NEMA L 15-20 20a 250v receptacle OK for Tesla Y?

[Rederic60]

I have access to a NEMA L 15-20 20a 250v receptacle at my daughters winery. It is used for some of the wine making machines. My research says this is 3 phase and I have found a L 15-20p male to 14-50 female adapter on Ebay. My electrical knowledge is limited so I am asking if this would be OK to charge my Model Y? Does the fact that it is 3 phase make any difference? No fast chargers in the area. Thanks so much in advance.

 

[Coal_pwr]

OK, if you are testing this, as soon as you plug in, make sure to quickly turn the amps down on the car's charging screen to no more than 16A, so you are not overdrawing from that 20A circuit.


I could see if they think it's something specific to electric cars (you mentioned a "charge port"), and they have a hatred for that, they may be resistant. Could you maybe suggest a more generic idea that they might not hate on as much? L15-20 is a really weird outlet type, since it's 3 phase. Do they really have equipment that still needs to use that specific kind of outlet? If it is an orphaned thing that isn't being used anymore and doesn't have to be that exact kind of outlet, do you think they may consider the suggestion to simply change the outlet type to something more normal and simple that you and others could use, like a 6-20? Tesla does sell a 6-20 plug directly. That would not need any new wiring run, but just capping off an unused wire or two and connecting the new outlet.

Sorry for the blank reply/ wonky reply format I'll get used to the sites layout sooner or later. I'm hesitant to ask maintenance for anything. They're extremely un-informed and have the impression that all Tesla owners are rich "libtards" that spend $100k on a car to virtue signal and save a few dollars at the pump. The reality is they're jealous that they're stuck spending $5/gal to feed their $70k diesel trucks that get 10/15 mpg. If I am able to sort out the grounding issue I'll likely but the proper adapter from evseadapters.com when they come available. Thanks for all you help!

 

[Mrbrock]

Sorry for the blank reply/ wonky reply format I'll get used to the sites layout sooner or later. I'm hesitant to ask maintenance for anything. They're extremely un-informed and have the impression that all Tesla owners are rich "libtards" that spend $100k on a car to virtue signal and save a few dollars at the pump. The reality is they're jealous that they're stuck spending $5/gal to feed their $70k diesel trucks that get 10/15 mpg. If I am able to sort out the grounding issue I'll likely but the proper adapter from evseadapters.com when they come available. Thanks for all you help!

First, if you the panel is marked 208 then it shouldn't matter which 2 of the 3 phases you use to make your adapter.

Rocky also had a good suggestion. If the specific outlet you are using isn't used by anything else, you should be able to wire a 6-20 outlet in the same place as an L15-20. Switch off the breaker, undo a few screws and reverse the process with the new outlet. You would just put a wire nut and electrical tape on the unused hot wire and use the remaining two hots and the ground to attach to the outlet. Then you'd just need to buy the 6-20 adapter from Tesla and plug directly into the outlet. $7+$35=$42 plus an hour of your time or less.

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-107-05821-WSP-250-Volt-Receptacle-Electrical/dp/B000FPDKOI/

Gen 2 NEMA Adapters

Use a variety of household outlets to charge your Tesla with a Gen 2 NEMA Adapter. Simply attach the appropriate adapter to your Mobile Connector, plug into the corresponding outlet and begin charging. Adapter Max Distance Gained Per Hour of Charge Model S Model 3 Model X Model Y 5-15 3...

shop.tesla.com

As far as checking the ground issue, the easiest way is to turn off the breaker for the outlet then unscrew the outlet so you can look at how the wires are attached. A lot of times one of the lugs where the wires are attached to the back of the outlet has gotten loose over time, or wasn't properly tightened at the beginning.

 

[MacO512]

The car won't care if it's different voltage; it will adapt and use whatever is there. So you could use a Tesla 5-20 to adapt to an L15-20, even though they are different voltages. The car will detect and use what is there safely.

Agreed. However I will say that is a dangerous potential setup as you would have a standard household recepticle people walking by would think could be used, but it is 240 volts.

