Car Unable to Charge

[MP3Mike]

Maybe @ingeneer

That's not good. Can they repair it or offer a refurbished one at a lower cost?

Maybe @Ingineer has some refurbed chargers laying around? If anything make sure you request to keep your failed charger and that they not fold, spindle, or mutilate it. As I'm sure it is worth something to someone and can likely be repaired.

The other option is to find a charger from a totaled vehicle. Though I don't know if Tesla will install it and flash everything for you. I would hope they would, but you never know.

 

[apacheguy]

There must be a common failure point for these chargers. Perhaps eventually someone with post a walk through to repair failed charger units.

 

[pdxrajiv]

Q1: Once a charger fails, can you still charge at a supercharger and at DCFC chargers?

Q2: Is there a way to self-configure dual-charger cars to always split charging between the two chargers (or request Tesla service to configure)? That way, a failed charger will not cripple the car.

I have dual chargers but my home HPWC is configured only for 40A due to limits to the house electrical supply. Plus my daily commute is pretty short. So, I dialed down my charge current to only 20A and could lower it much further if I start the charge earlier in the evening.
Is that known to significantly reduce the probability of charger failure?

 

[MP3Mike]

Q1: Once a charger fails, can you still charge at a supercharger and at DCFC chargers?

Q2: Is there a way to self-configure dual-charger cars to always split charging between the two chargers (or request Tesla service to configure)? That way, a failed charger will not cripple the car.

I have dual chargers but my home HPWC is configured only for 40A due to limits to the house electrical supply. Plus my daily commute is pretty short. So, I dialed down my charge current to only 20A and could lower it much further if I start the charge earlier in the evening.
Is that known to significantly reduce the probability of charger failure?

I would assume that you could still Supercharge/DCFC but I don't know for sure.

As far as the second question, no. If the "master" charger fails the secondary is not useful. To get the charge to split between the two chargers you have to have the charge rate set to 41A or more. Then it splits the load equally between the chargers.

 

[scaesare]

Q1: Once a charger fails, can you still charge at a supercharger and at DCFC chargers?

Q2: Is there a way to self-configure dual-charger cars to always split charging between the two chargers (or request Tesla service to configure)? That way, a failed charger will not cripple the car.

I have dual chargers but my home HPWC is configured only for 40A due to limits to the house electrical supply. Plus my daily commute is pretty short. So, I dialed down my charge current to only 20A and could lower it much further if I start the charge earlier in the evening.
Is that known to significantly reduce the probability of charger failure?

Q1 - Yes. I had to supercharge a couple of times when my primary charger failed. As long as the high voltage junction box is operating properly, this will work.

Q2- Apparently not. They are designed to work in a master/slave arrangement wherein the second charger comes online after the first charger reached 40A of current.

 

[scaesare]

I think about enough time has gone by for me to take my failure up with Tesla directly... I doubt they are contacting me as I requested at this point.

 

[scaesare]

Maybe @ingeneer


Maybe @Ingineer has some refurbed chargers laying around? If anything make sure you request to keep your failed charger and that they not fold, spindle, or mutilate it. As I'm sure it is worth something to someone and can likely be repaired.

The other option is to find a charger from a totaled vehicle. Though I don't know if Tesla will install it and flash everything for you. I would hope they would, but you never know.

I spoke to Ingineer about my situation. He has some options that, although I ultimately didn't use, are worth considering for anybody in a similar situation with a failed charger.

 

[jerry33]

Q1: Once a charger fails, can you still charge at a supercharger and at DCFC chargers?

Q2: Is there a way to self-configure dual-charger cars to always split charging between the two chargers (or request Tesla service to configure)? That way, a failed charger will not cripple the car.

1. Yes.

2. No. However, if the slave charger fails, you can still charge at 40 amps. I believe the problem is one of cost and complexity. You'd have to run double wiring and create a failover program for a situation that is very infrequent.

 

[thefortunes]

+1 more failed charger.

Bought a used S for my wife, got it home last night and literally the first time I tried to charge it exhibited the same symptoms described earlier in this thread. Tesla is scheduled to replace the charger next Monday.

Lovely.

 

[Electric700]

+1 more failed charger.

Bought a used S for my wife, got it home last night and literally the first time I tried to charge it exhibited the same symptoms described earlier in this thread. Tesla is scheduled to replace the charger next Monday.

Lovely.

Were you able to use a Supercharger instead? If yours was a CPO Tesla, they should replace your car's charger at no cost to you under the warranty provisions.

I think also that the UMC and car's charging behavior are checked on Tesla CPO models before delivery.

 

[thefortunes]

Were you able to use a Supercharger instead? If yours was a CPO Tesla, they should replace your car's charger at no cost to you under the warranty provisions.

I think also that the UMC and car's charging behavior are checked on Tesla CPO models before delivery.

We are still able to SC (bypasses the onboard charger).

Unfortunately it was purchased from a private party who is claiming he had no problems with it prior to our purchase. Interesting that it would not charge THE VERY FIRST TIME we tried. It is also out of warranty.

 

[scaesare]

We are still able to SC (bypasses the onboard charger).

Unfortunately it was purchased from a private party who is claiming he had no problems with it prior to our purchase. Interesting that it would not charge THE VERY FIRST TIME we tried. It is also out of warranty.

Tesla should be able to determine via logs if the car had had failed charge events prior to your purchase date.

 

[thefortunes]

Tesla should be able to determine via logs if the car had had failed charge events prior to your purchase date.

Except they will not supply that info, I tried. I suppose I could subpoena it

 

[scaesare]

That sucks.

PM sent.

 

[Lloyd]

Could you have taken it to a service center for a pre-buy?

 

[apacheguy]

Except they will not supply that info, I tried. I suppose I could subpoena it

Tesla is doing an excellent job of encouraging their owners to root their cars with policies such as these.

 

[thefortunes]

Could you have taken it to a service center for a pre-buy?

Unfortunately due to the timing of the transaction (sold/purchased remotely with a very short timeframe) I did not do that. I trusted that the seller representations were accurate. Mea culpa.

 

[MP3Mike]

+1 more failed charger.

Bought a used S for my wife, got it home last night and literally the first time I tried to charge it exhibited the same symptoms described earlier in this thread. Tesla is scheduled to replace the charger next Monday.

Sorry to hear that, what year is it?

 

[apacheguy]

@scaesare - any chance you still have that failed master charger? Just came across this video:

Wondering if a simple fuse replacement will fix yours.

 

[scaesare]

Ooooh... I do have it still... and what's more the failure mode is exactly as he describes at that beginning of the video.

It's sitting on my bench currently... I can have this tested in 10 minutes I bet...

Thanks @apacheguy !