Why does a nema outlet directly into a model y not charge as fast as a wall unit plugged into a nema outlet?
Or is my understanding incorrect?
Or is my understanding incorrect?
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NEMA VS WALL CHARGER
- Thread starter ZapCarM3
- Start date
The UMC that comes with the vehicle has a maximum charge rate of 32 amps, if using a 50A adapter installed on a 40A or 50A circuit.
The Wall Connector can charge up to 48 amps on a 60 amp circuit, or 40 amps on a 50 amp circuit.
The Wall Connector can charge up to 48 amps on a 60 amp circuit, or 40 amps on a 50 amp circuit.
Nice. Any other pros or cons to consider besides charging speed and cost of charger? Hard wiring the charger vs plugging into nema outlet?
Whatever might be worth considering, I'm interested in hearing.
I'll have to find out if mine is 50 or 60 amps
Only the Wall Connector is rated NEMA Level 4 for use in all weather. For outdoor use a hard-wired charging station such as the Wall Connector is better protected against water intrusion, corrosion.
In North America all outlets (receptacles) are National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) outlets. The 14-50 receptacle is rated for 240V and up to 50 amps; for continuous use such as vehicle charging 80% of the rated amperage (in this case 40 amps) is the limit allowed by the electrical code. The Wall Connector is designed to be hard wired, not use a plug. If you fit a 14-50 plug to the Wall Connector then the Wall Connector cannot, for example, be set as if it was connected to a 60 amp circuit to charge at 48 amps, the Wall Connector would be limited to 40 amps. The Mobile Connector that is included with every Tesla vehicle can accept different NEMA 120V and 240V power plugs; this Mobile Connector is limited to a maximum of charging at 240V and 32 amps; Tesla sells a corded Mobile Connector that is fitted with a fixed 14-50 power plug, that can be safely used to charge the Tesla vehicle at up to 40 amps. Tesla's original Gen1 Mobile Connector that could accept different modular NEMA power plugs would operate at up to 40 amps; fires were reported as these would sometimes overheat.
In North America all outlets (receptacles) are National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) outlets. The 14-50 receptacle is rated for 240V and up to 50 amps; for continuous use such as vehicle charging 80% of the rated amperage (in this case 40 amps) is the limit allowed by the electrical code. The Wall Connector is designed to be hard wired, not use a plug. If you fit a 14-50 plug to the Wall Connector then the Wall Connector cannot, for example, be set as if it was connected to a 60 amp circuit to charge at 48 amps, the Wall Connector would be limited to 40 amps. The Mobile Connector that is included with every Tesla vehicle can accept different NEMA 120V and 240V power plugs; this Mobile Connector is limited to a maximum of charging at 240V and 32 amps; Tesla sells a corded Mobile Connector that is fitted with a fixed 14-50 power plug, that can be safely used to charge the Tesla vehicle at up to 40 amps. Tesla's original Gen1 Mobile Connector that could accept different modular NEMA power plugs would operate at up to 40 amps; fires were reported as these would sometimes overheat.
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I see. Some chargers on Amazon advertising higher rates even plugged into nema. That misleading?
It would be installed inside garage so not outdoors.
The "50" in the NEMA product 14-50 indicates a 50 amp circuit which will give you a rated 80% or 40 amp charge. What products have you seen advertising plug-in rates higher?
The maximum amperage draw for the 14-50 receptacle / plug is 50 amps; that amperage draw would apply, for example, to a wall oven or an electric range (the oven cycles on and off and does not operate continuously for hours and hours.) For continuous use applications such as vehicle charging the maximum is 80%, so 40 amps.
You can purchase vehicle charging stations that are fitted with the 14-50 plug (also the slightly different 6-50 plug); these will be able to charge at up to 40 amps. The 2nd Generation Tesla Wall Connector can charge at up to 48 amps. This requires hard wiring (no power plug) and a 60 amp rated circuit (wiring, circuit breaker.) NEMA 240V power receptacles/plugs exist for 60 amp circuits and even 70 amp circuits but these are not commonly seen, none of the electric vehicle charging equipment manufacturers offer charging stations with power plugs rated higher than 50 amps. If you require more power then the charging station must be hard wired.
It can be confusing if the manufacturer states that the charging station is rated for 50 amps, to be used on a 50 amp circuit. This is correct but the charging station will be limited to charging at 80% of 50 amps, so 240V and 40 amps (9.6kW) is the charging limit.
Based on how many miles per day the average person drives, well under 50 miles, any of these would prove adequate:
240V/20 amp circuit /charges at up to 16 amps / up to 14 miles per hour ( All Tesla Model Y estimates)
240V/30 amp circuit / charges at up to 24 amps / up to 21 miles per hour
240V/40 amp or 50 amp circuit / charges at up to 32 amps / up to 29 miles per hour *
240V/50 amp circuit / charges at up to 40 amps / up to 36 miles per hour
240V/60 amp / hard wired circuit / charges at up to 48 amps / up to 43 miles per hour
* Charging at 32 amps using either a 40 amp rated circuit or a 50 amp rated circuit is the most flexible option; there is a wide selection of electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) available for charging at up to 32 amps. The NEMA 14-50 receptacle is commonly used with 240V appliances in the home (also the NEMA 6-50 receptacle); the 14-50 receptacle can be found at RV parks. (Note: because there is no specific 240V/40 amp rated receptacle or plug the electrical code allows for using the NEMA 14-50 receptacle and plug on a 40 amp circuit if, for example, an electrician determines that the existing electrical service in the home only has capacity for an additional 40 amps but not 50 amps.)
