

 

[davidmc]

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

I use my garden extension cable (The orange coloured one) as thats what i had at the time and seems to do the job

This type - https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/h0...t7r84t6VV7xcCHt1lDbNjbAH9p3A1c9UaArT3EALw_wcB

You can also get a Dribox Weatherproof connection box to keep the connections (or UMC) weather proof (The Range sell them)

https://www.therange.co.uk/applianc...eatherproof-electrical-connection-box/#587501

Hope that helps

 

[Compuguide]

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

Hopefully I'll be able to answer this in a week's time when my car arrives. I bought a "Masterplug 2 socket 15 meter Waterproof Case Reel" from Argos.

 

[Artiste]

I’ve had a couple of extension leads like these:

13amp Heavy Duty leads

I went for the single socket leads with optional 2.5mm “extreme” cable that’s rated at 24 amps. More than enough for EV charging through a three pin plug.

 

[LukeT]

There seems to be a general concensus not to run close to the limits on cable size vs length. I don't have the limits to hand but I also have 2.5mm cable. There are some excellent older threads on here about this.

There are also points about general quality. And I don't think any 3 pin connection is waterproof so connection and umc should really be boxed or in the dry. I have a much smaller box than the recommended dribox - it easily houses umc (is gen 2 smaller?) and connector but not the coiled cable for storage, so I wouldn't claim it's "better" though.

I made my own, but this was because I had the cable already, which is the expensive bit, and thought I'd build in a compact connector to go through a letterbox.

Here's mine including a link to the box I bought:
Extension leads and commando

 

[elecTED]

Thanks guys.

How do I make use of the Blue industrial adapter 16A? I'm assuming I would not get the benefit of the 16A if I plug it straight into a standard 3 pin socket currently in the garage?

 

[bjbrown]

Would be interesting to know how folks are getting on with charging with just a 3 pin plug (Tesla Mobile Connector/Domestic Adapter)? ie, with no Tesla or other 3rd party EV wall connector installed

What kind of charge rates are you seeing?

Do you think you will be able to survive without an EV wall connector long term?

My use case is <10 miles on weekdays, perhaps 20-50 miles on weekends and 1 longer drive every 2-3 weeks, say 200-300 mile round trips. During school holidays my mileage goes up a fair bit.

Due to pickup SR+ on Friday, looked into some wall connectors but haven't rushed into a purchase yet as want to see how long I can comfortably survive without one.

I’m getting 9 miles an hour with my 3 pin plug. No issues. 50 mile round trip commute to work, so topped up to 80% every night. Working like a dream. I have a Zappy 2 charger being installed in a couple of weeks.

 

[phillcom3]

Would be interesting to know how folks are getting on with charging with just a 3 pin plug (Tesla Mobile Connector/Domestic Adapter)? ie, with no Tesla or other 3rd party EV wall connector installed

What kind of charge rates are you seeing?

Do you think you will be able to survive without an EV wall connector long term?

My use case is <10 miles on weekdays, perhaps 20-50 miles on weekends and 1 longer drive every 2-3 weeks, say 200-300 mile round trips. During school holidays my mileage goes up a fair bit.

Due to pickup SR+ on Friday, looked into some wall connectors but haven't rushed into a purchase yet as want to see how long I can comfortably survive without one.

I have mine going in tomorrow simply because I don't have a plug outside being a terraced house and I don't want to leave my kitchen window open!

 

[phillcom3]

I’ll need to do standard plug charging when visiting my parents in Scotland or in laws in rural Normandy but will need an extension cable to reach the car. Or 2 cables as I’ll need a different one in France obviously.

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

I saw in an accessories kit lsit on I think youtube a good quality oen. it was about £15-20 though

 

[phillcom3]

oh I just thought bq have an excellent range of outdoor extension cables too either as plugged or as reals with 4 outputs.

 

[Fullerene]

How do I make use of the Blue industrial adapter 16A?

By getting a 16A blue commando socket installed. Also buying the adaptor for 32A with UMC is another option. The sockets are very cheap - tens of pounds, it's just the electrician cost. if you go down the 32A route then you'll be getting EVSE charging levels, twice the rate of 16A..

 

[Roy W.]

I’ll need to do standard plug charging when visiting my parents in Scotland or in laws in rural Normandy but will need an extension cable to reach the car. Or 2 cables as I’ll need a different one in France obviously.

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

I carry these in the car as well as the UMC:

Extension lead:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07281DHGK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Weatherproof socket box:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0046JTTIK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I do also have a weatherproof cable reel (15m I think) but I’ve only used that once in the four years I’ve had it, to charge the Leaf when on holiday.

When I first had the Leaf we were having the new garage built, so for the first five months all my home charging was done with the granny lead, trailing out through the lounge window.

One question - is the Tesla UMC weatherproof? I ask because of the way it uses the plug adapters. The granny chargers that came with the Leaf and the Kona were both weatherproof, so all I needed to protect was the plug and socket.

 

[davidmc]

One question - is the Tesla UMC weatherproof? I ask because of the way it uses the plug adapters. The granny chargers that came with the Leaf and the Kona were both weatherproof, so all I needed to protect was the plug and socket.

Apparently it is weatherproof, but lots of people mention that you need to keep it off the floor as it may get drowned in water if you get very heavy rain or snow - or keep it in a weatherproof box (such as mentioned here Is your best friend a 3 pin plug? )

 

[Jason71]

I’ll need to do standard plug charging when visiting my parents in Scotland or in laws in rural Normandy but will need an extension cable to reach the car. Or 2 cables as I’ll need a different one in France obviously.

Any tips on where to source good quality extension cables rated to handle EV charging in any weather conditions? For some reason I’m not convinced a standard extension cable from B&Q will suffice

I thought this one looked good for £20:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/pro-xt-13a-1-gang-unswitched-extension-lead-10m/4097x

 

[meavydev]

Speaking from experience with failing to charge an i3 with an extension lead that overheated, you need to make sure the cable isn't rolled up at all as well as being rated at 13A, as they assume fully unrolled in the rating.

 

[Grymbok]

I've been working with UMC and heavy duty extension cable too while I wait for my home charger to be fitted. Of course currently I'm having work done on the roof so can't even get my car on the drive anymore, but that wouldn't be any less of a problem with a fitted charger

 

[dst87]

We currently only have access to a 3 pin socket, and charging the Model 3 at about 9 miles per hour.

It’s definitely fast enough for our day to day, and we really haven’t noticed any concerns about range whatsoever. The 7kW charger we get in October will make edge cases easier to deal with, but so far we’ve had no problem.