Tesla Universal Wall Connector home charger - it's here!

[carsly]

Tesla announced a universal home connector/charger just a few weeks ago with the intent of October delivery this year.

But it's August 30th, and it's here -- two months early. Go figure for a Tesla offering ;-)

I've been using a J1772 to Tesla (now NACS) adapter on my Juicebox but it's clumsy and the cord management on the Juicebox is, ahem, bad and the app has gone from serviceable to horrendous with needs to constantly sign in every couple of days and no ability to integrate with Face ID for authentication. With one Tesla in the garage and an Oct 2022 order for a R1S I figured I'd take the plunge and find one charger to rule them all. Like or hate Elon, Tesla's software is better than most and I've only had minor issues with a Model X and Model S. Based on the principle of the Magic Dock - with the adapter built into the charger housing - I liked the idea, placed the order on launch day and here it is just a few weeks later.

The box is typical Tesla. Clip or remove the tape strip and fold open.

Looks like any other Tesla wall charger. Which is nice, clean and simple.

Flipped on it's side, you can see where the magic happens. It's a NACS connector at the end of the cable, but as it is seated into the housing it plugs into the J1772 connector/adapter that's built in. To release the J1772 adapter with the handle there is a button underneath the paper circle. Let me get a better pic.

Press the button to release the attached J1772 adapter or don't press it when releasing the handle and you've got the standard Tesla connector. No worries about where the dongles/adapters go and get stored when not in use. It just sits inside the charger until you need it. As it arrived today it's not yet wired up, and the software for it hasn't released yet either, but it should be easy for those Tesla and non-Tesla households or those who have one kind of car now and get another later that is J1772 or NACS. Feels like a good future-proofed solution (for now).

I'd post my referral link, which I've never used, to see if I can get enough points for a Cybertruck T-shirt but not sure if that's permitted so will omit but if you found this helpful and would like to use my link please send me a message and I'm happy to share it with you.

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[mike22co]

Good to see! I have one on order too, that will augment the existing Tesla Wall connector for the model 3. The load sharing will be great to have this winter to avoid moving a sloppy-dirty cable around vehicles.

 

[DJ24]

Mine is getting delivered Friday. I was worried they might have sent the regular wall charger by mistake since they said they weren’t delivering until October so glad to see someone else got theirs!

 

[RivianRunner]

Looks like any other Tesla wall charger. Which is nice, clean and simple.

For informational purposes, not that it would matter much in most installations, the body of the unit is considerably fatter (extends further out from the mounting surface) than the standard Tesla Wall Connector.

That glass faceplate is nice!

Mounting tip: Mount the unit a little higher off the floor than you might think to simplify cable management. If you can hang a 24' cable with only three loops it makes it super easy to deploy and return.

 

[carsly]

Mounting tip: Mount the unit a little higher off the floor than you might think to simplify cable management. If you can hang a 24' cable with only three loops it makes it super easy to deploy and return.

I like my Quad Loop, Max Cord configuration ;-)

 

[Jay565]

also just a tip, recommend the wall monitor app, this monitors in real time the temps of the unit and handle. You’ll be suprised how hot it gets and might be good to run as low amps as you can tolerate. I’m sure 150-180 temps over a period of years could cause problems!

 

[carsly]

also just a tip, recommend the wall monitor app, this monitors in real time the temps of the unit and handle. You’ll be suprised how hot it gets and might be good to run as low amps as you can tolerate. I’m sure 150-180 temps over a period of years could cause problems!

Always THIS. Fantastic advice. What I normally recommend is to charge at 32 amps if it meets your regular needs and only increase beyond that if needed for short durations and all points - wiring, breakers, etc. support those charge levels plus a safety margin.

 

[Riviot]

Can you pull out the dongle and connect it to another plug it needed? I.e. pack it in the J1772 rig for road trips?

 

[carsly]

Can you pull out the dongle and connect it to another plug it needed? I.e. pack it in the J1772 rig for road trips?

I don' t think it would work at superchargers, not sure about destination chargers and whether it would work with a home/destination charger that was not designed to support the adapter. My primary concern in that case with be with fitment and making sure everything sits tight.

The unit needs to be powered to remove the cable with the attached adapter, not sure if the adapter can then be disconnected without re-inserting it into the housing. Certainly something worth testing once it's hooked up!

 

[Riviot]

I don' t think it would work at superchargers, not sure about destination chargers and whether it would work with a home/destination charger that was not designed to support the adapter. My primary concern in that case with be with fitment and making sure everything sits tight.

The unit needs to be powered to remove the cable with the attached adapter, not sure if the adapter can then be disconnected without re-inserting it into the housing. Certainly something worth testing once it's hooked up!

We'll be awaiting your test results ?

 

[PeterSK]

Can you pull out the dongle and connect it to another plug it needed? I.e. pack it in the J1772 rig for road trips?

The dongle is either locked to the base or to the handle, which is how I’d want it to work so it can’t get lost or stolen. State of Charge has a first use video here - no review yet.

 

[Buckets0fun]

also just a tip, recommend the wall monitor app, this monitors in real time the temps of the unit and handle. You’ll be suprised how hot it gets and might be good to run as low amps as you can tolerate. I’m sure 150-180 temps over a period of years could cause problems!

The wall connector has logic inside and will auto throttle when it detects issues with temp. Ambient or otherwise. Many of us have had our units replaced when erroneous throttling was happening.

third party apps and Tesla products rarely are a good idea.

 

[BaD KaRmA]

review is out

 

[Runamok]

Both BestBuy and Tesla list these as pre-order. Anxious to get mine. Is anybody familiar with Tesla that could take a guess about WHEN in October these will ship? Early, mid, late?

 

[PeterSK]

Both BestBuy and Tesla list these as pre-order. Anxious to get mine. Is anybody familiar with Tesla that could take a guess about WHEN in October these will ship? Early, mid, late?

“In two weeks” is the oft-quoted line from Elon.

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