New Tesla Universal Wall Connector

[MP3Mike]

Tesla has released a new Universal Wall Connector: https://shop.tesla.com/product/universal-wall-connector

It costs $595, and starts shipping in October. It has an integrated J1772 adapter, essentially MagicDock for AC charging.

It lists an interesting feature:

• Auto-sensing handle to open a Tesla charge port

Does that mean you don't have to press the button to open the charge port? (I see the standard Wall Connector says the same thing, so it must just be the button.)

Perfect for destinations as anyone can use it, and the adapter can't be "lost".

State of Charge already has a quick video on it, with a full review coming in a couple weeks:

 

[JPoldo]

Does this EVSE support multiple accounts and billing so users pay for electricity used? I'm hoping its WiFi allows connection to cloud application.

 

[MP3Mike]

Does this EVSE support multiple accounts and billing so users pay for electricity used?

Yes, just like on the NACS and J1772 versions, but Tesla appears to only support that for installs of 6 or more Wall Connectors. From the product page on the Tesla site:

Commercial Properties

Property managers, developers and commercial real estate owners can join our growing network of Charging Partners by offering on-site EV charging. Install Wall Connector as a public or private amenity to benefit from pay-per-use functionality and 24/7 remote monitoring while attracting new and repeat customers with fast EV charging.

 

[MLXXXp]

Perfect for destinations as anyone can use it, and the adapter can't be "lost".

Yes, making it hard to lose the adapter is good for public installations. However, in addition to the extra cost, there's a (perhaps minor) drawback to this new wall connector.

Every time you dock and undock the NACS connector only, you're doing an extra physical connect/disconnect of the contact pins between the NACS connector and the "magic" J1772 adapter. Whenever you charge a NACS vehicle and then dock the cable in the wall connector, you're adding an extra wear cycle to the contacts that you wouldn't have with the NACS only wall connector.

Assuming this extra contact wear is actually an issue, and the possibility of losing the J1772 adapter isn't an issue, and you don't mind a bit of extra inconvenience:
Unless you're always alternating back and forth between NACS and J1772 charging or mostly doing J1772 charging, you're better off just putting a regular J1772 adapter on and off yourself as necessary.

I wonder if this new "magic" J1772 adapter will be available separately as as replacement part in case the original gets damaged? It wouldn't be good if you had to buy a whole new wall connector in this case.

 

[MP3Mike]

New video from State of Charge showing the installation and first use:

I hope he got a pre-release version and Tesla fixes some of the labeling:

 

[miimura]

New video from State of Charge showing the installation and first use:

I hope he got a pre-release version and Tesla fixes some of the labeling:

View attachment 966310

What makes you think the labeling is not correct?

 

[swaltner]

What makes you think the labeling is not correct?

I've never seen the "f" on the units for torque. As it is printed, I'd read the label as saying to torque the terminal to 50 pound-foot-inches. I know what a pound-foot and a pound-inch is, but a pound-foot-inch is sort of a non-sense unit, well, it's definitely not a unit for torque. I did find a page on the internet that says to read "in lbf" as "inch-pound force", but that's not how torque wrenches are labeled.

Also, multiple typos "TERMNAL TORQUE USB COPPER CONDUCTOR8 ONLY" should probably read "TERMINAL TORQUE USE COPPER CONDUCTORS ONLY".

Sloppy work by whoever created that label!

 

[3sr+buyer]

I've never seen the "f" on the units for torque. As it is printed, I'd read the label as saying to torque the terminal to 50 pound-foot-inches. I know what a pound-foot and a pound-inch is, but a pound-foot-inch is sort of a non-sense unit, well, it's definitely not a unit for torque. I did find a page on the internet that says to read "in lbf" as "inch-pound force", but that's not how torque wrenches are labeled.

"lbf" means pound force, which is the Earth gravitational force on a one pound mass. Common use conflates the two into just "pound", since most measurements are on Earth.

 

[E90alex]

I've never seen the "f" on the units for torque. As it is printed, I'd read the label as saying to torque the terminal to 50 pound-foot-inches. I know what a pound-foot and a pound-inch is, but a pound-foot-inch is sort of a non-sense unit, well, it's definitely not a unit for torque. I did find a page on the internet that says to read "in lbf" as "inch-pound force", but that's not how torque wrenches are labeled.

Also, multiple typos "TERMNAL TORQUE USB COPPER CONDUCTOR8 ONLY" should probably read "TERMINAL TORQUE USE COPPER CONDUCTORS ONLY".

Sloppy work by whoever created that label!

Probably intentional to signify it’s a preproduction/demo unit so parts don’t get swapped or resold. The back plate should be identical to the other gen 3 WC versions.

 

[MLXXXp]

The back plate should be identical to the other gen 3 WC versions.

