Tesla charger

[talkingevs]

So we have 2 orders in for model 3s. We recently bought a house that said it was prewired for everything charger. This is what they meant in the garage. Will this work for a Tesla charger? How fast will it charge? Can we plug a Tesla wall charger into this or do they have to be hardwired? It has on it:
Nema 14-50R 50A 125/250V.

 

[dhu1]

So we have 2 orders in for model 3s. We recently bought a house that said it was prewired for everything charger. This is what they meant in the garage. Will this work for a Tesla charger? How fast will it charge? Can we plug a Tesla wall charger into this or do they have to be hardwired? It has on it:
Nema 14-50R 50A 125/250V.

This will allow you plug in the mobile connector that comes with the car. On model 3's, the mobile connector that comes with it only allows charging up to 32 amps (which equates to about 28 miles /hour). Read the following article...

See The Differences - Home Charging Tesla Model 3 Versus Model S

I would recommend that you buy a spare one and leave one always in the car should you run into an emergency, you can always find 110V that you can charge from.

I think Tesla HPWC needs to be hardwired since it draws up to 10KW and would require up to 60amps. I think you can rewire it so the you are using a 14-50 connector, but then at that point--you will only be the same as model X/S mobile connector in terms of what you can draw from the outlet

 

[siai47]

HPWC's can require as much as a 100 amp service to provide full power on an older dual charger Model S which can draw up to 80 amps. The Model 3 LR charger can draw a maximum of 48 amps which is close to 12 KW at 240 volts. Therefore, if you want to use the full output of the Model 3 charger, the HPWC must be hardwired to a circuit that would need a minimum of a 60 amp breaker and proper sized wire. The HPWC can be set to a lower output, but you couldn't charge at the car's maximum ability.

 

[roblab]

Just want to point out that a standard 50 amp 220v (or 240, if you prefer) will work fine for charging the 3 or S most any night. We start charging at 8PM when the rates go down, and the car(s) are full every morning. All I have ever used here at home is the 50 amp outlet and the charger that came with the car. Since 2012. I charge at 32 amps, which is plenty to get the job done overnight unless you have especially long commutes. I put about 30K miles on my car in a year.

 

[TT97]

My HPWC is on a 50 amp circuit. I get 37 miles charge per hour (at 40 amps) which is more than enough. If you have 2 3s, you can buy 2 HPWCs and have them daisy chained. You can have both cars plugged in at the same time and the units will distribute the power to each car. (Of course, this is significantly more expensive than just charging off the UMC).

 

[animorph]

Lots of people use the 14-50 outlet. That's the cheapest way to go.

It is possible to attach a 14-50 plug to a Tesla HPWC if you want. Though I'm not sure it's really up to code, no one will notice. The HPWC can be set for the 50A circuit and allow 40A charging. Not a big gain, but it (used to at least) costs the same as a duplicate UMC if you were thinking of that.

But, you might also be interested in hardwiring two HPWC's, possibly replacing the 14-50 outlet. The newer HPWC's can share the same 50A (or up to 100A) circuit and charge both cars. That will be easier to use (just plug each car into its own HPWC), but will cost way more to buy and install, depending on where you want them.

 

[TexasEV]

It’s great that your house came with a NEMA 14-50 outlet. That is exactly what you need. The vast majority of Tesla owners who charge at home plug the UMC into the 14-50 outlet and hang the UMC on the wall next to it. Don’t listen to those who say you need to keep one in the car. If you are going out of town, take it with you, otherwise it stays on the wall hook. Even going out of town you’re unlikely to use it, unless you know ahead of time that you’ll be plugging into an outlet at your destination, rather than a J1772 or HPWC.

 

[WattsHappening]

As others have correctly stated, the 14-50 plug is more than sufficient for most needs. Using your mobile charger, your Model 3 will charge at 32 amps, which is good for 29-30 miles per hour. You can do the math to see that in the most extreme case, it will take about 10 hours to fully charge your car. In most cases, it will take much less time to charge it up to 80 or 90%, which is where you should charge to regularly.

We use a 14-50 outlet and charge to 80% whenever our range gets down to 150 miles or less.

 

[TexasEV]

We use a 14-50 outlet and charge to 80% whenever our range gets down to 150 miles or less.

That’s not what you are supposed to do. Have you read the manual? The part about the battery that is IN UPPER CASE AND BOLD PRINT LIKE THIS?

Plug the car in every night. Don’t wait until you think it “needs it”. Let the battery management system manage the battery.

You don’t decide whether or not to plug your phone in at night based on how much charge it has left or how much you plan to use it the next day, do you? You just plug it in. Do the same for the Tesla.

 

[rzareiser]

That’s not what you are supposed to do. Have you read the manual? The part about the battery that is IN UPPER CASE AND BOLD PRINT LIKE THIS?

Plug the car in every night. Don’t wait until you think it “needs it”. Let the battery management system manage the battery.

You don’t decide whether or not to plug your phone in at night based on how much charge it has left or how much you plan to use it the next day, do you? You just plug it in. Do the same for the Tesla.

You Mad Bro?

