Wall Charger: poor form but good substance

[frog8]

I just installed a Tesla Wall Charger WC. The unit looks futuristically good, but IMHO is a bad form. Because the handle is on the right hand side of the unit, it requires a whooping 9 inches of clearance (as measured from the center of the WC) on that side, while needing only 4 inches on the left hand side. This makes the installation impossible in a garage with a narrow center post. Also, the mounting bracket does not provide any ‘vertical reference’ to check the unit, as there is no aligned molding to affix the level to; one has to assume that the mounting screws are properly positioned, and there is no way to check afterwards.

I would have been happier with a less iPhone-like flashy unit e.g. a plain square box with a center-mounted handle and an ammeter/voltmeter to check that the notoriously fuzzy Tesla charger is indeed operating as it should.

On the bright side, the unit provisioning (called ‘commissioning’ by Tesla) works well: so here it is 'a lot of substance but a questionable form'.

 

[Stirfry]

.Because the handle is on the right hand side of the unit, it requires a whooping 9 inches of clearance (as measured from the center of the WC) on that side, while needing only 4 inches on the left hand side. This makes the installation impossible in a garage with a narrow center post

You don't need to place the handle in the unit to store it. I wrap mine on a hook below.

Re: checking the power draw; the app and screen both give the Amperage being used.

I think the unit is functional and elegant, and priced really well. I haven't look too hard but is there another brand that is smaller, looks good, and is cheaper?

 

[Corndart]

Hard disagree, this charger is miles ahead of any other L2 charger on the market and cheaper as well.

I happen to like where the handle receptacle is, and if pressed for space flanking the charger, would just dangle it or buy something like this

Cable Organizer

Store your Corded Mobile Connector with the newly redesigned Cable Organizer. This product features a sturdy bracket to keep your cables neatly stowed and a chassis holder to reduce additional wear and tear on your adaptor and outlet. Includes: 1x cable organizer bracket 1x chassis holder 1x...

shop.tesla.com

There is a template in the box so you can easily level before mounting the rear plate.

Not sure what "notoriously fuzzy" means wrt to the charger but it's easy to check in the vehicle, with the Tesla app, or connecting to the charger itself to see operating amperage.

 

[iamnid]

I find it ironic that the only thing OP praises is the provisioning. I can't even count the number of threads I've seen on here with people complaining about the provisioning process.

I have a V2 wall connector installed at home and I'm installing a V3 at a second place this weekend -- I guess I'll see how the provisioning process goes for me. I CAN say that they've significantly simplified the installation process with V3 judging by the installation instructions though.

 

[Corndart]

I find it ironic that the only thing OP praises is the provisioning. I can't even count the number of threads I've seen on here with people complaining about the provisioning process.

I have a V2 wall connector installed at home and I'm installing a V3 at a second place this weekend -- I guess I'll see how the provisioning process goes for me. I CAN say that they've significantly simplified the installation process with V3 judging by the installation instructions though.

Provisioning was easy but installing latest firmware required manually downloading, then updating. The feature that would do it natively within the charger never worked for me.

 

[iamnid]

Provisioning was easy but installing latest firmware required manually downloading, then updating. The feature that would do it natively within the charger never worked for me.

Yeah, I suspect the provisioning problems arise from the phone being used wanting to use mobile data rather than the wifi connection to the wall connector etc. It was certainly easier with V2 where you simply turned a dial to select the maximum amperage.

 

[Corndart]

Yeah, I suspect the provisioning problems arise from the phone being used wanting to use mobile data rather than the wifi connection to the wall connector etc. It was certainly easier with V2 where you simply turned a dial to select the maximum amperage.

I had no problems commissioning but the firmware update was a bit of a bugger. The QR code opened straight to the built-in nginx or whatever webserver they've got in the thing , configured for the right amperage upper bound and wifi.

Had to follow this process for updating firmware and frankly haven't checked to see if it's updating on its own, since commissioning.

Troubleshooting a Wall Connector | Tesla Support

Wall Connector is the most convenient charging solution for houses, apartments, hospitality properties and workplaces. Find out how to troubleshoot and commission a Wall Connector.

www.tesla.com

 

[frog8]

Hard disagree, this charger is miles ahead of any other L2 charger on the market and cheaper as well.

I happen to like where the handle receptacle is, and if pressed for space flanking the charger, would just dangle it or buy something like this

Cable Organizer

Store your Corded Mobile Connector with the newly redesigned Cable Organizer. This product features a sturdy bracket to keep your cables neatly stowed and a chassis holder to reduce additional wear and tear on your adaptor and outlet. Includes: 1x cable organizer bracket 1x chassis holder 1x...

shop.tesla.com

There is a template in the box so you can easily level before mounting the rear plate.

Not sure what "notoriously fuzzy" means wrt to the charger but it's easy to check in the vehicle, with the Tesla app, or connecting to the charger itself to see operating amperage.

