Burned 220V Adapter

[Lenn]

Has anyone else had a 220v Adapter burn or melt? I plug in to the same 220v outlet every day at work. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed a "Charge Cable Fault" on my dash. When I unplugged, the adapter was very hot and I found this:

The rear of the adapter was scorched.

A Tesla Ranger came out the next day and replaced my cable and 220v adapter. I used the same outlet at work (The only 220v on our lot), and one week later, the front prongs were scorched and the rubber melted on the FRONT of the adapter.

Our on-lot electricians are checking the outlet as we speak, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue?

Thanks,

-Lenn

 

[Todd Burch]

Interesting how it all seems to be confined to one prong. It looks like a poor connection on that prong to the outlet may be causing arcing. (Just a guess).

 

[mknox]

Interesting how it all seems to be confined to one prong. It looks like a poor connection on that prong to the outlet may be causing arcing. (Just a guess).

That is almost certainly what's going on. A lot of current flows through these connectors and a tight fit is imperative. Even without arcing,a weak connection can generate a lot of heat.

 

[GJMcManus]

I would agree...

When electricity jumps across a gap between two conductors and creates a spark, the phenomenon is called arcing. As the electricity ionizes the air to produce the spark, it produces heat at the same time. Arcing near an electric outlet can create enough heat to melt the plastic. It can be caused by a loose connection on one of the hot terminal screws, by a poor connection inside the outlet or by a loose clamp that doesn't hold the plug securely enough. Outlet clamps wear out, given enough time, or they can be loosened when plugs are pulled out often and carelessly.

 

[FlasherZ]

This type of melting shows the difference between intermittent loads and continuous loads. This is why you have to be so careful to have things installed properly.

 

[GJMcManus]

As more arcing occurs, more amps, more heat and melting. Amps continue to increase until it gets to the point the gap is too wide for arcing to occur or the breaker trips.. That is why it is important to size the wires correctly.. If the wires feeding the receptacle were undersized the wires would have heated up. In the best case create a dead short tripping the breaker, worse case catch fire..

 

[Lloyd]

IMO this is not the fault of the Tesla connector, this is the fault of a worn plug where the blade from the tesla plug does not make proper contact!

 

[JPP]

FWIW, I own 2 of the NEMA 14-50 adapters, and leave one in the wall in my outlet, and 1 in my black UMC bag. I do not want to insert & remove the connector/adapter too many times, as I'm not sure what the rating/life of the receptacle is, but do not want to risk having a meltdown like others have had (..this is not the first posting on what looks like an issue with the receptacle rather than the adapter/UMC).

 

[rdrcrmatt]

What voltage / amperage were you seeing when plugged in there?

 

[montgom626]

IMO this is not the fault of the Tesla connector, this is the fault of a worn plug where the blade from the tesla plug does not make proper contact!

Simple solution, replace the receptacle plug. (female part). That part is cheap and easy to replace. Of course, have it done by someone who is qualified.

 

[Lenn]

What voltage / amperage were you seeing when plugged in there?

208V 30A

 

[joer00]

Same problem Mine worked at about 238 volt and 40 amps. Plug was brand new and happened only after about 5 charges ! It was very hard to get the plug in and out, so I think nothing was loose.

 

[FlasherZ]

Same problem Mine worked at about 238 volt and 40 amps. Plug was brand new and happened only after about 5 charges ! It was very hard to get the plug in and out, so I think nothing was loose.

In your case, i see the box is melted behind the receptacle. I suspect you had a more of a loose wire behind the receptacle, not a prong issue (if the box wasn't melted already). You won't know until you pull it and look at it, but I'd suspect that first in your case.

 

[cinergi]

Despite the # of melting incidents here, it's actually reassuring to see they're only melting and not going up in flames. Doesn't mean be careless but it's nice to see these things withstand the heat.

 

[Tesken]

My 220 outlet just recently melted, and it had the red residue like described above. The circuit breaker flipped, but not before the melt down. The Donegal was destroyed, but the remainder of the cord and the car was undamaged.

 

[Tesken]

I've had my Model 3 for 15 months. Do you have any ideas to prevent this?

 

[gaswalla]

This was an issue with the original UMC from 2012/13. Haven’t heard much about this with ur revised models

 

[Rocky_H]

I've had my Model 3 for 15 months. Do you have any ideas to prevent this?

This was an issue with the original UMC from 2012/13. Haven’t heard much about this with ur revised models

@Tesken I agree here that you are unlikely to have any issues since yours is a Model 3 that comes with the newer 2nd generation charging cable. The older ones could run at 40A, which was very high for those little snap-in pin connections, and there some cases of these adapters melting sometimes. That is very likely one of the reasons that Tesla reduced the capability in the 2nd generation one to only be able to run at 32A maximum, so it's not stressing those adapter connections as much.

Also, the 2nd generation ones added a temperature sensor in the plug head, so it will never get that bad. It will send an error message to the car and stop charging if it is beginning to get hot like that, where the older 1st generation cables didn't have that and couldn't detect it.