Plug or Unplug?

[Vettepartz]

I am a new guy here, and have a basic question. I have a level 2 setup in my garage (I think). It is wired for the 240 volt 50 amp circuit and has the 14-50 receptacle. I use the charging module that came with the car and an adapter by Tesla to fit the 14-50 plug. When I am not charging, is it OK to leave the setup plugged into the wall socket, even though it is not plugged into the car? I am wondering if this is drawing any current when I am not charging. I don't want to run up the electric bill any more than is needed.

 

[DeltaOne]

I am a new guy here, and have a basic question. I have a level 2 setup in my garage (I think). It is wired for the 240 volt 50 amp circuit and has the 14-50 receptacle. I use the charging module that came with the car and an adapter by Tesla to fit the 14-50 plug. When I am not charging, is it OK to leave the setup plugged into the wall socket, even though it is not plugged into the car? I am wondering if this is drawing any current when I am not charging. I don't want to run up the electric bill any more than is needed.

Same setup here. I leave mine plugged in 24x7. I suspect it's only using a very small amount to illuminate the TESLA on the face. It's cool to the touch, another thing that leads me to believe it isn't using any significant amount of power.

 

[mociaf9]

There will be some very, very minor energy usage. Unless you're living off-grid--and therefore need to kill absolutely every single bit of needless drain because otherwise your home battery might run out--it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[swaltner]

My hardwired OpenEVSE charging station uses 2 Watts of power when idle. So, every 500 hours (20.83 days or 3 weeks), it uses 1 kWh (ie 1,000 Watt hours) of energy at that rate. At my electricity rates of 12 cents per kWh, if I didn’t have a solar system covering all of my energy needs, that’s only 15 cents each month. I don’t turn the breaker off every day.

If your mobile connector isn’t even noticeably warmer than ambient temps, it’s using less idle power than the 2 Watts that the OpenEVSE uses, meaning the idle power of the device can be ignored.

 

[Rocky_H]

When I am not charging, is it OK to leave the setup plugged into the wall socket, even though it is not plugged into the car? I am wondering if this is drawing any current when I am not charging.

It's about like questioning if you should unplug your TV when it's off. I'm sure there are a few watts because of the little red LED on the front of the TV that stays lit, but it's barely anything.

And what hasn't quite been brought up yet is the other much bigger problem with your proposal of unplugging and plugging in constantly. That is putting a LOT more activity on flexing the spring-tensioned pieces of metal in the outlet that need to squeeze the prongs of the plug that you push into it. Outlets are always rated for some number of insertion cycles before they get weak and loose and don't grip plugs very well, and you would be running through that a lot faster. Plugging in and leaving it there would be much better and not wear out your outlet as fast.

 

[AmokTime]

The only time I unplug when the cars are in the garage is during electrical storms and when I’m re-calibrating the BSM.