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Any difference is due to the relative efficiency of the vehicles. The Model Y can travel further on 1kWh of electricity than a Model X, for each hour of charging the additional kWh being stored in the battery result in the Model Y being able to drive more miles.
txakoli
Member
Check with your local electric utility. Some give rebates for an installed EVSE, like the Tesla wall connector, but not for a NEMA outlet.
First off, please stop saying "NEMA" as if it's the name for one particular type of outlet. NEMA is like the word "metric". It's the name for an entire system, so you wouldn't ask "How many metrics is it from Portland to Seattle?" You would use a specific metric unit, like kilometers.
It might help understand about charging rates to explain how there are a few stages in the process, and each will have a certain limit of capability, and it's kind of like "lowest common denominator" of whichever has the lowest limit is as high as the whole chain can go.
1. Circuit capacity: Based on your house's main panel capacity, that might determine how many amps you have to spare for your charging circuit. So maybe all you can fit in is a 20 amp or a 40 amp circuit. That could be one limit.
2. Connecting equipment: The mobile charging cable that comes with your car, which is for plugging into outlets, has a maximum capability of passing only 32 amps. A wall connector can be configured for several levels of circuits, but provides a maximum of up to 48 amps. As @jcanoe mentioned, these are complying with the electric code requirement that they will only pass through 80% of the rating of the circuit.
3. The onboard charger inside the car: This is what does the converting from the outside alternating current to the higher voltage direct current to charge the battery directly. On the larger battery cars, Tesla is including a charger that can handle up to 48 amps, but on the smaller battery cars, they have a smaller charger that only takes up to 32 amps.
So there you go. There will be a combination of what power of connector you are using, on what level of circuit, and within the capability of the onboard charger that will determine how many amps can pass through.
Gotcha. It's a 14-50. Anyway, Gen 2 NEMA adapter just arrived and I see that it's rated for 30A 250v. Does this mean I have to stay within 80% of this rating as well or is that just for the circuit board?
Will the Tesla draw the appropriate charge from this automatically?
What can I get to simply plug my Tesla into the wall outlet and get a faster charge? I don't have to get a wall unit to do this, do I?
I'll look into rebates for wall chargers since that might affect the decision.
The vehicle's charging system and the charging station, in this case the Mobile Connector, will negotiate the charging session voltage (120V or 240V) and the amperage. The 30A rating of the Tesla Gen2 Mobile Connector NEMA 14-50 power plug adapter already takes into account the 80% rating. 30A and 32A are treated the same.
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Faster than? The Mobile Connector can charge the vehicle at either 120V or 240V depending on the power plug used. The Mobile Connector that comes with the Tesla vehicle includes a 5-15 power plug (charges at ~4 miles per hour.) You can purchase additional power plug adapters for the Mobile Connector from the Tesla Store. The 14-50 power plug requires a 14-50 receptacle would enable the Mobile Connector to charge the vehicle at up to 29 miles per hour.
The maximum charging rating of the Mobile Connector is 240V and 32 amps; this matches the on-board charging limit of the Model 3 SR+ vehicle. The Long Range Model 3, Model Y, etc. can charge at 32 amps, can also charge at 40 amps (using a Wall Connector) and 48 amps (requires a Wall Connector and a 60 amp circuit.) There is also a corded Mobile Connector that can operate at up to 40 amps. The corded mobile connector includes a fixed 14-50 plug.
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A few people noticed that weird "30A" marking and figured it was probably related to some kind of +/- XX% rating thing they had to do with UL compliance or something. It will do 32A.
The adapters themselves have a chip in them that signals to the charging cable what the proper amount of amps are, based on the type of plug it has. So that one for a 14-50 will send 32A.
You can't make it get more power out of the wall than the circuit can provide. The speed of the car's charging scaled with watts, which is the volts times amps. So if you have a 30A circuit, you're only allowed to pull up to 24A continuously, for example. And the plug-in cord can do that.
Oh, but if you're talking about how the mobile charge cord can only do 32A, but you have a 14-50, which can allow up to 40? Yes, the mobile charge cord can't make full use of that, and yes, a different device would be needed to go higher than 32. A wall connector (from Tesla or some other brand) would do it, or Tesla sells the "Corded Mobile Connector", which can do 40A but has a permanent 14-50 plug instead of the swappable adapters.
The Gen1 ones used different sized resistors that the mobile connector could measure to determine the signal of the number of amps. The Gen2 ones do use an actual computer chip in them that handles signaling the amps and I think is also involved in reading the temperature sensor.
