Tesla Motors Club

Hey all --

We just got our M3 a week ago. I got the 14-50 outlet installed on Thursday and have some questions regarding the temp rises I'm seeing while charging at 40 amps.

We live in the Central Valley in CA so it gets warm here fairly often. Here are the specs of my install:

• Tesla Gen 2 HPWC
  
• 50 Amp, 2 pole breaker
  
• 6/3 w/ground stranded wire
• Run Length ~44 ft
  
• Leviton 14-15 outlet
• Voltage at breaker - 242.1v
• Voltage at outlet - 241.9v (0.2v drop, without any load)
• Voltage at breaker with charging at 40A - 235.2v
• Car reports voltage as 230v while charging
• Measured 41.3A and 41.8A draw at breaker (claw amp meter) while charging at 40A

After charging for a couple of hours last night with the garage around 95F, the back of the plug that is inserted into the outlet was 117F. (22F rise in temp from ambient). Does that sound reasonable? I wasn't sure so I shut it down to do more research. The cord to the HPWC and the 24' cord to the car was also fairly warm but not 117F warm - I forgot to measure it.

This morning I did another test:

Starting Temps:

• Breaker temp - 68F (outside)
• Garage temp - 79F
• Plug back temp - 80F

After 30 Minutes Temps:

• Breaker temp - 95F (+27F rise)
• Garage temp - 79F (Same)
• Plug back temp 97F (+17F rise)

Any thoughts on any of this? After doing some research, I'm going to buy the Hubbell 14-50 outlet and yank out that cheap Leviton. Also, I just bought a 4' 14-50 power cord for a stove/range to connect to the Tesla HPWC. Is there another cord that would be heavier duty that I should have got?

Also, should I install ferrules on the ends of these 6ga wires at both ends to ensure maximum connectivity? I noticed that they use them in the Tesla HPWC backing part that allows cord to come up from above.

Any info and/or suggestions would be appreciated. I absolutely do not want to have any smoke or melted wires anywhere - especially if the garage is up around 100F or something.

Thanks,

-Alli