Did anyone try to charge MS using TT-30 ?

There is not a tt-30 adapter available at this time.

EDIT again:

Ok, after some testing - it *can* work.

The car will limit 120V charging to 20A.

I connected a 6-50 receptacle to a 120V plug. Wired one way the UMC had red "fault" LED's and the car refused to attempt a charge. I reversed hot and neutral, and the UMC lit up green. The car initially showed 40A (based on the UMC's 6-50 adapter) but dropped to 20A just before charging started. It ramped to 20A and kept charging there for a minute before I pulled the plug.

All the usual FrankenPlug/FrankenCord disclaimers apply. See the FAQ for more details.

You'll need to go to a J1772 setup to get more than that, I think.

Even if there was an adapter, neither the roadster or model S charge at anything over 16A when on a 120V circuit anyway.

qwk said:

Even if there was an adapter, neither the roadster or model S charge at anything over 16A when on a 120V circuit anyway.

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You know, I hadn't even thought of that -- this is confirmed even when putting a high-amperage 120V circuit onto one of the 240V plugs?

EDIT AGAIN: See above. I made it work, but limited to 20A.

Lloyd said:

There is not a tt-30 adapter available at this time.

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Ah, but you can make one easily. Just as long as you know that it's 110 volt at 24 amps and will take around 30 hours to fill the S battery. Hope I did the math right... but it's only marginally better than the regular 110 volt outlet.

qwk said:

Even if there was an adapter, neither the roadster or model S charge at anything over 16A when on a 120V circuit anyway.

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Not true. You can build a TT-30 adapter for the Roadster UMC which will draw 24A @ 120V.
Wiring UMC for 110/120 volt operation?

I have a TT-30 at home (don't ask, I bought an RV Park setup), with OpenEVSE I can set the J-1772 pilot signal to 24A and see how much the Model S draws. The J-1772 standard specifies 16A max on L1 (120V), but it shoud be tested anyway...

mitch672 said:

I have a TT-30 at home (don't ask, I bought an RV Park setup), with OpenEVSE I can set the J-1772 pilot signal to 24A and see how much the Model S draws. The J-1772 standard specifies 16A max on L1 (120V), but it shoud be tested anyway...

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I'd like to see what the car does for 120V on J1772 with it.

- - - Updated - - -

roblab said:

Ah, but you can make one easily. Just as long as you know that it's 110 volt at 24 amps and will take around 30 hours to fill the S battery. Hope I did the math right... but it's only marginally better than the regular 110 volt outlet.

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Note that the UMC cares about the polarity of hot vs. neutral. It will take 29-30 hours. (I miscalculated first time...)

jaanton said:

Not true. You can build a TT-30 adapter for the Roadster UMC which will draw 24A @ 120V.
Wiring UMC for 110/120 volt operation?

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You are right. I was thinking of the spare mobile connector from way back.


Charging at Campgrounds and RV Parks - Page 3



There is also a roadster owner on here that made an adapter to charge @240V from two TT-30 sockets on a different phase.

qwk said:

You are right. I was thinking of the spare mobile connector from way back.

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In case you didn't see my edit, above, the car will limit it to 20A on 120V, though, on the UMC... I connected only 120V to a NEMA 6-50 and the car automatically dropped to 20A when it saw only 120V. Perhaps a TT-30 adapter for the UMC with a software upgrade would allow for 24A to be drawn, but we'd have to wait for the adapter.

FlasherZ said:

In case you didn't see my edit, above, the car will limit it to 20A on 120V, though, on the UMC... I connected only 120V to a NEMA 6-50 and the car automatically dropped to 20A when it saw only 120V. Perhaps a TT-30 adapter for the UMC with a software upgrade would allow for 24A to be drawn, but we'd have to wait for the adapter.

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No I didn't notice, Thanks. That is very good to know, although the gain from going from 120V 16A to 120V 20A is minimal(and you need an adapter).

From the picture it seems like there are two TT-30 sockets. They might be wired with opposite hots ? If so, one could probably get 30A 240V by making an Y-adapter from 2xTT-30 to a 14-50 (remember to turn down charging amperage) ?

jkirkebo said:

From the picture it seems like there are two TT-30 sockets. They might be wired with opposite hots ? If so, one could probably get 30A 240V by making an Y-adapter from 2xTT-30 to a 14-50 (remember to turn down charging amperage) ?

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Usually sockets that are that close together are not on opposite phases. The other factor that comes into consideration, while there are a ton of these in the wild at RV parks, most parks also have one or two NEMA 14-50(I have not been in an RV park that doesn't). I know what I would choose.

qwk said:

Usually sockets that are that close together are not on opposite phases. The other factor that comes into consideration, while there are a ton of these in the wild at RV parks, most parks also have one or two NEMA 14-50(I have not been in an RV park that doesn't). I know what I would choose.

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Nitpick: opposite legs. No such thing as opposite phases in modern AC power distribution.

I made an adapter to charge my Roadster from a TT-30.
I put a TT-30 outlet in my garage on a 30 amp breaker. Then I made an adapter with a TT-30 plug to 10-30 socket. Then I use the 10-30 pigtail. The 10-30 pigtail sends a 24 amp pilot signal, and the car draws 24 amps at 120 volts.
I've thrown it in my trunk a few times, but have never used it anywhere other than my garage.
I figured that if I was charging overnight - for 15+ hours, it would be a huge improvement over 12 or 16 amps.

richkae said:

I made an adapter to charge my Roadster from a TT-30.
I put a TT-30 outlet in my garage on a 30 amp breaker. Then I made an adapter with a TT-30 plug to 10-30 socket. Then I use the 10-30 pigtail. The 10-30 pigtail sends a 24 amp pilot signal, and the car draws 24 amps at 120 volts.
I've thrown it in my trunk a few times, but have never used it anywhere other than my garage.
I figured that if I was charging overnight - for 15+ hours, it would be a huge improvement over 12 or 16 amps.

Click to expand...

Perhaps a 10-30 adapter will allow the car to draw 24A when 120V is present, but I suspect it will limit to 20A like my experiment above. You may need Tesla to create a TT-30 adapter to charge at 120V, 24A.

qwk said:

No I didn't notice, Thanks. That is very good to know, although the gain from going from 120V 16A to 120V 20A is minimal(and you need an adapter).

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May not be that minimal. It's 25% gain in terms of current (and 66% over the 12A drawn from a standard 5-15 socket), but may be more in terms of miles per charging hour, due to the fairly constant drain for auxiliaries.

People are reporting getting only 2 or 3 mpch with 120V/12A instead of the nominal 5 (perhaps due to weather conditions), so under those conditions the 120V/20A (nominally 8 mpch) might get 5 or 6 mpch - 100% improvement. Admittedly, there are some questionable assumptions in this calculation...

FlasherZ said:

Perhaps a 10-30 adapter will allow the car to draw 24A when 120V is present, but I suspect it will limit to 20A like my experiment above. You may need Tesla to create a TT-30 adapter to charge at 120V, 24A.

Click to expand...

I have my custom made EVSE with a J1772 plug. I went ahead and set the pilot for 80A, with a 120V feed, and the car automatically limits at 20A. It sounds like they moved the max charge rate down from the Roadster days . Perhaps we could convince them to raise it...

Peter