Thanks for the holder suggestion.
Let me clarify the 'fuzzyness'.
When I try to read the status of the charging to my car, it usually takes 10 to 30 minutes to get a status update on the APP, while the car itself shows the result at once on its screen. In the meantime, the charger blinks but the current is unknown in the APP. I believe that the delay comes from the complex handshakes between the car, the charger and the cloud. That is badly slowed by the priority given to the cellular network that is very weakw where I live, being in a cell-tower poor area in the hills; this is an issue also flagged by people trying to do an update.
During these long 'status update' minutes, it is comforting to observe on the ammeter the negociated rise in charging current, and the final result.
As a comparaison, my Tesla Solar (linked to the same DMZ'd WiFi network as the car) shows the update on energy produced at once, as it does not seem to rely so heavily (and exclusively?) on the cellular network. On the Ethernet sniffer, I can see the Solar ping at once but no Charger access. I wish I could access the Charger web server for observability and management, not just provisionning. IMHO, the Charger should be a separate entity fully manageable with or without a Tesla car attached, and capable of operating with all the E/V's.

 

[Corndart]

Thanks for the holder suggestion.
Let me clarify the 'fuzzyness'.
When I try to read the status of the charging to my car, it usually takes 10 to 30 minutes to get a status update on the APP, while the car itself shows the result at once on its screen. In the meantime, the charger blinks but the current is unknown in the APP. I believe that the delay comes from the complex handshakes between the car, the charger and the cloud. That is badly slowed by the priority given to the cellular network that is very weakw where I live, being in a cell-tower poor area in the hills; this is an issue also flagged by people trying to do an update.
During these long 'status update' minutes, it is comforting to observe on the ammeter the negociated rise in charging current, and the final result.
As a comparaison, my Tesla Solar (linked to the same DMZ'd WiFi network as the car) shows the update on energy produced at once, as it does not seem to rely so heavily (and exclusively?) on the cellular network. On the Ethernet sniffer, I can see the Solar ping at once but no Charger access. I wish I could access the Charger web server for observability and management, not just provisionning. IMHO, the Charger should be a separate entity fully manageable with or without a Tesla car attached, and capable of operating with all the E/V's.

Yeah that makes sense, having realtime stats/state from the charger itself would be nice.

I think you self-diagnosed the issue in the first paragraph, which is a connectivity issue where you live, and actually isn't the charger but your vehicle unless I'm missing something. One suggestion would be to put a wifi range extender where the vehicles live to avoid whatever cel service challenges its having.

 

[frog8]

You are right about the vehicle connectivity; the charger is only an 'attachment' to the car. The reliance on Cell Network compromises all the car functionalities, including the charging parameters. I do have an AP (WiFi bridge hooked to the router via RJ45 Ethernet cable) in the garage and very high dB's on the WiFi there. For security, I suggest that you provision all your Tesla's (Car & Solar) on your 'Guest' or 'DMZ' segment, preventing access to your internal nodes.
Sooner or later, somebody (Tesla or 3rd party startup) will come up with an appliance that manages the energy fluxes in the premises, prioritizing the loads (car/AC/heater/dryer/cooking) VS the sources (Solar and energy provider low-cost time slots) ... do you want to start a company ? All this will require intelligent end clients including a charger smarter than Tesla's current WC, manageable as an independant entity and standing on its own.

 

[kugino]

jumping into this thread...I just installed mine over the past few days - installing the conduit took the longest time for me. once the wires were routed through, connecting to the unit and the panel was a cinch.

I partially agree with OP - the cable management/plug receptacle could be better. but having looked at other L2 chargers, the gen. 3 is a great deal. cheaper. wifi connected. weather-rated.

only issue - anyone know when we might get access to the charging unit in our app like the UK owners do? being able to add/remove authorized cars, check/schedule charging, etc. via the app would be mighty useful...

 

[fiehlsport]

A front-loading handle holder has helped me in the past.

Tesla Charger Cable Organizer & Holder for Model S 3 X Y

Reduce wear and tear on your Tesla Mobile Charger with this wall-mounted holder and cable organizer. By hanging your Tesla charging cable on a dedicated holder, you can take the strain away from the mobile connector's adapter, which typically hangs and dangles on its own weight. Our Tesla...

shop.teslarati.com

And yeah, the provisioning is the worst part. I'm familiar with networking and IT, and it still put up a fight.

 

[Tronguy]

Speaking of range extenders and the like: I've used a couple of those things over the years. First bit: As a rule, in Range Extender mode, they appear to lower the data rate for everything else in the house. When one reads the detailed info on how these things work, they do so by rebroadcasting wi-fi packets from your main wi-fi router so things farther away can pick them up, then taking wi-fi packets from far away and rebroadcasting them once again so the local router picks them up.

I have a technical term for you: "Collisions!". Get enough hardware on that wi-fi band and they'll start colliding packets, not a good thing.

As it happens, on most garden variety $15-$20 extenders, there's an Ethernet port on the suckers. The initial reason that's there is so that one can put, say, an Ethernet-based printer or something at that point. But for the two extenders I happen to have had, there's a second option: One can turn that extender into a wi-fi access point!

