Charging through the window
There are often several ways to get some charge at a motel that does not have explicit charging facilities. I am not advocating trying any of these without explicit permission. You won't fill a MS 85 all the way up, but overnight you will get a partial charge that could save you 4-6 hours of charging at an RV park.
1. Dryer outlets. Last year there were several folks who posted reports of successfully charging using the motel's dryer outlets. I myself have not found any motels where this would be acceptable, certainly not for all night. Some dryers are dedicated to guests, who might want to do loads late at night. Some dryers run on gas. Sometimes the heavy-duty dryers used by the maids are hardwired, or share spaces with offices that cannot be left open all night.
2. Charge using the outlets in your motel room.
120V at 12A is always available, but of course this is very slow. I plan to be at this motel 13-14 hours, but 14 kWh's is not a lot.
One might find two outlets on different phases that can be combined with a Quick220 box to get 208V, but I have tried this at several motels without success. Some of the outlets for the TV or refrigerator are inaccessible, and the ones in the bathroom have GFI which is incompatible with Quick220. The lamp outlets often seem to share a circuit.
Many rooms have a 208V outlet for the heat pump A/C.
This is the method I am going to try on an upcoming trip to an area not near an operating Supercharger.
Here are my preparations, in case this might work for someone else.
Checking Street View on maps.google, I discovered that the motel I will be using has an image trail right into a room. Place the Street View icon right in front of the entrance to the motel, and look for a double-arrow pointing into the parking area. Here are 2 photos from this image trail.
In the first photo you can see that the heat pump uses an outlet, not hardwired. This style of motel heat pump can use 6-15, 6-20, or 6-30 outlets. 6-20 seems the most popular in California.
The second photo shows that this motel has windows through which one can run a cable to my car. It took several phone calls, but I eventually got permission from the owner to do this. He asked whether I would be cold at this time of year with the window open, and I replied that I will fill the 1/2" opening in the window with foam weatherstripping.
I have the Tesla 30A adapter plug, along with adapters first to L6-30, then to L6-20, and then to either 6-15 or 6-20. The 6-15 plug will fit an 6-20 outlet, but not the other way around. Of course I must be very careful to set the car's charge current to no more that 16A if the outlet is a 6-20, or 12A if it is a 6-15. Most likely I will have a 6-20, which will allow 16A, 3 kW.
I have a mat to cover the cable as it runs across the walkway from the window to the parking. I have added firm foam inserts under this mat to form a channel that protects the cable and provides a firm footing.
3 kW * 14 hours is at least 40 kWhs.
Wish me luck. I will post pictures.
