NOOB Question

[Daddywolf]

I’m reading about charging volts, amps, connections etc. My uncle is an electrician, but is completely clueless about EV charging. He’s happy to install whatever I need, however, he’s looking to me for that information (naturally). My panel is in my garage, literally right next to where I’ll be parking. It seems like 240v / 30 amp is the way to go (I have a 5 mile commute and will be able to plug-in nightly)but can I have the Tesla wall charger hooked up to this configuration down the road if I choose to do so? Thanks in advance.

 

[duanra]

For a 5 miles commute, you could even use a 120v set up and give your uncle a day off !

 

[Daddywolf]

For a 5 miles commute, you could even use a 120v set up and give your uncle a day off !

This is probably true! The main reason for my consideration is, my electric company in NC has a $500 rebate for the installation of home charging equipment, this would essentially cover the cost of the Tesla wall charger!

 

[duanra]

This is probably true! The main reason for my consideration is, my electric company in NC has a $500 rebate for the installation of home charging equipment, this would essentially cover the cost of the Tesla wall charger!

Between this and free install, it is a sweet deal !

 

[mswlogo]

I’m reading about charging volts, amps, connections etc. My uncle is an electrician, but is completely clueless about EV charging. He’s happy to install whatever I need, however, he’s looking to me for that information (naturally). My panel is in my garage, literally right next to where I’ll be parking. It seems like 240v / 30 amp is the way to go (I have a 5 mile commute and will be able to plug-in nightly)but can I have the Tesla wall charger hooked up to this configuration down the road if I choose to do so? Thanks in advance.

Yes.

But Keep in mind

A wall charger is $500
A UMC is $300
A UMC "Plug" should be GFCI protected so add ~$100 (some people don't get that), where a Wall Charger does not.
A forgetful, distracted person like me will forget to put his UMC in the car for trips that might need it, so this person needs another UMC.
A UMC is really a "Mobile" (portable) unit.

So a Wall Connector ends up costing about $100 more (assuming you dedicate a UMC for home charging and leave one in the car for folks like myself). Some people have perfect memory/planning skills. I don't.

Also for a UMC you may want to add a 3rd party Wall Bracket and Cord Hanger from Tesla. Plus the parts for the outlet itself.

Wall Connector:

No GFCI Needed, it's built in and hard wired (no plug exposed).
Built in Cord Hanger
Allows portable UMC to remain in your car at all times.
Can be setup to run pretty much any amperage you want and could be changed later (take it to you next home, upgrade panel etc.).

So why do you want to wait for the Wall Connector again?

 

[Daddywolf]

Yes.

But Keep in mind

A wall charger is $500
A UMC is $300
A UMC "Plug" should be GFCI protected so add ~$100 (some people don't get that), where a Wall Charger does not.
A forgetful, distracted person like me will forget to put his UMC in the car for trips that might need it, so this person needs another UMC.
A UMC is really a "Mobile" (portable) unit.

So a Wall Connector ends up costing about $100 more (assuming you dedicate a UMC for home charging and leave one in the car for folks like myself). Some people have perfect memory/planning skills. I don't.

Also for a UMC you may want to add a 3rd party Wall Bracket and Cord Hanger from Tesla. Plus the parts for the outlet itself.

Wall Connector:

No GFCI Needed, it's built in and hard wired (no plug exposed).
Built in Cord Hanger
Allows portable UMC to remain in your car at all times.
Can be setup to run pretty much any amperage you want and could be changed later (take it to you next home, upgrade panel etc.).

So why do you want to wait for the Wall Connector again?

The cars no longer come with the UMC, correct? So technically I’d have to buy one anyway, even if I had the wall charger ?

 

[HelixSpiral]

The car still comes with the UMC and a 120V plug.. It just won't come with the NEMA 14-50 adapter anymore.

 

[mswlogo]

The cars no longer come with the UMC, correct? So technically I’d have to buy one anyway, even if I had the wall charger ?

The cars still come with a UMC. But they did drop the 14-50 adapter plug and now only include the 15A 120V adapter plug. They used to include both.

