Trickle Charging vs. Tesla Wall Connector! Opinions Wanted.

[Spacep0d]

1) Marry your girlfriend
2) Trickle charge @ 120 volts for as long as it works
3) Move to a bigger house someday.

You will never recover the costs of adding a new EVSE circuit at your present location.

Hehe!

1. Won't get married ever. That's a different topic perhaps for a different forum. However, my girlfriend and I will be together 23 years as of 2021 so we're doing okay. I dare say we don't need marriage! Yes, she's well aware of this position too and she's fine with it (or at least has reasonable expectations).

2. Yes, this does work okay for now. 30 miles a night off-peak, neither of us has a commute. I guess I could live with it. I'm just so curious about what *could* be if I put a little effort in or if these electricians stop dropping like flies.

3. Absolutely! I'm still working on that. If she agrees (later) then I will definitely stop worrying about the charging upgrade. Now that she owns a Tesla she might be more open to it.

True, we may not recover the cost of an EVSE at this location, but it sure won't hurt! And, it'll be an extremely rare find in this complex for anyone with a Tesla for sure. I know it would make an enormous difference for me as a buyer.

 

[Spacep0d]

With the nearby fast charging options, I’d trickle charge and save the additional $$ on the residence. I doubt you would recover the cost if you sell.

You're right we wouldn't recover the cost but that isn't among my requirements. I would enjoy an upgraded quality of life from faster charging, and it would make a huge difference to some buyers. Wouldn't be the least bit of a plus for die-hard ICErs, but would certainly make them aware that buying a Tesla would come with convenient charging. I think most people are one test drive away from wanting a Tesla, so having a charger would be HUGE for some buyers, a plus for many others.

 

[Spacep0d]

ive been following your discussions since march (when i got model 3) on this issue and i think its time to throw in the towel.

i get you want to be the first and accept a challenge , but you are not going to win every battle, so let this one go.

sell the charger and recoup some bread and see if you can get a 20 amp outlet done. stop wasting your time with this.

life is short mate, there are no guarantees. enjoy your wife/girlfriend, enjoy the car, and use level 1/trickle charge.

im in an apartment and had a 20 amp circuit installed at the spot im assigned to. i get along just fine and i commute to the office 5 days a week.

also its possible you may end up moving to a better location down the road. you cant predict the future. save your charger battle then.

Hey thanks for following this. It's been a saga, and that's with no electrical work done yet!

If I could get a 20A charger installed I'd do that too. It is true that I do want to move to a different space...within a year or so. Then there won't be a battle. It'll be an afternoon's work and you can bet I will fully vet this before we purchase!

 

[Spacep0d]

The bolded quote (and lack of response / ghosting by several electricians) tells you that anyone capable of working through everything that appears to be needed in your case is going to be VERY expensive. The electricians are likely "ghosting" you because they look at the job and say to themselves "its not even worth drawing up a quote since its going to be XX,XXX and there is no way anyone would pay that to install a wall charger in a townhome".

I know I am projecting a bit, but the fact that multiple people basically wont respond to you is in some ways an answer. its likely not "4-5k" but "an amount that they all think no one would pay".

You could be right. I may be underestimating the cost. I'm projecting it'll be around 5k, but it could be much more. I still want the option to at least say 'no' but I'm having trouble getting that far. This last electrician I talked to said that he's done a 45 foot trenching job to run new line, and my place would need about 25 feet. We'll see. He's already failed to text me when he said he would, lol.

 

[Spacep0d]

I survived for several months with zero charging at my Florida condo because the boards lawyer said EV was too much of a fire risk (this was 2014-2015). There were no Supercharger then so I travelled to a nearby town that had an early CHAdeMO and Tesla had just introduced the adapter. Too much information, I know. Even with that seemingly dire situation it ended out being easy once I accepted the process. Iended out leaving my Mode S alone for months at a time so I quickly learned about phantom discharge.

Skipping the history, I went months when I could only access 120-15 for charging before even that CHAdeMO adapter was available. It really was quite survivable, since I was only in local use at the time.

If there had been Superchargers close by as they are now, I'd never have installed the 208/20 pitiful connection that was all I could get for ~$5,000. I'd never change a thing in your situation until I moved.

You have lived this, and thanks for your valuable insight. If my girlfriend is amenable to a move in a year, I'm not going to upgrade a thing. Thanks!

 

[Spacep0d]

LOL. I feel this one. Better disappointment than regret though!

 

[TheRFMan]

I think the lesson here is that HOAs / Condo boards and such organizations are a clear indicator of future homeownership headaches. Freehold or bust . (Freehold townhomes are common in my part of the world, perhaps that is not the case where you are).

 

[augkuo]

The plugshare app shows some homes with chargers installed so if they're your neighbors you could even pay them some nominal fee instead of installing your own -

 

[user212_nr]

Should I give up the fight or continue on? We want to stay in this place for the forseeable future and get it paid off, though we did consider moving to a bigger place (with fewer electrical issues). In fact, that's one of my primary reasons for wanting to move aside from having an extra room or two and a fully detached home (no shared walls), and maybe a yard. Lots of money to pay for that though.

Maybe think about moving out of California?

At some point though (I am familiar with your other threads), your financial and "quality of life" choices don't belong in the "Battery and Charging" forums.

In favor of trickle charging....I currently work-from-home and the girlfriend doesn't really need to work right now, but she may take a job in less than a year or so. She will likely have a light commute, and I will likely continue to work from home with occasional trips to L.A. However, I could be asked to commute every day to L.A. as well. Trying to future-proof here.

GF isn't working and your job is remote. Time to leave Santa Clarita, CA for Arizona. You'll have a ton of $.