 

[MacO512]

Thanks for the detailed break down of what to look for. The main panel that feeds this circuit is labeled 120/208. However my "hots" are connected to the x & z locations in the L15-20 plug because I did see a diagram somewhere that showed that as the way to do it. I'm going to bring a multi-meter to work tonight and probe the outlet just to be sure but it's starting to feel like the ground is insufficient. Do you have any pointers on how to verify the grounding issue and would I be able to remedy a grounding issue by installing a grounding rod and running a jumper wire out of the 14-50 receptacle of my homemade adapter to ensure proper ground? I'm not trying to "tamper" with the buildings wiring and I really don't want to get the maintenance guys involved because they're a pain to deal with.

Ground being 0 volts has nothing to do with sticking rods in the earth. That's a common misconception. Earthing something doesn't make them safe either. It's the BONDING of the ground and neutral at the first means of disconnect (ie main electrical panel), and at no other place in the electrical system.

Earthing is really only to help in a lightning strike, otherwise it doesn't really make anything safe.

When most people hear "ground" wire they think of a rod in the dirt but it's really the effective ground fault path to trip a breaker and deactivate the circuit which makes grounds safe.

 

[Mrbrock]

Ground being 0 volts has nothing to do with sticking rods in the earth. That's a common misconception. Earthing something doesn't make them safe either. It's the BONDING of the ground and neutral at the first means of disconnect (ie main electrical panel), and at no other place in the electrical system.

Earthing is really only to help in a lightning strike, otherwise it doesn't really make anything safe.

When most people hear "ground" wire they think of a rod in the dirt but it's really the effective ground fault path to trip a breaker and deactivate the circuit which makes grounds safe.

Correct, but unless all the connection points are verified first (breaker to outlet and any junctions In between), checking for proper ground-neutral bonding may not solve anything.

 

[Rocky_H]

Agreed. However I will say that is a dangerous potential setup as you would have a standard household recepticle people walking by would think could be used, but it is 240 volts.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I never suggested that, and it's not what I was talking about. I would not recommend putting the wrong kind of outlet on the building with an incorrect voltage level. You're right--that's dangerous. I am talking about if the L15-20 outlet cannot be touched, because it's only supposed to be changed by maintenance crew who don't want to do it, there is a way to set the amps correctly instead of adapting to a 14-50, which would overdraw it.

My suggestion was that you could use an official Tesla plug that is already a 20A type, like a 6-20 or 5-20 and then get a small pigtail adapter plug that will make it fit to the L15-20 receptacle. The car doesn't care or try to enforce what the "expected" voltage level is. It will detect and use whatever is there, whether that's 120V, 208V, or 240V or whatever is generally in the range of acceptable.

 

[MacO512]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I never suggested that, and it's not what I was talking about. I would not recommend putting the wrong kind of outlet on the building with an incorrect voltage level. You're right--that's dangerous. I am talking about if the L15-20 outlet cannot be touched, because it's only supposed to be changed by maintenance crew who don't want to do it, there is a way to set the amps correctly instead of adapting to a 14-50, which would overdraw it.

My suggestion was that you could use an official Tesla plug that is already a 20A type, like a 6-20 or 5-20 and then get a small pigtail adapter plug that will make it fit to the L15-20 receptacle. The car doesn't care or try to enforce what the "expected" voltage level is. It will detect and use whatever is there, whether that's 120V, 208V, or 240V or whatever is generally in the range of acceptable.

It depends what you mean by pigtail adapter. If there is an L15-20 pigtail adapter that has a 5-20 recepticle on the end at 200+ volts I'd call it a dangerous adapter. What if the Tesla driver accidently leaves the adapter plugged in when leaving? What if someone walking by may need a household outlet and see that Tesla plugged in, think hey I can unplug them and plug in my standard household outlet device. Then boom.

If the pigtail adapter is to be wired for 240 (or 208 etc) volts I'd do a 6-20 recepticle or as others say just get an evse UMC one which is more elegant and has a temperature sensor.

 

[MacO512]

Correct, but unless all the connection points are verified first (breaker to outlet and any junctions In between), checking for proper ground-neutral bonding may not solve anything.

Sounds good. My post wasnt saying it would through. It was replying to a comment of running a jumper from a rod in the ground to a 14-50 recepticle as a solution to a poor ground, that wouldn't solve anything. Your correct the ground problem could be a fault at many places in the electrical system, not just a ground neutral bond.