Should I turn off breaker for Wall Connector??

[lagod]

Hi guys,

3 weeks into owning my first Tesla.

I always leave my wall connector on, and I leave my MY plugged every time it is parked in my garage. I have driven 500miles so far.

I just checked my meter reading, and I already used twice the electricity amount for the same period of time before I got my Tesla. There is no change in my usage pattern except for charging the MY.

My neighbor tells me that I need to turn off the breaker for Wall connector when I don't use it. But does that really make difference? Doesn't it stop using electricity once it hits the charging target??

I am pretty shocked at the increase in my meter, at this pace, I might end up paying more in elec bill than I save in gas.

Are you all turning the breaker off for the wall connector when not using it?

 

[Radzer0]

Hi guys,

3 weeks into owning my first Tesla.

I always leave my wall connector on, and I leave my MY plugged every time it is parked in my garage. I have driven 500miles so far.

I just checked my meter reading, and I already used twice the electricity amount for the same period of time before I got my Tesla. There is no change in my usage pattern except for charging the MY.

My neighbor tells me that I need to turn off the breaker for Wall connector when I don't use it. But does that really make difference? Doesn't it stop using electricity once it hits the charging target??

I am pretty shocked at the increase in my meter, at this pace, I might end up paying more in elec bill than I save in gas.

Are you all turning the breaker off for the wall connector when not using it?

It’s the same as turning off a cable box. Might use a hair of power but that’s it. Is it an in wall outlet or surface mount?

 

[mswlogo]

It’s not the wall connector.

If you have expensive electricity. With the cost of cheap gas these days it could be close if not more to use electricity.

When gas prices were normal. I was getting close to 50 mpg equivalent. Which was very good for a fast monster SUV. But at current prices I’ve been afraid to run the numbers.

Lucky I have free supercharging and Solar. Unless I exceed capacity I’m good.

 

[lagod]

It’s the same as turning off a cable box. Might use a hair of power but that’s it. Is it an in wall outlet or surface mount?

It's on surface mount. Is that supposed to make a difference?

 

[akenham]

I'm in the UK fwiw, like most (I would expect) my wall connector is always on - and was for a month before I received my car. I have a smart meter that monitors my realtime wattage and I haven't seen any surprising changes.

Aside from recharging (which will take a little more than the kWh you need to replace, perhaps 5-10%) your car can also draw power from the wall box to run HVAC and precondition the battery if cold.

I note you're in relatively balmy Los Angeles - is it possible you've got cabin overheat protection on and/or sentry and/or doing a lot of cabin conditioning? Also topping up the battery to replace e.g. sentry losses could stack up over the day (I believe the car will do this every once in a while if it's not told to "charge at..." or "be ready to leave by...".

I have mine set to charge from 00:30 because I get very cheap electricity at that time, so unless I ask it to precondition it doesn't use anything at all, but if I open the door the chasing lights will immediately appear on the wall connector.

 

[TORQU3]

My gen 2 HPWC uses 1 watt when the car isn’t charging. I have mine connected to a power monitor. Say your power is on the expensive side, $0.25/kWh, it would cost you about $0.72 per month. Turning the breaker on and off isn't worth the less than $10/year you will save. Electric cars use a lot of electricity, that’s just how it is.

 

[GeezerSquid]

Schedule your charging for the middle of the night. I think most engery companies change their rates in an effort to shift useage away from peak times. I have mine set to start charging at 11:30pm. Rates at that time a much lower. I've seen no difference in my electrical bills. But I don't drive very far each day as I'm retired and just run errands during the day (15-20 miles per day??). Good luck.

 

[Velcade]

To add to Geezer's comment. You can set a departure time and the wall connector will make sure you're full by your departure time. For me this means the wall connector will kick on around 3am.

 

[gfunkdave]

Schedule your charging for the middle of the night. I think most engery companies change their rates in an effort to shift useage away from peak times. .

Generally you have to specifically sign up for this, called a time of use (TOU) rate.

 

[NY_Rob]

Check with your utility, they may have an Electric Vehicle charging program where you get discounted rates for charging between certain hours. Or, look in to solar... charge any time you like and smile every day the sun shines!!

 

[jeffbco]

Breakers generally are not designed for multiple on/off cycles like your kitchen light wall switch so as others have said no need to cycle CB off when not in use.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

My gen 2 HPWC uses 1 watt when the car isn’t charging. I have mine connected to a power monitor. Say your power is on the expensive side, $0.25/kWh, it would cost you about $0.72 per month. Turning the breaker on and off isn't worth the less than $10/year you will save. Electric cars use a lot of electricity, that’s just how it is.

I think your math is off.
1 W * 24 hours * 30 days = 720 watt hours per month (0.72 kWh)
0.72 kWh * $0.25/kWh = $0.18 = 18 cents a month or $2.16 per year.

So at $0.25/kWh, leaving the wall connector on should only cost about half a cent per day.

 

[TORQU3]

I think your math is off.
1 W * 24 hours * 30 days = 720 watt hours per month (0.72 kWh)
0.72 kWh * $0.25/kWh = $0.18 = 18 cents a month or $2.16 per year.

So at $0.25/kWh, leaving the wall connector on should only cost about half a cent per day.

You are absolutely right. I clearly had not had my coffee yet! An ever lower cost!

 

[Rocky_H]

My neighbor tells me that I need to turn off the breaker for Wall connector when I don't use it. But does that really make difference? Doesn't it stop using electricity once it hits the charging target??

Your neighbor is wrong; that is a really terrible idea. As @jeffbco has correctly pointed out, it's kind of hard on breakers to be toggled a lot, so don't do that often. But also, the wall connector just doesn't use much of anything when it's off. It's just whatever the car draws. And so I would also recommend setting a scheduled start time at night, so it will only refill once per day, which is not during some crazy expensive afternoon peak rate.

 

[jstjohnz]

How many KWh of electricity do you think the charger has used? What's your cost per KWh?
500 miles isn't a lot, maybe 150KWh for the miles, plus some for AC, etc. Do you leave sentry mode on? Do you have cabin overheat on? You can get smartphone apps that will show you how much electricity you use while charging.

 

[jcanoe]

Hi guys,

3 weeks into owning my first Tesla.

I always leave my wall connector on, and I leave my MY plugged every time it is parked in my garage. I have driven 500miles so far.

I just checked my meter reading, and I already used twice the electricity amount for the same period of time before I got my Tesla. There is no change in my usage pattern except for charging the MY.

My neighbor tells me that I need to turn off the breaker for Wall connector when I don't use it. But does that really make difference? Doesn't it stop using electricity once it hits the charging target??

I am pretty shocked at the increase in my meter, at this pace, I might end up paying more in elec bill than I save in gas.

Are you all turning the breaker off for the wall connector when not using it?

Your current driving history indicates that you drive less than 25 miles per day. There is no need to plug in, charge every day. Just set the charging limit to something between 60% and 80%; that will be more than sufficient charge for daily use. You can reduce the number of times the Tesla vehicle will wake up if you set Sentry Mode to always be turned off when you are parked at home (this makes perfect sense if you always park your Tesla inside a locked garage.) Also, if you have FSD you can turn off Summon, Advanced Summon unless you regularly use these features as they cause additional power drain while parked. I is unlikely that Cabin Overheat Protection is activating when the vehicle is parked inside a garage, if parked in the sun then this could account for some of the unexpected power use.