110V charging w/ Tesla provided cable

[Enz295]

I have maybe a dumb question.
I have tried a few times to use the Tesla provided cable (that comes with the car), to charge on a regular 110V outlet in my garage. I plug it on the wall side, the green light comes on, and when I connect the other end to the car: pop! It clicks out. There is a small rubber button that I can press to reset it again, but it just never works to charge the car.
The other day, my X was in service, and I had an S loaner. I used the charging cable of that S, connected it to another outlet in my garage even, but same result. It didn't work.
Am I doing something wrong?! Any advise/explanation?

 

[Lloyd]

You may have a bad ground in your garage plugs. Get a circut checker from the hardware store and make sure they are wired properly. The UMC will not charge with an open ground.

https://www.amazon.com/Tester-Recep...id=1518132639&sr=8-2&keywords=circuit+checker

 

[Enz295]

Good advise. 2 problems:

-I tried multiple plugs. Could it be that none of them are wired correctly?
-Trying to get an electrician to come over for such a small job is gonna be fun...

 

[Lloyd]

Two plugs in the same garage are LIKELY on the same circuit. If the ground was previously burned and disconnected at one plug the rest in line will also not be correct.

 

[Solarman004]

The sequence of blinking red lights on the UMC box will tell you the nature of the problem. The UMC manual, available online, contains the diagnostic table.
I have had the "ground not detected" error before at an old house with 3-prong sockets, but where the grounds were not connected. The error code was either 3 or 4 flashing red lights.

 

[BrokerDon]

Honestly other than "For Emergency Use Only" 15A 120V outlets are pretty much a WoT (Waste of Time) since it will take MANY hours to recharge an empty or almost empty Tesla battery. Better to pay your electrician to install a 50A 240V 14-50 receptacle... or a Tesla Wall Charger

If you're insistent on using a 15A 120V outlet:

1. Confirm your wiring is correct with a good ground with the circuit tester. They're really cheap, available at hardware stores and probably Wal-Mart / Target... and pretty easy to use
2. Try a couple of other clean good quality 15A 120V plugs at another property. Be aware that pulling 15A on older "thin" wiring can trip the breaker for that circuit which will almost assuredly anger the property owner. Best to ask permission and know where the breaker is for the circuit you're plugging into in case you trip the breaker
3. Try your UMC with a public charging station. Most are 30A 208V or 240V J1772 (adapter in your UMC bag)

 

[lymex2018]

Once my car refused to charge using the UMC and said something like "Cable connection fault". Because I was in a bit of emergency I had to connect the missing earth to the neutral.

 

[Rocky_H]

You all didn't read:

I plug it on the wall side, the green light comes on,

He said he plugged it into the wall, and the green light comes on the box of the UMC, so it has already checked the outlet, and the outlet is not defective.
I just don't get what you even mean by this weird phrasing, though:

when I connect the other end to the car: pop! It clicks out.

What does the phrase "clicks out" even mean? And what is the "it" you're referring to?

 

[Saghost]

Yeah, I'm not sure I understand the problem. What is clicking out? Are you getting any error messages or red lights?

The comment about the rubber button sounds like you're talking about the adapter coming off of the UMC - in which case it isn't seated fully, nothing to do with your car or outlet.

 

[Solarman004]

Yeah, I'm not sure I understand the problem. What is clicking out? Are you getting any error messages or red lights?

The comment about the rubber button sounds like you're talking about the adapter coming off of the UMC - in which case it isn't seated fully, nothing to do with your car or outlet.

Enz295 may be referring to a ground fault interrupt socket tripping. If so, it would be a good idea to try plugging into a non-GFI socket.

 

[Enz295]

by clicking out I mean what Solarman said. The GFI socket pops. All I have are GFI sockets in the garage. And I confirmed I have the correct wiring by buying the circuit checker.
So I am therefore not able to charge using the 110V provided cable?
My intention was not really to charge since I have a Level 2 charger in the garage. It was more to leave the car plugged in during long periods when I travel out of the country. This seems ideal to maintain a 50% charge to me.

 

[Brass Guy]

Ya, GFI outlets will trip when the UMC checks to make sure the ground is connected.
The UMC wants to make sure the ground is connected by allowing a small current to flow, then the GFI trips because normally no current should flow through the ground.

 

[Saghost]

by clicking out I mean what Solarman said. The GFI socket pops. All I have are GFI sockets in the garage. And I confirmed I have the correct wiring by buying the circuit checker.
So I am therefore not able to charge using the 110V provided cable?
My intention was not really to charge since I have a Level 2 charger in the garage. It was more to leave the car plugged in during long periods when I travel out of the country. This seems ideal to maintain a 50% charge to me.

I think the GFI and the EVSE ground checks interfere with each other. I'm not aware of a solution except using a non-GFI outlet.

 

[TexasEV]

My intention was not really to charge since I have a Level 2 charger in the garage. It was more to leave the car plugged in during long periods when I travel out of the country. This seems ideal to maintain a 50% charge to me.

Just plug in your level 2 charger and set the charge level at 50%. There’s no need to use a 120V outlet for this.

 

[MacGreiner]

It was more to leave the car plugged in during long periods when I travel out of the country.

A totally appropriate solution.

 

[LCR1]

If it only does the check once, can you hold the reset button down while you plug in?

 

[Enz295]

I'll set the charge to 50% and connect my level 2 I guess...
Thx for the feedback!

 

[oktane]

If it only does the check once, can you hold the reset button down while you plug in?

Sounds like a curious design decision. Many garage circuits are on GFCI outlets. There should be some way to disable this "ground check" for 120V outlet usage in exactly this scenario. I'd let Tesla know.

 

[davewill]

by clicking out I mean what Solarman said. The GFI socket pops. All I have are GFI sockets in the garage. And I confirmed I have the correct wiring by buying the circuit checker.
So I am therefore not able to charge using the 110V provided cable?
My intention was not really to charge since I have a Level 2 charger in the garage. It was more to leave the car plugged in during long periods when I travel out of the country. This seems ideal to maintain a 50% charge to me.

That sometimes happens with old GFI outlets. Sometimes they are faulty, but the old ones can also sometimes just be too sensitive. People also run into this when they unknowingly daisy chain two GFIs. Newer models handle this better. Replace the tripping GFI with a new one and I think you'll be fine.

 

[mongo]

The GFCI circuit in an EV charge cord has a higher trip point than a standard GFCI (do to currents involved in filtering circuits on EVs). So all parts can be operating normally, but you won't be able to charge in your garage.