Brand new 2021 Model X connected to Tesla wall connector. I have it set to charge to 80% but once it gets there the wall connector starts to cycle charging every few seconds. Ie., it will go to blue light (communicating) then green light (charging) on the wall connector panel. Anyone else have this issue? Thanks!
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Constant cycling of charging (every few sec)
- Thread starter mmow99
- Start date
Yes known issue. I have it with my 2020 X. Because of this, Tesla replaced my 12V battery after 5 months..
mobile tech told me Tesla is well aware of the problem and they are working on a fix...
In the meantime when i can i unplug the car when it is charged...
still annoying.
mobile tech told me Tesla is well aware of the problem and they are working on a fix...
In the meantime when i can i unplug the car when it is charged...
still annoying.
ColdWeatherEV
Member
I am having some unusual charging issues with our 2021 X as well. Mine charges fine if I plug it in and charge right after driving the car. If I delay the charge, or if the cars sits for a day or two and the bms tries to top off the battery, it will go through a process similar to what you describe. The funny thing is, that if you open the door and the heater turns on, charging will resume and is normal. I set up an appointment with Tesla and they tried to diagnose the problem remotely, but the tech said the car's diagnostics reported everything was fine with the charging system and the fault probably was with my electrical circuit or charger. I know that is not the case. I've used this 1450 outlet and mobile charger for 3 years and 50,000 miles on our previous X. I've also tested the voltage at the plug, both static, and under load, when the car is charging normally. I've also tried two different mobile chargers with the same result. The Tesla Tech said that I would need to bring the car in to see if they could duplicate the problem. The Service Center is 230 miles away and will probably require an overnight, so I won't be able to get this checked out until Spring. My workaround is to plug the car in and charge the car to 83% immediately after driving the car. After it finished charging, I set the charge level (via phone app) to 70% to make sure the car doesn't try and top the car up. If I need to charge the car after it has sat for awhile, I turn the car heater on for a minute or two, then start the charging. The heater can then be turned off and the car will charge normally. I was wondering if I was the only one with this issue. My hope is that it is a software bug with the 2021 X's. Let me know if your problem manifests itself in the same manner as mine. Let me know what you find out as it may be helpful in solving my issue.
@ColdWeatherEV your issue is the exactly the same as mine. When I heard the constant clicking (cycling) I went to the car with my key on hand but when I got close to it, it obviously turned on and then the charging resumed to normal operation (purely green and no more cycling). However, as soon as the car goes idle/sleep, it starts the irregular cycling. The constant cycling cannot possibly be good for for the charger or the car.... I setup a mobile tech visit as well so will update if/when I find out more.
ColdWeatherEV
Member
I agree with you. The first time I noticed it was when I was in the garage after the car had sat for a couple of days. I could hear a relay clicking on and off. Who knows how long that had been going on, and it can't be good for whatever is clicking on and off. I only discovered the heater connection, because if I opened up the door and the heater came on, charging would resume as normal. It is easy to get this fault to occur on my car. Just let it sit in a cold garage overnight, then go into the garage without the key, and start charging the car with the phone app. As soon as you turn the climate control on, charging will commence as normal. If you look through the window while the error is going on, you will see that the display shows the voltage fluxing between a few volts and 187 volts. On mine, as soon as I turn the heater on (remotely) the voltage will stabilize at 230 volts and the cars charging will ramp up to 40 amps. The Tesla tech was 100% certain that the car was not a fault. I'm 100% certain that the car's BMS is bad or there is a software bug. It is really annoying at the moment (mainly because I live so far from a Service Center). I've found a workaround for now and if it doesn't resolve itself with a software update, I'll take mine in next Spring. If they can solve this issue for you, it will be much easier for me because I can point them to your fix.
ColdWeatherEV
Member
Just checking back in to see if Tesla was able to resolve the issue for you. The Tesla Tech that remotely ran diagnostics on my car said the car checked out fine, so he/she is convinced that it is my charger or electrical source, but I'm certain that is not the case. The reason I'm certain that it is either a software issue or a hardware issue with the car, is that the car charges normally as soon as you open a door. I've tried three different mobile chargers, varied the max charging amps from 16 to 40, and tested the voltage at the wall plug when the car is charging at 40 amps. The car fails to start charging properly when coming out of sleep. When this issue first started, I thought that the heater was the key to getting the car to charge normally, but I've now discovered that I can get it to charge normally by simply opening the rear hatch. As I said before, my workaround is to plug the car in and have it top up as soon as I've finished driving the car. After the car has finished its charging, I'll use my phone to set the charging limit 10% below the current level as I don't want the car to try and "top" off battery after it has sat for awhile. I also can't use the delayed charging feature. If I need to charge the car to a higher state, say for a trip, after it has sat in the garage for awhile, I can use my phone to turn the climate on or open the rear hatch, then move the charge up, wait until I see the car is charging normally, then turn the climate off or close the rear hatch. I'm currently on firmware version 2020.48.10, and have hopes that this will be resolved by a future firmware update, but I don't have my hopes up for a quick solution. From my past experience, Tesla doesn't put much effort into resolving these kinds of issues with the Model X. I had a similar problem with our previous Model X, where I couldn't get the climate control to stay on when using the phone app. This was a very important feature for me since I live in a cold climate. The heater worked fine while in the car. I set up an appointment with the Service center, drove the car 500 miles round trip. They checked out the sensors, reset the computer to its factory settings, and when that didn't work, they said it was a software bug related to a few model X's (not all) and I just had to wait for Tesla to fix it through a software update. Well it was finally resolved (7 months later) with a firmware update. I suspect this will follow a similar route.
