Using Dirty Electricity Filter to enable 110 volt charging

Papafox · Jun 15, 2015

I am trying to charge my Model S with 110 volt electricity in a garage where I wish to store the car for a few weeks. The problem is that I get a charge cable fault when I connect the charging cable. I know the cable is good because I tried it elsewhere with a 110 volt output and it worked fine. I have already tried cranking down the charging amps to 5 amps but this makes no difference. My thought is that the problem is likely dirty electricity. Has anyone tried a dirty electricity filer in such a case, and did it work?

I am storing the car at a location that is not my home (I live in Hawaii) and installing a 240 volt outlet is not a viable option. Any suggestions appreciated. I'd hate to give up a free and safe garage simply because the electricity is flaky. The car may be stored at this locations in the future for months at a time and in such a situation I would definitely need to have electricity available.

mmccord · Jun 15, 2015

Sure the adapter is securely connected to the umc cable?. I got the same error plugging into a 14-50 in my brother's garage, and after removing the adapter and re seating it, it worked fine.

MichaelS · Jun 15, 2015

You might be missing a ground or the outlet is miswired (hot and neutral reversed). My suggestion would be to go to the hardware store and purchase an outlet tester. it's a small plug in device that has three lights on it and will tell you if the plug is wired correctly.

GE 3-Wire Receptacle Tester 50542 - Voltage Testers - Amazon.com

davewill · Jun 15, 2015

MichaelS said:
You might be missing a ground or the outlet is miswired (hot and neutral reversed). My suggestion would be to go to the hardware store and purchase an outlet tester. it's a small plug in device that has three lights on it and will tell you if the plug is wired correctly.

GE 3-Wire Receptacle Tester 50542 - Voltage Testers - Amazon.com

It's distressingly common for someone to replace old two-prong outlets with 3-prong outlets. Since there's no ground wire in the box, they either leave the ground pins unconnected or connect them to the box which is also not properly grounded.

Papafox · Jun 15, 2015

Thanks all for the suggestions. I think you're on the right track. The outlets in the garage lack grounding hole, so I suspect the outlet in the front yard I was using with a ground might not have a true ground. I will purchase an outlet tester and check it out.

The good news is that I ran a 10 gauge extension cord from the kitchen to the Tesla and charging works! I have an electrician coming this afternoon and we will resolve the issue. I'll let you know what we find. Thanks again for the useful suggestions!

Papafox · Jun 15, 2015

I tried an outlet tester and found that the one outlet I tried outside with a ground plug actually had an open ground. Thus, no good for Tesla charging. We'll see if the electrician can install a ground for the garage outlet today. That should solve the problem.

green1 · Jun 15, 2015

I'm not sure where you would find such a thing, however I have an adapter that plugs in to a 2 prong outlet and has a ground lug you can attach to a known good ground and plug a three prong cord in to.... no idea where it came from though, but I would suspect it was designed basically for this exact situation.

davewill · Jun 15, 2015

Papafox said:
I tried an outlet tester and found that the one outlet I tried outside with a ground plug actually had an open ground. Thus, no good for Tesla charging. We'll see if the electrician can install a ground for the garage outlet today. That should solve the problem.

If he ends up having to run a new circuit (not unlikely) have him either run a 240v circuit, or at least give you a dedicated, 20a 120v outlet.

Papafox · Jun 19, 2015

green1 said:
I'm not sure where you would find such a thing, however I have an adapter that plugs in to a 2 prong outlet and has a ground lug you can attach to a known good ground and plug a three prong cord in to.... no idea where it came from though, but I would suspect it was designed basically for this exact situation.

Green1- Thanks for letting me know that such an item exists. I will start looking.

davewill said:
If he ends up having to run a new circuit (not unlikely) have him either run a 240v circuit, or at least give you a dedicated, 20a 120v outlet.

Davewill, If I were to charge regularly from this location I would do as you suggest. Instead, I really only need this location to provide 5 amps of electricity to keep the battery happy as it sits in storage. I agree that for regular charging a 240 volt setup would be the way to go.

Rocky_H · Jun 19, 2015

Here is another solution for it. The site EVSEadapters.com has a lot of great adapter cables for Model S charging. One of the things they came out with is called the "cheater plug", which has a circuit to fool the ground detection in the Tesla charge cable, in case you do need to use an outlet that is missing its ground. It's $29.95. Here is the link to it.
NEW! Cheater Plug: Charge from Generators or Inverters

FlasherZ · Jun 19, 2015

Rocky_H said:
Here is another solution for it. The site EVSEadapters.com has a lot of great adapter cables for Model S charging. One of the things they came out with is called the "cheater plug", which has a circuit to fool the ground detection in the Tesla charge cable, in case you do need to use an outlet that is missing its ground. It's $29.95. Here is the link to it.
NEW! Cheater Plug: Charge from Generators or Inverters

Ugh. This bonds neutral to ground inside the plug and can create a shock risk. As the neutral conductor is a current-carrying conductor, when you touch a chassis that is grounded to neutral and create a return path via the earth (or some other bonded metallic part) - e.g., bare feet on concrete, etc. - you can become part of the current return path and feel a bit of a tickle.

I would pay to get the outlet properly bonded with a grounding conductor instead of using that adapter.

Papafox · Jun 19, 2015

Rocky_H said:
Here is another solution for it. The site EVSEadapters.com has a lot of great adapter cables for Model S charging. One of the things they came out with is called the "cheater plug", which has a circuit to fool the ground detection in the Tesla charge cable, in case you do need to use an outlet that is missing its ground. It's $29.95. Here is the link to it.
NEW! Cheater Plug: Charge from Generators or Inverters

Thanks! These forums really are invaluable for taking a look at all possible options. While I will plan on fixing the outlet instead of using the cheater plug, I will carry a cheater plug on my upcoming road trip in case I get into a bind and need to charge from a generator.

FlasherZ · Jun 19, 2015

Papafox said:
Thanks! These forums really are invaluable for taking a look at all possible options. While I will plan on fixing the outlet instead of using the cheater plug, I will carry a cheater plug on my upcoming road trip in case I get into a bind and need to charge from a generator.

It's relatively safe to work with a portable generator because they're typically not earth-grounded with grounding rods nor is neutral bonded to the frame, so the shock potential from using it in that case is limited - especially when vehicle charging is unlikely to take place while other circuits are in use on the generator. I'm speaking only when that adapter is used in a home where the return path for current can flow via the earth.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney · Jun 19, 2015

Papafox said:
Green1- Thanks for letting me know that such an item exists. I will start looking.

Davewill, If I were to charge regularly from this location I would do as you suggest. Instead, I really only need this location to provide 5 amps of electricity to keep the battery happy as it sits in storage. I agree that for regular charging a 240 volt setup would be the way to go.

I really think it would be better to have a higher draw, even at 120V. Overhead at 5A would surely eat a large proportion of it. Unless there's inefficient system cycling on/off that would make separate charging event less efficient than a steady low draw, it seems to me that you'd want your car to draw a comfortable current.

Papafox · Jun 19, 2015

FlasherZ said:
It's relatively safe to work with a portable generator because they're typically not earth-grounded with grounding rods nor is neutral bonded to the frame, so the shock potential from using it in that case is limited - especially when vehicle charging is unlikely to take place while other circuits are in use on the generator. I'm speaking only when that adapter is used in a home where the return path for current can flow via the earth.

FlasherZ, your comments have been very much appreciated

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Using Dirty Electricity Filter to enable 110 volt charging

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