Which NEMA Adapters to carry?

[Larry in TN]

I ordered a M3 LR on July 26. I've been looking through the various accessories and am trying to figure out which NEMA adapters it will make sense to carry in the car in order to take advantage of charging opportunities.

Is the 14-50 and the included 5-15 enough? Are there any others that are worth having? Is the $220 Adapter bundle overkill?

Thanks

 

[jjrandorin]

Perhaps you should look at this another way. Instead of "which adapters do I need to buy?" How about "Where do I see myself driving, to, and is there supercharging on the way, or if not, what type of adapters might I need when I get there?"

You may find that superchargers cover most of where you want to go (thus need nothing additional), or, you may want to charge in an RV park (thus would want to find out what they specifically have.

"Taking advantage of charging opportunities" normally involves some sort of EVSE (what people call chargers are actually connectors that deliver energy, the charger is in the car, actually). These EVSE will mostly have a standard connector, which your tesla comes with an adapter to go from that to your car.

You only need those plugs for when you see yourself charging both out of range of superchargers AND out of range of any EVSEs. You need to evaluate how often that might be, and IF thats the case, what you expect to be present in those situations.

 

[Larry in TN]

How about "Where do I see myself driving, to, and is there supercharging on the way, or if not, what type of adapters might I need when I get there?"

I see myself doing almost all of my charging in my garage with the Mobile Connector and 14-50 adapter. When I venture farther from home, almost all of my charging will likely be at SuperChargers.

The NEMA adapters are relatively inexpensive, though, so I wouldn't mind having a few with me for any other charging opportunities. I looked at the $220 bundle and there are a lot of adapters in there that seem pretty obscure. That's why I'm asking. Which of the adapters tend to be the most useful?

Thanks

 

[jjrandorin]

I see myself doing almost all of my charging in my garage with the Mobile Connector and 14-50 adapter. When I venture farther from home, almost all of my charging will likely be at SuperChargers.

The NEMA adapters are relatively inexpensive, though, so I wouldn't mind having a few with me for any other charging opportunities. I looked at the $220 bundle and there are a lot of adapters in there that seem pretty obscure. That's why I'm asking. Which of the adapters tend to be the most useful?

Thanks

In 2018 my car came with the entire set, and for the most part they were not that useful.. except for the 5-15 that the car comes with. I charge at home, or, when on the road, either the 5-15 the car comes with at a relatives house, or a supercharger.

Thats the point I was (I guess poorly) trying to make. Most new owners (me included back then) think they need all these additional chargers, but usually dont, unless they have some specific use case they are already aware of. "just because" means you likely will never use them.

 

[Larry in TN]

I get that. My first inclination was to order the bundle but I can't imagine where I'd find most of the receptacles matching those adapters. I think the 14-50 is worth the cost. Didn't know if there might be another one or two that can be frequently found out in public.

 

[RayK]

"just because" means you likely will never use them.

That's basically where I am, even though I do have a varied collection of NEMA adapters (which much to support your supposition, I've only ever used the 5-15 adapter). My daughter has been traveling in an RV for the last couple of years and I imagined (prior to COVID) meeting up with her in various places. So I got the 14-50 adapter and also tracked down a TT-30P to 14-30R adapter. TT-30 can be popular at some RV parks and Tesla does not supply a NEMA adapter for their UMC. My Tesla NEMA collection, so far, is:

• 5-15
• 10-30
• 14-30
• 6-50
• 14-50

I also have a CHAdeMO adapter which I've been using more than going to a Supercharger. Electricity rate for the ChargePoint station near my house is a couple of cents cheaper than the SC.

edit: As @Solarman004 states later, I have the TT-30P to 14-30R adapter specially wired for EVs.

 

[house9]

I get that. My first inclination was to order the bundle but I can't imagine where I'd find most of the receptacles matching those adapters. I think the 14-50 is worth the cost. Didn't know if there might be another one or two that can be frequently found out in public.

I have 14-50 and 10-30
Still haven't used the 14-50

My house (rental) had older 10-30 plug so thats what I used for a long time, it just so happened when I was in AZ and nowhere near any SuperChargers my in-laws had a 10-30 plug in the storage shed which worked out great

 

[Solarman004]

I ordered a M3 LR on July 26. I've been looking through the various accessories and am trying to figure out which NEMA adapters it will make sense to carry in the car in order to take advantage of charging opportunities.

Is the 14-50 and the included 5-15 enough? Are there any others that are worth having? Is the $220 Adapter bundle overkill?

Thanks

Larry, I can tell you the adaptors we've used most often since 2016. The J1772 is a must-have for level 2 charging. It's the "plan B" adaptor when we're on the road in the event of a lengthy detour or a Supercharger that is unexpectedly closed.
We do a lot of camping. The NEMA 14-50 is the standard plug for 50 amp service at state and national parks. Many state parks only have 30 amp (120 volt) service. For that you need a TT-30 adaptor. Note that you should not buy a TT-30 adaptor advertised for RVs or campers. It needs to be designated for electric vehicles because it's wired differently.

 

[Larry in TN]

Larry, I can tell you the adaptors we've used most often since 2016. The J1772 is a must-have for level 2 charging. It's the "plan B" adaptor when we're on the road in the event of a lengthy detour or a Supercharger that is unexpectedly closed.
We do a lot of camping. The NEMA 14-50 is the standard plug for 50 amp service at state and national parks. Many state parks only have 30 amp (120 volt) service. For that you need a TT-30 adaptor. Note that you should not buy a TT-30 adaptor advertised for RVs or campers. It needs to be designated for electric vehicles because it's wired differently.

