Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

100' 110v extension cord - 10 gauge or 12?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
My car is on its way! I'm thinking I should carry around a 100' 110v extension cord for when I stay overnight at friends houses. I'd prefer to go with the 12 gauge size, just so it takes up less trunk space and I'm carrying less weight around. But would I be better off with the 10 gauge? (Been looking at the 'yellow jacket' cords on amazon, seem good.). Thanks.
 
The general rule of thumb is that you want to keep voltage drop under 3% and to do that charging on 12A, you'll need 10 AWG for 100 ft. You may also be able to charge at 16A (20A outlet) in which case you'll definitely want the 10 AWG cable - even there it's slightly over 3% voltage drop for 100 ft.

Personally I prefer the flexibility of having multiple shorter cords over 1 long cord. Most of the time you don't even need more than 25 ft.
 
You may also be able to charge at 16A (20A outlet)

How? Does Tesla now have a NEMA 5-20 plug available? Or announced that they're coming out with one?

If this is the case, then I would agree with 10 AWG. Although then you would need to get a NEMA 5-20 extension cord which would become a pain for general use. Maybe rig up a male 5-15 with female 5-20 yourself.

If not the case, then 10 AWG is a big thing to carry all the time for just-in-case. The charger will only draw 12 A over a NEMA 5-15 so 12 AWG should be fine (in theory 14 AWG could be fine if you start with a high voltage supply - but you can't know until you get there).
 
I'd prefer to go lighter if i can get away with it, since its only for occasional use. Is there a danger in using a 12 gauge at 100'? If its just voltage loss, what does that translate to in terms of charging time? Is there any difference between one long cord or stringing shorter ones together?

Finally, is an average suburban home likely to have a 16amp outlet anyhow?

thanks again.
 
No, it's not dangerous - the charger is rated from 100V to 240V. It will just charge a bit slower.

Here is the theoretical range differences you can expect per 10 hours of charge on 110V, based on the voltage drop calculator on:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

Directly: 30 miles (for example - with 110 V it depends a lot on external factors like temperature etc).
10 AWG: 29.4 miles
12 AWG: 29 miles
14 AWG: 28.2 miles
16 AWG: 27 miles (however, 16 AWG may put you under 100V, so I would not recommend this one).


As far as a 20 amp outlet is concerned (which gives a max of 16 amp on a 20 amp circuit breaker that trips at 80%), it's not too uncommon in a garage, which is probably where your car is likely to hang out. However, I don't know if this is material - I know of no (non-hacked) way to get the car to charge using 110V at more than 12A. I would love to be corrected on that if that is indeed possible.
 
Yes, using the standard Tesla 120V adapter, you can't charge at more than 12A.

For the Roadster, Tesla makes a NEMA 5-20 plug (left blade is sideways) which allows it to charge at 16A, but they haven't made such an adapter for the Model S.

Be careful about buying non-beefy extension cords. The Model S monitors how much voltage drop occurs as it ramps up amperage, and if it detects there is too much of a voltage drop, it will stop the charging session.

120V household charging is a very slow charge. If you truly need to charge up a friend's houses, check to see if they an accessible dryer outlet. If so, you can plug into that using the Model S NEMA 10-30 or 14-30 adapters. But this supposes that the UMC cord can reach it 20 feet away. If you want to plug into these types of 240V, higher amperage receptacles more than 20 feet away, you'll have to make your own adapters and get a 50A NEMA 14-50 extension cord that they sell for RVs (these are REALLY beefy and heavy). I have a document that describes this in detail if you're interested: http://cosmacelf.net/Home%20Made%20Adapters.pdf
 
I calculate that at 12 amps, over 100 ft, you'll lose 1.2V at 10 AWG, 1.9V at 12 AWG, and 3V at 14 AWG. Lots of houses have 14 AWG wiring in the walls (which is the smallest allowed for 15A circuits), so you may already be losing a few volts to that, anyway.
 
I carry a 25' and 50' 12AWG extension cords, I also built a 25' 6/2 SOOW 45A rated cord terminated with 6-50 male/female, and then a short adapter to a 14-50 (for RV Park use), I used 6/2 instead of 6/3 to lower the weight (1 less #6 copper conductor), we don't need a neutral with 240V, just a ground. I also have the 14-50, 6-50, and 10-30 adapters (as well as the 120V) for the UMC... Yes, I was a boyscout (motto: "always be prepared")
 
Last edited:
From the FAQ:
FAQ: Home Tesla charging infrastructure QA

Tesla Motors makes it clear that an extension cord is not to be used with its UMC. The NEC requires that you follow manufacturer’s instructions, so technically you violate the NEC by using one.

