Master Thread: Definitive 14-50 NEMA Outlet Guide

[CosmosMpower]

I had an electrician install my 14-50. He used a Bryant 14-50 with 6AWG copper on a short 2-3 foot run just below my panel with a 50 amp breaker.

I’ve been using a gen 2 mobile charger at 32 amps and 240ish volts for a few days no issues.

I bought a used gen 1 mobile charger mostly as a backup but Can I safely use it with Teslas gen 1 14-50 adaptor at 40 amps instead of 32 amps without any issue? I figure 40 amps out of 50 amp breaker is 80% capacity and 6awg should be plenty to support 40 amps right?

 

[Sophias_dad]

I had an electrician install my 14-50. He used a Bryant 14-50 with 6AWG copper on a short 2-3 foot run just below my panel with a 50 amp breaker.

I’ve been using a gen 2 mobile charger at 32 amps and 240ish volts for a few days no issues.

I bought a used gen 1 mobile charger mostly as a backup but Can I safely use it with Teslas gen 1 14-50 adaptor at 40 amps instead of 32 amps without any issue? I figure 40 amps out of 50 amp breaker is 80% capacity and 6awg should be plenty to support 40 amps right?

Yes, its fine!

 

[Biscuitman]

My electrician installed my 14-50 plug upside down at my chalet. Should I get him to correct this or is this strictly cosmetic?

 

[Zinzan]

Well, it's not strictly cosmetic, as a lot of mobile charger supports are designed for the unit to hang down. You could make it work like this, but you probably ought to have specified to the electrician how you wanted it.

If you can get him to flip it without charge, I'd get him to flip it. But you are not the only one with the outlet oriented like this.

 

[bluetrep1]

sigh, we use 6-gauge wire, high quality outlet to reduce energy lose to heat, but cheap Tesla UMC use thinner gauge wire, even thinner than other brand 120v only connector, it gets pretty warm at 240v and wastes lots of energy, every minute ,every car.

 

[stopcrazypp]

sigh, we use 6-gauge wire, high quality outlet to reduce energy lose to heat, but cheap Tesla UMC use thinner gauge wire, even thinner than other brand 120v only connector, it gets pretty warm at 240v and wastes lots of energy, every minute ,every car.

What wire gauge does it use for the power pins? Are you talking about the 14-50 end or the end that plugs into the car? I wasn't able to find it. Given the short distance, it may not need as thick a wire gauge. 6 gauge for the outlet is to allow for up to 150 feet long runs.

 

[bluetrep1]

What wire gauge does it use for the power pins? Are you talking about the 14-50 end or the end that plugs into the car? I wasn't able to find it. Given the short distance, it may not need as thick a wire gauge. 6 gauge for the outlet is to allow for up to 150 feet long runs.

both tesla wires get warm. I touch my own 6 guage wire , it is cold and almost 0 heat lose. the cable of UMC is definitely for 15A only.

 

[bluetrep1]

My electrician installed my 14-50 plug upside down at my chalet. Should I get him to correct this or is this strictly cosmetic?

My guess: Because the 6 wire is so rigid, the electrician feel this way is easier (without bending). I suggest you leave it as is. when I install mine, I did lots of planning on how to route the wire to avoid upside down AND minimum bending.

 

[Sophias_dad]

both tesla wires get warm. I touch my own 6 guage wire , it is cold and almost 0 heat lose. the cable of UMC is definitely for 15A only.

I guarantee that the short 14-50 adapter is running at least 8 gauge wire. If it were 12 or 14 gauge it would be literally melting its insulation off. 'Warm' wires are not a significant power loss(a few watts per foot, at most) compared to the ~6000 being delivered to the car.

The long wire from the UMC body to the car is at least 10 gauge, I bet. More likely 8 gauge.

Notably, it probably isn't difficult to figure out the gauge. Look at the voltage at the plug end when charging compared to the voltage the car is reporting, and you'll get the power dissipation of the entire UMC assembly(adapter/body/cable-to-car). P=IxV, where I is probably 32 for you, and V is the voltage loss between those two points. If the run back to the main panel and beyond is short, you can also just use the voltage the car reports when not charging to the voltage it reports when charging. This method is considerably less precise because it will ignore the losses in the wire leading from your panel to your outlet and even from the nearest transformer to your panel(although hopefully those will be low). These measurements must be taken very close together in time, since the input voltage(from the transformer to your house) has a WIDE allowed range and it may go up or down by 10+ volts in a span of seconds or minutes.

