To plug in or not? That is the question.

[Panacea]

I'll be away for about a week. The car will be left in the garage. I was thinking about leaving my car plugged in with the 110 adaptor and not the normal NEMA 14-50 adaptor. Then, I read a post about the melting adaptors and now I am second guessing myself. Any words of advice would be most appreciated.

 

[stevezzzz]

Leave it plugged into the 14-50. The car will wake up once a day and top off the charge, and it's more efficient using 240V/40amp than it is at 110/15.

For only a week away you could choose to leave it unplugged, but why? If your return was delayed for some reason, you could wind up worrying about the state of the battery pack when you'd probably have plenty to worry about already.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Leave it plugged in to 120v. The efficiency difference is minimal, 85% vs 87%, and you don't have to worry about a melting 240v adapter while you're gone.

 

[FlasherZ]

The 14-50 adapter's melting is likely due to sustained heat. I'm not sure you'd have enough sustained charge time to melt the adapter.

 

[Lightning Jeff]

The 14-50 adapter's melting is likely due to sustained heat. I'm not sure you'd have enough sustained charge time to melt the adapter.

Exactly. You won't be generating any significant, sustained heat during this time. Everything cools down once serious charging is done. I took a two-week trip days after getting my S. I left it plugged into the 14-50 the whole time (and checked my garage security cam several times daily to check on my new baby and flash its lights). No issues.

 

[JerryNycom]

Exactly. You won't be generating any significant, sustained heat during this time. Everything cools down once serious charging is done. I took a two-week trip days after getting my S. I left it plugged into the 14-50 the whole time (and checked my garage security cam several times daily to check on my new baby and flash its lights). No issues.

I did the exact same thing!

 

[mknox]

Rather than swapping out the adapter and plugging into a different 120 v outlet, why not just dial the amperage down to, say, 12 amps while you're away.

 

[montgom626]

I'll be away for about a week. The car will be left in the garage. I was thinking about leaving my car plugged in with the 110 adaptor and not the normal NEMA 14-50 adaptor. Then, I read a post about the melting adaptors and now I am second guessing myself. Any words of advice would be most appreciated.

Always plug in. 110 or 240, makes no difference. If you are worried, use 110V.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Maybe that when the sleep mode will be implemented on Model S the Shakespearean question starting this thread will be solved without any need to plug in when the car is left in the garage for a long period?