 

[user212_nr]

I think the lesson here is that HOAs / Condo boards and such organizations are a clear indicator of future homeownership headaches. Freehold or bust . (Freehold townhomes are common in my part of the world, perhaps that is not the case where you are).

I'd have to disagree. I've heard a lot of HOA horror stories, but I think that we're just hearing the worst of them.

It does pose a clear threat to EV ownership if there is not an attached garage and they are not pro-EV, and it can get expensive, but I think we're only hearing the worst of these stories.

 

[F14Scott]

Concur on the 6-20. 16 amps (continuous) at 240V is plenty enough for any light commuter: more than 200 miles of range overnight.

If your garage has only one outlet and it's a 5-20 (20 amps, 120V), all the electrician would need to do is install a double pole breaker and swap in a new outlet; the wire is already good for 20 amps.

If the garage has multiple 120V outlets, that's not as good, since they are probably wired in series, so changing the voltage to one would mean changing the voltage on all, and you don't want to routinely plug a high continuous load into a chain of outlets, as there are multiple points of potential failure. Also, the chain might not be wired for 20 amps, only 15. Assuming you have 20 amp wire, he could change the first one and then disconnect and cap the rest. But you would lose outlets in the garage.

What do the outlets look like in your garage. And does your 60A panel have room for breakers?

 

[mswlogo]

Trickle should not hurt anything. Just a bit inconvenient. Slightly less efficient. Lucky you are in a warmer climate, because up North it can take up most, if not all of your 12A to just warm the battery. Lucky it's a Model 3 too because it's even slower on an S/X.

An occasional SuperCharge might be good for it now and then. So it doesn't forget how

 

[Spacep0d]

Maybe think about moving out of California?

At some point though (I am familiar with your other threads), your financial and "quality of life" choices don't belong in the "Battery and Charging" forums.


GF isn't working and your job is remote. Time to leave Santa Clarita, CA for Arizona. You'll have a ton of $.

You raise good points and I have considered it. Girlfriend has much deeper ties to Los Angeles than I do. This thread started as a battery and charging question but I guess we're at the TMI stage.

But yeah you're right, if I moved outta state I could live not like a King per se but maybe a well-heeled Duke?

 

[trm2]

I wouldn’t spend the money, but that’s just me. Don’t forget you can get a tax credit (30% up to $1000) for installing charging equipment.

 

[Radzer0]

You know that to avoid all the headaches you can install a manual transfer switch and add a second outlet to that dryer circuit? Would be dryer or car but it would avoid all the headaches with the HOA outside.

 

[jjrandorin]

You know that to avoid all the headaches you can install a manual transfer switch and add a second outlet to that dryer circuit? Would be dryer or car but it would avoid all the headaches with the HOA outside.

OP Dryer = Gas, so thats a no go for this OP:

Hi there Teslarati,

Many of you are well aware of the struggles I've had with getting a charger installed. For those who don't, the quick points are these; I'm in a Townhome complex and each unit has a pathetic 60a panel, gas dryer (can't free up volts there), need to trench new power from panel box that feeds building, need a way to pay for the power I use (SCE involvement) and the HOA wants architectural plans but have given preliminary approval.

 

[Spacep0d]

OP Dryer = Gas, so thats a no go for this OP:

Yep, and I already thought about ways to use a 240V connection from the dryer but it's gas. >< I still appreciate the suggestions here though. Thanks for lookin' out, jjandorin!

 

[Spacep0d]

Concur on the 6-20. 16 amps (continuous) at 240V is plenty enough for any light commuter: more than 200 miles of range overnight.

If your garage has only one outlet and it's a 5-20 (20 amps, 120V), all the electrician would need to do is install a double pole breaker and swap in a new outlet; the wire is already good for 20 amps.

If the garage has multiple 120V outlets, that's not as good, since they are probably wired in series, so changing the voltage to one would mean changing the voltage on all, and you don't want to routinely plug a high continuous load into a chain of outlets, as there are multiple points of potential failure. Also, the chain might not be wired for 20 amps, only 15. Assuming you have 20 amp wire, he could change the first one and then disconnect and cap the rest. But you would lose outlets in the garage.

What do the outlets look like in your garage. And does your 60A panel have room for breakers?

From what I can see, we just have one garage outlet, though I think it's GFCI. An electrician friend wired another outlet with conduit from the overhead fluorescent lights but I'm using the main outlet. Actually, I like your idea of just upgrading that to 20A if it can take it. Apparently there's no room on my panel per the many electricians who have been here, but I'm not averse to upgrading it if at all possible.

Let's say the outlet in the garage could be upgraded to 20A, would I still use my Tesla charging cable or would I need a 20A EVSE? I'm open to any upgrade at this point over 12A, 120v, 5mph charge rate.

 

[nwdiver]

Throw in a 6-20 NEMA adapter for the UMC, and it's a pretty cheap solution.

Couldn't agree more. I'm actually kinda surprised 6-20s aren't more common for EV charging. My typical charging speed is ~20A... not much more power than you'd get out of a 6-20. Just going from 120v to 240v is really what you need.

 

[F14Scott]

From what I can see, we just have one garage outlet, though I think it's GFCI. An electrician friend wired another outlet with conduit from the overhead fluorescent lights but I'm using the main outlet. Actually, I like your idea of just upgrading that to 20A if it can take it. Apparently there's no room on my panel per the many electricians who have been here, but I'm not averse to upgrading it if at all possible.

Let's say the outlet in the garage could be upgraded to 20A, would I still use my Tesla charging cable or would I need a 20A EVSE? I'm open to any upgrade at this point over 12A, 120v, 5mph charge rate.

All you would need is this dongle from Tesla to plug into the wall and your Tesla mobile connector.
Gen 2 NEMA Adapters