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Living with 120V - 8000 miles and counting

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My summary. Don’t play game with the 120 and always be checking and anything. Just get 240 and move on.
We also recently installed 240v, and not even needing to think about plugging in or just skipping because the car can fully charge in an hour anyway is some relieved mental capacity. We've had the Model 3 for over a year now with 20k miles, and 120v charging at home was fine. There was maybe one or two instances where we needed to charge up for a trip, and fortunately we have a Supercharger 2 miles away.

Before getting the 240v, I did do some quick mental math of how much it would cost to install the outlet vs charging (in)efficiency of 120v, but we got a great deal with an electrician who was already doing some electrical work to install the outlet for free (directly behind the electrical panel).
 
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Great data! Thanks!

I too plug in with 120v anywhere I can when on trips, though I am super glad to have 240v charging at home. I have 48a capability and so it is hilarious overkill (I also only drive 30 miles a day most days).

I did just want to point out that running your cooling pump for so long for charging might not be fantastic. Many folks have claimed there is no benefit to charging slower since even 48a at 240v is hilariously slow compared to a supercharger. No risk to the battery.

Also, what others said about winter is true. I would really not want to rely on 120v in cold weather. The car uses a lot more when it is cold and it has to heat the battery before charging (which may not be possible at 120v if it is extremely cold), and you can’t do morning warm up from “shore power” like I can on 240v. :)

I thought 120v @12 amp. was fine until my first cold night, it was depleting the battery significantly heating up the battery before it starts to charge. I stop using the new software to preheat and charge before going to work. I charge right when I come home. If it is super cold, I would charge up and set it to preheat and be readyI leave. Now I wonder how much improvement it is changing the plug to 20 amp.

I'm avoiding 220v only because it is a 140 feet run to my garage.
 
Alright, so I had alluded to 120V possibly being safe for the battery as I had no notable degradation at 8000 miles. I’m up to 10500 miles now and over the last 7 days, my range at 100 percent (estimated from a 90% charge) has reduced from 325 to 313.
 
I'm also in the same situation where I can only charge with 120v (inside a non climate controlled garage).

I'd like to ask a couple questions on this.

So far it works fine and it's able to charge pulling 15A constantly. Is this going to be too harsh on the electrical wiring in the garage? (I don't have access to the breaker box and from what I can tell, it's not the 20A outlet, doesn't have the T shaped pin hole). Also worth mentioning, everything is fairly new, the apt complex was built in 2013.

After about 10 hours of charging, pulling 2kW at about 113-114v (what the car shows), the wall outlet is a bit warm. For now I'd say not concerning but I'd like to know if possible, how warm is too warm in this case?
 
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.....After about 10 hours of charging, pulling 2kW at about 113-114v (what the car shows), the wall outlet is a bit warm. For now I'd say not concerning but I'd like to know if possible, how warm is too warm in this case?
First, unless you have the t-socket, it’s 15A but the car should only pull 12A continuously or 1.44 KW. Yes, I know my car say 2KW too, but I can do the math and 1.44 rounds down to 1KW for everyone else but Tesla.o_O Second, you should be fine if you can physically touch the outlet without feeling hot, but......Here are a few things to do to feel safer. Check every socket on that circuit for heat during charging. This is especially important if you’re not using the first one, closest to the panel. Check tightness on all wire connections (with circuit off of course) and whether wires are looped around screws inside (better) or just pushed in the back. Finally, make sure the EVSE brick is not pulling on the prongs. The connection needs to be tight and the extra weight can pull the prongs out. I mounted my EVSE with nails on either side and wrapped across with string so that I can unhook and take the EVSE on road trips.

Finally, if you’re not comfortable with any of this, get a knowledgeable friend or electrician out. I lived in a new house in TX and I suggest that you be VERY careful. True story: My electric heater worked for an hour or so then clicked off. I didn’t worry about it the first two winters since I was still acclimated to the North and didn’t need the heat. The 3rd winter I got colder, so I went up into the attic to see what the problem was and, boom, arc flash!!!!! I immediately called an electrician who discovered that the main connection lugs weren’t tightened down! The idiot installer didn’t tighten the bolts. Now in hindsight, I didn’t need the guy and could’ve done it myself, but wow that flash was very scary. You can’t be too careful.

Not to scare you, but there have been a couple of minor fires reported by EVs charging on 120V. I’ve been doing it for 8 years with two EVs on separate circuits and feel very safe. However, my situation is definitely different than most. My panel is in the basement, 100-150 feet from my garage, through two 8” concrete walls, my electricity is $0.07/KWh, my commute is 10 miles, and winter is pretty mild. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but it can work for low mileage drivers.
 
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I'm also in the same situation where I can only charge with 120v (inside a non climate controlled garage).

I'd like to ask a couple questions on this.

So far it works fine and it's able to charge pulling 15A constantly. Is this going to be too harsh on the electrical wiring in the garage? (I don't have access to the breaker box and from what I can tell, it's not the 20A outlet, doesn't have the T shaped pin hole). Also worth mentioning, everything is fairly new, the apt complex was built in 2013.

After about 10 hours of charging, pulling 2kW at about 113-114v (what the car shows), the wall outlet is a bit warm. For now I'd say not concerning but I'd like to know if possible, how warm is too warm in this case?
Mine get's a little warm too but I don't think it anything to worry about. I'm also parked in an open garage.
 
I'm also in the same situation where I can only charge with 120v (inside a non climate controlled garage).

I'd like to ask a couple questions on this.

