Charger Locking Issue - Would Prefer To Disable

[johnhoh]

I always, always charge my model 3 in my closed garage. Every morning I go out there to do a couple things and my phone is rarely with me (its usually upstairs still charging) , and I would like to unhook the charger from the port and put away the cord to save a little time later. But of course the charger is locked in place. I get that the charger locks and that is good for people who charge their car in public, but I would far prefer that the charger port never lock. Yes, I could grab the key from my kitchen drawer and unlock the car that way, then disconnect the port, then put the key back, but I'm just trying to minimize the steps required.

Is it possible, somehow, to disconnect the charger without first waking up and unlocking the car? It seems like a reasonable option that is not there.

 

[TjckTock]

If you are certain that you (and anyone with access to the garage) will not unplug while charging, this simple mod works great (see the closer of the two adapters). Pushing the button on the J1772 charger handle stops the charge even if your phone isn't present - enabling safe removal. Unplugging while charge is active could result in an arc that will likely damage your charge port so give it some thought before implementing. It took me less then 3 minutes on a knee mill but I suppose a dremel could work.

 

[brkaus]

Part of the reason the charger locks is to keep from arcing a spark if it is pulled out before the car/evse can be de-energized.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Wouldn't it take more time to make 2 trips to the same location, than unplug and go? Just... askin'

 

[Aellinsar]

Another option - find an old/junk/clearance phone for $20, put the Tesla app on it and leave it plugged in in the garage.

 

[ewoodrick]

Part of the reason the charger locks is to keep from arcing a spark if it is pulled out before the car/evse can be de-energized.

Not really valid. Most other cars press the button to unlock, which then terminates the charging

 

[Plug-n-Play]

I always, always charge my model 3 in my closed garage. Every morning I go out there to do a couple things and my phone is rarely with me (its usually upstairs still charging) , and I would like to unhook the charger from the port and put away the cord to save a little time later. But of course the charger is locked in place. I get that the charger locks and that is good for people who charge their car in public, but I would far prefer that the charger port never lock. Yes, I could grab the key from my kitchen drawer and unlock the car that way, then disconnect the port, then put the key back, but I'm just trying to minimize the steps required.

Is it possible, somehow, to disconnect the charger without first waking up and unlocking the car? It seems like a reasonable option that is not there.

Not as it is currently designed. That said and given your use-case, why not just leave it plugged in until you're ready to drive it out of the garage?

 

[davewill]

The lock is a safety feature both to prevent arcing when you disconnect and to prevent casual bumping of the cord from loosening the plug from the car. J1772 handles this with a simple mechanical latch, but Tesla chose to go with the fancier in-car lock. Maybe place a key card somewhere in the garage? Otherwise, you'll just have tto get used to grabbing my phone or key card before going out to the car.

 

[JasonR67]

Sorry for the late reply, I wanted to look something up, then forgot about it until I was back on the API page.

The Tesla API Commands supports the open / unlock charge port command.

So two things came to mind:
- You could write software to unlock it every day at a specific time (or week days or what ever).. Set it for 6am.. when your in the garage just unplug it.
* I don't know if TeslaFi, or any of the similar services already support this.
* I don't know how long the charge port will stay unlocked. Indefinitely? until the car sleeps? etc.. Both of these could be answered and solved in software.

- Or with a raspberry Pi in your garage you could have a button in your garage that would unlock the charge port.
* More complex setup.

 

[brkaus]

Teslafi can schedule unlock doors. Not sure it’s enough.
The developer could likely add. Probably trying to keep interface clean.

like you, no idea how long it would stay unlocked.

 

[JasonR67]

Teslafi can schedule unlock doors. Not Sutlej it’s enough.
The developer could likely add. Probably trying to keep interface clean.

like you, no idea how long it would stay unlocked.

Maybe I will do some testing this weekend.. It's an interesting puzzle.

 

[SMAlset]

Why not keep a key card somewhere safe in your garage that you can whip out when you are down there to unplug? If both of your original cards that came with the car are used (by you and wife for example), think about picking up another set for $25. Not that expensive, you get the convenient access you want to the car by unlocking it so you can unplug, and if you or your wife loses a card, you'll have a back up. Anyway that's the best solution I can come up.
https://shop.tesla.com/product/model-3-key-car

 

[640k]

just disable your "lock on walk away" feature.

 

[brandonee916]

This has been a common issue for some time once the car goes fully asleep. Lightly press the back door to wake up the car, that'll allow the button to work on the charger to release.

 

[TjckTock]

At some point the "lightly" press option went away for me. Used to work for me but now I have to fully depress the back door handler so the window drops and the door opens to wake up the car now.

 

[rdskill]

I think it prevents people from driving off while still connected to the charger. Can you imagine the damage that would take place!

 

[PoitNarf]

I think it prevents people from driving off while still connected to the charger. Can you imagine the damage that would take place!

The car will not allow you to take it out of park if a charge cable is connected.

 

[WilliamG]

At some point the "lightly" press option went away for me. Used to work for me but now I have to fully depress the back door handler so the window drops and the door opens to wake up the car now.

I’ve noticed the same thing. I think it depends on the sleep status of the car. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

 

[TjckTock]

I'm loving the mod - never have to touch the rear door at all. I think the risk of accidentally pulling it while charging is very low since you have that flashing Tesla icon right there while charging. Just have to push the button on the charger handle once and it stops charging. All other cases, when the car is asleep and not charging, I can just pull it. When out in public, the the lock still functions fully since the mod stays at home in my garage. Also this does not interfere with the mechanism to prevent driving off when plugged in either. Perfect solution for me.

 

[cronosx]

The car unlock for a small amount of time, less than a minute for sure.
I've the same problem and sometime while i go down the stairs i get out the phone and unlock to save time, but when i'm down the car already locked again, so planning a 'unlock at time' will not work, as said you can go with something like raspberry or some wifi button or similar that connect to something that can send out an api request, but of course you need to know something about software ( and lose a fair amount of time ) or just remember to grab your phone

I would not leave an old phone for security reasons of course since it's not 'limited' to unlock the cable but let you grab the car and go away

And i would not mod the connector since you will never know when you have kids running in the garage for no reasons or when you'll forgot to stop the charge since you are so used to it