Condo 6-50R Charging - Help!

[BlueLabel]

Hi,

Just picked up my MY today and tried charging at my condo stall outlet for the first time and got bunch of error messages.. This is my first time charging an electric vehicle..

I have a 250V 6-50R 50A outlet that came with my parking stall. I bought a 6-50 adapter from Tesla Shop and connected it to my mobile connector. I plug into the wall outlet + my MY and got the following error codes..

1. CP_a046 - Unable to charge - Check charging equipment
2. CP_a054 - Charge port latch not engaged - Full yinsert charge cable or check for obstruction

I unplugged the adapter and mobile charger and made sure the connection was firm. I also inserted the tesla connector to the MY fairly firmly without excess force. Also when I plug in.. I get a noise that sounds like release and tightening of connector repeatedly.. and light goes amber / yellow and solid red afterwards..



How can I go about to troubleshoot this? Thank you!

 

[DSolie]

Have you charged with the cord previously?

 

[BlueLabel]

Have you charged with the cord previously?

No this is the first time. Right out of the the bag.. First time one cord and adapter.

 

[jeremymc7]

On my new car from Dec 2019 the charging cable threw all kind of errors as well. I tried a supercharger and it was fine. So not port.

I put in Mobile service ticket and Tesla and 2 days later they showed up with a new cable. Worked fine. Checking the one that can with the car the pin inside was slightly out of alignment and wasn’t holding constant contact.

it happens.

 

[Rocky_H]

It has to get all the way in there for the locking pin to get into the slot on the charging handle.
A couple of things: yes, it could just be a bad mobile connector that's not quite aligned or shaped properly, but also, we've seen some reports of this here, where it's a little bit of user error. People new to this are sometimes a little too soft and tender and careful about pushing the plug in, because it's a new "delicate" electronic car, so they are afraid of breaking something, so when they encounter the first bit of resistance force when pushing, they stop, and it's not really in far enough to get that locking pin to latch.

So, when you are plugging in, get the nose of the charging plug in the port, where it's lined up and starting to slide in, but then finish it off with a pretty firm shove, to make sure it goes all the way in. I've heard this solving this kind of issue for a few people.

 

[rxlawdude]

The port on the Y is really tight compared to our M3 and MS. It sounds like it's not fully engaged.

 

[BlueLabel]

It has to get all the way in there for the locking pin to get into the slot on the charging handle.
A couple of things: yes, it could just be a bad mobile connector that's not quite aligned or shaped properly, but also, we've seen some reports of this here, where it's a little bit of user error. People new to this are sometimes a little too soft and tender and careful about pushing the plug in, because it's a new "delicate" electronic car, so they are afraid of breaking something, so when they encounter the first bit of resistance force when pushing, they stop, and it's not really in far enough to get that locking pin to latch.

So, when you are plugging in, get the nose of the charging plug in the port, where it's lined up and starting to slide in, but then finish it off with a pretty firm shove, to make sure it goes all the way in. I've heard this solving this kind of issue for a few people.

Thanks for this. I was definitely being on the careful side in the inserting of the plug. I will try again later when I get home later today with a firmer push. I just got nervous when after I inserted it the "T" went flashing yellow /amber then red and I stopped.

 

[Rocky_H]

Thanks for this. I was definitely being on the careful side in the inserting of the plug. I will try again later when I get home later today with a firmer push. I just got nervous when after I inserted it the "T" went flashing yellow /amber then red and I stopped.

If it is that the hole of the charging port is just a little bit small, making it a tight fit, as @rxlawdude mentioned, I know this may sound hokey, but I do remember some people have used some very fine grit sand paper to wipe around the inside of the plastic edges in the port just to smooth off any little ridges of plastic that may be pressing on stuff and making the hole too tight and widening it up by that little part of a millimeter that may fix this.

 

[rxlawdude]

If it is that the hole of the charging port is just a little bit small, making it a tight fit, as @rxlawdude mentioned, I know this may sound hokey, but I do remember some people have used some very fine grit sand paper to wipe around the inside of the plastic edges in the port just to smooth off any little ridges of plastic that may be pressing on stuff and making the hole too tight and widening it up by that little part of a millimeter that may fix this.

Or, let it loosen up with a few charge cycles. Our Y's port is nowhere near as difficult to plug into as it was on Day One.

 

[jeremymc7]

This is the original cable that came with my new car. You can clearly see that the lower left pin doesn't line up with the hole and this caused constant errors with the car. Only once mobile service brought me a new one did everything go away and work perfectly ever since.

