Charging

Martin Eberhard has made the Roadster Foundry Mobile Charger. This is a box of tricks which lets you connect your Tesla to a bunch of different wall sockets and the charge current is automatically limited, depending on the socket used.

I need to do a similar thing for my car, but my implementation will be somewhat different because my charger is different. Also, in New Zealand I believe I will need an in-line circuit breaker. I'm told electricians are supposed to destroy any 16A caravan plug to regular 10A plug adapter cables they find without a circuit breaker. I guess this will apply to an adapter from a 32A PDL 56 plug to a regular 10A plug too.

Today I bought an appropriate plug and socket for my charger. When I'm done, the socket box with the switch will be permanently wired into my garage wall and the charger permanently mounted in the car. I'm unlikely to use another PDL 56 series plug on the car as it's quite large and ungainly. I'm likely to use something like an IEC 60309 or an American twist lock on the car. I'll make an extension cord with whatever I fit to the car on one end and the PDL 56 series on the other. See Charging Socket for more details.

I must give many thanks to Geoff at J. A. Russell Glen Innes, go there for your electrical needs.