 

[stopcrazypp]

both tesla wires get warm. I touch my own 6 guage wire , it is cold and almost 0 heat lose. the cable of UMC is definitely for 15A only.

I don't think that's necessarily an accurate test of wire gauge, given there's other sources of heat in the UMC (given there are other electronics inside) and the thermal conductivity of the wires may vary. I thought you took it apart and looked at the wire gauge.

 

[bluetrep1]

I guarantee that the short 14-50 adapter is running at least 8 gauge wire. If it were 12 or 14 gauge it would be literally melting its insulation off. 'Warm' wires are not a significant power loss(a few watts per foot, at most) compared to the ~6000 being delivered to the car.

The long wire from the UMC body to the car is at least 10 gauge, I bet. More likely 8 gauge.

Notably, it probably isn't difficult to figure out the gauge. Look at the voltage at the plug end when charging compared to the voltage the car is reporting, and you'll get the power dissipation of the entire UMC assembly(adapter/body/cable-to-car). P=IxV, where I is probably 32 for you, and V is the voltage loss between those two points. If the run back to the main panel and beyond is short, you can also just use the voltage the car reports when not charging to the voltage it reports when charging. This method is considerably less precise because it will ignore the losses in the wire leading from your panel to your outlet and even from the nearest transformer to your panel(although hopefully those will be low). These measurements must be taken very close together in time, since the input voltage(from the transformer to your house) has a WIDE allowed range and it may go up or down by 10+ volts in a span of seconds or minutes.

I don't think that's necessarily an accurate test of wire gauge, given there's other sources of heat in the UMC (given there are other electronics inside) and the thermal conductivity of the wires may vary. I thought you took it apart and looked at the wire gauge.

The conductivity of wire not only depends on gauge, but also depends on the material, the 6/3 wire we bought from home depot/lowes is high quality and high conductivity, that is why it is cold even at 32A. If tesla UMC use same or bigger gauge, then the only reason of excessive heat is because the cable is made of low quality material , aka, less copper mixing with more low conductivity metal. But, there is another possibility I should check, is that the heat from UMC is transferred to the cable. To find out, I can start charging , and check the cable temperature within a few minutes , before the heat from UMC is transferred.

 

[Mike95112]

Hi!

Just wanted to say this thread/forum is awesome! Does anyone have any experience with the Enerlites 14-50 receptacle?

Amazon.com

My gut instinct is that, based on the $10 price, it's as junky as the Leviton?

Thank you!

Mike

 

[bluetrep1]

Hi!

Just wanted to say this thread/forum is awesome! Does anyone have any experience with the Enerlites 14-50 receptacle?

Amazon.com

My gut instinct is that, based on the $10 price, it's as junky as the Leviton?

Thank you!

Mike

it is better than Leviton based on the video

.
But I recommend go to Lowes to buy the utilitech one. it is good quality to handle 32A. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-Black-50-Amp-Round-Range-Industrial-Range/3775483 .you can see post #331 to see the photo.

 

[jwharnish]

Hi!

Just wanted to say this thread/forum is awesome! Does anyone have any experience with the Enerlites 14-50 receptacle?

Amazon.com

My gut instinct is that, based on the $10 price, it's as junky as the Leviton?

Thank you!

Mike

What did you pay for your car? Don't charge it with cheap stuff. Get the good stuff for your good car. I tried a Leviton initially, did get 2 years out of it before started having overheating issues. Went with the Hubbell.
My car loves the Hubbell, it told me so. ( that is not true, I think)

 

[Mike95112]

What did you pay for your car? Don't charge it with cheap stuff. Get the good stuff for your good car. I tried a Leviton initially, did get 2 years out of it before started having overheating issues. Went with the Hubbell.
My car loves the Hubbell, it told me so. ( that is not true, I think)

Thanks @bluetrep1 and @jwharnish for the advice.

