I recommend paying Quick Charge Power to extend the cord on your UMC. They have the special cabling that the UMC uses, and know how to make aircraft grade high reliability splices. This setup will be lighter than an extension cord. It also will have the entire length downstream of the UMC, where it is protect by the UMC's ground fault detection.
Here is a link to their website:
Tesla UMC extension
GSP
I really like this solution. Here are some reasons:
- As you said, GFCI. I did not know the UMC had that. That is a feature to have downstream, indeed.
- UMC enforces amperage based upon each specific plug type via its proprietary adapter connection to its special connector. But, if using an extension like I did in pictures above, that all runs through the UMC's highest amp 50 amp adapter connector, meaning it will amp limit to the max it can handle for that 50 amp connector, which for continuous use (which is how charging EV's is interpreted in code) is 80% of the circuit rating, so 80% * 50 amp circuit = 40 amp continuous amp use setting. Problem is, if you put the plug adapters on the other side of this (on the non-Tesla side of the UMC, past the 50 amp Tesla plug adapter), as EVSEadapters.com does, this allows a full 40 amp draw from any circuit at whatever length (50 feet in my picture), such as a 30 amp circuit, and if you forget, or don't pay attention, or don't know, or don't want to follow the rules, or have some sort of brain disability (even a non-permanent one like being sick or distracted or a semi-permanent one like getting old like I have), and don't set it to the proper amps inside the Tesla, this could cause a fire or electrocution or both (at any time after, such as while you're there, or after you leave -- next time you see the fire engine for that town, remember, they might have put out the fire that burned your loved ones to death, because you used EVSEadapters.com). For a 30 amp dryer plug, this is 24 amps. For a 20 amp plug, this is 16 amps. For a 15 amp plug, this is 12 amps. And yet, the Tesla will try to pull 40! Extending the UMC fixes this, and it will automatically and seamlessly (without interaction) set and enforce each proprietary Tesla adapter type very specifically to the proper amps (the same amps that you'd have to manually set in the car when using EVSEadapters.com).
I consider the above a huge safety advantage over the pre-UMC extension cord route that I already purchased into. The next time I get a pool of money, I'm definitely ordering myself a modified extended UMC for this very reason. I do have one location I visit that I like to plug into their dryer outlet, and it is very far from where I park, so I need the UMC extended some way.
Had I known about this earlier, this is the only way I would have done it.
Here's what I would do now if I had $1,000 to do this:
- Buy Tesla — Mobile Connector Bundle ($550), and according to that, it has a 3 week lead time online, so best to go to a Service Center and buy it directly over the counter (plus tax, so around $600).
- Immediately ship it to the address listed on Tesla UMC extension via FedEx/UPS (notate the exact service you want QCP to perform and who to ship it back to) -- looks like $42.98 for ground shipping via UPS from California, and it only takes 2 days -- figure $50 complete with cable protection (I'd start by including the bag), boxing, etc.
- While in shipment, payment could be sent to QuickChargePower for the conversion. $300 for the longest length, which is what I would need in my case.
Step 1 & 2 can be done any day, but assuming it's done in one weekday and ground shipment from California is used (hint: take out the plug in adapters from the UMC bundle so the weight is less), QCP then works on it for 2 days, and sends it back, I don't know what courier type -- what if it was 2 days? That would be minimum 6 working days, or more than a week's worth of working days. So, this whole process could easily take 2 weeks. Get on it soon if you think you want this.
I think this is more expensive (by double) than what I already obtained, but that extra whatever $ is nothing compared to the safety level this provides.
Note that using the extension cord by EVSE without any of their adapters doesn't run into the amp setting problem; 40 amps is proper for that if using a proper 50 amp circuit and extending that.
