-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Charge Port Cover
- Thread starter seadog
- Start date
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
I made up a sleeve, using some thin wetsuit neoprene, that fits tightly around the cable and just hooks over the charge port cover. Rain doesn't seem to be a problem, but I found with my last two cars that snow very definitely can be. When snow gets packed around the open charge port it makes life a bit difficult, but other than being a nuisance to clear, it didn't cause any problems with charging.
I believe there's a commercial version around, that uses magnetic strip to hold the larger end of the sleeve to the bodywork of the car, but can't find a link to it right now.
I believe there's a commercial version around, that uses magnetic strip to hold the larger end of the sleeve to the bodywork of the car, but can't find a link to it right now.
It's designed to handle weather so shouldn't be a problem ... the forum would be full of reports if this wasn't the case! I didn't fancy the prospect of digging out deposits of snow that may lodge in the exposed DC contacts when charging at home so I did buy a printed plastic cover. Presumably if you were to just leave the snow it would melt away but I thought I may as well give it some extra protection since it was easy to do.
I bought one a year ago and have never used it. If you send me a pm with your address you can have it for free. I wouldn’t bother unless you live somewhere with lots of snow.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Snow can be a PITA, as when it packs in around the connector, then freezes, it can take a fair bit of faffing around to clear it. It's the reason I made up the sleeve/cover, although both of my last two cars had charge ports that opened sideways, rather than upwards, so that may have made them more susceptible to snow buildup than the Model 3. It's not snowed here since I've had the Tesla, so I can't say whether or not a cover makes sense.
I came across this a while back, it looks useful if you get a lot of bad weather:
Yet-E-Boot EV Chargeport Protector
Care and Handling | Yet-E-Boot
Yet-E-Boot EV Chargeport Protector
Care and Handling | Yet-E-Boot
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Many thanks, that's exactly the thing I'd seen somewhere before. It's similar to my homemade one, but with the advantage of having a magnetic strip to fix it to the car.
As far as I’m aware this is just a rumour that gets floated around, doesn’t actually happen.
I bought a cover from ev accessories, had it in since I got the car pretty much
I don't see the point. If the charge port is open for Type 2 charging at home it'll be hours of driving before I'm like to need to CCS charge. I don't know the truth of it but there is supposed to be an airflow from inside the car to dry out the pins, blocking could effect that.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
I think this discussion relates to two different things. The small CCS only cover doesn't do anything useful, IMHO (other than than I printed one up just to house a betalight). The cover I made up some time ago, like the Yeti E-boot, stops snow building up around the plugged in connector. My experience has been that frozen snow build up is a real PITA to remove, as it tends to stop the connector being removed.
The small CCS cover won't help with that at all, but the larger cover definitely does. For anyone likely to leave their car outside, plugged in, when it's snowing, then the larger cover seems a good idea. As for the warm air thing, I doubt very much if the very gentle bit of warm air that blows out would have any sort of impact on a frozen snow build up, or if it did, it would probably take a long time, especially as frozen snow will most likely seal the gaps out of which the air flows.
MrBadger
Badger out
Jason71
Well-Known Member
I took a 3D printed plastic CCS cover and recontoured the top edge with a hot electric soldering iron, This means i can have it in place while I have the type 2 connector inserted in the charge port. I have the cover tethered to the type 2 lead on a small bungy so that it is always ready when charging. Been doing it for a year or so. Keeps the rain, snow and frost out of the CCS port whilst charging. Crude but effective. Cost £4 
Last edited:
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
My experience has been that the CCS terminals aren't really an issue, but snow that builds up around the plugged in connector, then freezes, can be. I've had snow drifts build up around the connector on other cars, freezing the thing solidly in place. Used to be a serious PITA with the Prius PHEV, and it wasn't unusual to have to spend half an hour or so carefully chipping off frozen snow to be able to remove the connector. Having a cover over the whole charge port area keeps the snow out, so fixing the problem.
Keep in mind that a cover isn't needed for electrical safety.
The point of a cover is to minimize weathering, abrasive dirt, and avoid having your charge port packed with snow and ice.
Even with A/C charging, the EVSE doesn't turn on the high voltage until it senses that it's plugged into a vehicle, and is required to have sensitive GFCI protection. Many 'chargers' go beyond the basic requirement and test the conductivity of the ground connection both before turning on high voltage and periodically during charging.
This sensing is fairly robust against falsely turning on the power. For instance a J1772 EVSE uses a low voltage (under 12V) bipolar balanced square wave, and senses the proper asymmetrical current draw to detect a vehicle is connected. Dropping the connector into water won't turn on the high voltage, and even electrolysis is minimized by the low current and polarity-balanced sense signal (average of zero VDC).
The point of a cover is to minimize weathering, abrasive dirt, and avoid having your charge port packed with snow and ice.
Even with A/C charging, the EVSE doesn't turn on the high voltage until it senses that it's plugged into a vehicle, and is required to have sensitive GFCI protection. Many 'chargers' go beyond the basic requirement and test the conductivity of the ground connection both before turning on high voltage and periodically during charging.
This sensing is fairly robust against falsely turning on the power. For instance a J1772 EVSE uses a low voltage (under 12V) bipolar balanced square wave, and senses the proper asymmetrical current draw to detect a vehicle is connected. Dropping the connector into water won't turn on the high voltage, and even electrolysis is minimized by the low current and polarity-balanced sense signal (average of zero VDC).
Similar threads
