The charging cable has a 4 prong plug for a neutral wire.
The 240V 50 amp outlets in my house are all 3 prong (no neutral). I understand they changed the codes in 1996 to include a neutral wire for 240V appliances.
So, can I just get an adapter plug, 3 prong to 4 prong for charging, or does the AC500 require a neutral line? They say 240v doesn’t need a neutral wire; it’s only if an appliance needs both 240v and 120v (it can tap off the neutral wire to get 120v.)
My 50 amp 240v outlets look like the one on the right. The charging cord needs the one on the left.
Bluetti Admin, you want to chime in here?
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I ordered the cable but I’ll need to order an adapter if I can use my current outlet. I’m guessing the AC500 has no need of a neutral wire, but you never know.
Yeah, I saw there were 3 prongs, but early on I remember a discussion on this forum about problems with transfer switches and ground/neutral wires, and well, I want to play it safe. I’ll need to order a 50 amp extension cord and adapter, so just checking. It looks like a 25 foot “Welders” 3-wire (2 hots and ground) extension cord is what I need, plus the adapter. Thanks.
Just when I thought this was going to be easy…
Not sure what you mean by “a fire wire dangling from the input wire” but bottom line is it needs a neutral wire.
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So you’re saying I need to upgrade my NEMA 6-50 receptacle to NEMA 14-50 (with a neutral wire)? I hope the house Romex wiring included a neutral wire just sitting inside the NEMA 6-50 box. Otherwise, I’ll have to use my garage receptacle, which is right next to the breaker box, so I’ll only need about 6’ of new 3-1 Romex to hook up the new receptacle.
Of course, now I’ll need to order a 100’ 3-1 wire extension cable instead of 25’ Welder’s cable.
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So the 50 amp charging cable is NOT using 240V, but instead is simply drawing 50 amps at 120V through one side of the Nema 14-50 outlet, since it has #6 gauge wiring.
Everyone, including reviewers kept saying you can charge it with 240V, which was confusing. You’re only using a 240V outlet.
Thank you for clearing that up. Now to install a Nema 14-50R in my garage.
If I ever buy a Tesla I’ll be able to charge it, but I see ZERO electric cars in my future. Give me a gas powered BMW anyday.
I was a bit wary of changing out the 240V outlet, until after pulling it out and seeing how the wires were routed. It’s a straight shot from the breaker box (on the outside wall) to the outlet on the inside wall of my garage. I was kind of shocked to see this 50 amp outlet wired with #10 wire. What were they thinking?
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Lowes sells 6-3 cables (#6 gauge, 3 wires plus ground) by the foot and I only need 5 feet. Just waiting on Amazon now for the new 14-50 receptacle, (approved by Tesla).
On another note, I’d be happy to drive an EV if some elitist wants to buy me a Tesla😛
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Vegas is likely the worst place to own an EV. The excess heat has to be hard on the battery bank, plus you need to run the air conditioning way more often than in other cities that have actual winters.
We depend on a calendar to tell us when when it’s Winter. I have to wonder how much runtime you lose running the A/C while sitting in traffic.
I don’t think Tesla’s can be considered elitist anymore, if they ever were. The model Y is the best selling car in the country right now and at $50,000 less the $7,500 energy credit it is actually a bit below the median cost of a new car. If you charge at home its probably going to be a lot cheaper to sit in traffic with an EV than a gasser
I’ll wave as I drive by those recharge stations of people taking 40 minutes to drive 40 more miles.
Even liberal AOC was complaining that she has to recharge on the road going to work everyday, (if you can call being in Congress, “work.”)
Wow she must be driving an ancient Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt to need to charge every day or has the commute from hell Most modern EV’s can go several hundred miles on the recommended 80% charge and then easily recharge overnight at home or in 20-30 minutes at a DC fast charger.
I don’t own an EV but if I was working (I’m retired) and had a normal commute it sure would be nice to just plug in at home and never visit another gas station, oil change place, engine mechanic, exhaust/brake shop etc.
Actually she has a Tesla. She also fussed about Musk buying Twitter but could not rage quit her Tesla because she bought the model with the most mileage, (guess Lucid Air was not available at the time.)
Lucid Air: 516 miles
Tesla Model S: 405 miles
I imagine the daily commute involves a lot of sitting in traffic, burning through the batteries running the AC, as I mentioned elsewhere why EVs would never survive the Nevada heat.
No, there are two hot wires L1 and L2. Each line is 120 VAC to neutral N but you need both for 240 VAC in the U.S. Europe uses 240 VAC with no neutral because all circuits are 240 VAC.
This is why there are four contacts at the plug: L1, L2, N and G.
You’re late to the party
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Yeah, I know that’s how 240v plugs work in the US. My point was that if you look at the diagram of the 5 prong plug Bleutti posted, (scroll up), only 3 of the 4 prongs are wired to the AC500 (since it only has 3 AC connections); Hot, Neutral, and Ground. So for us we recharge it at 120V @50 amps using this cable, not 240v. Europe can recharge at 240V but not us.
