Cold Garage 110 Outlet - Mobile connector not working

[Raaker]

My charge cord doesn't like the cold outlet in the garage during the winter, and the red light comes on and charging doesn't occur. Sometimes it even stops charging in the middle of the night when the temp drops after starting off charging just fine. I figure it has something to do with the outlet being too cold? When I move the charge cord to an outlet inside the house, it works just fine. Any ideas or tips to keep the garage outlet warm or functioning correctly this winter? The garage is attached to the house, and the outlet is also on the house side wall, but it still doesn't function properly in the winter. Power still runs through the outlet, and I can use it to run other electric things during the winter.

 

[Empty tank]

My charge cord doesn't like the cold outlet in the garage during the winter, and the red light comes on and charging doesn't occur. Sometimes it even stops charging in the middle of the night when the temp drops after starting off charging just fine. I figure it has something to do with the outlet being too cold? When I move the charge cord to an outlet inside the house, it works just fine. Any ideas or tips to keep the garage outlet warm or functioning correctly this winter? The garage is attached to the house, and the outlet is also on the house side wall, but it still doesn't function properly in the winter. Power still runs through the outlet, and I can use it to run other electric things during the winter.

Use your app and contact Tesla, it could be your charger. Or check your breaker box and outlets.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Its >probably< your adapter or UMC itself. Try this experiment, just for yuks... if you have another outdoor outlet, try to charge with it. If there's no other convenient outdoor outlet, put a short(25' or so, or up to 50' if its 12 gauge) extension cord to an indoor(or less convenient outdoor) outlet. If the charger still interrupts, it's the adapter or UMC.

The very act of charging will be warming the outlet, the adapter, and the UMC, so it really can't be a too-cold outlet issue. There's a tiny chance its a bad connection in the outlet itself and wire flexing is temporarily disconnecting stuff.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

. There's a tiny chance its a bad connection in the outlet itself and wire flexing is temporarily disconnecting stuff.

It’s not that tiny. Just had my bathrooms all go open circuit. Traced it back to the outlet outside which is first in the chain off the GFCI. The wires were coated in black and not making good contact. Just randomly open circuiting (it would open when a hair dryer was turned on, usually). They were also those silly push-in spring contacts. Replaced the outlet with WR/TR version, with screw terminals (though that was not necessary to fix the issue), and got a new weatherproof box.

But yeah it could be the UMC too. Outlets are cheap and very easy to replace (just be sure it is not live; open the breaker and double check it is not hot). Unless the outlet is in new condition I would try that first.

 

[Sophias_dad]

It’s not that tiny. Just had my bathrooms all go open circuit. Traced it back to the outlet outside which is first in the chain off the GFCI. The wires were coated in black and not making good contact. Just randomly open circuiting (it would open when a hair dryer was turned on, usually). They were also those silly push-in spring contacts. Replaced the outlet with WR/TR version, with screw terminals (though that was not necessary to fix the issue), and got a new weatherproof box.

But yeah it could be the UMC too. Outlets are cheap and very easy to replace (just be sure it is not live; open the breaker and double check it is not hot). Unless the outlet is in new condition I would try that first.

View attachment 728514

I was basing my 'tiny' comment on the remarks that it fails only when cold, not that a generic 120V outlet might be poorly wired. There's plenty of chance that a 120V outlet is poorly wired. Those stab-in connections should just be banned outright, IMHO.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I was basing my 'tiny' comment on the remarks that it fails only when cold,

I figured that cold temperatures could cause something to end up as an open as metal contracts. I guess we’ll see, maybe.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Those stab-in connections should just be banned outright, IMHO.

They're called "back stab" connections, for obvious reasons.

 

[dhrabarchuk]

Its >probably< your adapter or UMC itself. Try this experiment, just for yuks... if you have another outdoor outlet, try to charge with it. If there's no other convenient outdoor outlet, put a short(25' or so, or up to 50' if its 12 gauge) extension cord to an indoor(or less convenient outdoor) outlet. If the charger still interrupts, it's the adapter or UMC.

The very act of charging will be warming the outlet, the adapter, and the UMC, so it really can't be a too-cold outlet issue. There's a tiny chance its a bad connection in the outlet itself and wire flexing is temporarily disconnecting stuff.

Did you ever solve this issue?