Tesla is (quite wisely) redesigning the UMC. The discontinued 14-30 (and 6-50) plugs are just the first step to deplete existing stock.
Relying on the breaker to pop wouldn't be my first line of defense to burning up some wiring.
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NEMA 14-30 Charger
- Thread starter saurabhsingh
- Start date
Tesla is (quite wisely) redesigning the UMC. The discontinued 14-30 (and 6-50) plugs are just the first step to deplete existing stock.
Relying on the breaker to pop wouldn't be my first line of defense to burning up some wiring.
No, the first line is setting the car for 24A. I'm comfortable with my choices being a fully qualified EE, and I always try to double-check things, along with making sure there is acceptable safety factor. Of course, everyone is free to make their own decisions, and must live with the consequences, if any.
What tiny risk is present is worth it compared to the only remaining option of attempting to charge at 120V.
Exactly correct. Of course I would like to use 5-20 before 5-15, but the reality is that I have only had the need to use 120V charging on one particular trip. All other trips, I have had some 240V option. On that one particular trip, the only 120V outlet was 5-15 (though, the breaker panel had a 20A breaker, and a label that said the wire was #12, so in theory, the receptacle could have been swapped out if I cared that much).
The only other place where I have seen 5-20's that might have been useful for charging have been at Chargepoint locations ... but I have been able to use J1772 every time I pulled up to one, so 5-20 was unnecessary.
As far as the 10-30 and 14-30 plugs ... Yes, there are 10-30 and 14-30 all over in Florida thanks to electrical drier plugs, but I haven't run into any situation where an extension cord wasn't also required to reach those, and therefore I had to use my 14-50 UMC adapter anyway since my extension cord is made for 14-50 (and an adapter at the end for 10-30 or 14-30 if necessary).
Also of note, I have run into far more 10-30 drier plugs than 14-30.
snort
Member
I'm mystified why Tesla stopped selling the 14-30 and 6-50 adapters. These are small and much cheaper to make and keep in inventory than they sell them for. Having a correct adapter is safer, more convenient and more reliable than having to rely on a collection of kludged up adapters...even if it's competent professionals like corddepot doing the kludging. Even if they weren't selling many, the engineering and tooling were already sunk costs.
anybody got a theory that makes sense? If they truly are thinking to replace the UMC with something materially better, that might make sense. Not sure what might be different. it sounds like early versions may have had some sort of thermal/mechanical issue that is fixed now. the thing also hangs a fair amount of weight on a plug that projects straight out from a wall several inches, which tends to torque it out of the wall a little sometimes. I find that an extension cord fixes that problem right up. not what Tesla/UL wanted to hear...
anybody got a theory that makes sense? If they truly are thinking to replace the UMC with something materially better, that might make sense. Not sure what might be different. it sounds like early versions may have had some sort of thermal/mechanical issue that is fixed now. the thing also hangs a fair amount of weight on a plug that projects straight out from a wall several inches, which tends to torque it out of the wall a little sometimes. I find that an extension cord fixes that problem right up. not what Tesla/UL wanted to hear...
This has been talked about a few times.
Possibility one: New UMC is coming, and Tesla just screwed up the timing between ramping down production for the old stuff and availability of the new stuff.
Possibility two: someone there is just taking a hard line saying "they shouldn't be using those plugs, so we shouldn't be enabling them"
Possibility three: these discontinued adapters are far less popular than perceived, and Tesla decided it wasn't worth it
I think it's pretty safe to assume Tesla wants its customers to be as safe as possible. And I also think they know damn well that if they don't make the charging adapters, customers will make, potentially unsafe ones themselves. Additionally, you can still buy a complete set of roadster adapters today.
Given all this, my money is on number one. New UMC is in the works, maybe even for the model x launch. Tesla messed up the timing *and* is being a little stubborn about spinning production back up.
snort
Member
It almost seems as if they decided they have room for 4 adapters in inventory and when they discovered the 10-30 was a lot more popular than the 14-30, they switched rather than adding. (Is this correct? I'm new here and am not completely clear on the history. is the same true for the 6-50/5-20?).
I think it's a bad idea to use an adapter that requires you to dial down the current inside the car. For this reason, my set of adapters and extensions require an appropriate current-limiting UMC adapter: e.g. the TT-30, 14-30, 6-30 all end up going through through tesla's 10-30 adapter. Tesla seems to be thinking this way too: there is exactly one adapter for each: 12A (5-15), 16A (5-20), 24A (10-30), 40A (14-50). I wonder if that's the rationale? NEC prevents them from telling people to use aftermarket adapters and extensions, but they know it's necessary.
-Snortybartfast
I think it's a bad idea to use an adapter that requires you to dial down the current inside the car. For this reason, my set of adapters and extensions require an appropriate current-limiting UMC adapter: e.g. the TT-30, 14-30, 6-30 all end up going through through tesla's 10-30 adapter. Tesla seems to be thinking this way too: there is exactly one adapter for each: 12A (5-15), 16A (5-20), 24A (10-30), 40A (14-50). I wonder if that's the rationale? NEC prevents them from telling people to use aftermarket adapters and extensions, but they know it's necessary.
-Snortybartfast
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
Just an FYI that I picked up a 14-30 adapter for my UMC at the store and service center in Dania Beach, Florida earlier today.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
I wonder if it was left over stock or is Tesla starting to build the 14-30 adapter again.
It's not currently on the Tesla Accessories and Charging Adapters Web Page...
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
It was left over stock. The Parts Team had it and it took Service some work to get it up to ring me out (@ $45) because they didn't show it in their inventory system.
Polly Wog
Member
@Cyclone, back in March of this year, I inquired about getting one from the Denver SC (while I was on travel with my Tesla in Albuquerque), which had quite a few in stock. They told me that Tesla was not permitting them to be sold anymore. Either you got lucky, or maybe they decided to let the Service Centers finally sell off the inventory.
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