[Alexander2k]

Hello,

Checking in here to say say hi to all.

I'm 57, male in Soquel Ca. Just took delivery a couple of days ago.

I am interested particularly in safely using a pig tale to connect to and charge from a 240 volt home outlet.

Cheers to all,

Tim

 

[XJ12]

Congratulations. Many of us use a pigtail to hook up our stock level 1 OEM charger to 240V. Just takes a little bit of faith to plug it in the first time!

 

[Sean Nelson]

Congratulations. Many of us use a pigtail to hook up our stock level 1 OEM charger to 240V. Just takes a little bit of faith to plug it in the first time!

Yeah - you wince, plug, and - voila! 240V charging!

I've been using the stock EVSE on 240V for 3 weeks now, and it's been more than adequate for the kind of driving I'm doing. I've discovered that it will be very expensive for me to upgrade the panel in my detached garage to handle any charger with a materially higher charge rate, so I think I've come to the conclusion that the stock EVSE is really all I need.

I'm thinking I might take the money I budgeted for a bigger EVSE in the garage and spend it on one of the portable Tesla chargers with the J-Adapter and a couple of 240V adapters. That would dramatically increase my charging options on the kinds of road trips that I hope to embark on, since I'd be able to take advantage of Tesla destination chargers and RV campsites.

 

[nimiaj]

Yeah - you wince, plug, and - voila! 240V charging!

I've been using the stock EVSE on 240V for 3 weeks now, and it's been more than adequate for the kind of driving I'm doing. I've discovered that it will be very expensive for me to upgrade the panel in my detached garage to handle any charger with a materially higher charge rate, so I think I've come to the conclusion that the stock EVSE is really all I need.

I'm thinking I might take the money I budgeted for a bigger EVSE in the garage and spend it on one of the portable Tesla chargers with the J-Adapter and a couple of 240V adapters. That would dramatically increase my charging options on the kinds of road trips that I hope to embark on, since I'd be able to take advantage of Tesla destination chargers and RV campsites.

Sean, just so you know, my circuit breaker is full with no space left for a new breaker switch. Although I have an attached garage, my dryer outlet is right next to the garage. I got my electrician to put a switch and parallel connection to install an 240V 30A EVSE in the garage on the same circuit as the dryer, and upgraded the existing 30A switch to 40A. Generally when the dryer is running, I am not home and not charging so works great! Knowing that your garage is detached, if you have a 240V outlet close enough, you could try something similar. Just sharing my experience if it can help!

 

[XJ12]

Sean, just so you know, my circuit breaker is full with no space left for a new breaker switch. Although I have an attached garage, my dryer outlet is right next to the garage. I got my electrician to put a switch and parallel connection to install an 240V 30A EVSE in the garage on the same circuit as the dryer, and upgraded the existing 30A switch to 40A. Generally when the dryer is running, I am not home and not charging so works great! Knowing that your garage is detached, if you have a 240V outlet close enough, you could try something similar. Just sharing my experience if it can help!

did the electrician have to upgrade any of the wire on the original 30A circuit?

 

[nimiaj]

did the electrician have to upgrade any of the wire on the original 30A circuit?

No! For some reason it was already a higher gauge than what a 30A circuit would need. He did say if it wasn't we'd still be fine.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Knowing that your garage is detached, if you have a 240V outlet close enough, you could try something similar. Just sharing my experience if it can help!

I put a 240V/15A breaker in the garage panel feeding a NEMA 5-15 outlet so I could run the stock EVSE at (almost) a 3kW charge rate. The next step up without upgrading the underground wiring and the panel is a 16A charger, and it just doesn't seem like enough of an improvement to be worthwhile.

 

[JD4JC]

Sean, just so you know, my circuit breaker is full with no space left for a new breaker switch.

How about replacing four of your breakers with two of these tandem types
and make room for a new 240V breaker?

 

[quirkySquirt]

No! For some reason it was already a higher gauge than what a 30A circuit would need. He did say if it wasn't we'd still be fine.

That's suspect comment from the electrician. If the gauge was just enough to handle the 30A circuit, then it would NOT be to spec for handling a 40A circuit. You want the breaker to trip first before the wire in the wall to ever get warm. Given the same wire in the wall, with a bigger breaker in the panel that means you can shove more power through the same wire. If that wire was only sized for a 30A circuit, now you've overburdened the wire and the extra power burden will just mean heat on the wire in your walls.

Since in this specific case you're using the 12A max OEM EVSE, your safe. If you plug in a more powerful EVSE in the future and change the outlet without double checking the wire gauge in the wall, you could be setup for a fire.

 

[just frank]

I put a 240V/15A breaker in the garage panel feeding a NEMA 5-15 outlet so I could run the stock EVSE at (almost) a 3kW charge rate. The next step up without upgrading the underground wiring and the panel is a 16A charger, and it just doesn't seem like enough of an improvement to be worthwhile.

I do a lot of wiring things at my house, but I think your mod is problematic. Having a hardwired 5-15R in your garage running 240V seems like it would fail inspection, and be a hazard for a new owner, service person, guest, or random repair worker....any of whom might unknowingly plug in a 120V appliance that could then malfunction or burn down as a result.

Personally, I would put in a 240V plug, like a 6-15R, or a 14-50, or a dryer plug, as a passive safety feature, and make up a suitable adapter that is fixed semi-permanently to the EVSE, e.g. by a cable tie or clamp.

 

[Sean Nelson]

I do a lot of wiring things at my house, but I think your mod is problematic. Having a hardwired 5-15R in your garage running 240V seems like it would fail inspection, and be a hazard for a new owner, service person, guest, or random repair worker....any of whom might unknowingly plug in a 120V appliance that could then malfunction or burn down as a result.

If I sell the place or replace the EVSE I'll remove the breaker and socket. Meanwhile, the EVSE is permanently plugged in to it.

Personally, I would put in a 240V plug, like a 6-15R, or a 14-50, or a dryer plug, as a passive safety feature, and make up a suitable adapter that is fixed semi-permanently to the EVSE, e.g. by a cable tie or clamp.

The reason why I didn't want to do that is that it involve more connections (and each connection is a potential source of issues) and it also reduces the effectiveness of the thermal sensor built into the plug of the EVSE. With an adapter, the thermal sensor would no longer detect overheating of the wall outlet.