Totally agree with you! But those amazon reviews for the Enerlites seemed pretty tempting. haha!

Gonna get the Bryant, since the Hubbells seem harder to get now (at a reasonable price).

Thank you!

Mike

 

[pcmike]

I have electrician coming tomorrow to install a 14-50 and I’m curious what the current consensus is in which outlet to use? This thread seems to go back years.. back to when Hubbells and Bryant’s were in the $60-79 range on Amazon. Currently the Hubbell is $148 on Amazon. I found out about the Hubbell with literally 5mins to order from Amazon before I wouldn’t have it for tomorrow, so I paid the $148. That being said I ended up watching some YouTubes and did some reading and it seems like the Enerlites 14-50 for $10 on Amazon is used by quite a bit of people and seems to work just as well, so I ordered one of those too.

I plan on just plugging the mobile connector in and leaving it, not taking it in and out, ever. Is the Hubbell really worth the $130 premium? Would I be fine with the Enerlites? $130 is a massive difference.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I have electrician coming tomorrow to install a 14-50 and I’m curious what the current consensus is in which outlet to use? This thread seems to go back years.. back to when Hubbells and Bryant’s were in the $60-79 range on Amazon. Currently the Hubbell is $148 on Amazon. I found out about the Hubbell with literally 5mins to order from Amazon before I wouldn’t have it for tomorrow, so I paid the $148. That being said I ended up watching some YouTubes and did some reading and it seems like the Enerlites 14-50 for $10 on Amazon is used by quite a bit of people and seems to work just as well, so I ordered one of those too.

I plan on just plugging the mobile connector in and leaving it, not taking it in and out, ever. Is the Hubbell really worth the $130 premium? Would I be fine with the Enerlites? $130 is a massive difference.

The Bryant is almost identical to the Hubbell (it's also made by the same company) and only $46 from Grainger:
https://www.grainger.com/product/49YY93

But it's looking like it's too late for you to switch unless your local Grainger has it in stock (you can check on the website).

For the Enerlites, the negative reviews largely complain about stripped terminals, so I guess that is what to look out for.

 

[pcmike]

The Bryant is almost identical to the Hubbell (it's also made by the same company) and only $46 from Grainger:
https://www.grainger.com/product/49YY93

But it's looking like it's too late for you to switch unless your local Grainger has it in stock (you can check on the website).

For the Enerlites, the negative reviews largely complain about stripped terminals, so I guess that is what to look out for.

Looks like I’m making a 2hr round trip to Miami to get the Bryant version. Will the Hubbell faceplate be the one to get while I’m down there at grainger or is there something else from grainger I can get that’s cheaper?

I’m attaching a screenshot of what I’m driving to Miami for… I’m starting my ride down now. I’m guessing the electrician should have a steel electrical box that will fit this outlet and faceplate? Should I buy a certain box and mud plate or similar while I’m down there? Is there a cheaper faceplate that I can pick up from them?

 

[jwharnish]

I have electrician coming tomorrow to install a 14-50 and I’m curious what the current consensus is in which outlet to use? This thread seems to go back years.. back to when Hubbells and Bryant’s were in the $60-79 range on Amazon. Currently the Hubbell is $148 on Amazon. I found out about the Hubbell with literally 5mins to order from Amazon before I wouldn’t have it for tomorrow, so I paid the $148. That being said I ended up watching some YouTubes and did some reading and it seems like the Enerlites 14-50 for $10 on Amazon is used by quite a bit of people and seems to work just as well, so I ordered one of those too.

I plan on just plugging the mobile connector in and leaving it, not taking it in and out, ever. Is the Hubbell really worth the $130 premium? Would I be fine with the Enerlites? $130 is a massive difference.

Wow, Hubbell's are $148 now. That's about a 50% increase in the last year. Thought these were made in the US, so I cannot imagine a supply chain issue from China being the cause for the increase.

 

[Jeremy3292]

Wow, Hubbell's are $148 now. That's about a 50% increase in the last year. Thought these were made in the US, so I cannot imagine a supply chain issue from China being the cause for the increase.

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