The NEC contains some rules for using extension cords. Some of the rules state that extension cords are not permitted to be used as a substitute for the fixed wiring of a structure; run through holes in walls, structural ceilings, suspended ceilings, dropped ceilings, or floors; run through doorways, windows, or similar openings; or be concealed behind building walls, structural ceilings, suspended ceilings, dropped ceilings, or floors.

However, as to the question of whether it is safe or not… Technically, yes. With the right size conductors, an extension cord, whether 120V or 240V, is relatively safe in limited lengths.

For 120V, to keep the voltage drop within range, you can use a 14 AWG cord if your TOTAL one-way circuit length from the car to the breaker panel is < 50 ft., 12 AWG if your total is < 100 ft., and you'd need to go to 10 AWG if you're at 150 ft. or greater.

For 40A charging @ 240V (NEMA 6-50, 10-50, or 14-50), you should use 6 AWG, and your total one-way circuit length can be 300 ft, with voltage drop at reasonable levels.

For 24A charging @ 240V (NEMA 6-30, 10-30, or 14-30), AWG 10 is good to 200 ft. one-way from breaker panel to the car, go one gauge up (AWG 8) if you need more.

As mentioned, keep your cord to the smallest length possible to reduce voltage drop and increase your charging efficiency.

Keep in mind the potential insurance implications of this, as mentioned above. You are violating the NEC in the US by doing this.
 
Limiting factors for 120v long runs

I am currently charging from a 119 volt (no load conditions) receptacle in the far corner of our condo's parking lot, maybe 250 feet from the building. When the night lighting is on, it drops another volt.

Under a 6A load from the Tesla, the voltage drops another 12 volts as if the wiring totaled two ohms.

This takes the voltage at the car down to 106 volts. And that is about the limit because the inverter regulation typically gives out at 105 volts in the usual commercial gear. While I can charge at 8 amps, it doesn't last long before something trips and I have to walk down to the car and manually reset the charge max to 6 amps.

I tell this story because keeping voltage above 105 v is what governs all of the extension cord use. To measure your series resistance and judge how another extension cord will affect it, measure the voltage without a load (the car's charging display will show that as the first voltage with zero current). The voltage difference between no-load and loaded, divided by the current, is the source resistance.

If my source resistance were one ohm instead of two, a 12 amp draw would drop the supply voltage from 119 to only 107 volts and the Tesla inverter would not trip. But I am stuck with limiting the Tesla charger to 6 amps, and so have charging times twice what one gets from Tesla's calculator for 120 volts at 12 amps.

So the lesson is that you can use various extension cords, so long as you reduce the charging current to keep the voltage under load above about 106 volts. Start low and increment amps until voltage drops to 106 volts. But there is a cost to using undersized extension cords, in the form of more heat generated along the wire.
 
If you look at American wire gauge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the resistance of #10 AWG copper wire is about 1 milliOhm per foot and #12 is 1.6 milliOhm per foot. That means that 100' of extension cord, 200' out and back, has a resistance of 0.20 Ohms for #10 and 0.32 Ohms for #12. Because Voltage drop is I*R, with a 12 Amp draw, you would get a Voltage drop due to wire only of 2.4 Volts for the #10 and 3.8 Volts for the #12 cord, both very reasonable. Power in the cord is I^2*R, or 29 Watts for the #10 and 46 Watts for the #12. Both are fine is the wire is spread out, but if you leave the wire coiled up (especially for the #12), its going to start getting warm. You don't have to completely unspool all of the wire, but just spreading out the unneeded length some (especially for the #12) is a really good safety practice.

The place where heat can really build up is at the connectors. Two 50' cords are more convenient, but that setup adds one more set of connectors.

Whatever you do, follow the safety practice of checking all connections and the wire in the middle to see if anything is getting uncomfortably hot. Comfortably warm to the touch will not start a fire, but it can take a while for large masses to warm up. Do this check a few minutes after charging starts and 15-20 minutes later. If anything is getting uncomfortably hot, fix it so the hot spot cools off, or stop charging!