It's not. Watch the first video at 14:24

 

[miimura]

I've never seen the "f" on the units for torque. As it is printed, I'd read the label as saying to torque the terminal to 50 pound-foot-inches. I know what a pound-foot and a pound-inch is, but a pound-foot-inch is sort of a non-sense unit, well, it's definitely not a unit for torque. I did find a page on the internet that says to read "in lbf" as "inch-pound force", but that's not how torque wrenches are labeled.

Also, multiple typos "TERMNAL TORQUE USB COPPER CONDUCTOR8 ONLY" should probably read "TERMINAL TORQUE USE COPPER CONDUCTORS ONLY".

Sloppy work by whoever created that label!

Yes, the typos are sloppy. However, I don't see any factual errors and the units are proper. I thought maybe the person who originally called out the labeling didn't understand the possible connection of a neutral line.

 

[AudubonB]

I have two of these UWCs on order and I got a message Tuesday (at 0349!) they are scheduled to arrive today.

Better, my electrician - who is as gung-ho about them as I am - said he can come through early next week.

 

[Usain]

And here is the review. Spoiler alert! Tom gave it the highest score ever for an L2 charger.

 

[AudubonB]

Yippee!

 

[AudubonB]

Now I'll have to see if that "USB" typo remains. If so, should I send 'em back?

 

[AudubonB]

And it appears Optimus has not yet taken over:

 

[hydro]

In

What makes you think the labeling is not correct?

thé vidéo, it’s mentioned not to use aluminum. When I bought our HPWC back in 3013, it was not so but it was mentioned to us lower gauge size if using it. What is the problem using aluminum with an Hpwc?thanks

 

[tga]

In

thé vidéo, it’s mentioned not to use aluminum. When I bought our HPWC back in 3013, it was not so but it was mentioned to us lower gauge size if using it. What is the problem using aluminum with an Hpwc?thanks

The terminals in all Wall Connectors, all generations have terminals that are rated for copper only, not aluminum.

You can run aluminum to a splice, subpanel, shut off, etc and then a short run of copper from there to the wall connector, but the wires connecting to the wall connector must be copper.

It has never been ok to connect aluminum directly to the wall connector’s terminal. Wiring aluminum direct to the wall connector is not safe (the terminals aren’t rated for aluminum). Also doing so is a violation of the manufacturer’s installation instructions, and therefore a violation of the US NEC, and probably Canadian codes as well.

Are you saying aluminum wires can be smaller than copper? That is wrong. Aluminum has higher resistance than copper; aluminum wires must be larger for the same current capacity.

 

[Tronguy]

"lbf" means pound force, which is the Earth gravitational force on a one pound mass. Common use conflates the two into just "pound", since most measurements are on Earth.

Ha. You're sort of correct, except that a pound of something is actually a force, not a mass. We spent 'way too much time in Physics 152 going over this picky point.

I've never been sure which makes more native sense. The normal force (i.e., the force that keeps something from sinking through the floor) of a 1 kg mass is 9.8N, where a Newton is defined as the force that will accelerate a 1 kG mass at 1 m/s^2. And the force of gravity accelerates a 1 kG mass at 9.8 m/s^2. Fun.

But nobody runs around saying that somebody who, on Earth, weighs 160 lbs. and masses 72.7 kg, "weighs" 712 N.

If one thinks about it a bit: There's those scales at Science Centers everywhere that, when somebody steps on it, gives that person's weight on another planet or something. So, on the Moon, that 160 lbs person, as measured on Earth, really does weigh 26.7 lbs. But their mass remains unchanged at 72.7 kg.

Love that box, though. "Made on Earth for Humans." So, they threw that "lbf" in there to handle the use case on Mars?

 

[hydro]

The terminals in all Wall Connectors, all generations have terminals that are rated for copper only, not aluminum.

You can run aluminum to a splice, subpanel, shut off, etc and then a short run of copper from there to the wall connector, but the wires connecting to the wall connector must be copper.

It has never been ok to connect aluminum directly to the wall connector’s terminal. Wiring aluminum direct to the wall connector is not safe (the terminals aren’t rated for aluminum). Also doing so is a violation of the manufacturer’s installation instructions, and therefore a violation of the US NEC, and probably Canadian codes as well.

Are you saying aluminum wires can be smaller than copper? That is wrong. Aluminum has higher resistance than copper; aluminum wires must be larger for the same current capacity.

thanks for the reply. I'll have to check back my HPWC gen 1 manual. I fairly certain aluminum was ok but that being 10 years ago, I might be wrong obviously. In any case, for any electrical number, a smaller number is bigger guage.If I recall properly we used size 0 or 1.

Howerver, just to understand, what issues could arise?