Car won't supercharge but will charge from HPWC

[andrewrogers]

Hoping someone else may have experienced a similar fault and resolved.

I'm enroute from Sydney to Byron, the first supercharge at Heatherbrae I plugged the car in, came back in 20 minutes and it wasn't charging and had a message saying "starting to charge". Disconnected, re-connected, tried a few bays, and it started to work.

Moved on to Port Macquarie and an hour on the phone to Tesla and trying every bay etc and no go. I made it to a HPWC and it's charging fine at 40 amps.

Tesla couldn't see any faults or didn't have access to the detailed logs to advise. The proposed resolution was a two truck back to Sydney and a loan car.

The exact sequence on the super charger is, connect to super charger, charge port shows flashing green lights, brief (sub 10 second) display of solid blue lights and then back to flashing green lights. Loop repeats. The dash just continues to say "starting to charge".

 

[MP3Mike]

That sounds similar to what someone else has reported, and it turns out that the charger unit in the car was bad and had to be replaced. (I've only heard of this one other time, normally when the charger goes bad it is the opposite, that you can charge via a Supercharger but not AC.)

 

[andrewrogers]

Thanks Mike, doesn't sound promising. Failing a fix any suggestions on the fastest non-supercharger options between Port Macquarie and Byron Bay? Not expecting to make it to Coffs Harbour until around 8pm so guessing the show grounds are out.

 

[Chuq]

The exact sequence on the super charger is, connect to super charger, charge port shows flashing green lights, brief (sub 10 second) display of solid blue lights and then back to flashing green lights. Loop repeats. The dash just continues to say "starting to charge".

Another way of testing where the fault lies is to see if Chademo DC charging works. Of course, you'd need an adaptor, and the time to do so!

 

[Chuq]

Failing a fix any suggestions on the fastest non-supercharger options between Port Macquarie and Byron Bay?

People have often mentioned Observatory hotel in Port Mac (but it only shows as 6kW), and Ballina Eye Surgery in Ballina.

 

[Daemon]

Thanks Mike, doesn't sound promising. Failing a fix any suggestions on the fastest non-supercharger options between Port Macquarie and Byron Bay? Not expecting to make it to Coffs Harbour until around 8pm so guessing the show grounds are out.

If you have the 3 phase adapters you could try bellingen showground. They have 3 phase sockets but I don't know if they will want you to pay, etc.

 

[eclectricdave]

If you have SC'd OK before you could try a computer reset.

 

[andrewrogers]

Thanks for the tips, I found the HPWC at The Observatory Hotel (it charged at 40amps, 9.2kW) - they were extremely helpful!

I charged enough there to get through to Coffs Harbour planning to use the show grounds 3 phase but tried the supercharger first and this is working now.

Whilst waiting I found a number of other people experiencing temperamental supercharge ability in the forums, sounds like it's related to a fault on the car.

 

[NovoCasGreeny]

Thanks for the tips, I found the HPWC at The Observatory Hotel (it charged at 40amps, 9.2kW) - they were extremely helpful!

I charged enough there to get through to Coffs Harbour planning to use the show grounds 3 phase but tried the supercharger first and this is working now.

Whilst waiting I found a number of other people experiencing temperamental supercharge ability in the forums, sounds like it's related to a fault on the car.

Bugger, happy you got Coffs working for you. Had you been to any superchargers before embarking on your trip? @raynewman would be an excellent guide on the BNE-SYD route as he has done it many times pre SC build out.

 

[andrewrogers]

@novacasgreeny I'd previously done a Sydney to Melbourne trip a year ago and had used the Sydney superchargers a couple of times, most recently August I think. All up at least 10 supercharges without fault.

My second set of charging woes (previous episode a property lacking sufficient earth connection) which highlights the value of paying for the extra on-board chargers (will do this next time) and carrying 3 phase adapters (I bought after the first fault). Feels like you kind of need a backup plan for long distance travel in AU still.

I've 2 days for the return trip and worked out some contingencies in case the supercharging doesn't behave again.

Will advise on the full resolution once I get it.

 

[voyxr6]

Must have just missed it!

Nope - supercharger was live but Sparky was semi broken. Had the same issue when we tried the RichmondSC but replugged the cable & it worked so never thought anything more of it.

Currently stranded @ Euroa as Sparky won't DC charge at all now.

Waiting for tow truck to take Sparky back to Melbourne & drop off a replacement loaner. Then detour back to Melbourne to swap over & back to Adelaide before Saturday as fly out to Japan

AC won't cut it to get us back in time...you know the saying. ..once u've had DC SC u never go back to AC...

ETA 40 mins for replacement & can get back on the road! Only 4 hours behind so not the end of the world.

I tried to find some threads about SC fail but came up empty. Any ideas whats broken?

#stillwaitingfortowtruck

 

[apacheguy]

That sounds similar to what someone else has reported, and it turns out that the charger unit in the car was bad and had to be replaced. (I've only heard of this one other time, normally when the charger goes bad it is the opposite, that you can charge via a Supercharger but not AC.)

How can this be if the car charges on a HPWC? The master charger is not involved at all in supercharging. Only the HVJB.

 

[andrewrogers]

Resolution for mine was the replacement of the onboard charger. I didn't probe into the details or reasons.

I completed the Sydney Byron return trip with the faulty DC charging, quite certain with less delay than waiting for a tow truck etc would have entailed. Very impressed with the Observatory Hotel in Port Macquarie who were extremely helpful even then we didn't stay there (they were full).

 

[MP3Mike]

How can this be if the car charges on a HPWC? The master charger is not involved at all in supercharging. Only the HVJB.

Because the charger isn't disconnected from the DC side of the battery, so it has to deal with the HV on the output side. And maybe it had a leak or something.

 

[voyxr6]

4 hours downtime & we had a replacement Tesla delivered to Euroa from Melbourne & Sparky on a tow truck.

 

[apacheguy]

Because the charger isn't disconnected from the DC side of the battery, so it has to deal with the HV on the output side. And maybe it had a leak or something.

Hmm. I thought it is isolated by the switch inside the HVJB. Can someone explain how the HVJB works during supercharging? I thought it reroutes the circuit to completely bypass the charger.

 

[eclectricdave]

voyxr6 pl see if you can a technical explanation for the fault and if it could happen again so the meek may learn.

 

[voyxr6]

voyxr6 pl see if you can a technical explanation for the fault and if it could happen again so the meek may learn.

No props. Get Sparky back Friday.

 

[voyxr6]

Back on the road again. Faulty onboard charger.

Dual chargers installed now - looking forward to testing when we get to Penola!