Charging clicking

[AnOutsider]

Mine has been doing it more and more often lately. A few times I've come out to see the port red and the car hadn't charged. That happened last night and I went back and made sure to securely plug it in and wait for it to flash green.

When I got home today I pushed it all the way in, it did the click dance to red, I pulled out and pushed back in. It went green and I left it. Not even 10 mins later I went out to get something from the car and it wasn't charging. It didn't even see the cable plugged in; it was white and said "charge port open".

I'm using a HPWC FWIW and not a UMC

In my case, service said that there was a problem with the button in the handle. When functioning normally, depressing the button half way engages the locking mechanism and starts charging. Depressing the button fully unlocks and releases the handle. In some units, this button is defective and engages/disengages without user input, thereby confusing the car and causing the charge port anomalies.

Hmm, this could be it as well. My HPWC has always had an odd button compared to the other one we have. The button doesn't travel very far, so I guess it's possible it's staying partially depressed.

 

[Peter_M]

My suspicion is that when this happens the pilot signal isn't engaging reliably.

I fiddled with my HPWC a bit more and I think you're right, Doug. Based on this thread, the pilot pin is the small one on the bottom left of the charge port (bottom right of the connector if you're looking at the end of it). It's like the pin in the charge port isn't quite long enough to make good contact. Pushing the handle to the left makes it connect and pushing it to the right makes it disconnect, every time.

I've got a ranger coming next week to look at it - I expect he'll be changing the HPWC cable and handle.

 

[Jeffruby]

Dumb point but did you try the reset button on the back of the big base unit (the thing that lights up and says tesla). They told me about this button after replacing my cable. New cable doesn't do the click dance Btw, but never got a chance to press red button as I didn't know it existed. Also-fyi, my new charger goes in firmer than old clicky one.

 

[Peter_M]

The reset button doesn't change anything for me. I think it's a mechanical connection issue.

 

[Peter_M]

I had my HPWC cable & handle replaced today by a Tesla ranger (outstanding service, BTW). Problem solved - now no amount of wiggling will make it disconnect. The cable is a bit different from the old one - the button is only 3/4 detached from the rest of the metal top, and the cable itself is a bit "rougher". Maybe there were some design changes in the electrical connection too, or maybe my old connector was just damaged somehow.

 

[Doug_G]

I had that "newer" design of cable on my third UMC, and it still failed. Even faster, actually. Hopefully replacing my charge port solved the problem. Certainly it's a lot easier to plug/unplug my car now.

I'd suggest you keep an eye and if you see any flakiness at all that you contact service. Last time mine went from slightly flaky to almost unusable in about a week and a half.

 

[Stuart]

I had a similar problem a year ago. Nudging the plug even slightly would cause the car to make clicking sounds and stop charging. Tesla replaced the UMC (but not the charge port, as far as I know) and I've not had a problem since.

 

[AnOutsider]

Mine was definitely the HPWC. Tried the UMC and it worked fine. Tried the spare HPWC we had (wired in optimistic hopes of an on-time X delivery) and it worked. Tesla is coming out in a couple weeks to replace the current one.

 

[Kalud]

I was having those exact issues, I tried contact cleaner on the lower two pins + gnd and it solved the issue completely, for now. Its a bad contact, probably caused by some sort of corrosion.

 

[AnOutsider]

For me, if I squeeze the handle it connects and charges. The moment I let go, it stops. Seems like something loose internally.

*edit* to clarify, this is my HPWC

 

[notailpipe2112]

I've also had this issue, kind of like Doug G. Tesla are coming next week to likely change the cable/end on my HPWC. I've already had my charge port changed once, and maybe they'll change it again. My theory is that there seems to be some kind of degradation over time with the cable and/or the tolerances on what port will accept are just too rigid. Personally, I don't like the way the port effectively squeezes the plug. I'd feel better about sticking in a cable like a wall socket. It just seems like it is too flaky to have a software type tolerance decision being made by the car on such a huge single point of failure...ie. if you can't charge, and you just have one cable, and you are out of juice and far away from a plan B (like on a road trip), you're pooched.

 

[kota23]

I was having those exact issues, I tried contact cleaner on the lower two pins + gnd and it solved the issue completely, for now. Its a bad contact, probably caused by some sort of corrosion.

So I've had this issue now with 2 UMC's and if it happens again I will try to use a contact cleaner to see if it solves it. Maybe even a small amount of dielectric grease. The I have the UMC plugged into a wall outlet in the garage I rent. The garage is not climate controlled and I'm wondering if there is corrosion building up on the contacts forcing the UMC to get a failed connection. I've never had an issue with the public adapter which I keep in my glove box.

 

[Doug_G]

I've never had an issue with the J1772 adapter either, but it gets much less frequent use.

 

[ThosEM]

I'm seeing this issue recently and have only noticed it since arrival of the new NEMA 14-50 adapter. It seems like the charging connector mating with the port on the car is intermittent and changes if I wiggle it as I try to get it to fully seat. It was pretty aggravated one day recently and I tried pulling apart the NEMA 14-50 adapter from the wall and from the UMC. That seemed to correct it immediately, which surprised me because it did seem more mechanical than electrical.

Continuing to monitor....

 

[memcd]

Replaced my UMC today after a year's use with no previous problems. Was imagining a more serious problem until I scanned this site. Service centers are well aware of this situation. So easy.

 

[Kalud]

Replaced my UMC today after a year's use with no previous problems. Was imagining a more serious problem until I scanned this site. Service centers are well aware of this situation. So easy.

But cleaning the contacts would probably have did the trick too, with less costs for Tesla. Hope they get a cleaning kit soon.