Two quick basic road trip questions

[RickMachE]

I've stayed at a few hotels that have Tesla Destination Chargers, however they are set and are turned on only for those staying at the hotel, the two hotels I prefer along routes to Vegas and NorCal for work must be turned on at the front desk and not available for just anyone, I would definitely double check with the hotel and plugshare to make sure you are not stranded.

That's a hotel either unlocking the charger, or turning on a breaker, which is totally different than having to activate a charger in the Tesla app.

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[Kamuelaflyer]

I was told by person working on Tesla destination chargers, that it did not matter what kind of adapter you buy. If your car is not a Tesla, older destination chargers will not talk to other brands of cars.

Only the oldest Destination Chargers are completely incompatible with non-Teslas. Generation 3 and 4 have the software capability to allow non Teslas to charge, to exclude non teslas, or only allow certain Tesla’s to charge. Good operating practice is to call ahead and ask about their L2 charger, Tesla or otherwise.

And @RickMachE is correct, non of this matters if you don’t have an NACS to J1772 adapter. It won’t matter how what generation Tesla Destination Charger it is, or how its set up if you don’t have the proper adapter.

 

[Adventureboy]

I was told by person working on Tesla destination chargers, that it did not matter what kind of adapter you buy. If your car is not a Tesla, older destination chargers will not talk to other brands of cars.

There are some confusing posts above on destination/supercharger and generations. This should help clarify.

You definitely need a separate adapter for a destination charger. The one supplied by Ford is a NACS to CCS1 Supercharger adapter, which connects the high voltage DC pins (big pins on the bottom) and the small communication pins on the top to communicate with the Tesla DC Fast Charging stations. This only works with Gen 3 and Gen 4 Superchargers that are open for Non-Teslas.

To use a Tesla destination charger (L2 EVSE), you need the NACS to J1772 adapter, which connects the small communications pins and the medium AC pins in the round part of the port. It only connects to the round part of the J1772 port. The one @RickMachE pointed to is a good one. This works with most Gen 2 and Gen 3 destination chargers. Gen 1 destination chargers won't work with J1772 EVs; however, they are pretty old and pretty rare.

The adapters are not interchangeable. I carry and use both.

As others have pointed out, the owner must have the destination charger (EVSE) opened for non-Tesla charging.

I wonder if the Mach-E is smart enough to keep from connecting a Supercharger through a J1772 adapter. That might create some sparks . There must be some safety mechanisms there, as I'm sure it has been tried.

 

[Tampamike]

Last time I charged at a destination hotel charger, they had posts with NACS plugs and posts with CCS plugs, you had to activate the charger with the Tesla app and the bar code on the post (very small and not totally conspicuous), there was a charge to use it from Tesla and the hotel had nothing to do with any of it. FWIW.

 

[RickMachE]

Last time I charged at a destination hotel charger, they had posts with NACS plugs and posts with CCS plugs, you had to activate the charger with the Tesla app and the bar code on the post (very small and not totally conspicuous), there was a charge to use it from Tesla and the hotel had nothing to do with any of it. FWIW.

Unfortunately, many hotels are converting to a paid model, where a 3rd party manages the charging and billing, and they simply collect a fee from them.

 

[Maquis]

I wonder if the Mach-E is smart enough to keep from connecting a Supercharger through a J1772 adapter. That might create some sparks . There must be some safety mechanisms there, as I'm sure it has been tried.

The communication protocols are totally different. The Supercharger will never turn on if you use the wrong adapter.

 

[AZBill]

Never had to activate a Tesla Destination Charger yet, but I guess there are some.

I stayed at a hotel where half the destination chargers had J1772 and half had NACS connectors. It required putting the charger number into the Tesla app to activate them. They where free, but still required activation.

 

[Maquis]

I stayed at a hotel where half the destination chargers had J1772 and half had NACS connectors. It required putting the charger number into the Tesla app to activate them. They where free, but still required activation.

Wow. I’ve not seen that. May we ask where?

 

[Tampamike]

The one I saw was in Peachtree City, just outside of Atlanta at a Crowne Plaza.

 

[ipca204]

I would not use a Campground 14-50 receptacle with any charger that pulls more than 32 amps, even less would be safer, if you have one thats adjustable. inspect the receptacle before use and monitor it closly during use, as they are probably not the highest quality and they get plugs inserted and removed quite often.

The campground receptacles I have seen are much higher quality than some of the EV ones I have seen. I imagine it's because they are constantly used. I would not hesitate to use one..

 

[R/L]

We travel with an RV. We have a 50A electrical system.

Occasionally, we will find a receptacle that is bad. We always test before plugging in.

All you need to test is something like this:

https://www.campingworld.com/marinc...mandware_net__CampingWorld__products__default

You should also check the voltage with a multimeter. Some campgrounds have marginal wiring and on a hot summer day, park full, with everyone running their air conditioners, I've seen some dangerously low voltages.

 

[AZBill]

Wow. I’ve not seen that. May we ask where?

It was at a Residence Inn in Burbank CA.

 

[LiteNing]

I wonder if the Mach-E is smart enough to keep from connecting a Supercharger through a J1772 adapter. That might create some sparks . There must be some safety mechanisms there, as I'm sure it has been tried.

Part of the CCS startup process involves pre-charging the cable through a high value resistor before either side closes its contactors.

This serves three purposes:

1. Ensure that no current is flowing as the contactors close (the cable has substantial capacitance) and thus extend the life of the contactors.
2. Check that the cable is actually connected to the car (charger precharges the cable, car monitors and reports the voltage it sees at the charge port)
3. Monitor ground leakage before anything that can supply a lot of current is connected.

So the answer to your question is yes, because the car would notice that the charge port voltage doesn’t match what the charger is saying it should. This is an error which aborts the startup.

The communication protocols are totally different. The Supercharger will never turn on if you use the wrong adapter.

Yes, but they both communicate on the Proximity Pilot pin, which is just a passive pass-through on both types of adapter (usually with a thermal switch to block the PP
if the adapter gets to hot). The reason it won’t turn on is as I described above, not because they can’t talk to each other.

 

[JoeDimwit]

I would not use a Campground 14-50 receptacle with any charger that pulls more than 32 amps, even less would be safer, if you have one thats adjustable. inspect the receptacle before use and monitor it closly during use, as they are probably not the highest quality and they get plugs inserted and removed quite often.

The ford mobile charger is a 32 amp charger.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

There’s a bank of destination chargers in Barstow, CA that used to be free for all users without activation—plug and play, including those with a NACS-J1772 adapter. Then a year or two ago, they stopped working for NACS-J1772 adapter users. Now they require activation through the app; I haven’t tested whether they work with NACS-J1772 adapter users. Next time I’m there I’ll have to check. I suspect they are also no longer free to use.

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