[North America] - Get your Tech from a Tech company… Tesla J-1772/Universal charger review

[Jhenson29]

It’s this one… https://ev-lectron.com/products/lectron-nema-14-50-v-box-40-amp-level-2-ev-charging-station

I know nothing about electrical codes and I don’t doubt what you are saying. Just providing some information to the conversation that might be useful.

Thanks. I emailed Lectron to ask them about it.

Some other things to note:

Inspections are ultimately up to the local AHJ (authority having jurisdiction). They can enforce or not enforce. They may follow older NEC versions or have their own other rules. And it's always up to their interpretation.

It's also my experience is that once a device is UL listed, it doesn't necessarily have to follow code. How things get listed that way....well I couldn't tell you. I know there are different specific UL codes, but I'm not involved in those processes. But as an example, the supply wires for my hardwired EVSE are definitely undersized per code, but it's UL listed so "okay" to install as is. I went round-and-round with the manufacturer on that and was more or less told to F-off, it's listed. Same when I went to Electrical forums for guidance. It's listed. How dare I question the components.

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[PierreTT]

Already have a Tesla Wall Charger (from 2016) installed in my garage.
Was planning to buy a TeslaTap Mini for the upcoming Taycan.

Is there any any added value to swap my unit for this J-1772 one?

Thanks Dave for taking the time to share your findings

 

[DerekS]

Does it have any web UI that can be mined for charging stats?

 

[TxnBluDvl]

Thanks for the review. Now if we can only convince Elon to bring out a 40 amp NEMA 14-50 version of this like they used to have, but with the J1772.

IMO, if that ever happened, the competition would really start to take notice.

EDIT: Just saw post #22. Nice potential solution!

 

[whitex]

I believe NEC 625.17(A)(3)a states it can’t be over 12”. Which is why you always see short 12” supply cables on plug-in EVSEs.

Yep, it's to make sure you don't end up driving over the cable or otherwise compromise it, which could lead to safety issues. If you drive over the J1772 side cable, the EVSE will protect against any such issues, but no protection on the supply side unless you add one as per 625.17.(A)(3)b, which is not practical with EVSE's (e.g. generic GFCI would be bad for EVSE usage, since it requires manual reset, EVSE does the same job, but is allowed to auto-reset periodically).

 

[RCorsa]

Wait so these are gen 3 Tesla chargers with non Tesla plug ins ? Is this some aftermarket solution? I have two get 3 and use the Tesla tap for my Taycan. Please enlighten me.

 

[daveo4EV]

Wait so these are gen 3 Tesla chargers with non Tesla plug ins ? Is this some aftermarket solution? I have two get 3 and use the Tesla tap for my Taycan. Please enlighten me.

new charger from Tesla directly w/J-1772 connector - $550 - order from the tesla website.

 

[whitex]

new charger from Tesla directly w/J-1772 connector - $550 - order from the tesla website.

Have you confirmed interoperability with Tesla gen 3 with Tesla connectors (for load sharing)?

 

[daveo4EV]

not yet - I only own one - 2nd on order

I have two gen2 wall chargers configured for shared load - but it's a completely different sharing setup for Gen2 vs. Gen3

I should get my 2nd one next week and I'll wifi them and setup powersharing

manual covers powersharing and the webportal for these have the powersharing setup enabled.

so I think it's really just a Gen3 wall charger w/J-1772 connector - really not much different than a normal gen3 - I'd be surprised if they don't play nice together...

doubt there is actually a lot of change.

 

[daveo4EV]

I would be super surprised if Gen3 w/Tesla connector and Gen3 w/J-1772 connector don't play nice together for powersharing - but alas I won't be the one to test that configuration - so someone else will have to report success/failure with a Gen3 mix/match setup for powersharing.

 

[RCorsa]

I wonder if they will offer the new cable. Im sure the base unit is the same and just the cable is different. Im doubtful Ill ever get another Tesla but the home chargers work and look great but would be nice to ditch the Tesla tap

 

[whitex]

I would be super surprised if Gen3 w/Tesla connector and Gen3 w/J-1772 connector don't play nice together for powersharing - but alas I won't be the one to test that configuration - so someone else will have to report success/failure with a Gen3 mix/match setup for powersharing.

Yea, I don't foresee access to such a setup any time soon either (same as you, I have a dual Gen2 setup, but I like 80A capability and wired load sharing, so won't be replacing it with Gen 3). My question was because of the previous Tesla 40A Wall charger with J1772 which Tesla sold for a few months, which specifically did not play with any of the Tesla ones (it looked like a Gen 3, but only 40A capable, so perhaps something was cost optimized in it).

 

[whitex]

Wait so these are gen 3 Tesla chargers with non Tesla plug ins ? Is this some aftermarket solution? I have two get 3 and use the Tesla tap for my Taycan. Please enlighten me.

Wait so these are gen 3 Tesla chargers with non Tesla plug ins ? Is this some aftermarket solution? I have two get 3 and use the Tesla tap for my Taycan. Please enlighten me.

It looks so far like a Gen3 with J1772 which *should* interoperate with with Gen3 Tesla connector version.
If you already have a Gen3, you can just use an adapter like TeslaTap, or convert it permanently to J1772. Teslatap will even convert your Gen2 (80A) for $249+ (link here).

This new wall charger from Tesla will definitely hurt sales of converted Gen3 units from TeslaTap (at $744 for the equivalent 24ft, vs. $550 from Tesla).

 

[daveo4EV]

Yea, I don't foresee access to such a setup any time soon either (same as you, I have a dual Gen2 setup, but I like 80A capability and wired load sharing, so won't be replacing it with Gen 3). My question was because of the previous Tesla 40A Wall charger with J1772 which Tesla sold for a few months, which specifically did not play with any of the Tesla ones (it looked like a Gen 3, but only 40A capable, so perhaps something was cost optimized in it).

I'm in same boat - the dual gen2 Wall chargers are sharing 100 amp breaker and talk to each other for load sharing - single charger can do 19.2 kW/80 amps - and the gen3 is limited 12 kw/48 amps - so I'm not thrill to replace the gen2 wall chargers with gen3 due to lower charging capacity.

 

[daveo4EV]

Does it have any web UI that can be mined for charging stats?

webUI is read-only status and configuration

also seems limited - only can access "the good stuff" when your device is directly connected to the EVSE's WiFi hotspot…

otherwise it's just a minimal status page - no actual usage stats appear available at this time - but I haven't reviews the "raw" HTML or poked around.

status page shown below when connecting "externally" to the EVSE on home Wifi…

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