 

[BlueLabel]

Hey thanks everyone for the help! I realign the pins gave it a stronger push and the car is charging now. I believe the combination of the pins and me being too gentle was causing the issue.

Now should I still ask for a replacement cable or keep the current one..

 

[BlueLabel]

Hey thanks everyone for the help! I realign the pins gave it a stronger push and the car is charging now. I believe the combination of the pins and me being too gentle was causing the issue.

Now should I still ask for a replacement cable or keep the current one..

Update.. so I went back to check on the car. I am getting +2 kWh and 16/32 A and 208V. Is that normal?
The outlet I have is 6-50 and 250V and 50A. Is this charge rate normal?

 

[jeremymc7]

Update.. so I went back to check on the car. I am getting +2 kWh and 16/32 A and 208V. Is that normal?
The outlet I have is 6-50 and 250V and 50A. Is this charge rate normal?

As I keep mentioning same problem I had with my previously new and defective cord.

Random. Would throw errors on the screen on occasion. Would charge and not charge. Charge speed would vary. Often very slow.

I would have put in a mobile service request for can’t charge car. They will come out within 1-2 days usually.

You can also take to supercharger in meantime. Having it work perfectly at supercharger also confirmed to me it wasn’t car or cars port. Likely the cord as suspected. Based on my picture you could see the cable was defective and I didn’t want to force any further into port. So I let mobile service deal with it stead of tying to force cable and possibly damaging the car port if something was too far out of alignment.

 

[rxlawdude]

Update.. so I went back to check on the car. I am getting +2 kWh and 16/32 A and 208V. Is that normal?
The outlet I have is 6-50 and 250V and 50A. Is this charge rate normal?

Sounds like your charger is supplied by commercial voltage. That's nominally 208V. You will charge at least 12% slower than on 240v.

 

[Rocky_H]

I am getting +2 kWh

That is not part of the charge rate. That part with the + is saying how many kWh of energy have been added so far in this current charging session.

and 16/32 A

Um, on this part, can you dial the current up using the touch screen on the car, or is it stuck there at 16A maximum?

and 208V. Is that normal?

Sounds like your charger is supplied by commercial voltage. That's nominally 208V.

Yes, this. It's a little bit of guessing/judgement about whether something is voltage drop or not if we don't know which type it's supposed to be. Residential voltage is 240V, so if people are seeing in the 220's or 230's, that is probably dropping from that level. But commercial/industrial buildings are getting a tap off of a 3 phase system, which shows up as 208V, so seeing something very close to 208 is usually not severe voltage drop, but is just indicating that the building has a commercial supply instead and is supposed to be 208.

 

[BlueLabel]

That is not part of the charge rate. That part with the + is saying how many kWh of energy have been added so far in this current charging session.

Um, on this part, can you dial the current up using the touch screen on the car, or is it stuck there at 16A maximum?


Yes, this. It's a little bit of guessing/judgement about whether something is voltage drop or not if we don't know which type it's supposed to be. Residential voltage is 240V, so if people are seeing in the 220's or 230's, that is probably dropping from that level. But commercial/industrial buildings are getting a tap off of a 3 phase system, which shows up as 208V, so seeing something very close to 208 is usually not severe voltage drop, but is just indicating that the building has a commercial supply instead and is supposed to be 208.

Thanks for the information. I cannot dial up. Stuck at 16A. I have scheduled mobile service to come take a look along w/ my building maintenance. There still, sometimes, a connection issues w/ connector being obstructed. Hoping they can swap it out.

 

[jeremymc7]

TThere still, sometimes, a connection issues w/ connector being obstructed. Hoping they can swap it out.

Post up some photos if you can.

 

[BlueLabel]

Post up some photos if you can.

Here you go. So it indicates it is charging.. however, I am still getting the error message of "charge port latch not engaged".

 

[jeremymc7]

Here you go. So it indicates it is charging.. however, I am still getting the error message of "charge port latch not engaged".

View attachment 567876 View attachment 567878 View attachment 567879

Does the door keep trying to close itself with the plug installed and the error message in the screen ?

That pin inside looks out of alignment. Looks to be the same position and askew the same way. Check my prior posted photo.

 

[BlueLabel]

Does the door keep trying to close itself with the plug installed and the error message in the screen ?

That pin inside looks out of alignment. Looks to be the same position and askew the same way. Check my prior posted photo.

The door does sometimes closes by itself when the charger is still inserted. I would need to unlock the port again to pull out the charger.

I booked a mobile service appt for a tech to assist and hopefully give me a new charger.. the downside is that the earliest appointment is 2 weeks out ..