 

[RDaneel]

You Mad Bro?

It was righteous anger, so I'll allow it.

 

[Big Dog]

You don’t decide whether or not to plug your phone in at night based on how much charge it has left or how much you plan to use it the next day, do you?

Sure I do. In other words, I don't plug in my phone until it gets low. Neither does anyone in my family. I mean, why should I charge every night when 3x/wk will do? But then, I don't use my iPhone that much.)

Similarly, I don't drive my M3 that much -- just laid off from work, so no longer a daily driver. I can go several days before it gets down to 100 miles, or ~33%, at which point it should be charged. Heck, I can go several days where I don't drive it at all, so the only 'use' is vampire drain. Do the batteries care if they are plugged in 100% of the time while sitting in the garage? Highly unlikely.


(Let me ask you a question: did you stop and top off your ICE every night? Not me, I ran it down to the last gallon or so every time. It's work simplification.)

 

[Chickenlittle]

So we have 2 orders in for model 3s. We recently bought a house that said it was prewired for everything charger. This is what they meant in the garage. Will this work for a Tesla charger? How fast will it charge? Can we plug a Tesla wall charger into this or do they have to be hardwired? It has on it:
Nema 14-50R 50A 125/250V.

Did the builder guarantee that? It could just be 14-50 plug which will not support a high power wall charger that you could set up to charge both the cars at once at full rate

 

[TexasEV]

Sure I do. In other words, I don't plug in my phone until it gets low. Neither does anyone in my family. I mean, why should I charge every night when 3x/wk will do? But then, I don't use my iPhone that much.)

Similarly, I don't drive my M3 that much -- just laid off from work, so no longer a daily driver. I can go several days before it gets down to 100 miles, or ~33%, at which point it should be charged. Heck, I can go several days where I don't drive it at all, so the only 'use' is vampire drain. Do the batteries care if they are plugged in 100% of the time while sitting in the garage? Highly unlikely.


(Let me ask you a question: did you stop and top off your ICE every night? Not me, I ran it down to the last gallon or so every time. It's work simplification.)

Don’t argue with me, argue with Tesla. RTFM. Especially the part of the battery section that is in bold print and upper case as I demonstrated above. Why would Tesla put this in bold print and upper case if they didn’t think it was important and wanted to make sure people read it? Maybe they know something you don’t.

The Model S used to be delivered with a postcard inside shown here:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/a-connected-model-s-is-a-happy-model-s.19922/

 

[nvx1977]

Charge and discharge depth has an impact on your battery health. Shallower charges/discharges are better for the battery. For that reason, even if you drive 5 miles, it's better to plug in and charge the battery back up. I'll admit I don't always plug in, especially if I know I'm heading back out later. but in general, if you can reduce the depth of charge/discharge, your battery will hold its capacity for longer.

The same thing applies to phones as well. It's just that most people get a new phone before the battery shows significant degradation, so we can afford to be sloppier (like charging it to 100% every day) with phone battery care.

 

[chronopc]

That’s not what you are supposed to do. Have you read the manual? The part about the battery that is IN UPPER CASE AND BOLD PRINT LIKE THIS?

Plug the car in every night. Don’t wait until you think it “needs it”. Let the battery management system manage the battery.

You don’t decide whether or not to plug your phone in at night based on how much charge it has left or how much you plan to use it the next day, do you? You just plug it in. Do the same for the Tesla.

I do plug leave the car plugged in since the Model 3 has a battery management system and I can limit the charge of the battery to a specific level.

With a phone I don't do that though. Lithium batteries hate to be fully charged since it requires a lot of heat. Although I wished I could limit the charging to a certain % on my phone. If I could, then I would just leave it plugged in all the time.

 

[talkingevs]

Did the builder guarantee that? It could just be 14-50 plug which will not support a high power wall charger that you could set up to charge both the cars at once at full rate

What do you mean did the builder confirm that? They didn't confirm anything, just stated the house is prewired for EV charging and that is what is written on the plug. How would I verify without paying for an electrician?

 

[Big Dog]

The same thing applies to phones as well. It's just that most people get a new phone before the battery shows significant degradation,

When the iPhone 6 came out, wasn't Apple's recommendation (at that time) to discharge the battery down to zero at least once per month?

 

[darkenergy]

So we have 2 orders in for model 3s. We recently bought a house that said it was prewired for everything charger. This is what they meant in the garage. Will this work for a Tesla charger? How fast will it charge? Can we plug a Tesla wall charger into this or do they have to be hardwired? It has on it:
Nema 14-50R 50A 125/250V.

It will work for the HPWC. You can configure the HPWC for 40,50,60,70,80,90 or 100A breakers.

See the manual https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/ms_hpwc_installation_guide.pdf

Attach a 14-50 tail/plug to the charger and plug it into the socket. You're good to go.

 

[Troy916]

Honestly I'm not sure I would trust a builder installed 14-50 outlet. https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/US/universalmobileconnector_nema_14-50.pdf explicitly mentions 2 brands of high quality, industrial grade receptacle.

Also since you will have 2 cars needing charging the 2x HPWC route seems to be the way to go.