Charging on the mains stops on GFCI but circuit has not tripped and is still live

[Rich E]

I charge my M3 from a 240vac 13Amp UK standard ring main socket inside my house by using an extension lead that I've threaded out through my front door letter box (ok that's too much laughing already! ). It will charge but randomly stops, complaining of a GFCI fault (I believe that to mean that it thinks the fuse box has tripped on a earth/residue current fault). But there is no such trip and the circuit is still live. Sometimes it won't even start charging, sometimes it will go for an hour but it rarely gets throug the night. In fact it tends to last longer in the day. First I turned down the charging current to 10A, now I've tried 7A and that seems to make no difference. Would a beefier extension help?

I know that I need to get a proper charging post fitted but I'm moving house in a few weeks.

Any advise much appreciated

 

[smatthew]

The mobile connector has a GFCI built into it. Actually every EVSE has a GFCI built in.

 

[pjensen]

I charge my M3 from a 240vac 13Amp UK standard ring main socket inside my house by using an extension lead that I've threaded out through my front door letter box

How long is the extension cord? What is the wire gauge?

 

[father_of_6]

I'm no electrician, but I recall reading that it's not recommended to use a GFCI circuit because it will be subject to false trips.

 

[father_of_6]

"The Tesla already has one on-board to protect itself, and if you have two GFCIs on the same circuit, they tend to trip each other, making for a very unreliable charging setup."

NEMA 14-50 Tesla Response | Seahurst Electric

Q: How does Tesla respond to NEMA 14-50 questions? A: While an existing NEMA 14-50 outlet will work to charge the car, you would need to purchase the $35 adapter from Tesla to make it work, they are not provided with the vehicle. Tesla does not recommend installing a new NEMA 14-50 outlet to...

www.seahurst.com

 

[father_of_6]

So reading that two GFCIs on one circuit tend to "trip each other", perhaps it's the one in your charger being tripped... which would explain why charging stops but the breaker isn't tripped.

 

[Rich E]

Thanks for your help everybody. The extension lead is a pretty fat cable for about 4.5m, but at the end it's got a 16Amp in line caravan type connection then a short bit of not so fat cable. I will change that bit to see if it fixes it. I set it up like to to suit my previous nissan leaf (ie. changed from the UK std 13A square pin as it was getting hot on the leaf)