Questions about condo charging near the ocean

[1.21Jigawatts]

Ok bear with me, looking for advice from the group. I have a M3 LR on order due to be delivered in Feb. I own a condo at the beach in NC. We rent it out all summer and use it a little in the off season. The closest superchargers are a hour away (Myrtle Beach and Wilmington). I have access to a 5-15 outlet but 3mi/hr of charging does not excite me. It is a multi unit building so the HOA controls the outside of the building. I will need to ask them if I want to run any kind of electrical on the outside of the building (thinking maybe a 14-50 if the panel can support it). The other concern with this approach is that the salt air corrodes everything metal (including outlets without tight covers over them).
An alternative I am considering is that the dryer outlet is a 14-30. I can get a 50ft extension and the portable charger should be enough distance to make it to the car to get about 22mi/hr charging.

Has anyone delt with an HOA when modifying the electrical for a multi-unit building and did that work out?

Has anyone tried the dryer-extension approach?

Any additional advice for a corrosive environment?

Thank you in advance.

 

[jjrandorin]

Hi,

If you search this sub forum for the word "HOA" you will find quite a few threads. Here is one that has a lot of posts even though it is somewhat old:

Installed a Tesla charger in my condo garage. Other owners are forcing me to remove it. Thoughts?

Also, if you search this sub forum for the word "Dryer" you will also get some hits. Here is one that may be relevant, but if you perform that search you might find a few others:

Dryer Buddy Review

 

[pjensen]

I have access to a 5-15 outlet but 3mi/hr of charging does not excite me.

I'm getting 6 miles per hour with a normal outlet in the garage. During charging, the voltage shown is 120 volts.

I drive 15 to 30 miles, daily. I only need to charge every other day. Sometimes I will go two days without charging. I've even run the car down to 18% and charged it up over 55% in one night. Drove the car that day, then charged it that night to 80%, no problem.

Another example; I plugged it in at 7pm and unplugged it the next morning at 8am. That was 13 hours of charging. It went from 97 miles to 178 miles. So that was 81 miles added over 13 hours. That is 6.2 miles per hour. The garage temperature was 57 degrees.

Yes it is less efficient than 220 volts, but it works great. There is hardly any stress on the houses's electrical system. If you are driving 30 miles or less, live in a relatively warm location, using a regular 115 volt outlet is a viable option.

 

[jjrandorin]

Yes it is less efficient than 220 volts, but it works great. There is hardly any stress on the houses's electrical system. If you are driving 30 miles or less, live in a relatively warm location, using a regular 115 volt outlet is a viable option.

As long as that outlet is not shared with anything else (which regular outlets almost always are). If it IS shared, using 120 is maxing out that circuit so nothing else on that circuit should be used during charging, or one runs the risk of overheating the wires / or at least tripping the breaker.

 

[Rocky_H]

5-15 outlet but 3mi/hr of charging does not excite me.

I'm getting 6 miles per hour with a normal outlet in the garage.

It's definitely not as low as 3 mi per hr on the Model 3. That is what the old energy hog Model S got, and I have no idea why Tesla left the number 3 in their charging tables for that when they released the new tables for the 3 and Y. It's at least 5 mph for sure.

An alternative I am considering is that the dryer outlet is a 14-30. I can get a 50ft extension and the portable charger should be enough distance to make it to the car to get about 22mi/hr charging.

Has anyone tried the dryer-extension approach?

I have done that for short term. We went and rented a house in Portland Oregon for a few days, and I was parking on the driveway, and using a 30 foot extension cord to go up the driveway, into the pet door to the kitchen, and then downstairs to where the laundry room was--tight fit on the length. And for sometimes use that's not 365 days a year, I might say that's a pretty good solution so you can use an outlet that isn't outside in the corrosive salty environment all year.

It sounds like you may be aware of this already, but which Tesla plug you use signals to the car what the proper amp limit should be. So if you're doing stuff with adapting from 14-50 to 14-30 kinds of things, and you're using the Tesla 14-50 plug, it won't know that it's a lower power circuit you are plugging into, so you would need to manually dial down the current in the car to 24A or less for a 30A circuit type. But that's why I cut the neutral pin off of my Tesla 14-30 plug, so I can plug it into a 14-50 extension, and it will properly announce the 24A limit to the car.

 

[Hblick48]

Dryer Buddy works great. I have my charger on a 20 foot extension cord, no problems.

 

[mswlogo]

Since you use it so little. I’d just use the 5-15.

You could get the dryer extension setup for an emergency.

Charge to high SOC before heading out there.

 

[pjensen]

As long as that outlet is not shared with anything else (which regular outlets almost always are). If it IS shared, using 120 is maxing out that circuit so nothing else on that circuit should be used during charging, or one runs the risk of overheating the wires / or at least tripping the breaker.

It is always good to mention this.

In my garage, there are a couple of outlets on the same circuit. But none are in use - at all. Yes, if I were using a power saw or drill, sure. The total charging draw on that circuit is 12 amps. So it is at the 15 amp breaker limit (for continuous use).

When I first got the car, I used a 50 foot extension cord (14 gauge) to connect to the mobile charge cable. It charged at 5 miles per hour. Still pretty good.

Yes, a 240 volt dedicated outlet is ideal (and the most efficient). But using a 115 volt outlet can be acceptable alternative. Let's not dissuade potential EV buyers/users by suggesting everyone must have high power charging. This limits the EV market.

In the vacation scenario (by the OP), the 115 volt outlet would work good enough - as long as the daily driving is less than 30 miles. He could even charge up the car to a 100% on the day of departure. No need to go to a supercharger at all.

