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Does your 5-30 outlet look like this?
I think EVSEadapters.com will make a custom adapter for you. Try contacting them.
There are also other companies that will do this, or you can buy the plugs and wire from Home Depot or Grainger and make one yourself. Get advice from an electrician or pay him/her to make it for you.
You will have to insure that you manually set the charge current down to 24 Amps if you do this. Also, if you do not have dual chargers, the car may not be capable of charging at the full 24 Amps from a 120 Volt supply, such as a 5-30. Not sure about the latest software or the new 48/72 Amp chargers, they might do it.
If this is going to be used on a regular basis, I recommend getting a quote for changing the outlet to a 14-50. It may also be much less inexpensive to change your outlet to a 14-30, and buy the 14-30 UMC adapter from Tesla (now available on Tesla's accessory site). Either would give you much faster charging with 240 Volts.
Good Luck
GSP
I think EVSEadapters.com will make a custom adapter for you. Try contacting them.
There are also other companies that will do this, or you can buy the plugs and wire from Home Depot or Grainger and make one yourself. Get advice from an electrician or pay him/her to make it for you.
You will have to insure that you manually set the charge current down to 24 Amps if you do this. Also, if you do not have dual chargers, the car may not be capable of charging at the full 24 Amps from a 120 Volt supply, such as a 5-30. Not sure about the latest software or the new 48/72 Amp chargers, they might do it.
If this is going to be used on a regular basis, I recommend getting a quote for changing the outlet to a 14-50. It may also be much less inexpensive to change your outlet to a 14-30, and buy the 14-30 UMC adapter from Tesla (now available on Tesla's accessory site). Either would give you much faster charging with 240 Volts.
Good Luck
GSP
Boatguy
Active Member
The 14-30 is a 30a @ 240v connection. Your 5-30 is only 110v. I'm not sure what will happen if you try to fool the UMC into thinking it's 240v, but I suspect it's not a good thing. Best case it would pull 30a @ 110 which would be ok, and probably get you up to 10mph. Worst case the UMC will bail entirely saying your connection voltage is too low a voltage (only one hot leg in a 5-30) because it's expecting two hot legs (240v) through the 14-30.
If you're in an apartment or condo, you've got a problem faced by many. Maybe EVSE adapters will make an adapter that will allow the UMC to pull 30a @ 110v. Otherwise, you bought an expensive car, spend a $500 and get a 240v connection of at least 30a (i.e., 14-30) which will give you about 22mph.
If you're in an apartment or condo, you've got a problem faced by many. Maybe EVSE adapters will make an adapter that will allow the UMC to pull 30a @ 110v. Otherwise, you bought an expensive car, spend a $500 and get a 240v connection of at least 30a (i.e., 14-30) which will give you about 22mph.
AndreSF
Member
NEMA 14-30 will provide up to 17 miles per hour rated range charge for Model S (for X it's listed at 15/mph).
Converting the outlet with a proper 2-pole breaker might be possible (assuming wire is sized correctly), although not sure how cleanly 3-wire 5-30r can be converted to a 4-wire 14-30r.
AndreSF
Member
Another option might be applicable is to replace your 5-30r with TT-30R and use an adapter (TT-30 to 14-50; multiple sources online).
Boatguy
Active Member
5-30 can only deliver 3.3 kW, no plug converter can change that. Roughly 10-11 mph.
AndreSF
Member
I get that. The reply was to your point about NEMA14-30 delivering 22mph of charge, which is not the case. It's up to 17mph on S and 15mph on X.
mikeash
Active Member
From what I hear (I haven't tried it!) the UMC doesn't care about 120V versus 240V, and will happily charge on either one. It does require the hot leg be on one particular side, but other than that, going from a 5-30 to a 14-30 should work fine. I haven't heard of it for a 5-30, but I have seen people doing it for TT-30 outlets.
Once upon a time, there was a limit where the cars would draw a maximum of 20A on 120V, but it seems that was fixed years ago.
A proper 240V 14-30 outlet would be ideal if it can be easily converted, but a 5-30 with a (properly labeled!) adapter to a 14-30 should work pretty well.
Once upon a time, there was a limit where the cars would draw a maximum of 20A on 120V, but it seems that was fixed years ago.
A proper 240V 14-30 outlet would be ideal if it can be easily converted, but a 5-30 with a (properly labeled!) adapter to a 14-30 should work pretty well.
To answer the original question, Nema 5-30 to Nema 14-50 adapter to charge tesla can be created but you do have better options as others suggested. Your 5-30 receptacle is 120v (hot, neutral and ground). I have made a TT-30 adapter which is also 120v 30A but different shape, usually found on campgrounds. See instructions here...
Home made charging adapters
You will not be able to easily convert this outlet to 14-30 as it would require a new cable with two hots, neutral and a ground. If you're doing this on the cheap, an electrician could easily convert this to a 6-30 using a two pole barker and same wire making it a 240v 30A (two hots and a ground). You would still need to create a custom adapter to go to NEMA 14-30 but this one is simple as neutral is not needed for 240v charging.
Home made charging adapters
You will not be able to easily convert this outlet to 14-30 as it would require a new cable with two hots, neutral and a ground. If you're doing this on the cheap, an electrician could easily convert this to a 6-30 using a two pole barker and same wire making it a 240v 30A (two hots and a ground). You would still need to create a custom adapter to go to NEMA 14-30 but this one is simple as neutral is not needed for 240v charging.
Boatguy
Active Member
Sorry, you are correct. I was assuming the full 30a, but in reality it will be derated to 24a so only 17mph.
AndreSF
Member
Yeah, in reality, I mostly see 16mph with my 14-30 setup
Even my previous setup with 9-10mph using an old EVSE I had was plenty to have fully charged car every morning though.I wish I could put 2 or 3 "informative" marks on @mikeash 's post. Yes, the UMC will detect and use 120/240 and wont care. Yes, the 20A limit was fixed a long time ago.
So on the other note: Is this 5-30 outlet the only outlet on this circuit? If it is dedicated like that, then yes, it would be very feasible to just switch out the breaker for a two-pole and make it a 240V circuit. So, if you are going to do that, then possible the best thing to do with it is not use adapters and pigtails, but just mount a wall connector unit. A Tesla wall connector or other J1772 station will work great on a 30A circuit and will be pretty robust.
So on the other note: Is this 5-30 outlet the only outlet on this circuit? If it is dedicated like that, then yes, it would be very feasible to just switch out the breaker for a two-pole and make it a 240V circuit. So, if you are going to do that, then possible the best thing to do with it is not use adapters and pigtails, but just mount a wall connector unit. A Tesla wall connector or other J1772 station will work great on a 30A circuit and will be pretty robust.
You need to do a 5-30 to 14-30 then buy the official Tesla adapter. This way you won't have to manually adjust the amperage.
If there is only two wires plus ground feeding the existing socket, the most cost effective and code compliant solution to get to 240V charging is to use a 6-30 or L6-30 socket and a new double pole breaker to change the neutral to be the other hot line. Then use a plug-in corded adapter to 14-30 (clearly marked "Tesla Charging Only") so that the Tesla 14-30 adapter will signal the correct circuit capacity to the UMC. The plug-in adapter will have a floating neutral, but it's OK because the UMC doesn't use it. It is NOT OK to install a socket that has a floating neutral because it presents a hazard when something is plugged in that needs it. This absolutely requires dedicated wiring between the socket and the breaker in order to upgrade it from 120V to 240V.
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