Wall charger recommendations

[everydaychris]

First tesla should be coming eventually!

Just out of curiosity, what wall charges do you guys have? I was considering Tesla however, perhaps in the future, if Porsche released a macan electric, I may get a different electric car.

I was thinking of clipper creek but what's the big difference between a 16A and 32A ?

Tesla Model 3 Electric Vehicle | ClipperCreek

 

[spsheridan]

@aznkorboi, if you want a shorter charging time to achieve the same miles of range, go for the 32A option. Your charging rate (miles/hr of charge) will roughly scale with the amperage of the charger (if the voltage is the same) so 32A will charge roughly twice as fast as 16A. If the charging rate isn't that important for you, save some money and go for 16A.

We have the Tesla Wall Connector tied into a 240V/50A circuit and get about 33-34 miles/hr of charge on a Model 3 (adding a Model Y soon). But we're not charging anything other than Teslas.
Wall Connector

I assume your first Telsa will be a Model 3?

 

[ellett]

I have a Tesla Wall Connector set to 32A on a 40A breaker and I get 30MPH. If you install a 16A charger on a 20A breaker you should expect 15MPH.

 

[Mr. Michael]

The Tesla wall charger is pretty nice and plays well with Teslas. You can get the maximum charge rate of 48 amps delivered. Also you can gang it to another unit as a slave, which we plan to do when the Y comes in. Not sure of the Porsche requirements, but the big advantage Tesla has is the supercharger network. You can probably get some sort of adapter to fit another car using the Tesla home charger.

 

[LowlyOilBurner]

Got a Tesla wall charger right before the new one with WiFi came out (like literally two days before). Running it off a 60a breaker, #4 stranded copper to it. Cost me $119.00 in material and two hours of my time to install it. Done to code.

 

[Bikeman]

We've been using an older JuiceBox40 on a 240v 40A line we had installed 3 years back, plugged into a 14-50 outlet. Hopefully that will work with the Y at 32A.

Waiting to find out if the Y comes with any charging accessories, notably a J1772 to Tesla connector adapter.

 

[Xebec]

FWIW - Currently using the mobile connector with My Model 3, but had a Clipper Creek LCS 30 for while with a Nissan Leaf.

The Clipper Creek unit is UL certified/listed, and I also had positive experiences with their customer service.

Back when I bought mine, the 24A (30A plug) was the highest power of the 'small' units, where the 32A (40A Plug) units were much physically larger. Since I had limited wall space, this was a consideration for me. It looks like they have higher power units that are 'small' today.

When choosing what power level, here are a few things to consider:

- Higher power draw will charge faster, and more efficiently (there's usually a fixed overhead charging)
- For a Tesla, if your battery/interior are cold, the 240V / 32A should provide enough power to heat up the battery/car *and* add some charge to the battery. 16A will probably need to bounce between the two significantly increasing charging time if you're charging last minute.
- Consider how much power you have available - if you have 100A service for example, a 32A (40A plug) effectively ties up 40% of that panels power when charging. This may or may not matter to you.
- The size of the unit may change based on size.
- Higher power units may also have thicker / heavier cables (some ergonomic considerations)

There is one other 'newish' vendor - Grizzl-E I've read about recently - Canadian made/designed, and they're either UL listed or working on it right now. You might check them out.

I ultimately sold my Clipper Creek because I wanted the faster charging of my mobile charger for my Model 3, and ultimately have ended up with a Tesla Wall Charger (on order) so I can keep the mobile connector in the car at all times. For your use case though a single higher powered J1772 sounds ideal.

TL;DR - The Clipper Creek 32A is a solid universal choice EVSE.

 

[ratsbew]

I recommend Blink's home charger. Works great for me and comes with $300 of public charging credits.

https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Electric-Vehicle-Charger-Charging/dp/B00IOT4RSA

 

[looseygoosey]

Is there obvious flaws with going with a Tesla wall charger if you only own Tesla EVs?

 

[Catbiscuits]

I just had the third generation Tesla charger installed. My electrician remarked on how much better built it was than the second generation. If you are going Tesla, just get that, as many amps (up to 60) as you can...

 

[BerkshireEV]

Why not install a dryer plug with 50W and buy a $40 aftermarket adapter? Am I missing something?

 

[Aarons12]

Why not install a dryer plug with 50W and buy a $40 aftermarket adapter? Am I missing something?

i looked into that. it's a decent step up in charging time from just plugging it into 110, but less than half what you get with a wall charger. everything has it's plusses and minusses. we already had 50 amp service on our garage from a prior hot tub, so it wasn't that expensive to put in the wall charger. of course, it would have even been less to do the dryer plug but i want the max tesla experience.

