Charging Question

[XsuperbikeX]

I picked my Model S yesterday and drove about 75 miles home. We are waiting for the electrician to start installing the 240 volt outlet.

For now we are using the 110 volt outlet. The car indicated that it was charging at 3 miles per hour. After 2 hours of charging, I got a message from the Tesla app saying "charging has been interrupted".

The status on the app said charging stopped and to "check cable power". I went to the car and the charge port was glowing red while the charging cable by the outlet was flashing orange.

I tried unplugging the charging cable from the car by pressing the button and waiting for the charge port to turn white, but it stayed red.

Later, the car started charging again according to the app and after I checked the car.

Is there a reason why the car stopped charging after 2 hours and then started charging again?

 

[iffatall]

Did you plug into the wall snugly enough? Was the plug lose? Are you using an extension cord?

 

[FlasherZ]

The status on the app said charging stopped and to "check cable power". I went to the car and the charge port was glowing red while the charging cable by the outlet was flashing orange.

I tried unplugging the charging cable from the car by pressing the button and waiting for the charge port to turn white, but it stayed red.

Later, the car started charging again according to the app and after I checked the car.

Is there a reason why the car stopped charging after 2 hours and then started charging again?

I believe the UMC only has a red light and a green light - you said it was flashing orange. Could it have been red?

If so, this indicates a problem - the manual at https://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/ms_mobile_connector_guide.pdf tells you in the troubleshooting section; 1 flash is ground fault; 2 flashes is a diagnostics error; 3 flashes is contactor failure; 4 flashes is a missing ground; 5 flashes is a sensor error; and 6 flashes is a temperature error.

I've only seen red rings on the car in two cases: first, power is repeatedly interrupted and the car gives up. The second was on a defective UMC.

If it occurs again, count the number of flashes at the UMC (the part near the outlet). It will blink a number of times then pause.

 

[XsuperbikeX]

I believe the UMC only has a red light and a green light - you said it was flashing orange. Could it have been red?

If so, this indicates a problem - the manual at https://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/ms_mobile_connector_guide.pdf tells you in the troubleshooting section; 1 flash is ground fault; 2 flashes is a diagnostics error; 3 flashes is contactor failure; 4 flashes is a missing ground; 5 flashes is a sensor error; and 6 flashes is a temperature error.

I've only seen red rings on the car in two cases: first, power is repeatedly interrupted and the car gives up. The second was on a defective UMC.

If it occurs again, count the number of flashes at the UMC (the part near the outlet). It will blink a number of times then pause.

I spoke with Tesla and they said the charging interruption could be from an unstable current due to old wiring. They also mentioned how the car key must be present in order to unplug the charging cable.

Tesla also said to make sure the amp is set to 10 since we are using a 110 volt. Once our 240 volt outlet is installed, we will increase the amp to 40.

 

[XsuperbikeX]

Did you plug into the wall snugly enough? Was the plug lose? Are you using an extension cord?

Yes, we made sure the connections to the outlet and car were tonight.

I will be testing the charging again tonight with the amp at 10.

If more charging interruptions occur, then we can assume it's the old wiring.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I spoke with Tesla and they said the charging interruption could be from an unstable current due to old wiring. They also mentioned how the car key must be present in order to unplug the charging cable.

Tesla also said to make sure the amp is set to 10 since we are using a 110 volt. Once our 240 volt outlet is installed, we will increase the amp to 40.

Since you are using the UMC, I would think that your Tesla would automatically adjust down to 12 amps.

 

[iffatall]

I have seen in the past that if the plug is not snug enough, for example, if someone trips over, even though it remains connected, the light turns red, and charging stops. It doesn't resume until you disconnect completely and reconnect.

 

[CHG-ON]

There is orange when the cable is not properly seated. It takes more of a push to seat firmly than one would think.

 

[FlasherZ]

There is orange when the cable is not properly seated. It takes more of a push to seat firmly than one would think.

He was talking about flashing orange near the receptacle, not the car's charge port (which he said was red).

 

[XsuperbikeX]

Here are some updates.

The 110 volt seems to be working better now. We noticed that if the car is charging and someone turns on the hair dryer, it disrupts the current and the Tesla app immediately notifies us saying charging has been interrupted. So we make sure to use the app to stop charging before we use anything that draws a lot of electricity, and turn charging back on when we finish.

Once our 240 volt outlet is installed, we can charge the car and use the hair dryer or other electrical items without worrying about disrupting charging right?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[FlasherZ]

Here are some updates.

The 110 volt seems to be working better now. We noticed that if the car is charging and someone turns on the hair dryer, it disrupts the current and the Tesla app immediately notifies us saying charging has been interrupted. So we make sure to use the app to stop charging before we use anything that draws a lot of electricity, and turn charging back on when we finish.

Once our 240 volt outlet is installed, we can charge the car and use the hair dryer or other electrical items without worrying about disrupting charging right?

Thanks for the help guys!

You should be able to charge without disruption.

Is the hair dryer on the same circuit as the car's charging? That definitely will not work, as hair dryers can take up to 15A of power. 15A hair dryer on high + 12A car charging will exceed any household circuit.

 

[XsuperbikeX]

You should be able to charge without disruption.

Is the hair dryer on the same circuit as the car's charging? That definitely will not work, as hair dryers can take up to 15A of power. 15A hair dryer on high + 12A car charging will exceed any household circuit.

Also didn't mention that when the hair dryer turned on, most of the lights went out. Had to open the panel and boot up. So yes, the hair dryer is probably connected to the same circuit.

We did not expect the charging disruption in terms of sharing the same circuit. Thanks for pointing that out. We will continue to be cautious as we wait for the 240 volt outlet to be installed.

 

[brkaus]

Be sure to discuss the hair dryer incident with the electrician so they can review the panel. Assuming it's the same branch circuit, this is expected.

 

[Boatguy]

Sounds like you have very old wiring with both other outlets and lighting on the same circuit. The circuit is 15a at best and you probably want to keep the lights on. Each 100w bulb is about an amp so look at your lighting and then adjust the charge current accordingly, leaving at least 1a of slack. But in the interest of getting some juice into the car, you could probably hike it up to 12a at night when the lights are out and nobody is using the other outlet, then crank it back down in the morning. That might allow you to get 25-30 miles overnight.

I charged my BMW i3 on 110v for over a year, I know what you're going through!

 

[mikeash]

I once plugged into an outdoor 120V outlet at a hotel where we were staying. I asked first, of course, and they said it was fine. I woke up in the morning to a ton of "charging interrupted" "charging started" messages on my phone. It turned out that the outlet I plugged into was on the same circuit as their waffle maker. Why the waffle maker would be on the same circuit as an outdoor outlet is beyond me. There's some crazy wiring out there.

 

[XsuperbikeX]

Sounds like you have very old wiring with both other outlets and lighting on the same circuit. The circuit is 15a at best and you probably want to keep the lights on. Each 100w bulb is about an amp so look at your lighting and then adjust the charge current accordingly, leaving at least 1a of slack. But in the interest of getting some juice into the car, you could probably hike it up to 12a at night when the lights are out and nobody is using the other outlet, then crank it back down in the morning. That might allow you to get 25-30 miles overnight.

I charged my BMW i3 on 110v for over a year, I know what you're going through!

@brkaus
Yes! We will definitely have our electrician check out the circuits.

@Boatguy
Wow! We drive a lot, so I cannot imagine the charging time on a 110 volt outlet haha. Hope you now have a 240 volt outlet!

@mikeash
Haha I'm glad that Tesla told me that the Model S is very particular about the stability of the current and amps going into the battery.

Wonder what they were thinking while designing the building.