Using Tesla Gen 2 Charger with 80amp adapter to get full 19.2KVh

[daveo4EV]

that’s not quite how it works - ALL J-1772 chargers advertise to the car the maximum rate (in amps) they support - if the J-1772/Tesla charger is installed correctly it will only advertise the rate that matches the appropriate amps to match the breaker.

if you think about it this is how it has to work - because a “public” L2 charger at the mall would have the same problem - i.e. the Taycan trying to pull more power than the public mall charger can offer (typically 30 amps)

for our friends outside of north america - at least on the west coast most public L2 chargers are 240 volts @ 30 amps or less - so for most EV’s sold if you ever plugged into public non-fast charging you are plugging into a charger that has less possible power than the car can “suck” - so the maximum charge rate is dictated by the EVSE, and the EVSE advertised that rate - I once plugged in my 80 amp capable 2014 Tesla P85D to a 8 amp public charger in San Luis Obispo - it was painful, but the car did charge at 8 amps…not it’s maximum 80.

The Taycan will only pull the amount of power/amps advertised by the J-1772 charger it’s plugged into. Your 19.2 kw (80 amp) Taycan will only pull 48 amps on your Tesla Charger, and only pull 30 amp @ the mall plugged into a ChargePoint L2 charger…

J-1772 EVSE’s really ONLY do 3 things (they are not magic or complicated)

1. safety relay - only let power flow _IF_ you’re actually plugged into a vehicle
2. advertise a maximum amp rate to the vehicle
3. respond to the vehicle telling them to turn power flow on/off

MOST J-1772 EVSE’s are “hard wired” to offer a particular number of amps and you install them with breaker/wire to match the setting (clippercreek I’m looking at you)

Tesla Gen1/Gen2 Wall chargers have a rotary “dip-switch” inside unit - it’s the job of the installer to setup this dip-switch to match the breaker for the installation. The range of AMP’s is like 20-100 amps and documented in the Installation guide for the Wall Charger.

for $500 the Tesla Gen2 Wall charger was one of the best values for an EVSE on the market and offered a range of 16-80 amp charge rate - it was a deal.

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[daveo4EV]

The Tesla Gen 2 is capable of pushing out 80amps, then I'm wondering if it's possible that the Taycan will try to "suck" 80amps through and trip the circuit.

this will ONLY happen if the Tesla charger is “misconfigured” - i.e. the dip-switch inside it was not set correctly to match the breaker/wire when the charger was installed/configured.

_IF_ say the following _IS_true (as a hypothetical)

• your Wall chargers is physicaly installed with 60 amp breaker + 60 amp rated wire - 48 amp charge rate therefore is advised for electrical safety
• BUT the installer “forgot” to set the internal switch to 60 amp breaker setting
• AND the internal switch is say on 90 amps (one of the possible settings)
• you plug your taycan in - the Tesla charger will incorrectly report it can do 90 amps (72 amp charge rate)
• the Taycan will “pull” 72 amps - overloading the breaker because the CHARGER told it that was it’s maximum rate
• this would be bad and hopefully trip the 60 amp breaker after some time

however the fix it easy - take the cover plate off the TEsla wall charger - get a small screw driver and “turn” the rotary dip-switch inside the Tesla charger to the setting that matches the breaker - and volia - no more mis-advertising of the charger’s maximum charge rate.

how would you tell the Taycan is pulling too much power - well we know 48 amp Taycans pull about 10.4 kW according to the in car display during charging - if you plug in your Taycan to a 60 amp breaker (48 amp charge rate) and the main display shows a number more than say 11 kW for the charge rate - well then something’s misconfigured and you find out what and fix it.

 

[akcpvzk]

The car will advertise the rate it can accept. It has no idea about the breaker you are connected to or what's upstream. Are you able to configure the Tesla Gen 2 to manage the draw? For example, on the PMCC you can tell it precisely how much to draw up to a max of 40A. If you have the charger plugged in to a lower amperage circuit and plug in the vehicle will request the max and that could overload the circuit. Ask me how I know If you cannot tell the Tesla charger the max Amps to draw I would certainly update the breaker before plugging my 19.2kW Taycan into it.

Haha...I'm scared to ask how you know. But you are definitely exacerbating my fears because, no, you can't tell the Tesla charger (like you can the PMCC) what to push, and yes, I figured the Taycan wouldn't "know" what circuit is behind the Tesla Gen 2 charger.

 

[daveo4EV]

here is the installation guide:

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/wall_connector_installation_manual_80A_en_US.pdf

page 22 is the reference for the corrrect settings inside the unit to match the external breaker+wire you installed…see picture included in this post for possible settings - happy to answer questions

the good news here is that _IF_ you want to increase your charge rate you only need install new breaker+appropriate wire guage - but you do not need to purchase a new EVSE - just open up the case and adjust the setting inside the unit to match your new breaker+wire and volia - you have a faster charger the next time you plug in.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure the breaker+wire-gauge+charger settings are matched so that you do not overload the electrical circuit - vehicles are rather dumb - while they will limit themselves to the advertised rate from the charger/EVSE - they will also pull power for hours at a time at that advertised rate - so make sure your charger/EVSE is not over-promising on it’s advertised rate.

