A Tesla wall charger can be a great addition to your home or garage.
It makes it incredibly simple to charge your electric vehicle from the comfort of your home—no more having to drive to the nearest electric vehicle charging station in your town.
But what do you do when you need to remove your Tesla wall charger? Is it something you can do on your own, or should you hire a professional to remove it for you?
Removing a Tesla wall charger is simple. You’ll need to turn off the breaker connected to the charger, remove the screws holding the charger to the wall, disconnect the wires connecting the charger to electricity, add wire nuts to each wire, and then place a cover plate on the wall to hide the wires.
In the rest of this article, we’ll talk more about how to remove your Tesla wall charger. We’ll also discuss when you should have a licensed electrician help you remove the charger.
How To Remove A Tesla Wall Charger
Whether you’re selling your house or no longer have an electric vehicle, there may be times when removing a Tesla wall charger may be necessary.
For example, this Reddit user hoped to take their wall charger with them when they moved out of the rental home they were in.
It’s entirely possible for you to remove your Tesla wall charger as long as you follow some important safety measures.
Since you only need to disconnect the charger, and not return the electrical connections to a functional state, you can easily remove the wall charger on your own.
Here are the steps to follow to quickly and easily remove your Tesla wall charger:
- Turn off the breaker connected to the wall charger. Of course, before you start handling electrical wires, it’s important to cut off the power to the wires. If you’re struggling to find the right breaker to turn off, you can turn off all the breakers until you’ve finished removing the wall charger.
- Remove the cover for the wall charger. There are typically screws that hold your Tesla wall charger onto the wall; using a screwdriver, remove these screws and pull off the cover to reveal the wiring inside the charger.
- Disconnect the wires from the charger. Once you have revealed the wires inside the wall charger, you’ll notice there are also screws holding the wires in place. Loosen the screws and remove the wires from the slots they are in.
- Take the wall charger off of the wall. At this point, since the wires are no longer connected to the wall charger, you should be able to easily remove the charger from the wall. Be sure to store the charger in a safe place so it’s in good condition when you want to use it next.
- Place wire nuts on each wire you removed from the wall charger. Wire nuts will make sure there is no power to any of the wires that were a part of your charger. This is an important safety step. Be sure not to combine wires; put a wire nut on each individual wire to make sure the electrical connection is completely terminated.
- Place a cover plate on the wall to contain the wires. At your local hardware store, you’ll find solid cover plates that will keep the terminated wires safely hidden away. Placing a cover plate over the wires not only improves the visual appearance of the wall, but also ensures the wires don’t come into contact with anything that could spark a fire.
- Place a marker on the breaker as a reminder to keep the power off to that circuit. Unless you’re replacing your Tesla wall charger with an outlet, you will want to keep the power off to the wires that powered your charger. Placing a piece of masking tape over the breaker can help to make it clear that the power shouldn’t be turned on to that circuit.
Of course, if you’re not completely comfortable removing your Tesla wall charger, you can hire an electrician to do the job for you.
There is no shame in hiring a professional to ensure your wall charger is removed safely.
A Note On Safety
It’s important to always put safety first any time you’re working with electrical wires.
Don’t proceed with any of the steps to remove your Tesla wall charger until you are 100% confident that the power has been turned off to the charger.
Removing A Tesla Wall Charger And Installing An Outlet
While it’s simple to remove a Tesla wall charger and replace it with a cover plate, installing an outlet where the charger was is a much more complicated task.
Wiring an outlet requires in-depth knowledge of how electricity works. Wiring outlets is also more dangerous than terminating electrical connections.
Because of this, you should hire a licensed electrician if you’re going to replace your Tesla wall charger with an outlet.
Electricians are knowledgeable about current code requirements and will ensure your outlet is installed correctly. It’s worth it to have your outlets installed by a professional because incorrectly installed outlets are a major fire hazard.
Final Thoughts
You can easily remove your Tesla wall charger on your own by following the steps above.
Make sure to practice safe handling throughout the process; ensure the power is turned off to the wall charger before you start touching any wires.
Once you’ve disconnected the wires and screwed wire nuts onto each one, you can place a face plate on the electrical box, place tape on the breaker as a reminder to keep the power off, and cross the project off your to-do list.
While removing your Tesla wall charger can be quickly completed on your own following these steps, don’t be afraid to hire a licensed electrician if you run into any issues.
No matter which route you choose, removing your Tesla wall charger is a simple task that can easily be finished in the afternoon.