You indicated that when this erratic charging event occurs that the display shows low voltage between 0 and 187 Volts. Is there a way that when it is in this mode that you can measure the voltage at the 14/50 receptacle? I know you said the voltage was fine when there was a continuous 40 Amp draw, but what is it when the display indicates the variations? It is a long shot but in rare cases higher currents can tend to "seal" a poor connection while lower currents do not. It is also a way to confirm that it is NOT a supply circuit issue.
ColdWeatherEV
Member
Yes, I tested the voltage at the charger plug when the Tesla display was cycling between 0 and 187 volts. The voltage at the the plug was a constant 231 volts. When I pop the trunk hatch, the car will charge as normal at 40 amps, and the voltage settles at around 230 volts. I'm wondering how many 2021's are having this issue? Many would not even notice, especially if they drive their car every day. My car always charges normally if I plug it in after it has been driven, and if I drove it every day, the car probably wouldn't need to top it up over night. The first time I noticed it was after my car had sat for 3 days. I just happened to be in the garage and heard a relay clicking on and off on a continuous basis. I didn't think much about it, because I opened the car door to check things out and it started to charge normally. A few days later, we were going on a long trip where I needed a 100% charge, so I set the "finish charging" for our departure time the next morning. Good thing I checked it about an hour before we were planning to leave, as the car would not charge until I opened a door.
@ColdWeatherEV yes! Sorry for the delay. Tesla scheduled mobile service but just ended up texting with me. All they said was that there was an issue with my configuration and they pushed an OTA fix. Since then I haven’t had any issues so it definitely seems software related. Thankfully it is resolved.
ColdWeatherEV
Member
Any chance you could text your service tech and get some specific details so I could send them to the tech that said I needed to go to a service center (500 mile round trip). Thanks
ColdWeatherEV
Member
Good news. I installed firmware 2020.48.12.1 yesterday afternoon and my car charged normally coming out of sleep this morning. I'll need a couple more days of testing to make sure the problem is solved, but I'm hopeful. At least I didn't have to open a door this morning in order to get the car to charge. 
We are having the same charger cycling problem on our 2018 Model X. For the first two years it functioned fine, then the cycling started. The cycling varies from a fast pace of every 3 minute (one occurrence), to a more typical pace of once every 15 to 45 minutes. Typically the charger is only on for about 30 seconds. We have a second charger at a vacation home that does the same thing. We have the charger set to start at 6:30 am, and for come reason the cycling stops by 12:30 pm. Tesla support said to turn off the cabin high temperature protection, but this had no impact, not surprising given it is winter. I kept track of all the cycles in Excel for a couple of months and gave the data to the service advisor who is looking into the problem. I greatly appreciate all the comments as the service advisor thinks my car may be the only one with the problem. I have printed out the 6 pages which I will take to him tomorrow. My advisor is Matt at the Gilman St., Berkeley CA repair facility. Like most of the Tesla people I have dealt with, Matt is very good. He is taking the problem seriously and really digging into to. We have heard that it may be a firmware problem with the charger, but neither of us has a lot of confidence in this answer until we find the software person that can verify it. We just had another software update so I am on 2020.48.35.5 842a95863251.
There are three work-arounds, some of which have already been stated: 1) Unplug the care when charging is complete. 2) Open the App and cancel the charging when as it starts to cycle. You have to be quick given the short cycle time. 3) Turn up the charging limit using the app, then cancel the charging as soon as it starts and then turn the limit back down. As stated previous, a bit of a pain, especially given the otherwise great engineering and the cost of the car.
There are three work-arounds, some of which have already been stated: 1) Unplug the care when charging is complete. 2) Open the App and cancel the charging when as it starts to cycle. You have to be quick given the short cycle time. 3) Turn up the charging limit using the app, then cancel the charging as soon as it starts and then turn the limit back down. As stated previous, a bit of a pain, especially given the otherwise great engineering and the cost of the car.
ModelNforNerd
Active Member
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