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6000W inverter ?

NH3man

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I picked this up at an auction. It seems to be 230v from one line not split phase. If I bought a Tesla charger from the UK would this inverter work with it? Trying to take some load off of my other 10,000v inverter.

Thanks

NH3man
 
I am assuming you're talking about the Tesla Type II charging (cable), not the Tesla wall charger (Type III).. I would think the UK cable is not functionally different than the USA cable, it is not uncommon for companies to use a single cable for global (just with different connector adapters for different countrys' receptacles), so to save costs in design. Also global cable being able to handle 50Hz or 60Hz, the 220v, 230v, and 240v are very similar and I would think the cable is designed to input 208v-250v like they imply in this doc:


...Where the doc says 240v recommended, but then they show the NEMA 14-50 plug/receptacle as voltage 208v-250v.. Now I cannot say if the cables for say USA and UK are the same or different, but I would almost rather pick the one I knew would for sure handle the Hz frequency for my country (in case it matters or if they are different).

Again, I would guess that they might use a single cable for both countries, but I couldn't confirm without seeing specs sheets for both country's cables. It might be that the car circuit is just the one looking for the 208v-240v 50 or 60 Hz signal.

I would think you could run that inverter you got at auction, but you might have to turn down the input amps charging setting on the Tesla car low enough to not trip the inverter.

Quick example, when I wired my brother's Tesla to a dryer type plug in his garage (we used a 30a circuit for this), we had to turn his car (on the dashboard setting) down to 29a, so it wouldn't trip the 30a breaker.

The Tesla doesn't need a split phase, I remember when I wired his Tesla plug in his old house garage, we only had 3 wires (two hot and a ground) and the Tesla charged fine. At his new house garage we had a 4-wire supply so we went ahead and wired the 4th neutral wire into the receptacle outlet, but it really doesn't matter as far as the Tesla cable input is concerned (doesn't need neutral when charging on the higher voltage).

Make sure you're using suitable gauge cable and protect it with a breaker.

Does your inverter say if it is 50 or 60 Hz? You might look into whether the car specs say if you can take both 50 or 60 Hz or if it matters. Also check your inverter to see if the output voltage is user selectable, you might be able to change it to 240v output, but if not, 230v should be fine. I would just want to make sure the car doesn't care about the Hz if the inverter cannot be changed, to me that would be more important to know about than voltage being exactly right on.
 
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I'm not sure how the Eatons are but I have played a lot with APC UPSs and you can log into them using the network card, and change Hz (50 or 60) and volts (to 208v, 220v, 230v, and 240v) easily.
 
I look at the specs sheet and it says 208v or 230v, and hertz say 50 or 60 Hz.. so it should be fine to set it to 60 Hz (for USA). I would just use it with the cable I had, 230v to 240v is not a significant difference (for a charger). Static loads like motors and such could make a bigger difference but AC-to-DC chargers are more like dynamic loads so it will just use the watts it needs to charge at the output rate it needs based on the voltage and current it has available.

 
Thanks for the reply! I am going to hook it up tomorrow an set charge rate low and see how it goes.

Thanks again.
 
Well got bored and wired it up. Put 48v DC to the inverter and it fired up and was putting out 229v @ the outlet terminals. Wired in plug to the outlet terminals to fit the Tesla type 2 charger but when I plug it in it begins to start but then turns red. Tried combining the ground and neutral wires to the neutral terminal but same red light. Also tried no neutral at all and same red light. Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
Well got bored and wired it up. Put 48v DC to the inverter and it fired up and was putting out 229v @ the outlet terminals. Wired in plug to the outlet terminals to fit the Tesla type 2 charger but when I plug it in it begins to start but then turns red. Tried combining the ground and neutral wires to the neutral terminal but same red light. Also tried no neutral at all and same red light. Any thoughts?

Thanks

I'd probably just make sure you have the ground connected to ground rod, neutral connected how it should be, don't bond neutral to ground again, it is likely N-G bonded already inside the inverter, two bonds can create objectionable ground current, perhaps the Tesla is picking that up as a ground fault.

If everything is right and the Hz is set to 60Hz, then maybe the Tesla doesn't like the voltage or sine wave for other reason. 230v should be fine, since many cities (power companies) in the US do actually use 220v instead of 240v, I would think voltage of 229v shouldn't be a reason for Tesla to reject the input.
 
Seems this inverter is not split phase. It put out 230 on one leg. Might be why it Tesla charger doesn't like it. Oh well it was cheap. I may find somebody that need it for a small 208 welder.

Thanks again.
 
Seems this inverter is not split phase. It put out 230 on one leg. Might be why it Tesla charger doesn't like it. Oh well it was cheap. I may find somebody that need it for a small 208 welder.

Thanks again.

Oh that's true, forgot about that (the 230v EU ones are one hot and neutral). I wonder if it's possible to remove the N-G bond in it (if it has one), so it let neutral float free so the Tesla / cord doesn't see it as one conductor is shorted to ground. Check if it has some kind of N-G bond screw that could be removed maybe? Or you could try wiring it through a transformer..
 
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What does the red indicator actually mean according to the manual?

Probably best to ask Tesla or a Tesla forum. Although Tesla seems rather flexible on the power supplied, might be simple fix.
 
Will look to see of there is a bond of some kind. I may just also look into a transformer down to 120v and just shed load that way and power just the horse barn since there is no 240v split phase out there.

Thanks
 
Well after looking into the transformer part, that is a no go. x5 more than I paid for the inverter. LOL
 
Well after looking into the transformer part, that is a no go. x5 more than I paid for the inverter. LOL
This might work:
 
Looked @ that but doesn't have a 230v option. Not sure how much of an issue it would be, but to put that kind of money in to just see if it will work gives me pause. Might just want to invest into something that I will not have to convert. But thanks for the info.
 
Looked @ that but doesn't have a 230v option. Not sure how much of an issue it would be, but to put that kind of money in to just see if it will work gives me pause. Might just want to invest into something that I will not have to convert. But thanks for the info.
230v is within the 88% UL1741 requirement that the inverter remain connected to the grid.

USA grid has evolved from 110/220 to 120/240.

230v is within the "noise" range for a nominal 240v device. The issue is whether the Tesla charger really needs split phase (leg to neutral is 120v). An electric dryer doesn't care for its 240v heater, but the electronics are looking for 120v.

The growatt should give you the 120v leg-neutral if that is the problem. Or, buy a UK tesla charger that is looking for single phase 230v.
 
230v is within the 88% UL1741 requirement that the inverter remain connected to the grid.

USA grid has evolved from 110/220 to 120/240.

230v is within the "noise" range for a nominal 240v device. The issue is whether the Tesla charger really needs split phase (leg to neutral is 120v). An electric dryer doesn't care for its 240v heater, but the electronics are looking for 120v.

The growatt should give you the 120v leg-neutral if that is the problem. Or, buy a UK tesla charger that is looking for single phase 230v.

Tesla doesn't need the neutral, I can confirm I wired a 3-wire feed (2 hots and a ground only), and Tesla 240v charging worked. It does need ground though, it has some kind of ground fault detection. The question I had above though, is that due to EU inverter, it has one as hot, one as neutral, and a N-G bonded ground (likely bonded), then Tesla would either see that as a 120v that has 230v to it, or it would see it as a 230v, with one conductor shorted to ground. I had just been wondering how it would see it if that neutral was floating (and not grounded) instead.
 
The charger does not need the neutral bond.

If using the vehicle supplied charger, instead of a wall charger, it will work fine as is, and 6kW is below the factory 20A charger capability anyway.

Wall charger needs to be setup with Ground unbonded from L2, then it will work fine.
 
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