So far it works fine and it's able to charge pulling 15A constantly. Is this going to be too harsh on the electrical wiring in the garage? (I don't have access to the breaker box and from what I can tell, it's not the 20A outlet, doesn't have the T shaped pin hole). Also worth mentioning, everything is fairly new, the apt complex was built in 2013.
How are you able to pull 15A continuous current? Do you have some kind of kludged together set of pigtail adapters to change from one plug type to another? Are you using the regular Tesla 5-15 adapter plug? If you are using that, it should be limiting it to 12A, and it can't go up to 15A.
 
How are you able to pull 15A continuous current? Do you have some kind of kludged together set of pigtail adapters to change from one plug type to another? Are you using the regular Tesla 5-15 adapter plug? If you are using that, it should be limiting it to 12A, and it can't go up to 15A.

No idea. It's just the regular Tesla mobile charger with the 5-15 adapter. If I switch to mph it charges at 5 mph which is definitely more than I heard the Model S does with a regular 120v outlet. I dropped the limit to 14A from the car just to be safe but it was stable before at 15A too.

I'll post some pics tomorrow.
 
No idea. It's just the regular Tesla mobile charger with the 5-15 adapter. If I switch to mph it charges at 5 mph which is definitely more than I heard the Model S does with a regular 120v outlet. I dropped the limit to 14A from the car just to be safe but it was stable before at 15A too.
Oh, so that's for real? I was only half seriously asking, because I was sure it was really 12A and you would realize that when you checked. That is defective then. You should get in touch with Tesla to have them replace either the adapter or UMC, whichever it is that has this problem. The 5-15 adapter should always be limiting that to 12A maximum.
 
Oh, so that's for real? I was only half seriously asking, because I was sure it was really 12A and you would realize that when you checked. That is defective then. You should get in touch with Tesla to have them replace either the adapter or UMC, whichever it is that has this problem. The 5-15 adapter should always be limiting that to 12A maximum.

Is it possible this is an older gen UMC and it doesn't detect the adapters?

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg
 
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Whoa. This is even more weird than I thought.
Is it possible this is an older gen UMC and it doesn't detect the adapters?
It is a first generation UMC, as I can see from the adapter plug shape; mine is too. But they are all supposed to signal the proper number of amps. The way they work is that they have a small resistor inside the adapter with various values. The main box in the UMC detects for what that resistor value is, and knows the proper current limit to announce to the car.

Now the really weird thing from your pictures is that when the UMC sends the amp signal, it announces that as a maximum. So yours should be showing "12 / 12" if that adapter were working properly. That would be using the full 12 amps out of 12 maximum allowable. Yours is showing 15 / 32. That 32A upper limit is very strange. On the 1st gen UMC in the USA, they never made any that would use a 32A limit. The higher power ones like 6-50 and 14-50 would announce a 40A limit. Canada had some trouble with the national electrical authority, and they had to replace everyone's 50 amp adapter types with ones that internally had a different resistor that would signal for a 32A limit. But you are in Texas, not Canada, and that's not a 50A plug type anyway, so irrelevant. That is definitely defective somehow.

As for what you are doing and should do, it depends on what that outlet really is. You are only supposed to run 80% continuously of what the actual circuit rating is. So for a 15A circuit, you can use 12. For a 20A circuit, you can use 16. A lot of circuits in modern houses are run as 20A circuits, and code allows a mix of 15 or 20 amp physical outlet types on them. So even though that outlet may look like a 5-15, it might be on a 20A circuit, and your 15A level could be OK.

But if that outlet really is on a 15A circuit, that is probably thinner wire, and using it at the full 100% capacity of 15A continuously is dangerous, and you need to turn that down to 12.
 
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Whoa. This is even more weird than I thought.....snip....
But if that outlet really is on a 15A circuit, that is probably thinner wire, and using it at the full 100% capacity of 15A continuously is dangerous, and you need to turn that down to 12.
+1 Rocky is dead on. Turn that thing down to 12A prontissimo!
 
Whoa. This is even more weird than I thought.

It is a first generation UMC, as I can see from the adapter plug shape; mine is too. But they are all supposed to signal the proper number of amps. The way they work is that they have a small resistor inside the adapter with various values. The main box in the UMC detects for what that resistor value is, and knows the proper current limit to announce to the car.

Now the really weird thing from your pictures is that when the UMC sends the amp signal, it announces that as a maximum. So yours should be showing "12 / 12" if that adapter were working properly. That would be using the full 12 amps out of 12 maximum allowable. Yours is showing 15 / 32. That 32A upper limit is very strange. On the 1st gen UMC in the USA, they never made any that would use a 32A limit. The higher power ones like 6-50 and 14-50 would announce a 40A limit. Canada had some trouble with the national electrical authority, and they had to replace everyone's 50 amp adapter types with ones that internally had a different resistor that would signal for a 32A limit. But you are in Texas, not Canada, and that's not a 50A plug type anyway, so irrelevant. That is definitely defective somehow.

As for what you are doing and should do, it depends on what that outlet really is. You are only supposed to run 80% continuously of what the actual circuit rating is. So for a 15A circuit, you can use 12. For a 20A circuit, you can use 16. A lot of circuits in modern houses are run as 20A circuits, and code allows a mix of 15 or 20 amp physical outlet types on them. So even though that outlet may look like a 5-15, it might be on a 20A circuit, and your 15A level could be OK.

But if that outlet really is on a 15A circuit, that is probably thinner wire, and using it at the full 100% capacity of 15A continuously is dangerous, and you need to turn that down to 12.

Good news! It's a 20A circuit. 20A breaker and 12GA copper wire.

I'll set it to 16A tomorrow and see how things work...