It’s $35 per adapter plug. It’s not a bad idea to have a 14-50. I added a 6-20 as well.

 

[hcdavis3]

Yes.

But Keep in mind

A wall charger is $500
A UMC is $300
A UMC "Plug" should be GFCI protected so add ~$100 (some people don't get that), where a Wall Charger does not.
A forgetful, distracted person like me will forget to put his UMC in the car for trips that might need it, so this person needs another UMC.
A UMC is really a "Mobile" (portable) unit.

So a Wall Connector ends up costing about $100 more (assuming you dedicate a UMC for home charging and leave one in the car for folks like myself). Some people have perfect memory/planning skills. I don't.

Also for a UMC you may want to add a 3rd party Wall Bracket and Cord Hanger from Tesla. Plus the parts for the outlet itself.

Wall Connector:

No GFCI Needed, it's built in and hard wired (no plug exposed).
Built in Cord Hanger
Allows portable UMC to remain in your car at all times.
Can be setup to run pretty much any amperage you want and could be changed later (take it to you next home, upgrade panel etc.).

So why do you want to wait for the Wall Connector again?

Hey ms. Doesn’t the gen2 UMC have GFCI built in?

 

[ewoodrick]

I’m reading about charging volts, amps, connections etc. My uncle is an electrician, but is completely clueless about EV charging. He’s happy to install whatever I need, however, he’s looking to me for that information (naturally). My panel is in my garage, literally right next to where I’ll be parking. It seems like 240v / 30 amp is the way to go (I have a 5 mile commute and will be able to plug-in nightly)but can I have the Tesla wall charger hooked up to this configuration down the road if I choose to do so? Thanks in advance.

120V 15A is a great solution with a 5 mile commute.It will allow you to offset your commute in 1.66 hours. Upgrade to a 120V 20A and you're down to 1.25 hours.

The next most common step is the NEMA 14-50 which is probably one of the widest used options for the Tesla as well as other EVs. You can use the included car UMC (the specific adapter may not be included now). That's what I use and I got an extra UMC (cheaper than HPWC) just to stay plugged in.

Take a look at the adapter page for representative charging speed for different plugs. If you don't have the capacity for the NEMA 14-50, the 14-30 will work as well.

 

[mswlogo]

Hey ms. Doesn’t the gen2 UMC have GFCI built in?

It does as far as I know. But it can’t protect the plug on the wall. And some people will take their UMC out of the car, standing in a puddle from a dripping wet car and plug in their UMC.

The end you plug into the car is GFCI protected.

With the Wall Connector there is no exposed plug.

You have to think, you’re not the only person that will ever use that plug. Including curious teenage boys. Or people with zero common sense. It is my understanding it is now required by electrical code. But I didn’t wait for them to tell me it’s a good idea.

 

[SR22pilot]

I would put in a wall connector. Do you have room on your service panel for a 60 amp breaker? That is what I would recommend. The wall connector can use up to a 100 amp breaker but on a Model 3 over 60 is pointless. The 60 amp breaker will give you plenty of capability which will be nice if you forget about a big trip and let the car run low. Besides, the wall connector is very cool looking and you get to leave the mobile connector in the car. Get the wall connector with the longer cable (no price difference) even if you park next to the connector. You never know when you will need to park on the other side of the garage or out in the driveway.

 

[hcdavis3]

It does as far as I know. But it can’t protect the plug on the wall. And some people will take their UMC out of the car, standing in a puddle from a dripping wet car and plug in their UMC.

The end you plug into the car is GFCI protected.

With the Wall Connector there is no exposed plug.

You have to think, you’re not the only person that will ever use that plug. Including curious teenage boys. Or people with zero common sense. It is my understanding it is now required by electrical code. But I didn’t wait for them to tell me it’s a good idea.

Thanks very much msw. My electric inspector who contacted other nearby town wiring inspectors said it isn’t required. Thankfully I have an enclosed garage with no standing water. I’m still on the fence about the wall connector, but It seems to be the best approach.

 

[Needsdecaf]

The car still comes with the UMC and a 120V plug.. It just won't come with the NEMA 14-50 adapter anymore.