Thanks! I was unaware of the TT-30. I also didn't know that the 14-50 was often available at the parks. That sounds useful as, I'd imagine, parks might be some distance from SuperChargers.

I think the J1772 is included with the car. Is that correct?

 

[snikt]

Thanks! I was unaware of the TT-30. I also didn't know that the 14-50 was often available at the parks. That sounds useful as, I'd imagine, parks might be some distance from SuperChargers.

I think the J1772 is included with the car. Is that correct?

Yes, it comes with J1772 which is the single most useful adapter to have

 

[Sorny]

I have a 10-30 at the hunting shack that I'm likely use, but I went ahead and bought the bundle to be covered for most "common" outlets in the US.

I figured it's relatively cheap insurance, should I boldly go where no superchargers are around... like to my hunting shack, or to visit my sister...

 

[ilike2brkthngs]

Trying to get the 10-30 to use on my dryer outlet but its been out of stock for a while. Someone mentioned that you could order it directly from a Service Center despite OOS. Can anyone confirm if thats still the case?

 

[PJFW8]

I ordered a M3 LR on July 26. I've been looking through the various accessories and am trying to figure out which NEMA adapters it will make sense to carry in the car in order to take advantage of charging opportunities.

Is the 14-50 and the included 5-15 enough? Are there any others that are worth having? Is the $220 Adapter bundle overkill?

Thanks

I have a 20 amp 120 volt adapter since many garage and carports have a 20 amp circuit. 5-20 It is at least 25% faster ( I have seen it 50%) and also better supports preconditioning.

 

[Frank99]

In my opinion, and in priority order:
1. The J1772 adapter.
2. A 5-15 adapter - really slow, but every place in the USA has these outlets.
3. A 14-50 adapter - As fast as AC charging gets, and every RV park will have them.
4. A TT-30 adapter if you visit National Parks a lot. If not, move this to the following list.

More specialized, less necessary:
5. 10-30, 14-30, 6-50 adapters if you commonly go somewhere (Mom's house, etc) that has one of these in the garage.
6. 5-20 adapter - a bit faster than the 5-15, and sometimes available in people's garages.

 

[Larry in TN]

In my opinion, and in priority order:

Thank you, Frank. That was very helpful!

 

[Rocky_H]

Odd that we've already gone through 15 comments and no one has mentioned the site EVSEAdapters.com yet. They have really excellent adapters for the Tesla charging cable for any kind of outlet you can think of if Tesla doesn't offer it.

Yeah, my answer would be mostly none, but since you asked, the place you might need to plug in sometimes is campgrounds, where there are two types. Camping places use a different terminology, rather than the official NEMA outlet names, so you will get a blank stare if you try to use the real name of it.
"50 amp" = 14-50 You can buy that from Tesla
"30 amp" = TT-30 You can buy that from EVSEAdapters:

TT-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S/X/3/Y Gen 2 – EVSE Adapters

Charge your Tesla vehicle at RV parks and campgrounds with 30 amp service, using our TT-30 Gen 2 Tesla adapter. Made exclusively by EVSE Adapters, this adapter automatically sets the correct charging rate at 24A and features advanced thermal protection.

www.evseadapters.com

And if you do need to plug into some kind of regular outdoor outlet at some lodge or hotel or something, odds are pretty high that it's a 20 amp 5-20 outlet, rather than the 5-15, so you can get a bit more energy overnight with a 5-20 adapter.

I went kind of overpreparing with dryer plugs and such, but that was 7 years ago, and that's getting to be not very realistic to bother with these days, so you probably will never need that.

 

[LoudMusic]

I bought a NEMA 14-50 for use in my garage and I've never used it anywhere but in my garage. I thought I'd be using it in campgrounds while I hiked the local area but that hasn't been a condition yet. Maybe in the future!

The other adapter I have is from EVSE, it's the 30A marine style plug and I've used it at a few different marinas that I've kept my boat at on the east coast. This has actually been really handy.

Other than that I use Superchargers, Tesla Destination chargers, and J1772 chargers. Oh and actually a few NEMA 5-15 plugs here and there. If the car is going to be parked for a while it actually adds up!

I do not carry any extension cables.

I've driven over 26,000 miles in the past year.

 

[WhiteWi]

None

 

[house9]

Trying to get the 10-30 to use on my dryer outlet but its been out of stock for a while. Someone mentioned that you could order it directly from a Service Center despite OOS. Can anyone confirm if thats still the case?

Not sure about ordering from a Service Center, but they often have some in stock;

I would call the nearest one, its definitely worth checking.

 

[RayK]

Odd that we've already gone through 15 comments and no one has mentioned the site EVSEAdapters.com yet. They have really excellent adapters for the Tesla charging cable for any kind of outlet you can think of if Tesla doesn't offer it.

<snip>
"30 amp" = TT-30 You can buy that from EVSEAdapters:

TT-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S/X/3/Y Gen 2 – EVSE Adapters

Charge your Tesla vehicle at RV parks and campgrounds with 30 amp service, using our TT-30 Gen 2 Tesla adapter. Made exclusively by EVSE Adapters, this adapter automatically sets the correct charging rate at 24A and features advanced thermal protection.

www.evseadapters.com

I initially ordered the TT-30 EVSEadapter ($90) but cancelled the order when I found the TT-30P to 14-30R adapter for $30. As the OP seemed to be cost-conscious I elected to mention the cheaper adapter over the more expensive. The only advantage that I can see is that the EVSEadapter has the standard temperature sensor built-into the plug.