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Black MCU, many features unavailable on towing road trip
- Thread starter ohmman
- Start date
no I saw another post and believe they are using ac still. We often see it continue to run when MCU failed. So if he has power connected and camping with sufficient power they may want to continue having hvac whole camping.
sorry if I assume gender but I saw man in the name. Yes I realize woman also has man in it.....
trying to help when we can.
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
They dont typically sell for someone to buy and leave. Also if your missing the cert, I dont know they will give you the cert if you dont have them install it also.
Wow that really blows.
So sorry to hear about your MCU failure, and on your big trailer trip to boot. Unfortunately I have no insight to add. Apparently it is the dreaded MCU failure. I did not realize that would also cause both 12V outlets to be non-op, and the turn signals, but confess I have not followed the MCU failure thread closely.This comment will not console you, but I keep my extended side mirrors in my trailer just in case there is an issue with my trailer backup camera, and your unfortunate situation has reinforced my decision to do so, as just recently my spouse asked me if we really need to keep those mirrors with us while towing; I emphatically said “yes!”.
Not having turn signals while towing would be unnerving.
Hope you stay safe and are able to salvage your trip! Keep us posted.
@EV-Fixme is correct; AC is "working" to the extent that it appears to be locked in at something like 82 degrees. In the morning, resistance heat cranks up, which with my limited range, is not welcome. But in the heat of the day, 82, while not ideal, is much more ideal than 100.
A new wrinkle. I arrived at the Shingletown KOA today. In the past, they've had an 80A and 40A HPWC available to guests. They now only have the 40A HPWC, which of course is plenty, except... I can only draw 8A. They allowed me to move to a vacant campsite and try their 50A circuit using my UMC/14-50 adapter (I'm in a 120V/30A site), but I get the same result there. I tried "restarting" the dead MCU with the scroll wheels because, well, I'm desperate, and that didn't do anything.
There are no other Teslas here waiting to charge at the HPWC. I'm assuming I'll get about 6mi/hr of charge, so I'll pick up 100 miles before we drive into the park tomorrow for hiking. That's something, I guess, but I'm going to have to be very careful and thoughtful about usage before we leave. My fallback option is the CHAdeMO at the Target in Redding, which I used to boost my range before climbing into Shasta on the way up. Second option is Red Bluff, and final and desired option is Chico. It's nice to have options, especially since an RV plug is clearly not a reasonable option anymore at 8A.
I still wonder about my plug-in cooler's impact on this. I recognize the plausibility of coincidence, but I noticed a draw switch on the back and knocked it from "LOW" to "HIGH" before we left, while it was plugged into the house outlet. I still wonder if I didn't blow something, even if the symptoms appear specifically to align with the emmc failure.
Oh, and worth mentioning - 100% confirmed; turn signals don't work. Not with trailer attached, not without. I had a spotter front and back and there were no indicators. Thankfully I know my arm signals. Not sure anyone else does; left turns are terrifying.
A new wrinkle. I arrived at the Shingletown KOA today. In the past, they've had an 80A and 40A HPWC available to guests. They now only have the 40A HPWC, which of course is plenty, except... I can only draw 8A. They allowed me to move to a vacant campsite and try their 50A circuit using my UMC/14-50 adapter (I'm in a 120V/30A site), but I get the same result there. I tried "restarting" the dead MCU with the scroll wheels because, well, I'm desperate, and that didn't do anything.
There are no other Teslas here waiting to charge at the HPWC. I'm assuming I'll get about 6mi/hr of charge, so I'll pick up 100 miles before we drive into the park tomorrow for hiking. That's something, I guess, but I'm going to have to be very careful and thoughtful about usage before we leave. My fallback option is the CHAdeMO at the Target in Redding, which I used to boost my range before climbing into Shasta on the way up. Second option is Red Bluff, and final and desired option is Chico. It's nice to have options, especially since an RV plug is clearly not a reasonable option anymore at 8A.
I still wonder about my plug-in cooler's impact on this. I recognize the plausibility of coincidence, but I noticed a draw switch on the back and knocked it from "LOW" to "HIGH" before we left, while it was plugged into the house outlet. I still wonder if I didn't blow something, even if the symptoms appear specifically to align with the emmc failure.
Oh, and worth mentioning - 100% confirmed; turn signals don't work. Not with trailer attached, not without. I had a spotter front and back and there were no indicators. Thankfully I know my arm signals. Not sure anyone else does; left turns are terrifying.
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
Sorry everything is falling apart.
I am sure by now you are following this thread but it appears just about everything in the car COULD stop working at some point. Everyone seems to have different experiences.
NHTSA Investigates Failing MCUs
Only way we know to get better charging speeds is with SuperCharger. Failed emmc locks the charging speed down. Chadamo should also allow full speed charging. I think and DC direct charging will be fast. Plan carefully with your trailer pulling and limited charging.
Sorry everything is falling apart.
I am sure by now you are following this thread but it appears just about everything in the car COULD stop working at some point. Everyone seems to have different experiences.
NHTSA Investigates Failing MCUs
I think he will be ok with careful planning, seems like hes not restricted to a lower range with charging.
With the caveat that I know nothing about automotive engineering; I wonder why Tesla designed the vehicle such that a failed MCU disables the turn signals and limits the AC charge rate to 8A? I get that the HVAC is controlled through the MCU, but those other items?
@ohmman thanks for the information that the Shingletown KOA now only has one HPC. I will be there in August with my trailer.
I hope you can salvage your trip and make your next camping destination before returning home.
