Enel X Juicebox Pro 40 not working anymore with Model 3 Performance

[AdventureVan]

Did they say whether the logs have enough info to tell if it's the JuiceBox or the car that initiates the session ending?

It might be interesting to watch a charging session start & shut down, then unplug, replug, and watch it happen right afterwards. I'm not sure what hypotheses this would rule out, but if J1772 + adaptor connections are failing and getting hot, the second try should shut down even sooner.

I don’t schedule charging at all, and I’ve double-checked both vehicles and the JuiceBox are not trying to do so. And the errors occur at various hours of day and night.

Enel-X didn’t say what the logs said, beyond that the logs don’t show anything unusual.

The charging experience has gone through three distinct phases: first, it works fine for weeks, including a 4.5hr charging session. Then it was flaky for a few days during which some but not all charging sessions ended with “charging interupted” push notifications to the phone app. Then, it entered its current and final stage where it won’t even start charging.

The Tesla notifications are full of “charging equipment communication error” messages (see attached).

 

[AdventureVan]

I don’t schedule charging at all, and I’ve double-checked both vehicles and the JuiceBox are not trying to do so. And the errors occur at various hours of day and night.

Enel-X didn’t say what the logs said, beyond that the logs don’t show anything unusual.

The charging experience has gone through three distinct phases: first, it works fine for weeks, including a 4.5hr charging session. Then it was flaky for a few days during which some but not all charging sessions ended with “charging interupted” push notifications to the phone app. Then, it entered its current and final stage where it won’t even start charging.

The Tesla notifications are full of “charging equipment communication error” messages (see attached).

Update: Tesla mobile service came by and tried a different ("brand new") J1772 adapter and it failed just like mine. Separately, I'd replaced the Leviton outlet with a Bryant outlet, and it still didn't work. My NEMA 14-50 mobile connector adapter arrived and it worked fine, charging without issue for 3.5 hours (up to my % charge limit).

So, the issue lies between my outlet and my car, so the JuiceBox. I'll follow up with them about covering it under warranty, and if that doesn't work, I'll crack it open and have a look. It does make several clicks as it's trying to decide to work or not. So that may be the relay...

 

[davewill]

I'm thinking a bad connection inside the Juicebox, the cable, or the plug. Your other J1772 car doesn't have any fancy voltage monitoring, so it happily keeps charging*, but the Tesla sees the voltage sag and aborts rather than continue. When you charge the other car, does the plug or any part of the cable get hot? Anyway, it's time to look inside the JuiceBox.

*Not actually a good thing since that sag means there's a good chance that something is getting burnt somewhere.

 

[FalconFour]

So that may be the relay

Ehm. nah, the relay doesn't make any decisions as to clickiness. The power feeding the relay is what makes it click. If it's clicking, something is making the relay click back and forth.

That error about car communications is ULTRA SUS. Errors like that are quite unusual. Smells like something related to the pilot signal (board, cable, or handle/pin sockets). On a cable/handle of that vintage, though, that's particularly odd!

I don't have high hopes on Enel offering another replacement, but it's worth a try. I'm always here to help dig if they give you the thumbs down. As long as I catch the notifications, at least somehow I missed these (just found it by idly browsing the forum again).

 

[ronzastovnik]

I have a JuiceBox Pro 40 mounted in my garage and plugged into a NEMA 14-50 outlet. For more than a year now, without issue, it's been used to charge my other electric vehicle. With the new Tesla Model 3 Performance, it charged it fine/normally for several weeks, until 4/12, when it started not working. My Premium Connectivity trial expires 4/10, and I cannot imagine it's related, but... I'll probably re-subscribe to that anyway, but I doubt that's the fix, or the issue.)

When plugged in, The Tesla says it's working, but the amperage is low (zero or close to zero) and then spikes sometimes but returned to nearly zero. The other vehicle continues to charge normally. Thinking that implicated the Tesla, I tried a second Tesla, which then behaves as mine did; i.e. it wouldn't charge.