When one does that, one runs an Ethernet cable from the main router out to the "extender", with the extender in access point mode. Using the extender's web server, one can set a different band, a different SSID, a different wi-fi password and all that. There's no firewall - that's the job of the main router. I stuck this thing in the garage, ran an Ethernet cable out to it, and now the Tesla out there has good connectivity.

The other possible way of doing all this is investing in a Mesh system. The Mesh approach to life involves multiple boxes and a main router; they all talk to each other over wi-fi without collisions. By putting them all throughout a large house one gets complete coverage. The downside is the cost: Three of them cost in the area of $150-$250 or so, much more expensive than that silly range extender box.

 

[iamnid]

I installed a V3 wall connector over the weekend. Much simpler to do the physical install than the V2. The provisioning wasn't too bad either. The place where I installed doesn't have internet yet but that didn't stop me from provisioning (just being able to update firmware). The ONLY problem I had was when it came time to log into the wall connector -- Where is the Password? It says it's printed on the side of the unit -- WRONG. The SSID is on the side, along with some other info but the password, for me, was ONLY printed on the paper quickstart guide that came with the box. I'll have to be sure to never lose that piece of paper.

As a side note, the thinner cord gets much hotter than the thicker cord on the V2.

 

[kugino]

I installed a V3 wall connector over the weekend. Much simpler to do the physical install than the V2. The provisioning wasn't too bad either. The place where I installed doesn't have internet yet but that didn't stop me from provisioning (just being able to update firmware). The ONLY problem I had was when it came time to log into the wall connector -- Where is the Password? It says it's printed on the side of the unit -- WRONG. The SSID is on the side, along with some other info but the password, for me, was ONLY printed on the paper quickstart guide that came with the box. I'll have to be sure to never lose that piece of paper.

As a side note, the thinner cord gets much hotter than the thicker cord on the V2.

wait, the cord on the V3 is THINNER than the V2 cord??!! how thick is the V2 cord? bc the V3 cord is pretty thick...

 

[iamnid]

The V2 cord is about 1.5-2x as thick. I understand it's because the V2 supports up to 80amp charging on some older S and X models.

 

[Rocky_H]

wait, the cord on the V3 is THINNER than the V2 cord??!! how thick is the V2 cord? bc the V3 cord is pretty thick...

Yep, 80A charging from the V2 units, versus the 48A max of the V3, so definitely thicker cords on the old ones. That's why people were pretty irritated at how less capable for the same price the V3 one was when it came out.

 

[kugino]

Yep, 80A charging from the V2 units, versus the 48A max of the V3, so definitely thicker cords on the old ones. That's why people were pretty irritated at how less capable for the same price the V3 one was when it came out.

cool...thanks for the info, guys. yeah, i can see how a move to slower charging in the V3 would irk some people...i guess they went the route of appealing to the masses. the commissioning process is unnecessarily fidgety...and thereʻs no reason they canʻt put the charger in the phone app...but installation is actually a breeze (once all the wiring/conduit stuff is in place).

 

[Corndart]

Speaking of range extenders and the like: I've used a couple of those things over the years. First bit: As a rule, in Range Extender mode, they appear to lower the data rate for everything else in the house. When one reads the detailed info on how these things work, they do so by rebroadcasting wi-fi packets from your main wi-fi router so things farther away can pick them up, then taking wi-fi packets from far away and rebroadcasting them once again so the local router picks them up.

I have a technical term for you: "Collisions!". Get enough hardware on that wi-fi band and they'll start colliding packets, not a good thing.

As it happens, on most garden variety $15-$20 extenders, there's an Ethernet port on the suckers. The initial reason that's there is so that one can put, say, an Ethernet-based printer or something at that point. But for the two extenders I happen to have had, there's a second option: One can turn that extender into a wi-fi access point!

When one does that, one runs an Ethernet cable from the main router out to the "extender", with the extender in access point mode. Using the extender's web server, one can set a different band, a different SSID, a different wi-fi password and all that. There's no firewall - that's the job of the main router. I stuck this thing in the garage, ran an Ethernet cable out to it, and now the Tesla out there has good connectivity.

The other possible way of doing all this is investing in a Mesh system. The Mesh approach to life involves multiple boxes and a main router; they all talk to each other over wi-fi without collisions. By putting them all throughout a large house one gets complete coverage. The downside is the cost: Three of them cost in the area of $150-$250 or so, much more expensive than that silly range extender box.

I used a powerline adapter and another Ubiquiti WAP. Range extenders are garbage.

 

[iamnid]

cool...thanks for the info, guys. yeah, i can see how a move to slower charging in the V3 would irk some people...i guess they went the route of appealing to the masses. the commissioning process is unnecessarily fidgety...and thereʻs no reason they canʻt put the charger in the phone app...but installation is actually a breeze (once all the wiring/conduit stuff is in place).

To be fair, none of the current cars support the 80A charging at home.