What car settings are needed for using SuperChargers?

[mtiede]

I have only used a supercharger once so far and I'm not sure I was doing the right thing. At home, I use the wall connector. I have it set up on a 60 amp breaker and set the car setting for 48 amp.

Do I need to change that setting when using a supercharger? And if so, what should I change it to? Or does that setting only apply when use the wall connector?

 

[fholbert]

I have only used a supercharger once so far and I'm not sure I was doing the right thing. At home, I use the wall connector. I have it set up on a 60 amp breaker and set the car setting for 48 amp.

Do I need to change that setting when using a supercharger? And if so, what should I change it to? Or does that setting only apply when use the wall connector?

Assuming Tesla has your charge card on file, nothing. The Supercharger bypasses most of your settings. The one setting that may need to be changed is % to charge.

 

[E90alex]

There is no setting. You plug it in and the car and charger communicate to charge at the fastest rate possible.

 

[mtiede]

Assuming Tesla has your charge card on file, nothing. The Supercharger bypasses most of your settings. The one setting that may need to be changed is % to charge.

They have it, so thanks.

 

[fholbert]

They have it, so thanks.

If you plan on taking a trip recommend you do a test charge at a local SC.
1.) So you're convertible with it.
2.) A few people home charge fine, but when they got to a SC it didn't work due to a failed part.

 

[mtiede]

If you plan on taking a trip recommend you do a test charge at a local SC.
1.) So you're convertible with it.
2.) A few people home charge fine, but when they got to a SC it didn't work due to a failed part.

Yes, I did try one. It appeared to work fine, but I wasn't sure if I should have done anything in the settings. Good to know it was fine.

 

[fholbert]

Yes, I did try one. It appeared to work fine, but I wasn't sure if I should have done anything in the settings. Good to know it was fine.

Sounds like you're good to go!

As the Supercharger approaches your charge limit it slows down. For a faster charge you may want to increase you charge limit beyond what you need, then manually stop it when the desired charge is reached.

 

[drtimhill]

I have only used a supercharger once so far and I'm not sure I was doing the right thing. At home, I use the wall connector. I have it set up on a 60 amp breaker and set the car setting for 48 amp.

Do I need to change that setting when using a supercharger? And if so, what should I change it to? Or does that setting only apply when use the wall connector?

No, the max charge level is not related to HOW you charge. Regardless of charging method, the max charge has the same impact on battery longevity.

Often you WILL end up charging to a higher level at an SC, but that's just because often you use SC's on a long road trip when you want to use the full range of the car.

 

[mtiede]

Sounds like you're good to go!

As the Supercharger approaches your charge limit it slows down. For a faster charge you may want to increase you charge limit beyond what you need, then manually stop it when the desired charge is reached.

Interesting idea I had not read about elsewhere yet. Although maybe it was important for it to slow down and stopping it prematurely causes some negative effects.

 

[NeverGoingBack]

Sounds like you're good to go!

As the Supercharger approaches your charge limit it slows down. For a faster charge you may want to increase you charge limit beyond what you need, then manually stop it when the desired charge is reached.

Well ……. It doesn’t slow down because it is getting near the charge limit. It slows down as the state of charge increases. So to speed up the charging process, try to arrive at the Supercharger with low SOC (10% or so) and charge only as much as needed to arrive at next charger with same. Navigation system will figure most of this out for you. Trust it and ride …..

 

[drtimhill]

Sounds like you're good to go!

As the Supercharger approaches your charge limit it slows down. For a faster charge you may want to increase you charge limit beyond what you need, then manually stop it when the desired charge is reached.

This is inaccurate. The SC charge rate is related to the ABSOLUTE charge level of the battery irrespective of charge limit. It APPEARS to relate to the change limit only because most people tend to charge up to the charge level where the SC will indeed slow down. But if you (say) charge from 10% to 30% it wont taper off as it gets close to 30%. The tapering is related to battery longevity as it approaches 100% charge.

(It's also temperature related, but this was not germane to this thread.)

 

[drtimhill]

Interesting idea I had not read about elsewhere yet. Although maybe it was important for it to slow down and stopping it prematurely causes some negative effects.

Don;t overthink this. Basically, keep the battery above 10%, charge for day-to-day use up to 70-80%, and when you're on a long trip charge to 90% or even 100% of you need to. Top up whenever you want. Anything else is either (a) very minor impact or (b) hearsay or rumor.

 

[jankratochvil]

Optimal overall driving time / charging speed on roadtrips is when you arrive with 5% of SoC (State of Charge). Under 5% it starts already charging slower and it slows down again starting at 20% (depending on the Tesla model): https://insideevs.com/news/506520/tesla-model-3-supercharger-test/