 

[akcpvzk]

this will ONLY happen if the Tesla charger is “misconfigured” - i.e. the dip-switch inside it was not set correctly to match the breaker/wire when the charger was installed/configured.

_IF_ say the following _IS_true (as a hypothetical)

• your Wall chargers is physicaly installed with 60 amp breaker + 60 amp rated wire - 48 amp charge rate therefore is advised for electrical safety
• BUT the installer “forgot” to set the internal switch to 60 amp breaker setting
• AND the internal switch is say on 90 amps (one of the possible settings)
• you plug your taycan in - the Tesla charger will incorrectly report it can do 90 amps (72 amp charge rate)
• the Taycan will “pull” 72 amps - overloading the breaker because the CHARGER told it that was it’s maximum rate
• this would be bad and hopefully trip the 60 amp breaker after some time

however the fix it easy - take the cover plate off the TEsla wall charger - get a small screw driver and “turn” the rotary dip-switch inside the Tesla charger to the setting that matches the breaker - and volia - no more mis-advertising of the charger’s maximum charge rate.

how would you tell the Taycan is pulling too much power - well we know 48 amp Taycans pull about 10.4 kW according to the in car display during charging - if you plug in your Taycan to a 60 amp breaker (48 amp charge rate) and the main display shows a number more than say 11 kW for the charge rate - well then something’s misconfigured and you find out what and fix it.

Very interesting! I didn't realize there was a dip-switch, but that's makes sense. I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[daveo4EV]

Haha...I'm scared to ask how you know. But you are definitely exacerbating my fears because, no, you can't tell the Tesla charger (like you can the PMCC) what to push, and yes, I figured the Taycan wouldn't "know" what circuit is behind the Tesla Gen 2 charger.

the car doesn’t know - but the charger/EVSE does know if it’s configured correctly - it’s the car’s responsibility to not pull MORE than the Advertised rate from the EVSE - there is a rate “advertised” as part of the charging handshake, but its’ the EVSE/charger advertising to the vehicle, not the other way around.

 

[daveo4EV]

this ability in J-1772 protocol to “advertise” a maximum charge rate is also present in the PMCC - but instead of a dip-switch - it’s controlled in software via the “touch screen” - the PMCC “knows” the maximum rate allowed based on which “PMCC supply” cable is currently attached to the main PMCC unit - there are electrial connections in the PMCC supply cables beyond power+ground - that identify the cable to the PMCC unit - when you have the 14-50/6-50 supply cable attached to the PMCC unit - it knows the maximum rate is 40 amps, but you can set the charge rate to lower (but NOT higher) than 40 amps…

if you connect one of the 14-30/6-30 PMCC supply cables the maximum onscreen rate is then 24 amps

if you connect the NEMA 5-15 PMCC supply cable to the PMCC unit the maximum amps then become 12 amps in the onscreen controls.

J-1772 _IS_ the charging standard for L1/L2 charging in north america - in the J-1772 terminology what people commonly refer to as ‘the charger’ is actually called the EVSE (Electrical Vehicle Supply Equipment) - the actual charger is deep inside the vehicle - the EVSE is just a giant reasonably stupid flow control device (think garden hose hooked to the water main) - the EVSE is about as sophisticated as a garden hose…

but like all technologies the garden hose might be stupid, but when you couple that with a smart device like an irrigation control unit (super smart) - dumb device now appears to be smart cause the computer control irrigation unit manages the flow from the dumb garden hose…

the Taycan is super smart - your Tesla EVSE not so much

the PMCC has the “software” control to change the advertised rate
the Tesla Wall charger has the rotary dip-switch
a properly designed and implemented vehicle is not allowed to request more power flow than the EVSE’s advertised rate.

and while there are known bugs in the Tayan charging software, requesting too much power from an EVSE advertising a lower rate is _NOT_ one of them - to date it seems to be rock solid in that particular space.

 

[daveo4EV]

why @daveo4EV loves the Gen2 Tesla Wall Chargers - really they were the best EVSE being sold in north america at the time

• Affordable - $500 for a high power EVSE was very competitive price wise
• Attractive - best charging animation hands down - a little fun never hurts
• Flexible - 12-80 amp charging range - adjustable with a rotary dip switch - install the charger and setup it up to “match” your EV charging circuit
  • upgrade your circuit later? just adjust the dip-switch - no new charging hardware required
• Dynamic Load sharing
  • master + upto 3 slaves - allows for the ultimate multi-EV household
  • you can configure these beast to “share” a single electrical circuit breaker avoid the expense of a 2nd dedicated EV circuit
• J-1772 compatible with the TeslaTap/JDApter - charge any EV with this charger
• high power - in an age/environment where most EVSE’s were 30 amp or 40 amp or less - you could have 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 amps of charging goodness for less money than most competitors charged for a 32 amp unit
• reliable - I‘ve been fortunate to have a main home + vacation home - I have 4 of these at my main home, and 3 at the vacation home - I own 7 of these chargers, so far they’ve been rock solid and always “just work” - worse case the master slaves are sometimes “confused” - throw the breaker - restore power- and boom back to 100% functional

for all the trade offs the Gen2 Tesla Wall chargers @ $500 each were a great option and very very future proof - it’s unfortunate they are no longer available.