I've tried:

1. unplugging the JuiceBox for 20+ minutes
2. throwing the breaker
3. setting the Tesla's charge amperage limit to 12A, 20A, etc.
4. switching on, then off the "depart by" and charge at night settings in the Tesla app
5. ensuring the JuiceBox isn't trying to do TOU charging (which doesn't play nicely with the other vehicle either, so F it)
6. Opening up the outlet and retightening all the screws (they were fine, but now even tighter)

Has anyone had a similar experience with the JuiceBox Pro 40 (or similar) not playing nicely with the Tesla? It's not working with either of two Teslas but it IS working fine with a non-Tesla EV.

Lots of good suggestions here, but I'll add my experience when I had a similar reduction in charging. I knew Tesla can sense bad connections, so after cleaning my 15-50 plug, I opened the Juicebox and cleaned the relay contacts. Used a piece of thin cardboard with contact cleaner on it, put it between the contacts to rub them clean. After that, solid charge current.

 

[AdventureVan]

Lots of good suggestions here, but I'll add my experience when I had a similar reduction in charging. I knew Tesla can sense bad connections, so after cleaning my 15-50 plug, I opened the Juicebox and cleaned the relay contacts. Used a piece of thin cardboard with contact cleaner on it, put it between the contacts to rub them clean. After that, solid charge current.

SOLVED.

Roman at Enel-X was able to get me approval for a swap-out with a refurbished unit. It arrived this past weekend and I swapped it out.

The new unit performs as expected and charges both the Tesla and the other EV as expected.

While the replacement JuiceBox was in transit across country, the old finally totally died. The handle made a weird noise and upon unplugging, we noticed it hadn’t charged and now smelled. On inspection, one of the high-voltage pins was charred on both the vehicle side and JuiceBox handle side.

So, whatever signs of death it was producing (for five weeks) were noticeable by the Tesla but not the legacy EV. Props to Tesla, though a clearer error message might’ve been helpful. And props to Enel-X for swapping it out.

Fingers crossed that this JuiceBox lives forever. Thanks everyone!

 

[jjrandorin]

SOLVED.

Roman at Enel-X was able to get me approval for a swap-out with a refurbished unit. It arrived this past weekend and I swapped it out.

The new unit performs as expected and charges both the Tesla and the other EV as expected.

While the replacement JuiceBox was in transit across country, the old finally totally died. The handle made a weird noise and upon unplugging, we noticed it hadn’t charged and now smelled. On inspection, one of the high-voltage pins was charred on both the vehicle side and JuiceBox handle side.

So, whatever signs of death it was producing (for five weeks) were noticeable by the Tesla but not the legacy EV. Props to Tesla, though a clearer error message might’ve been helpful. And props to Enel-X for swapping it out.

Fingers crossed that this JuiceBox lives forever. Thanks everyone!

Thanks for circling back around with the final resolution. I was following this and wondering how it came out.

 

[davewill]

While the replacement JuiceBox was in transit across country, the old finally totally died. The handle made a weird noise and upon unplugging, we noticed it hadn’t charged and now smelled. On inspection, one of the high-voltage pins was charred on both the vehicle side and JuiceBox handle side.

You want to be sure that your charge port was not damaged significantly. I'd carefully check for extra heat at the point of connection. I would replace the J1772 adapter that was charred rather than trust it on a daily basis. I had a similar thing happen to my RAV4EV (although I immediately stopped using the EVSE as soon as I noticed the excessive heat). The wiring in the J1772 handle was badly burnt, and some of the plastic in the car's charge port was scarred. After replacing the J1772 cable and handle, the car charged normally. However, I replaced the charge port rather than trust it going forward.

 

[cali8484]

So, whatever signs of death it was producing (for five weeks) were noticeable by the Tesla but not the legacy EV. Props to Tesla, though a clearer error message might’ve been helpful. And props to Enel-X for swapping it out.

FYI, EVSE's (including Tesla ones) can't directly detect excessive heat or voltage drop in the charging handle by themselves. However, for JB, you can determine potential charging handle problems by monitoring the difference in voltages reported by JB and Tesla respectively while charging at a significant current level (10A+). The difference should be less than a few volts for a good charging handle.