Wall Charger with Nema 5-15

[saltguy]

I've searched for a while and thought someone would've asked this, but I can't find anything. Possibly I suck at searching, or possibly it's such an obvious answer that no one would ask it.

Anyway, I just ordered my first Tesla (M3 SR+) and I'm renting a house, so cannot make any modifications to the garage. Eventually, when I buy a house I'm going to want to setup EV charging in the garage. I also would rather not plug in and unplug the mobile charger every night and put it back into the car for drives.

I was considering two possibilities - buy a second mobile charger and keep that plugged into the NEMA 5-15 outlet in the garage and plug it into the car each night, while leaving the original charger in the car.

Other possibility, which is ideal, given the only $200 additional cost, would be to purchase a wall charger and plug it into the NEMA 5-15 outlet for now. Then, once I buy a house and can make modifications to the garage, just bring that with me.

TL;DR

1st question - can I plug a Tesla wall connector into a NEMA 5-15 outlet?
2nd question - if yes, is there a reason, something I'm missing, why I wouldn't buy the wall connector over an additional mobile charger (other than the $200 additional)?

 

[jebinc]

1st question - can I plug a Tesla wall connector into a NEMA 5-15 outlet?
2nd question - if yes, is there a reason, something I'm missing, why I wouldn't buy the wall connector over an additional mobile charger (other than the $200 additional)?

1. No, the HPWC is wired or comes with a 14-50 (240v, 50A) plug
2. See 1

 

[ksb467]

Why not just leave mobile charger plugged into wall. Normally no reason to lug it around in car except for road trips. No need to buy an extra one unless you need to charge mid day often

 

[Cousin]

I believe the Wall Connector ($500) is hard wired 220 V, not plug in. I think if you do not want to unplug your mobile connector every time, you need a second mobile connector. FYI I am not sure how much research you have done on charging but 5-15 is very slow (a few miles per hour of charge)

 

[saltguy]

Thanks all.

Yes, I've researched it a decent amount. I work at home, so don't have a commute, so the car can stay charging most of the time. There are also a lot of free Chargepoint locations around most places I go to. When I have to go into the office, they have (what I think are) level 2 chargers in the parking lot.

 

[saltguy]

Why not just leave mobile charger plugged into wall. Normally no reason to lug it around in car except for road trips. No need to buy an extra one unless you need to charge mid day often

Makes sense, I guess I figured it would be important to have in case of an emergency. I'm still sort of in the "nervous about range" category, even though I know rationally that I shouldn't be.

 

[jasonh4451]

Like ksb467's suggestion above, it depends on your driving habits. If you can get enough range out of your 5-15 every night then this should work for you with just the mobile connector.

I have a short commute and can charge free at my gym so normally I just plug into my garage NEMA 5-20 with the mobile connector and leave it plugged in there all the time. I only take the mobile connector with me when we go on a long road trip or stay at an Airbnb or something.

 

[iluvmacs]

The manual for the HPWC says it is only rated for 200-277VAC nominal, so no, I do not believe it would run off of 120V.

 

[davewill]

I second the suggestion of managing with one mobile connector for now. I've been driving electric for 8 years in three different cars (the other two had much shorter ranges than my M3), and I've only had to use a mobile EVSE a handful of times. In none of those cases was it a surprise. It was always at a destination (hotel, airport parking) where I knew before I left that I would or might need to plug in.

If you find it isn't working, you can always decide to buy another mobile connector later.

 

[MountainRatMat]

1st question - can I plug a Tesla wall connector into a NEMA 5-15 outlet?
2nd question - if yes, is there a reason, something I'm missing, why I wouldn't buy the wall connector over an additional mobile charger (other than the $200 additional)?

1st - As others have said, yes, yes you can
2nd - HPWC can get faster charge rates (up to 42 MPH on Model 3) when hooked up to a 60amp 240V circuit. I believe the mobile connecter tops out at somewhere around 35 MPH.

 

[davewill]

1st - As others have said, yes, yes you can ....

The OP is asking about the Wall Connector, which can't run off 120V, not the Mobile Connector, which can.