 

[Aarons12]

I just had the third generation Tesla charger installed. My electrician remarked on how much better built it was than the second generation. If you are going Tesla, just get that, as many amps (up to 60) as you can...

i already have 50 at my garage where it needs to be. the electrician already told me i don't have 'the max' but should still be fine, and yeah, the new charger is nice. my wife thought it was gonna take up half the garage because all she's seen is photos of supercharger stations

 

[Aarons12]

Is there obvious flaws with going with a Tesla wall charger if you only own Tesla EVs?

no and my feeling is that tesla cars will like a tesla charger the best, tesla's electronics are mostly proprietary and can't operate at top efficiency with anything else.

 

[SSedan]

IMO it is prudent to have a backup charging solution, be that a second UMC or a wall connector. That way if there is damage, failure, theft whatever you aren't stuck finding a public solution while Tesla takes their time shipping a new one.

On the charging rate you will rarely need to crank it up all the way and you can always dial down amps. I live less than 7 miles from work and still I am happy I installed a wall connector at 80amps for my dual charger S.
What triggered me to do this was I was on vacation and got a call about a family emergency. By the time I got home to drop off the wife and kids(car got like 6miles charge during) I had 5% margin to get to the hospital and back causing a brief trip out of my way to supercharger. Got home at like 1am and left again at 7am and had some range anxiety again that day.

Spring-Fall I could get by on a 120volt outlet given my 15-30miles 6 days a week, it is the fringe cases and emergencies where the ability to add 58miles per hour charging comes in handy. I list the three seasons qualifier because I am near Green Bay and cold weather in my case can more than triple energy use.

Larger wire is NOT that much more expensive, Tesla recommends expensive outlets due to some failures with cheap 240volt outlets and a wall connector is direct wired so some cost offset there. You can get Tesla to J1772 adapters so the Tesla wall connector can adapt to other cars later. Plus if you go max amperage on a wall connector install you are well prepared for later load sharing should you buy a second EV.

Now if your breaker panel is near capacity and you can't get high amperage a 14-30 with a second UMC will work for the vast majority a vast majority of the time.

I am confident saying more folks regret "saving" a little money than those who build in some overkill. That overkill might save you headaches should emergencies pop up or might save you actual money if you buy a second EV or a hungrier one later.

 

[canbonbon]

For those considering (or have already installed) non Tesla EVSEs, did your EVSE come with a Tesla adapter or did you have to buy a separate one? I have been living off of a NEMA 14-50 outlet for past 2 years as my daily need is not a lot. However, if I do end up going for a Model Y, I would be back in the market to get a dedicated EVSE installed. My gut is to go for Tesla one but there are Level 2 (32 AMP) ones available for as little $94. But as with any technology, better ones would keep coming. The real question is where do you find cheap Tesla adapter? From what I recall, the adapter itself used to be in $200+ range. I might also change the wire because currently I am just reusing an old plug that was installed for Whole house Vaccum pump (240V) for my UMC.

 

[canbonbon]

Got a Tesla wall charger right before the new one with WiFi came out (like literally two days before). Running it off a 60a breaker, #4 stranded copper to it. Cost me $119.00 in material and two hours of my time to install it. Done to code.

Wanted to ask you how far was your distance from the panel? I looked up prices of #4/3 copper wire at Home Depot. They are charging $4.63/ft plus tax. Unfortunately for me, my garage is on the other end of the house and the panel is at the opposite end. So for me it would be like 80-90 ft. That was another reason I did not get it installed last time I was thinking about it. Just the material cost was high. Should I go for #6/3 instead? As per the chart here, #6/3 should be able to handle upto 65 Amp. Home charging Wiring Guide

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions on what wire to use for that long distance. I have 3 car garage and I am trying to install the EVSE on the wall between the first and second door. That way, I could charge either car with that single charger.

 

[SSedan]

Romex is capable of less amperage by gauge than THHN since being tightly bundled with the other cables makes it dissipate heat less readily.
THHN means adding conduit but that is easier to deal with than you might think and THHN is less expensive.

Wall connector only needs 2 hots and a ground so if shopping Romex you only need /2 not /3 because ground is in addition to those numbers.

 

[canbonbon]

Romex is capable of less amperage by gauge than THHN since being tightly bundled with the other cables makes it dissipate heat less readily.
THHN means adding conduit but that is easier to deal with than you might think and THHN is less expensive.

Wall connector only needs 2 hots and a ground so if shopping Romex you only need /2 not /3 because ground is in addition to those numbers.

Thanks for the reply. Atleast HomeDepot does not sell #4/2 THHN cable. They only sell single version.
Southwire (By-the-Foot) 4 Black Stranded CU SIMpull THHN Wire-20499099 - The Home Depot
Do you know where to buy THHN #4/2 plus ground wire?

 

[NY_Rob]

To further what @SSedan mentioned, you are allowed to use a combination of Romex and THHN (in conduit of course) as long as they are joined in a proper Junction Box. Run less expensive THHN in conduit where you can, if yo have an area where conduit would be impossible end it in a j-box and continue on with Romex.