San Antonio Tesla Owners - Questions About Install

Check out Yelp for a electrician with good reviews or a similar site. Any electrician can install this and go for a NEMA 14-50 even if you rarely need 40A.

Not sure who does XPEL in San Antonio but it does help protect against rock chips as does any paint protection film.

Bardlebee said:

As silly as it sounds, the recent news of shotty electrical work burning down houses has me on edge. But I will give Yelp a try. I should be able to trust the electrician in their profession, but you never know.

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Don't be so sure. I got a direct recommendation for an electrician in my area from someone on this very site. They screwed it up in every way possible. You HAVE to be your own advocate and make sure they use the right wire (6-3), the right Breaker (50 Amp) and put the plug in right side up (Ground on Top). Believe it or not, they managed to do every one of those things wrong on my install. To their credit, they did fix everything but it was still pretty scary that they'd have left it like that if I didn't know any better….

Bardlebee said:

How did you find out all those things were wrong? I am a networking engineer, not a electrician!

Was it self study? Something I could look up myself and research? Its good to hear that they fixed it and also good to hear that recommendations aren't always the best. I suppose I might take the Yelp direction on this and study up on EXACTLY how this should work. I have some time waiting on the car anyway

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Ironically, it was all in the instruction sheet that Tesla provides for the electrician. Which I gave to him. He scoffed at it and said he'd "done a ton of them" and didn't need it. Considering the fire they had yesterday from a bad electrical install of a NEMA 14-50, it's more important than ever to be your own advocate and double check the work for yourself.

It usually depends on the distance from your breaker box to the place where you want to install the Outlet. I paid $900.00 for mine but it was across the room from the panel and they had to fish the wire on both ends. I put mine up near the ceiling to take up some of the slack in the cable and now I just hang it on the hook and kick the cord under the cabinets. Makes it really quick to plug in and out.

As for the Xpel? I did it on my last car but I don't think I'd ever do it again. I know a lot of folks swear by it, but for me it didn't turn out to really gain me much. It's still got pits in it and I never really liked the way the light reflected off of it compared to the actual paint. You can wax over it, but it doesn't gloss up the same way real paint does. In the end, it's still a sheet of plastic over the paint on your car and it looks like it. You may want to see someone with it installed in person before you put it on your whole car. That's a pretty big commitment. You can have the whole front of your car repainted for about $1200.00 which is less than you'll pay for a full application of Xpel. Something to think about. I see a lot of guys going for it, and I know a lot of people really like it, but it's definitely not for everyone. Another option is a Nano Coating which reportedly toughens up the clear coat, but I'm a little skeptical about that too… I just use a good Sealant (Zaino or Jetseal) followed by a couple of coats of Canuba based Wax (Butter Wet Wax). It may not repel rock chips as well as plastic, but it looks better.

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Bardlebee said:

I won't be doing the HPWC, so I think I will be good with the adapter that Tesla gives me for slack. Here is hoping!

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Just to clarify, that's not a HPWC in my photo. That's the standard (free) UMC that came with the car. Even with it mounted up high I still have plenty of slack to make it to my car without having to coil up a lot of excess every morning. I just hang it in the Cradle and walk away. I used a curtain rod hook I found in a junk drawer to mount it on. The Cradle can be purchased on Teslas website for $25.00.

Bardlebee - We used Vollmer electric, 824-6313, ask for Brad. Tell him the Papays referred himto you. I'd do the 14-50 so you have options to charge at the max rate (about 30 miles/hour) or dial down as you'd like. They installed 2 14-50s for us anticipating our Model X, now to be used when our second Model S gets here in a couple weeks. $800 for materials and labor, not a long run, but drilled though garage wall to get from breaker box on the outside to outlets on inside. Good luck.

Bardlebee said:

1) Who did your install for your charge port at home? I would like to install a NEMA 14-50 unless people here think a 14-30 is more then enough. Can anyone recommend a person/company to install?

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We used Green Star Solutions. They have offices in San Antonio and Austin.

Green Star Solutions | Solar Electric and Solar Thermal Green Energy Solutions

Austin Energy has them on their approved vendor list. We worked with Gary Bynum who did great work. He also helped us qualify for a 50% rebate on the cost of the NEMA 14-50 install through our power company.

We have an excellent owners club you need to join once you take delivery:

[email protected]

Best of luck!