 

[ksb467]

Makes sense, I guess I figured it would be important to have in case of an emergency. I'm still sort of in the "nervous about range" category, even though I know rationally that I shouldn't be.

I understand, and can say most people get over that within a couple months, especially if driving around town. This actually is better because you always start the day with a full “tank”. If you are slow charging know that you’ll only add 5mph, so you’ll likely alway be plugged in when home. If you have access to a dryer plug, you can make an extension cord if needed and get 30mph charge. And know you closest supercharger location if you get in a pinch. If you still want a 2nd mobile charger after a couple months, go for it. In the meantime only take the initial one when you might need it, like the airport or road trip.

Ps wall connector rarely makes sense in a rental. Hassle to move. And it won’t help charge speed on that regular line.

 

[MountainRatMat]

The OP is asking about the Wall Connector, which can't run off 120V, not the Mobile Connector, which can.

Ahhh, yes, I re-read it and now see I am incorrect.

If the OP is really nervous about not having the mobile connector in their car then buy a 2nd mobile connector and call it a day. 35MPH ain't bad, and situations often change years later.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[ewoodrick]

I've searched for a while and thought someone would've asked this, but I can't find anything. Possibly I suck at searching, or possibly it's such an obvious answer that no one would ask it.

Anyway, I just ordered my first Tesla (M3 SR+) and I'm renting a house, so cannot make any modifications to the garage. Eventually, when I buy a house I'm going to want to setup EV charging in the garage. I also would rather not plug in and unplug the mobile charger every night and put it back into the car for drives.

I was considering two possibilities - buy a second mobile charger and keep that plugged into the NEMA 5-15 outlet in the garage and plug it into the car each night, while leaving the original charger in the car.

Other possibility, which is ideal, given the only $200 additional cost, would be to purchase a wall charger and plug it into the NEMA 5-15 outlet for now. Then, once I buy a house and can make modifications to the garage, just bring that with me.

TL;DR

1st question - can I plug a Tesla wall connector into a NEMA 5-15 outlet?
2nd question - if yes, is there a reason, something I'm missing, why I wouldn't buy the wall connector over an additional mobile charger (other than the $200 additional)?

I've got two UMCs, works well. I don't have to remember to take it with me, it's already in the car. There was a poster this week that made a trip and forgot to pack it and had some issues because of it.

Works great, 120V today, get the adapter and 240V tomorrow.

 

[yuhong]

It is worth noting that the HPWC uses different settings even for 240V L-N vs 240V L-L.

 

[Dmagyar]

I believe the Wall Connector ($500) is hard wired 220 V, not plug in. I think if you do not want to unplug your mobile connector every time, you need a second mobile connector. FYI I am not sure how much research you have done on charging but 5-15 is very slow (a few miles per hour of charge)

Again 240 volts...not 220

 

[eprosenx]

I've searched for a while and thought someone would've asked this, but I can't find anything. Possibly I suck at searching, or possibly it's such an obvious answer that no one would ask it.

Anyway, I just ordered my first Tesla (M3 SR+) and I'm renting a house, so cannot make any modifications to the garage. Eventually, when I buy a house I'm going to want to setup EV charging in the garage. I also would rather not plug in and unplug the mobile charger every night and put it back into the car for drives.

I was considering two possibilities - buy a second mobile charger and keep that plugged into the NEMA 5-15 outlet in the garage and plug it into the car each night, while leaving the original charger in the car.

Other possibility, which is ideal, given the only $200 additional cost, would be to purchase a wall charger and plug it into the NEMA 5-15 outlet for now. Then, once I buy a house and can make modifications to the garage, just bring that with me.

TL;DR

1st question - can I plug a Tesla wall connector into a NEMA 5-15 outlet?
2nd question - if yes, is there a reason, something I'm missing, why I wouldn't buy the wall connector over an additional mobile charger (other than the $200 additional)?

Sorry I am tuning into this late...

I would probably try the car out with the included UMC to start with just to see how things go. Then adjust from there (buy a second UMC, add a 240v circuit, etc...)

