I have a 2020 Model X and I use a mobile charger at home with the 6-50 adapter. sometimes it charges at a "full" 21 mph, 238 V and 32A... other times it only charges at 10 mph and 16A. When that happens on the mobile connector the T in TESLA glows amber or red and the ESLA glow green and the mobile connector is very warm. i unplug from the car, i unplug from the wall, i plug the adapter in firmly, and likewise plug back into the car firmly... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've disconnected the adapter, reconnected firmly and sometimes that works sometimes it doesn't... i just keep going back and forth until it goes back to charging at at 21mph. Does the red T help to pinpoint the problem? Thanks in advance...
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flaky mobile connector charging problem
- Thread starter precisionmike2
- Start date
Here is the manual for the mobile connector:
At the end, they have a section on troubleshooting based on what the green and red lights are doing. This one sounds like it matches your description:
Green lights are streaming and on. Red light, 1 flash.
"Charging current is reduced due to high temperature detected in the vehicle connector."
"Unplug the Mobile Connector from the vehicle, and then plug it back in. Consider charging in a cooler area, such as indoors or in the shade. If the error persists,
contact Tesla."
Have you felt near the surface of your outlet? Does it seem to be getting really hot there, near the plug? Or does it just seem to be in the electronics box in the cable? Normally the car itself will display a message if it has detected that the heat sensor in the plug has detected a hot outlet, so I wouldn't guess that's it. If it's just in the electronics box, then that may just be a bad connector cable that needs replacing.
Thanks Rocky, you hit the proverbial nail on the head. I guess I didn't "research" enough to find a separate manual for the mobile connector. to answer the questions... it is being charged in a "cool" garage not outside in the sun... and this has happened when it is only 35 degrees in the garage so I don't think it is environmental. It is only the mobile connector body that gets hot, not the plug on the wall or the plug at the car. I don't get any messages on the screen or in the app, I just see it is only charging at 10 mph. Time for a Tesla call.
My rate was also reduced and the car gave me an error message saying the charger was too hot. Tesla came out and replaced the Mobil adapter and it still happened. I then reached out to the company that installed the 220 and he messed with the wiring and I haven’t had problems since. They did suggest I upgrade to a wall charger and ditch the mobile.
The saga continues... I called Tesla SC during one of these episodes of 21 mph to 10 mph and "hot" mobile connector. They went online and looked at it and said "yep, the mobile connector it hot..." but nothing they could do until they tested it in shop. I made an appointment and took the car in with screen shots showing voltage and amps at different times with both 21 mph and 10 mph showing. They plugged it into a 20 A circuit and charged at 16 amps for 45 minutes... surprise no problem showed up. They said they can't replace the mobile connector unless they see the failure... they also said call your electrician. He's been back twice, checking the circuit breakers, the wiring, the connections in the breaker box and in the wall outlet and he says everything is ok. Does anyone know what exactly my electrician should look for because I asked the service tech and he said "it could be a resistance problem or an impedance problem in the wiring"...
Hi @precisionmike2 ,
Welcome to TMC!!!
Your circuit should be robust and have at least a 40 Amp breaker
and some heavy gauge wires.
The wires must be securely tightened or the bad contact
resistance will cause heat...
Does your outlet project from the wall?
If so you may touch it to feel for heat...
If it is recessed it is harder to feel the heat.
I would have your electrician present to monitor for the heated outlet.
You also really need to know what gauge of wire is used.
How long are the wire runs?
Have him measure the voltage and temperature when it starts
and when it fails.
Check for bad/loose connections.
Your 238 Volts looks good...
Do you have access to another mobile connector you could swap to test your outlet?
Good luck - Keep us posted,
Shawn
Welcome to TMC!!!
Your circuit should be robust and have at least a 40 Amp breaker
and some heavy gauge wires.
The wires must be securely tightened or the bad contact
resistance will cause heat...
Does your outlet project from the wall?
If so you may touch it to feel for heat...
If it is recessed it is harder to feel the heat.
I would have your electrician present to monitor for the heated outlet.
You also really need to know what gauge of wire is used.
How long are the wire runs?
Have him measure the voltage and temperature when it starts
and when it fails.
Check for bad/loose connections.
