I figure I might write this up to help anyone else who experiences this.
First thing first, if you're regularly charging at 40A (or more), stop. If you don't need to charge this fast, back it off to 30A. The charger contains two 50A fuses and over time charging at 40A can cause them to fail even though the fuse ratings are not being exceeded. It's not uncommon for fuses to grow "tired" from cycling.
Now a bit about my setup. I have a 2013 Model S P85 with the dual-charger configuration and 100A service to my Tesla wall connector, so I can charge at 19KW (79A) at home. Since charging at full output causes the voltage to sag 10V, I typically charged at 40A where there's no sag (and little power lost to heat in my home wiring).
Last July I suddenly got an error when I went to charge and though the charger would click on, it wouldn't charge.
At this time I did not know how to get into the service menu, so I took my car to my local Tesla service and they said there was a "communications failure" with the primary charger. They had a replacement charger, but at $3500 I decided to see what other options were available. Supercharging still worked so this wasn't an emergency. While at the service center, I checked eBay and found a used charger for $400 which the seller said was working, which sounded a lot better than $3500 so I ordered it on the spot. There were cheaper ones but this one claimed it was working (which it was).
Tesla service won't install eBay parts but they did provide some tips on how to do it myself and pushed a software update they told me to install after replacing the charger. I won't go into details since the Tesla service manual covers this fairly well, other than to say that removing the back seat cushions was by far the hardest part. There was no clear explanation in the service manual and I couldn't find anything other than vague hand-waving online.
One suggestion I have is to buy some hose plugs and have some towels ready to mop up coolant. You will need them. Not a lot of coolant leaked, but I was thankful to have been prepared.
The online service manual is fairly clear on how to do this and I was able to swap out my old charger for the eBay one. Be sure to disconnect the 12V battery and pull the 12V loop before working on this, and carefully test with a good voltmeter to make sure all voltages are zero so you don't electrocute yourself. Speaking of the 12V battery, I replaced mine the last time it died with an Ohmmu LIPO one which, though expensive, is much lighter and easier to install and should last far longer than the usual AGM battery. I'm glad Tesla learned and made replacing the battery a lot easier on newer models. On my 2013, it's quite a pain to get to since it's buried under a bunch of stuff.
Once the new charger is installed, a software update is required. Tesla service pushed one for me, but if you know how to get into the service menu (hint, the password is "service") you can force a software update yourself. This will provision the car to work with the replaced charger.
The eBay charger worked like a charm, so I saved over $3000 by doing this myself.
Having a background in electronics and being an engineer, I decided to do a post-mortem on my dead charger. I thought it odd that Tesla said it was a communications error since it obviously was able to trigger my wall connector to turn on.
After removing the torx screws and poking around, I found one of the two 50A fuses was open. The only tricky part is to remove the plastic rivets for the insulating paper over the fuses and I accidentally broke one, though fortunately, a replacement was cheap.
I quickly went online and found the parts (links below). $79 later I have two new fuses, and while I have not tested my old charger because I don't want to go through the hassle of tearing apart my car again, I am fairly certain it's as good as new.
So if you regularly charge your car at 40A or more and you have problems charging but hear the wall connector click on, one of the 50A fuses would be a good place to start, and you could save yourself $3400 to replace both fuses first.
So if anyone is in the SF Bay Area and needs a generation 1 charger (or wants to add a second for dual charging), I'm willing to part with it, though I can't guarantee 100% that it will work (I'm 95% confident it will). As I said, the hardest part is getting the seat backs off and I never did find a good explanation on the trick to doing it, only a bunch of hand waving.
The plastic rivet holding the paper insulator are Esssentra Components SR-3045W.
It looks like the price of the fuse has gone up significantly, but the fuse is a Mersen A50P50-4 which I bought from
thefuseshop.com. If you find one fuse blown, it is probably best to replace both of them since the other fuse is likely tired.
Obviously if after putting everything back together again you blow another fuse, there's a bigger problem and eBay might be your best bet. Sadly I didn't take pictures during the process of replacing my charger, but here is a picture of the internal fuses.
Also, the part number for the on-board charger is 6009278-00-f and there are typically a fair number available on eBay, many for less than what I paid.