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
Ohmman, sorry to hear about your troubles. But hey...at least you are at Shingletown! I hope you are enjoying it. I sure did on my last trip.
I wonder if the owners are the same? My trip was just over 10 years ago (April 2010), and I had charging problems too.
I was driving my Roadster from Seattle to San Diego and back. While charging at a friend's house in San Francisco, my 3rd-party L2 EVSE melted. I had enough charge to drive to the Tesla store (what luck, at the time I think there were only two of them, both in the Bay area). I tried to buy a Tesla mobile EVSE, but they were out of stock. But fortunately there was already some Tesla charging infrastructure installed...6 70A L2 chargers installed at Rabobanks in the South half of CA. That worked to get me to San Diego and back, and by the time I got back to the Bay area, they had a portable Tesla L2 EVSE ($1500!) that they had tested for me.
I continued on to spend the night at Shingletown. (I stopped at a brewery in Chico, CA to have dinner with a friend and try the brewery's Chargepoint charger. They said I was the first person to use it, and they were very excited to locate the key and come out with me to unlock it. They lifted the cover...to expose a 120V outlet. I think I got 4 miles of range while there. I knew I was cutting it close for Shingletown, but it was also getting late and the weather was getting worse so I headed out).
I arrived at Shingletown just after midnight...with 6 miles of range left. It was snowing. I plugged my brand new Tesla charger in to the 14-50...and nothing happened. After a lot of trial and error, I finally plugged it in to the 120V outlet, which worked. Then I went in to my nice warm pre-heated cabin and got some sleep. In the morning, the owners let me borrow some tools so I could fix my melted 3rd-party L2 EVSE...kind of. Good enough that I could manage to get it plugged in and charging, anyway.
It was an early April weekday with snow, so the Shingletown campground was empty. I spent quite a while chatting with the owners, who were extremely nice. I have always wanted to go back there...but without charging problems this time. I am sorry that your situation is not better, but chin up! I look back on my experience fondly, and I hope that some day you will too.
I wonder if the owners are the same? My trip was just over 10 years ago (April 2010), and I had charging problems too.
I was driving my Roadster from Seattle to San Diego and back. While charging at a friend's house in San Francisco, my 3rd-party L2 EVSE melted. I had enough charge to drive to the Tesla store (what luck, at the time I think there were only two of them, both in the Bay area). I tried to buy a Tesla mobile EVSE, but they were out of stock. But fortunately there was already some Tesla charging infrastructure installed...6 70A L2 chargers installed at Rabobanks in the South half of CA. That worked to get me to San Diego and back, and by the time I got back to the Bay area, they had a portable Tesla L2 EVSE ($1500!) that they had tested for me.
I continued on to spend the night at Shingletown. (I stopped at a brewery in Chico, CA to have dinner with a friend and try the brewery's Chargepoint charger. They said I was the first person to use it, and they were very excited to locate the key and come out with me to unlock it. They lifted the cover...to expose a 120V outlet. I think I got 4 miles of range while there. I knew I was cutting it close for Shingletown, but it was also getting late and the weather was getting worse so I headed out).
I arrived at Shingletown just after midnight...with 6 miles of range left. It was snowing. I plugged my brand new Tesla charger in to the 14-50...and nothing happened. After a lot of trial and error, I finally plugged it in to the 120V outlet, which worked. Then I went in to my nice warm pre-heated cabin and got some sleep. In the morning, the owners let me borrow some tools so I could fix my melted 3rd-party L2 EVSE...kind of. Good enough that I could manage to get it plugged in and charging, anyway.
It was an early April weekday with snow, so the Shingletown campground was empty. I spent quite a while chatting with the owners, who were extremely nice. I have always wanted to go back there...but without charging problems this time. I am sorry that your situation is not better, but chin up! I look back on my experience fondly, and I hope that some day you will too.
cpa
Active Member
I believe they are. The maintenance guy who always comments on my Tesla when we come here said that the HPWC wasn't getting as much use as they thought, and it was tying up an 80A circuit, which is why they dropped it. No surprise for those using a standard RV site, since we typically have a 14-50 there anyway. I normally just plug in at the site and dial my draw down instead of using the HPWCs. This is the first time I've booked a site that didn't have a 50A outlet, and did so because they were sold out by the time I booked. I will say that I like our 30A site the best of all the sites we've had here, though. It's #33 at the very end of the road; no traffic, no neighbor on the south side, and very quiet.
We were able to get to 117 miles of range overnight, which was plenty to get in and out of the park today. We returned with 75 miles and I plugged in, so we should be bumping up against 200 by the morning. The last charge I was doing was set to 100%, so I'll have to be careful about leaving the car plugged in. Still, happy it's there since we often need more than 90% with our rig.
Lassen is as beautiful as always. I'm doing my best not to focus on the car, but would like to try to make an appointment with Rocklin so that they can peek at it when we stop through to charge there on Thursday. I still can't stomach the idea of holding on the line for Tesla for an hour..
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
Hmm. They could have left it on the 80 amp circuit and just dialed down the amps inside the charger. And since it was never used they could also instruct the chargee how much or when they could charge at max.
But I sort of get it. For them hands on and no thinking is the way it needs to be for 99% of their customers.
In this situation your best at 100%, I dont think you will hit that very much. Sorry you have to deal with this, but glad you can still enjoy your vacation.
Glad you are able to get a decent charge overnight and are enjoying Lassen NP.
I will be at the Shingletown KOA with my trailer in August, site #24.
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