The current Tesla Gen3 Wall chargers are also affordable, and great, but limited to 60 amp breaker configuration (48 amp maximum charge rate) - but now offer wifi and shared load for upto 16 shared chargers sharing a single circuit - I’m sure they are great also but have no personal experience, but again at $500 each, there is no better competitive charger EVSE on the market for the entire feature set offered.

 

[akcpvzk]

why @daveo4EV loves the Gen2 Tesla Wall Chargers - really they were the best EVSE being sold in north america at the time

• Affordable - $500 for a high power EVSE was very competitive price wise
• Attractive - best charging animation hands down - a little fun never hurts
• Flexible - 12-80 amp charging range - adjustable with a rotary dip switch - install the charger and setup it up to “match” your EV charging circuit
  • upgrade your circuit later? just adjust the dip-switch - no new charging hardware required
• Dynamic Load sharing
  • master + upto 3 slaves - allows for the ultimate multi-EV household
  • you can configure these beast to “share” a single electrical circuit breaker avoid the expense of a 2nd dedicated EV circuit
• J-1772 compatible with the TeslaTap/JDApter - charge any EV with this charger
• high power - in an age/environment where most EVSE’s were 30 amp or 40 amp or less - you could have 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 amps of charging goodness for less money than most competitors charged for a 32 amp unit
• reliable - I‘ve been fortunate to have a main home + vacation home - I have 4 of these at my main home, and 3 at the vacation home - I own 7 of these chargers, so far they’ve been rock solid and always “just work” - worse case the master slaves are sometimes “confused” - throw the breaker - restore power- and boom back to 100% functional

for all the trade offs the Gen2 Tesla Wall chargers @ $500 each were a great option and very very future proof - it’s unfortunate they are no longer available.

The current Tesla Gen3 Wall chargers are also affordable, and great, but limited to 60 amp breaker configuration (48 amp maximum charge rate) - but now offer wifi and shared load for upto 16 shared chargers sharing a single circuit - I’m sure they are great also but have no personal experience, but again at $500 each, there is no better competitive charger EVSE on the market for the entire feature set offered.

6 more feet of hose too! Ironically that's the only reason I got it for my Tesla X but I'm glad I did.

 

[GRV]

Just took delivery of a 4S. I am charging from a Gen 2 Tesla Wall Charger and Mini Tesla Tap 60 amp. I have noticed a lot of heat is thrown off during charging. Garage (small) went from 80F to 90F pretty quick. Also the Tesla charging cable runs about 96F and about 102F on the Tesla Tap. I have not felt this with charging Model 3 or S. Curious of other's experience with heat generation while charging the Taycan.

 

[daveo4EV]

Just took delivery of a 4S. I am charging from a Gen 2 Tesla Wall Charger and Mini Tesla Tap 60 amp. I have noticed a lot of heat is thrown off during charging. Garage (small) went from 80F to 90F pretty quick. Also the Tesla charging cable runs about 96F and about 102F on the Tesla Tap. I have not felt this with charging Model 3 or S. Curious of other's experience with heat generation while charging the Taycan.

nothing here that appears abnormal.

 

[atebit]

I have the Tesla HPWC on a 100A circuit & set for max 80A output, connected to an 80A Tesla Tap Mini. My car has the 19.2kW OBC. My battery’s SOC hasn’t been lower than 80% yet when I’ve charged it, and IIRC it charges at around 17.2kW. I imagine I’d get a higher rate of charge if the starting SOC is lower.

I haven’t plugged it in for a bit & I think I’m down to below 64% at the point. Unless I need to take an unplanned long trip, I’m going to wait until it’s around 30% to see if it gets closer to charging at 19.2kW.

 

[andrewket]

I have the Tesla HPWC on a 100A circuit & set for max 80A output, connected to an 80A Tesla Tap Mini. My car has the 19.2kW OBC. My battery’s SOC hasn’t been lower than 80% yet when I’ve charged it, and IIRC it charges at around 17.2kW. I imagine I’d get a higher rate of charge if the starting SOC is lower.

I haven’t plugged it in for a bit & I think I’m down to below 64% at the point. Unless I need to take an unplanned long trip, I’m going to wait until it’s around 30% to see if it gets closer to charging at 19.2kW.

It won’t, I have the same config. Porsche’s UI reports power going into the battery whereas Tesla reports current draw from the wall. What you’re seeing is charging inefficiencies - heat loss, energy being used by the electronics (overhead) etc.

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