Really? You're kidding me, how cheap can they get!

 

[Needsdecaf]

Thanks very much msw. My electric inspector who contacted other nearby town wiring inspectors said it isn’t required. Thankfully I have an enclosed garage with no standing water. I’m still on the fence about the wall connector, but It seems to be the best approach.

Meh, the wall connector is not necessary unless 1. you want the comfort of having the UMC with you at all times or you use it mobile a lot and get tired of taking it off the wall 2. you want to take advantage of the higher charging speed the wall connector allows or 3. you want your garage to look cool. I can see with scenario 1 where if you were unplugging it often you'd want the wall connector as you really don't want to be plugging and unplugging on a NEMA 14-50 that often so you don't wear the receptacle.

I had my electrician install a Nema 14-50 (which I supplied one of the "good" plugs based on information from here) using #4 wire on a 50 amp breaker. I can always upsize the breaker easily but my wire runs up and over my attic so only wanted to do that labor once. I use my UMC plugged in with the NEMA 14-50 adapter and I made a cradle for it using some velcro straps that I had laying around my garage which I then secured to the wall. The Velcro straps hold the UMC "brain" from moving around and also give slack so that there's nothing pulling on the connection. Again, in a garage so zero chance of ever standing in a puddle while using it. So I saved $500 over having the wall connector and I've never once had an instance where the car didn't have plenty of time to charge.

If I change my mind later, it's very simple to switch the breaker and hard-wire the wall connector. But so far I haven't felt the need. And I've never once taken the UMC off the wall as the only time I went out of town with the car I knew there were Superchargers along the route and near my destination.

 

[timk225]

My uncle is an electrician, but is completely clueless about EV charging.

Well, he's not much of an electrician then. All the needed information is right on the Tesla website, it's not that hard to understand. And looking up the needed details in a thousand other places on the web isn't hard to do.

 

[Daddywolf]

I would put in a wall connector. Do you have room on your service panel for a 60 amp breaker? That is what I would recommend. The wall connector can use up to a 100 amp breaker but on a Model 3 over 60 is pointless. The 60 amp breaker will give you plenty of capability which will be nice if you forget about a big trip and let the car run low. Besides, the wall connector is very cool looking and you get to leave the mobile connector in the car. Get the wall connector with the longer cable (no price difference) even if you park next to the connector. You never know when you will need to park on the other side of the garage or out in the driveway.

V

Well, he's not much of an electrician then. All the needed information is right on the Tesla website, it's not that hard to understand. And looking up the needed details in a thousand other places on the web isn't hard to do.

Retired electrician. And I was trying to do the legwork for him so I could just tell him what I needed. Thanks for your input!

 

[animorph]

You should be able to find the HPWC installation manual on Tesla.com somewhere. That should give you most of the requirements. There's a dial setting inside the unit to tell it how many amps the circuit it is connected to can handle, with quite a wide range. With a $500 rebate the HPWC would be a good choice. We use two HPWC's for our two Teslas. They share a single 100A circuit, and allow about 40A to both cars. That would be the something to consider if two Teslas is a future possibility, and your panel can handle the load. We did ours in two stages, with the wiring and breaker for 100A and an extra box during the first HPWC install and then an extension from the extra box to the second HPWC.

Yeah, 120V 15A will be fine for you. I use it to charge at my son's house in Charlotte. It allows us to drive around for shopping, dinners, walks on the Greenways, and movies. Plus it has enough extra to get us to 90% by the end of our week's stay, ready to hit the road. And no wiring changes required!

 

[TexasEV]

Have you read the Tesla home charging web site? It has detailed instructions for every outlet choice for the UMC and the Wall Connector.
Home Charging Installation

After reading these pages, come back with any specific questions.

 

[woodguyatl]

Well, he's not much of an electrician then. All the needed information is right on the Tesla website, it's not that hard to understand. And looking up the needed details in a thousand other places on the web isn't hard to do.

I’m a furniture builder. If family wants something for free then they can send me a sketch and take the measurements. I know how to take measurements but I typically let them handle that.