Charge port not opening with button on wand

[Dan203]

I had a 2019 M3P for the last 3.5 years and used the mobile charger as my primary garage charging. When I got home I'd grab the wand off the wall, push the button, turn around and the port on the car would be open and ready for me to plug in. Worked great. Unfortunately it was a lease so I had to turn it back in and they wanted the charge cable back too.

So I got a new 2023 M3P and bought a new mobile connector separately. With the new car and the new cable the button on the wand almost never works. And when it does it's only when I'm holding it a few inches away. Did they change antenna on the car to make it have less range? Or did they change the mobile connector to put out a weaker signal? Or is one of the two pieces in this equation broken?

I'm not sure if this is normal now, or if I should take the car to service to have something fixed or exchange the cable.

 

[kingkong5]

I guess the way you would know is if you

1) Use a different charger with the car (like a supercharger or the mobile one or another wall charger) and see if that button makes your charger door open
2) Point your charger wand at another Tesla and see if that makes their charger door open

Then you can determine which side is broken.

Having said that, just pushing the charging door in a bit with your hand also makes it open, so you don't have to worry about the wand button.

Good luck!

 

[Romeo Alpha]

Are you pressing and releasing the button on the wand or pressing and holding? I have better luck with pressing and holding for a second.

 

[srs5694]

It's never worked reliably for me. On occasion it'll work at a Supercharger, but I don't think it's ever worked with my Mobile Connector. At home, I generally charge with a J1772 EVSE with a Tesla adapter that I bought prior to buying my Model 3 in 2019, and since J1772 EVSEs don't have that feature, it's not a great loss for me. That said, given the symptoms, I suspect a flaky radio receiver in my Tesla, and I'm hoping that the CCS compatibility upgrade will fix it, when Tesla gets around to offering it for my car. I generally either hit the button on the center console to open the charge port before exiting the vehicle or tap the charge port door to open it. Pushing there or pushing a button on the handle makes little difference, IMHO.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Does your new car have the same auto lock settings as your old car? The port won’t open if the car is locked.

Once in a while our Model 3 charge port doesn’t open at home, unless I open the driver’s door first. Most of the time it works correctly. The car is always unlocked at home.

 

[Dan203]

The car definitely isn’t locked. I get out of the car and the charger wand is hanging on the wall right next to my driver door. I also set the car to not lock at home and programmed my home address.

The same setup and technique worked perfectly 99% of the time on my old car. So something with either the new car or the new charger has changed. I just wasn’t sure if I should treat it as potentially broken, or if this was a known flaw with the newer cars or charging cables.

I might just order a new cable and see if it works better. If it does I'll return the broken one.

 

[P3dStealth]

It's the signal from the wand. My mobile charger doesn't work from far away either. Maybe they are using a weaker transmitter now. I contacted Tesla about it once and they told me to push the button holding it behind the trunk. It works more often there.

Different subject but..this new fob is on AliExpress for people with non-oem chargers.

US $7.01 38%OFF | For Tesla Model 3 Y Car Door Remote Control Charging New Energy Charger Pile Button To Open The Door Cover Chip Accessories

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP56g6a

 

[Dan203]

Damn, if that's true I should have just kept the old one.

 

[RISC601]

I had a 2019 M3P for the last 3.5 years and used the mobile charger as my primary garage charging. When I got home I'd grab the wand off the wall, push the button, turn around and the port on the car would be open and ready for me to plug in. Worked great. Unfortunately it was a lease so I had to turn it back in and they wanted the charge cable back too.

So I got a new 2023 M3P and bought a new mobile connector separately. With the new car and the new cable the button on the wand almost never works. And when it does it's only when I'm holding it a few inches away. Did they change antenna on the car to make it have less range? Or did they change the mobile connector to put out a weaker signal? Or is one of the two pieces in this equation broken?

I'm not sure if this is normal now, or if I should take the car to service to have something fixed or exchange the cable.

I just took delivery of a 2023 M3P and it’s doing the same thing. Never an issue with my 2021 M3LR. I’ve rebooted the car and cycled the TWC. I saw some mention of it possibly being related to the software?

 

[ExLego]

Reviving this thread. I’ve been having this issue with a late-May 2023 Model Y LR. Mobile service replaced first the charge port door, then the controller. Replacing the controller did nothing but the new door at least made it so that the button works when the wand is ~4-6 inches from the port door. Tech said the antenna is in the door. I was sure I’d read it was behind the rear quarter panel or something but maybe that’s other models?

Anyway, the tech was at a bit of a loss. He said the Model S and X have always had a very long range, but even the Model 3 he worked in earlier in the day would generally open from 3 feet away.

At this point we’ve all just kind of shrugged and accepted that maybe something has changed in manufacturing or else maybe a future software update will change something. Not much more they can replace as far as we can figure? In the meantime, the 6-inch range is good enough or else I generally just tap the corner of the port door anyway.

I just wanted to post an update here in case others come across the same issue, and maybe you can offer suggestions or else at least rest assured that you’re not the only one

 

[stopcrazypp]

Reviving this thread. I’ve been having this issue with a late-May 2023 Model Y LR. Mobile service replaced first the charge port door, then the controller. Replacing the controller did nothing but the new door at least made it so that the button works when the wand is ~4-6 inches from the port door. Tech said the antenna is in the door. I was sure I’d read it was behind the rear quarter panel or something but maybe that’s other models?

Anyway, the tech was at a bit of a loss. He said the Model S and X have always had a very long range, but even the Model 3 he worked in earlier in the day would generally open from 3 feet away.

At this point we’ve all just kind of shrugged and accepted that maybe something has changed in manufacturing or else maybe a future software update will change something. Not much more they can replace as far as we can figure? In the meantime, the 6-inch range is good enough or else I generally just tap the corner of the port door anyway.

I just wanted to post an update here in case others come across the same issue, and maybe you can offer suggestions or else at least rest assured that you’re not the only one

How far away did people expect it to work? I always assumed it was a short range thing and used it about 6 inches away. No problems in my 2021 Model 3.

 

[ExLego]

How far away did people expect it to work? I always assumed it was a short range thing and used it about 6 inches away. No problems in my 2021 Model 3.

Kind of figured at least a foot, maybe closer to two? I was just basing it on what I’d seen with my friend’s Model S. he would press the button as he walked towards the car from the wall connector and it opened. I think my other friend with a Model 3 can do something similar. *shrug*

 

[JethroXP]

Are you pressing and releasing the button on the wand or pressing and holding? I have better luck with pressing and holding for a second.

Thanks! I found this thread because I thought I was having this issue with my 2023 Model Y. I now realize I was quickly pressing and releasing the button, which wasn't working. Pressing and holding did the trick!

 

[remedy302]

Thanks! I found this thread because I thought I was having this issue with my 2023 Model Y. I now realize I was quickly pressing and releasing the button, which wasn't working. Pressing and holding did the trick!

I just bought a new mobile charger and it does not open the charge door on my 23MY, nor allow me to remove it after charging. Fiddled with it many ways - I guess I have a bad sender on the charger. I will try to return it and order another one with fingers crossed.

 

[Ravire]

You can check in service mode if the car is seeing the button press. Model S wasn’t picking up the mobile connector but it would with the wall connector. Mobile service came by and I explained the troubleshooting I did and they swapped the mobile connector due to an internal fault. Btw it’s a 1 year warranty if it didn’t come with the car and follows the car warranty if it did.