bad cable?

[ausdma]

Today I made my second trip from Austin down Hwy 290 to Montgomery (close to Conroe) where I stay with my brother and the plan is to charge on the 14-50 plug that he has at his house. Last time, no problem. This time, not so good. When I plug the cable in to the car I get a flashing yellow/orange light and the car is charging at only 16 amps. Tried it a number of times, unplugging and plugging on both the power and the car side with the same result. Called Tesla who had me try a few things to no avail, so they said they would call the Houston service center and have them contact me. After no follow up, I called back and they said that since the service center is closed they won't call back till in the morning. Grrrrrr…..

It took me just over 200 rated miles at 352 wh/m to get here. The car is charging at 12 m/hr. Given my plans for in the morning, I don't think I'll have enough miles to do what I need to do and get all the way home so it looks like my most likely scenario is to head toward Columbus to hit the SC and journey home from there.


Tesla service said the most likely culprit is the cable itself.


I guess these are the stories we get to tell later….


David

 

[Discoducky]

Yes, most likely, but you'd need to try it at a known good source or use a voltometer on the 14-50 that isn't working. Use PlugShare.Com to find other ways to get the mileage you need and good luck!

 

[jerry33]

The other thing to do is to try a J1772 charging station. If that charges fine, then it's the cable.

 

[Alysashley79]

Assuming your brother doesn't have an MS himself and just keeps it for you I'd recommend taking the cable with you and taking it to a service center and having them take a look at it. I had the same thing happening to me last month and my UMC had a bad ground in it. They replaced the entire bundle letting me keep all the extra adapters so I have a second set just in case now.

 

[ausdma]

Just to close the loop on this, I wound up going to the Houston Service Center to be on the safe side where they found that the UMC had some mud in it that was interrupting communication with the car. When I was connecting the cable last night it was raining like crazy, and though the car was parked on the driveway the UMC had to go over muddy ground to get to the 14-50. I must have dragged it in the mud without realizing it. Anyway, they cleaned it right up and tested it. Then I went over to the Galleria to have lunch while it charged on the HPWC in the shopping center parking garage and then headed back to Austin with a quick top up at the Columbus SC on the way. Nice little adventure and lesson learned.