But now for the experiment:

I am dead curious if the Wall Connector would actually work at 120v. It would be interesting for someone to buy one and throw a pigtail on it to plug it into a 5-15 or 5-20 receptacle.

The car itself is where the charger is, and it is just fine with 120v of course (via the Mobile Connector).

So the question is if the Wall Connector would work that way even though it only claims 208/240v support.

I could see three issues:
1. Does the power supply for the circuit board powering the electronics in the Wall Connector accept 120v?
2. Is 120v sufficient to operate the contactor inside the Wall Connector?
3. Would the Wall Connector freak out due to too low of voltage?

There is a dip switch you have to flip in the Wall Connector to allow it to do 277v. We assume this is what sets the Wall Connector to expect an electrical feed that is wired "phase to neutral" vs. "phase to phase". 120v in the US is phase to neutral while 208/240v is phase to phase. I would expect you probably would need to flip that dip switch perhaps to make it accept 120v.

The Mobile Connector for what it is worth seems to be insanely versatile. It accepts 120v, 208v, 240v, and even 277v (not sanctioned). It works fine with line to neutral and line to line connections. I find it interesting that the Wall Connector is more finicky. ;-)

 

[davewill]

I could see three issues:
1. Does the power supply for the circuit board powering the electronics in the Wall Connector accept 120v?
2. Is 120v sufficient to operate the contactor inside the Wall Connector?
3. Would the Wall Connector freak out due to too low of voltage?

Not impossible. I think you should try it on your own wall connector.

Here are some photos of the internals, including the contactors from this post: New Wall Connector load sharing protocol

Got the Raspberry Pi Zero W today. Running TWCManager with VNC connected via wifi it's only drawing 0.12 to 0.15A (with a rare spike to 0.17A) at 5.02V. That strikes me as maybe low enough power to vampire off a power source inside the TWC? Can anyone with electrical engineering knowledge help me figure that out?

I found you can remove the inner cover within the TWC by prying out three snaps which doesn't take much force:

View attachment 260851

Snap closeup:
View attachment 260852

Under the cover:
View attachment 260857

The ribbon cable near the bottom has 10 pins and supplies power to the LED array on the front of the unit. I tried testing voltage between some random pins and got 14V and 13.5V.

The bundle of 3 black plus a red wire that goes from mid left to top left looks like they could supply power but my volt meter read no voltage between red and black wires. I may have been too ginger with pushing pin-sized probes in the backs of the wires, though I don't think so.

Serious 24VDC to 400VAC transformers which I think supply the car with power:
View attachment 260858 View attachment 260862

And a bunch of closeups of everything:
View attachment 260859 View attachment 260860 View attachment 260861

In the bottom right are four wires (purple, blue, black, and orange) screwed into terminal blocks. Those wires enter the charger cable for the car. If I'm reading this correctly, Tesla tends to use purple for the pilot wire, so maybe I'll give that a test sometime.

Does anyone see any points I might be able to draw power from?

Also, there is at least one more layer of PCBs beneath the one I'm able to take pictures of.

They are energized by 24v, but whether the circuit that supplies that 24v can run off of 120v...

 

[eprosenx]

Not impossible. I think you should try it on your own wall connector.

Here are some photos of the internals, including the contactors from this post: New Wall Connector load sharing protocol


They are energized by 24v, but whether the circuit that supplies that 24v can run off of 120v...

I would totally test with mine but it is caulked to the wall so that might be a bit difficult. Perhaps will test on the next one I install...

 

[saltguy]

Just picked up my car yesterday and pretty excited. I drove much more than usual (down from 89% to 42%), charged when I was home, and left this morning with 73%, so I'm generally not too worried about charging.

I've been looking a bit more, I do have a NEMA 10-30 just inside the garage currently used by the dryer. This won't be my usual method of charging, but I was wondering if, when I needed a faster charge, I could use a Y splitter similar to this, or whether that wouldn't be safe enough and I really need to use a Dryer Buddy:

https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-88...splitter&qid=1567344259&s=gateway&sr=8-3&th=1

I would still need to purchase the adapter from Tesla, but that combined with the splitter seems much easier to deal with than installing a DryerBuddy.