There’s a YouTuber who is putting a damp cloth on the handle of gen 2 chargers to keep the handle from getting too hot and forcing a reduction of charging rate.
Anyone know if this would work?
Anyone know if this would work?
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Damp cloth on super charger handle to reduce ramp down?
- Thread starter RRM998
- Start date
HenryFarkas
Google "Henry Farkas Tesla"
My M3 is new so I haven't had the opportunity to Supercharge yet. Is it just the handle that gets hot or is it the entire cable?
HenryFarkas
Google "Henry Farkas Tesla"
If it's the handle where the sensor resides, but if the entire cable gets hot during the supercharging process, then artificially keeping the handle cool with a damp cloth could cause the rest of the cable to become too hot.
scottf200
Well-Known Member
YouTuber was Kyle Conner (former Tesla employee) that started Out of Spec Motoring. He's done various roadtrips and the cannon ball run.
His last road trip was with his girlfriend from NC to FL (work) then to SD. I think it was the episode where they went thru KS that they talked about and tested this (probably on several videos tho).
One of his YT channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/OutofSpecMotoring/videos
I think the road trip I was referring to was on another YT channel tho as I don't see it.
His last road trip was with his girlfriend from NC to FL (work) then to SD. I think it was the episode where they went thru KS that they talked about and tested this (probably on several videos tho).
One of his YT channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/OutofSpecMotoring/videos
I think the road trip I was referring to was on another YT channel tho as I don't see it.
I recently did this trick at a Supercharger when it was hot outside. Seemed to help. The towel was very warm after my SC session.
Adds a nice touch to Supercharging - you get a hot towel when you are done
Can confirm , it works quite well to sink the heat away from the handle, and you will likely see immediate increase in charge speeds, if you were throttled due to a hot charge handle.
rush6410
Member
It just doesn't seems possible for the towel to cool it long enough to make a difference. Seems like it would just heat up the towel then perpetuating the hot condition.
Evaporative cooling. Makes perfect sense why this would work! I will try it out the next time I supercharge out in the desert
rush6410
Member
Ok...time to research. 10 minutes goes by. Ah...not so good in high humidity such as Houston where I live. Might try it anyways.
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I doubt it makes any difference. The throttling should primarily be battery cooling. Throw a powerful fan pointing at the grill might help. If you have a faulty charge handle heating up it might help for a short bit. The towel (wet or not) could just as much act as an insulator.
scottf200
Well-Known Member
Brief discussion with Kyle. He was clear this was his opinion and not 'fact'. I do recall him experimenting on his roadtrips tho. I think he kept cool rags in a ice cooler. I have a fridge and an internal filled beaded eye cooling maks that seems like it would stay cooler than a towel.
Discussion:
He doesn't believe there to be a safety risk. [after all you can charge in the rain and snow so the handle and connection can get wet]
It could be fooling the sensor to allow higher power when the handle gets hot however the handle is cool to the touch (but what matters are the connectors).
He believes the temperature limitation was put in for customer experience (not burning hands) more than actual heat build up in the DC connection.
There is a temperature sensor in the Supercharger handle. If it reaches a certain temperature, the SC will throttle down to keep the handle cool. These often overheat when very hot outside.
I'm sure it does, and it's to detect a faulty / weak connection. I've never had the handle get above luke warm.
Maybe it doesn't get hot enough here in the Northeast.
juliusa
Active Member
A 100 year record was broken in Death Valley yesterday. 130F.
I'll be supercharging nearby this week, and will do a little experiment. No wet towel for first 1/2 of the charge, and then a cold wet towel for the second 1/2. Evaporative cooling really does work, and I'll post the results to prove it.
scottf200
Well-Known Member
Remember that the second 1/2 needs to be done on a new pedestal ... vs cooling down the original. At least the new pedestal is what Kyle did IIRC.
Bogus test since the kW are high at the start and low at the end.
Only way to compare is to have two cars at the same battery level side by side.
Or do it a whole bunch of times with and without cooling cloth and note the battery level, temp and KW (lot of work to really figure it out).
scottf200
Well-Known Member
Well it is make to charge in the rain or wet snow, so your safety risk comment doesn't make logical sense.
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