First thing first, if you're regularly charging at 40A (or more), stop. If you don't need to charge this fast, back it off to 30A. The charger contains two 50A fuses and over time charging at 40A can cause them to fail even though the fuse ratings are not being exceeded. It's not uncommon for fuses to grow "tired" from cycling.
Now a bit about my setup. I have a 2013 Model S P85 with the dual-charger configuration and 100A service to my Tesla wall connector, so I can charge at 19KW (79A) at home. Since charging at full output causes the voltage to sag 10V, I typically charged at 40A where there's no sag (and little power lost to heat in my home wiring).
Last July I suddenly got an error when I went to charge and though the charger would click on, it wouldn't charge.
At this time I did not know how to get into the service menu, so I took my car to my local Tesla service and they said there was a "communications failure" with the primary charger. They had a replacement charger, but at $3500 I decided to see what other options were available. Supercharging still worked so this wasn't an emergency. While at the service center, I checked eBay and found a used charger for $400 which the seller said was working, which sounded a lot better than $3500 so I ordered it on the spot. There were cheaper ones but this one claimed it was working (which it was).
Tesla service won't install eBay parts but they did provide some tips on how to do it myself and pushed a software update they told me to install after replacing the charger. I won't go into details since the Tesla service manual covers this fairly well, other than to say that removing the back seat cushions was by far the hardest part. There was no clear explanation in the service manual and I couldn't find anything other than vague hand-waving online.
One suggestion I have is to buy some hose plugs and have some towels ready to mop up coolant. You will need them. Not a lot of coolant leaked, but I was thankful to have been prepared.
The online service manual is fairly clear on how to do this and I was able to swap out my old charger for the eBay one. Be sure to disconnect the 12V battery and pull the 12V loop before working on this, and carefully test with a good voltmeter to make sure all voltages are zero so you don't electrocute yourself. Speaking of the 12V battery, I replaced mine the last time it died with an Ohmmu LIPO one which, though expensive, is much lighter and easier to install and should last far longer than the usual AGM battery. I'm glad Tesla learned and made replacing the battery a lot easier on newer models. On my 2013, it's quite a pain to get to since it's buried under a bunch of stuff.
Once the new charger is installed, a software update is required. Tesla service pushed one for me, but if you know how to get into the service menu (hint, the password is "service") you can force a software update yourself. This will provision the car to work with the replaced charger.
The eBay charger worked like a charm, so I saved over $3000 by doing this myself.
Having a background in electronics and being an engineer, I decided to do a post-mortem on my dead charger. I thought it odd that Tesla said it was a communications error since it obviously was able to trigger my wall connector to turn on.
After removing the torx screws and poking around, I found one of the two 50A fuses was open. The only tricky part is to remove the plastic rivets for the insulating paper over the fuses and I accidentally broke one, though fortunately, a replacement was cheap.
I quickly went online and found the parts (links below). $79 later I have two new fuses, and while I have not tested my old charger because I don't want to go through the hassle of tearing apart my car again, I am fairly certain it's as good as new.
So if you regularly charge your car at 40A or more and you have problems charging but hear the wall connector click on, one of the 50A fuses would be a good place to start, and you could save yourself $3400 to replace both fuses first.
So if anyone is in the SF Bay Area and needs a generation 1 charger (or wants to add a second for dual charging), I'm willing to part with it, though I can't guarantee 100% that it will work (I'm 95% confident it will). As I said, the hardest part is getting the seat backs off and I never did find a good explanation on the trick to doing it, only a bunch of hand waving.
The plastic rivet holding the paper insulator are Esssentra Components SR-3045W.
It looks like the price of the fuse has gone up significantly, but the fuse is a Mersen A50P50-4 which I bought from
thefuseshop.com. If you find one fuse blown, it is probably best to replace both of them since the other fuse is likely tired.
Obviously if after putting everything back together again you blow another fuse, there's a bigger problem and eBay might be your best bet. Sadly I didn't take pictures during the process of replacing my charger, but here is a picture of the internal fuses.
Also, the part number for the on-board charger is 6009278-00-f and there are typically a fair number available on eBay, many for less than what I paid.