Your 238 Volts looks good...
Do you have access to another mobile connector you could swap to test your outlet?
Good luck - Keep us posted,
Shawn
It could be a poor connection between the handle and the connector in the car. Either side could be the cause. That is why Tesla wants to see the problem in person, to determine if they need to give you a new mobile connector or replace the charge port in you car. The Service Center is best because they will undoubtedly plug your car into one of their wall connectors to help them troubleshoot the problem.
thanks for the reply, but as I said they plug it into a 20A circuit and only charge at 16A max, unable to duplicate the problem.
Hi Shawn, thanks for the welcome... it is a pair of 50A breakers, with appropriately sized 8ga copper wire. The electrician has double checked all the connections from the circuit breakers to the outlet. The outlet and the plug feel warm but no where near as hot as the mobile connector. The outlet run is straight out of the breaker box about three feet, and yes, unfortunately I was able to try another mobile connector... same results... so it is either something the electrician is missing or a problem downstream in the car connector or the car circuit itself. My electrician is coming on Saturday... we'll see what happens then!
That's just called a two pole breaker. Ummm, can you elaborate on the wire some? What type of wire or cable is this? If it is separate wires pulled through conduit, that 8 gauge size would be OK for a 50A circuit(barely), but if it is Romex cable, where the wires are bundled together in that plastic sheath, then that wouldn't be.
However, you are running this with only 32A, which is like it's a 40A rated circuit. So even if it's Romex, that still is just barely rated for a 40A circuit, and should be OK, unless it's a really long run or there's a loose connection somewhere.
I get that. But that does nothing to determine the location of the problem. Could be a defective mobile connector, or it could a defective charge port in the car. Could even be both.
it is only three feet from the breaker box to the outlet, straight shot. it is one 8 ga romex cable, not individual wires and not in a conduit. I get 120V off each leg when testing the outlet, and the outlet doesn't get hot during charging... the plug gets warm, the mobile connector box gets hot. My electrician is coming back in a couple days, and I have a Flir camera so I am going to do some monitoring of the temp while starting up and running...
Huh, OK. That is a very short run, so it's probably not the distance.
However, that is still a code violation, and it's frustrating your electrician didn't do that right. Here is an ampacity table, showing the rating of different types of wire:
Cerrowire Resources - Ampacity Charts
Ampacity is the maximum current that a conductor can carry continuously under the conditions of use without exceeding its temperature rating. Cerrowire's ampacity chart helps calculate the load requirement for a circuit.
www.cerrowire.com
See that 8 gauge in the first column for NM-B? That's what you have. That is only rated for a 40A circuit. You should have a 40A breaker--not a 50A.
But that's probably not the issue, since it's not getting hot at the outlet. I would say it probably is a defective mobile charging cable.
My initial thought as well, especially based on heat location, but did you see this (emphasis mine)?:
This is a good point, and if the issue with the connector cable were on the UMC end, it would explain where the heat is. OP, did the second UMC you tried have a like adapter, or did you have to re-use yours?
I will double check the wire... the second column does show a 50A rating... maybe I misspoke when I said "plain old 8 ga romex..." BUT, perhaps more importantly, I put my FLIR camera to use and I found something perhaps telling... the hottest spot is in the adapter plug, on the positive side. When I pulled the plug and scanned the outlet, that was the same hottest spot... that one very localized area was about 145 degrees F, at the same time the hottest spot on the mobile connector was only 122 degrees. This was measured about 4 minutes after the charging rate dropped from 21 mph to 10 mph, and the amp load from 32 dropped to 16.Huh, OK. That is a very short run, so it's probably not the distance.
However, that is still a code violation, and it's frustrating your electrician didn't do that right. Here is an ampacity table, showing the rating of different types of wire:
Cerrowire Resources - Ampacity Charts
Ampacity is the maximum current that a conductor can carry continuously under the conditions of use without exceeding its temperature rating. Cerrowire's ampacity chart helps calculate the load requirement for a circuit.
See that 8 gauge in the first column for NM-B? That's what you have. That is only rated for a 40A circuit. You should have a 40A breaker--not a 50A.
But that's probably not the issue, since it's not getting hot at the outlet. I would say it probably is a defective mobile charging cable.
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