Charging the Roadster

[dsm363]

I agree. There's really no point in installing a Tesla HPC since it'd only get on rare occasions.

Here's what Clipper Creek sells. I would think the CS70 (charging at 56A) would probably be good enough.

Model CS-100 CS-90 CS-80 CS-70 CS-60 CS-50 CS-40 CS-30
Circuit Breaker 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30
Rating, Amps

Continuous 80 72 64 56 48 40 32 24
Current, Amps

 

[vfx]

I agree. There's really no point in installing a Tesla HPC since it'd only get on rare occasions.

Unless you wanted to be selfish...:scared:

 

[dpeilow]

If you have a spare HPC install it and then get the J1772 conversion cable from CC.

 

[dsm363]

If you have a spare HPC install it and then get the J1772 conversion cable from CC.

That would certainly be cheaper since I already have a free HPC. I may do that. Thanks.

 

[tomsax]

Have you ever seen it start charging later than the time you set it to start? That would definately be a bigger problem...

I now have a confirmed case of the car starting the charge later than scheduled as shown on the touchscreen. It was merely an inconvenience in this case, but could be a big problem in different circumstances.

I've been charging at 4:00 am recently. Sunday night, I was down to 122 ideal miles in standard and needed to leave the house at 6:20 to drive to Olympia, a 140-mile round trip. So I wanted a full standard mode charge done before 6:20. Estimating about 2.5 hours for the charge, I realized 4 am was cutting it close. So I went out to the garage where the car was already plugged in and used the touch screen to change the start time to 3 am, then verified that the touchscreen said "scheduled charge: 3 am".

When I went out to the car at 6:20, it was close to done but still charging. At 6:25, it was still drawing 17A, so I had to unplug it. The message on the screen said that it had charged for 2:25, indicating a 4:00 am start. Examination of the log file confirmed that it had started at 4:00 am even though the touchscreen clearly indicated it was scheduled to start at 3:00 am.

I was pretty annoyed that the error caused me to leave 5 minutes late and I still didn't have a full charge. I did have enough charge to make the round trip, although I was down to about 5% in standard mode when I got home.

I didn't change any settings and let it charge that night. According to the logs, it did correctly start at 3:00. So the changed setting did stick, just not for the first charge after the change.

Last night, I continued the experiment: with the car turned off, not plugged in, and the charge port door closed, I tapped the touchscreen and changed the start time to 2:00 am. Then I opened the charge port door and plugged in. According to the log, it started the charge correctly at 2:00 am.

So, don't count on changes to the charge timer sticking if the car is already plugged in. It seems like if you need to change the charging timer, the car should not be plugged in and the charge port door should be closed. Change the settings, then plug in.

My firmware is version 3.5.18, which I believe is the current version for 2008 Roadsters.

 

[markwj]

So, don't count on changes to the charge timer sticking if the car is already plugged in. It seems like if you need to change the charging timer, the car should not be plugged in and the charge port door should be closed. Change the settings, then plug in.

Makes sense from a developer's point of view, if not from the user's.

Sounds like if you want a one-off change from normal schedule you can adjust it, plug in, then set it back normal before you leave the car.

 

[donauker]

I had a problem with this a long time ago and got into the habit of always closing and opening the charge door when changing any charge settings. Never saw any indication of a problem after doing this. It is a bit surprising that this still hasn't been corrected in the firmware.

 

[mpt]

I had an issue a few nights ago, plugged the car in at 1pm but didn't slide the pilot signal switch forwards. Slid the switch forwards at 7:30pm. The car didn't charge that night as scheduled at 9pm.

Been fine since.

 

[benji4]

I had an issue a few nights ago, plugged the car in at 1pm but didn't slide the pilot signal switch forwards. Slid the switch forwards at 7:30pm. The car didn't charge that night as scheduled at 9pm. Been fine since.

Had the same problem here -- if you forget to slide the switch forward, even if you do it later the car still doesn't won't charge. I did this unfortunately the night before a 150 mile round trip and woke up with just 130 miles left, same as the day before! Fortunately I noticed it a couple hours before I left and was able to get enough charge in to make the journey.

 

[mpt]

Good to know it's a 'Feature'. Interesting though that in both cases, you and I were not left 'stranded' as someone who doesn't run an EV might assume. I doesn't matter the circumstances, just that we weren't stranded.

 

[benji4]

Today for the first time I see that I have 195 ideal miles after a standard charge at 110V/15A. The car has about 1,500 miles on it now, 9 weeks since delivery. Ideal range ticked up gradually from 191 ideal miles when I took delivery of the car in February to 194 two weeks ago. Then, I charged a couple of times with the HPC and I noticed that not only did idea range drop back to 192, it stayed at 192 or 193 for a few charge cycles after that even at 110V/15A. I kept charging at 110V/15A over the past 2 weeks, and ideal range started ticking back up is now at 195. I'll unplug the car now for 24 hours before driving and see if any charge is lost....

 

[Eberhard]

ideals miles depends on the power/current you charge. with 230V/63 I only get 276km, with 32A 296km with 16A 304, 10A 307km

 

[suxxer]

What's that connector?? Seems to me like it's an old version....

 

[TEG]

Yes, that was an old version of the Tesla connector.

 

[vfx]

There were two old ones pre production. That looks like the first one.

 

[tomsax]

There is something similar that I thought looked cooler shown briefly (from footage shot at a Plug In America party at Chris Paine's house) in Revenge of the Electric Car. Coming soon to a theater near you.

 

[strider]

So I had my first experience w/ charging outside my home this morning. Tried to use a ChargePoint charger at SFO. I signed up for a card awhile back and was planning to just use Level 1 as I don't have a J1772 adapter and didn't want to hoss my UMC around. I knew about the problems w/ the MC120 plug and Coulomb EVSE's so I had a 6" extension cord with me.

I pulled into the spot (wide open, up front spaces, yeah SFO!), got out, swiped my card, door unlocked, plugged the extension cord in, and nothing. No light on the MC120 plug and when I plugged into the car it didn't change the blue. I was able to get the head of the MC120 cord into the box and tried to close the door but it wouldn't close over the large MC120 cord. It also felt like the door was hitting the little locking arm. I pulled everything out and closed the door and feeling w/ my fingers it didn't look like there was any room for a cord to drop through the bottom when the door was closed.

So I thought maybe my MC120 and/or extension cord was the problem so I found an open 120V outlet right around the corner (in a fire lane though so I couldn't leave the car there) and it worked just fine. I messed w/ it for about 15 minutes (I also tried a different EVSE) and then had to go catch my plane so I gave up.

Is there a trick I'm missing? I've already recommended to my company to install a Coulomb EVSE - one employee just bought a Leaf so I was going to leave the L2 for him and use the L1 as I have spare range and my commute isn't far. But now I'm worried I won't be able to use the L1. Should I get like a 12" extension cord?

 

[vfx]

Is there a trick I'm missing? I've already recommended to my company to install a Coulomb EVSE -

The only thing good about Coulomb is their salesman.

 

[TEG]

I have had good luck charging the Leaf with them on the J-plug.

I think some companies like them because they can make the access cards private for employees only.
Clipper Creek doesn't seem to offer conditional access control, which is fine for truly public charging, but not for "staff only" charging.
Also, those other brands don't lock the plug when not in use so they are more prone to vandalism.

 

[bonnie]

I've used the coulomb chargers on two occasions and had no problems. I liked the fact that I could monitor charging progress via my iPhone. (It was a coulomb in Reno that alerted me to the fact that someone had unplugged my car.)