When I go to the beach, typically I drive 5 to 10 miles a day (food shopping/restaurants). This is perfect for the 115 volt charging. Beach houses typically don't have large electrical panels. It is sized for a stove, a/c, dishwasher, maybe a washer/dryer). There is little power left over. I would wait till after dinner (stove off) before charging the car.

 

[JCtx]

I clicked on this thread by accident, but glad I did. I was under the impression that ANY extension was a fire hazard, and shouldn't be used at all. But many here are using them, and not only that, but freaking 50' long. Ha ha. So no issues with using extensions? I have a 15-50 at home, but my brother's mountain cabin only has an outlet in the ceiling (where the garage opener is hooked up). He has a hefty extension running to the ground, to be able to charge his motorcycle. So is it safe to charge it there? Otherwise, I was going to use a free 'destination' charger about 15 miles away, which charges at 16kW, so twice the rate of my 14-50. Thank you.

 

[pjensen]

my brother's mountain cabin only has an outlet in the ceiling (where the garage opener is hooked up). He has a hefty extension running to the ground, to be able to charge his motorcycle. So is it safe to charge it there?

Buy a 15' extension (12 gauge) from Lowes. These are well designed, heavy duty extensions designed to run power tools (saws).

Cost is $35. First try it out at home and see how well it works.

 

[jjrandorin]

I clicked on this thread by accident, but glad I did. I was under the impression that ANY extension was a fire hazard, and shouldn't be used at all. But many here are using them, and not only that, but freaking 50' long. Ha ha. So no issues with using extensions? I have a 15-50 at home, but my brother's mountain cabin only has an outlet in the ceiling (where the garage opener is hooked up). He has a hefty extension running to the ground, to be able to charge his motorcycle. So is it safe to charge it there? Otherwise, I was going to use a free 'destination' charger about 15 miles away, which charges at 16kW, so twice the rate of my 14-50. Thank you.

As long as you buy a heavy duty extension cord of the proper gauge, for the use case you are talking about, that part would be fine.

The issue you would have at your brothers cabin, is that its likely that outlet is shared, at least with the garage door opener, and probably with some other outlets that are either outside the cabin, or even inside the cabin. You should not simply plug it in, assuming it will be fine, without knowing what else is on that circuit. The easiest / cheapest way to find out whats on that circuit is to turn it off at the breaker, then plug in an outlet tester (or even a lamp) into various outlets to see what outlet is still powered.

it wont be a microwave, or a fridge, or anything like that... but it could be in a chain of a few other outlets that are, or are not, being used by your brother. You need to know that before you plug in a continuous load like an EV.

 

[Rocky_H]

So no issues with using extensions?

I wouldn't say no issues. Mainly be careful about your wire gauge. I had a couple of beefy looking "heavy duty" type extension cords that I thought I might use, so I looked at the stamping on them, and they were both really thin 16 gauge wire, with really thick rubber around them. That fits the "heavy duty" idea as far as preventing cuts or scrapes from getting to the wires, but that's not thick enough wire for long sustained current like charging a car would need.
So for regular 120V extension cords, I would sat at least 12 gauge, as @pjensen linked to. I found a nice 50 foot 10 gauge yellow one with lighted ends that I got on Amazon for this kind of emergency use.

 

[user212_nr]

I have access to a 5-15 outlet but 3mi/hr of charging does not excite me.

"doesn't excite me" is a very odd thing to say. I'm guessing that you mean to say that you have "range anxiety" about living off the 5-15 outlet.

If you have a beach condo, then you probably spend the majority of most days withing walking distance of your home. That equates to 72 miles per day, and 504 miles per week if it were charging all the time.

With all the hassles of the HOA, you'd be better off waiting until you actually get in a situation where it isn't enough. I don't even mean "think of a situation", as it really is quite a hastle, and the 5-15 very sufficient.

 

[davewill]

I'd get the 14-30 extension cord for when my battery was low, AND use the 5-15 outlet when the need isn't great. For the type of occasional use you're describing, it doesn't seem worth dealing with the HOA, unless you really want to be able to offer your guests EV charging.

 

[pjensen]

"doesn't excite me" is a very odd thing to say. I'm guessing that you mean to say that you have "range anxiety" about living off the 5-15 outlet.

If you have a beach condo, then you probably spend the majority of most days withing walking distance of your home. That equates to 72 miles per day, and 504 miles per week if it were charging all the time.

With all the hassles of the HOA, you'd be better off waiting until you actually get in a situation where it isn't enough. I don't even mean "think of a situation", as it really is quite a hastle, and the 5-15 very sufficient.

That 3 miles per hour number is for the model S and model X. The model 3 get 6 miles per hour. That is 144 miles per day, if it is plugged in all the time. The model 3 has a much better charger.

 

[davewill]

That 3 miles per hour number is for the model S and model X. The model 3 get 6 miles per hour. That is 144 miles per day, if it is plugged in all the time. The model 3 has a much better charger.

Actually it has nothing to do with the charger. The model 3 is simply more efficient and can go farther on the same charge.

 

[xcat]

If it's a discrete outlet, you may want to consult w an electrician to see if they can repurpose the 120 to a 240 outlet utilizing existing conduit.

 

[jdcollins5]

My sister has a 14-50 outlet in a weatherproof box under her house on Oak Island, NC. Her son-in-law had it installed for his car. I would think it may take a few years before it rusts. I have told her that I can replace the receptacle for her every few years if necessary.

 

[Mrcarcrazy]

Another thing worth looking into is hotels/condos in the area with destination chargers. I live on the Texas coast. They are fairly common down here. Not sure about your area of course. The app “plugshare” could yield some really helpful info.

HOAs can be very fickle and they are all different. Good luck.