Gen 3 charger not charging after outage

[PhilMac]

I purchased a Gen 3 charger and had it installed on the Controlled Load 1 circuit so that I could charge the car overnight when off-peak rates kick in about 12.30am and turn off at 7am. In Australia, electricity only runs through that circuit during these times.
Unfortunately, the charger does not start charging when the power goes on ... just gives the blue light (communicating with vehicle). So, if I want to have a full charge the next day, I set the alarm for 1am, get up and plug it in. If it is already plugged in, I need to remove the plug and replug it in to start it charging.
I have communicated with 5 Tesla people so far over the past 2 months with no resolution to the problem.
One Tesla person told me that the Gen 3 charger cannot start recharging again after a power outage.
Apparently, it needs to be continually powered.
This would be a problem if an outage occurred, and you thought that you would wake up to a charged car.

I did try scheduling it to start at 1am, but it didn’t work.

Does anyone else have the same issue? Does anyone have a solution?

 

[Sophias_dad]

I'l

WTF?! Why would you do that? To quote from your own response you just posted:


Just use the car's scheduled charge starting time. It is simple and foolproof and always works.

As to this:

That setup with power cutting on and off is an odd situation that is not in the norm for what the cars and wall connectors were designed for. Electricians very likely wouldn't know about that.

l answer for OP. The HPWC is currently connected to power lines that will ONLY be powered at off-hours. I'm surprised that there would be dual sets of lines running to every home in the area, but that's apparently how it goes. " In Australia, electricity only runs through that circuit during these times." was in the very first post of this thread.

As a result, scheduled charging doesn't work for OP. The HPWC loses its mind when it sees a car already connected when it gets power, and scheduled charging doesn't kick in.

 

[brkaus]

Google says it’s relatively common for Australia. Not clear how it’s implemented, I would speculate a relay and timer at each house. But it could be separate wires.

Given it’s semi-common there one would hope an electrician would know. OP - did you contact the electrician,Tesla, or both?

Might need to beg for a refund/swap to get the desired functionality. Also, try local Tesla clubs?

 

[Rocky_H]

As a result, scheduled charging doesn't work for OP. The HPWC loses its mind when it sees a car already connected when it gets power, and scheduled charging doesn't kick in.

Oh, that's right. I thought this was the older known thing where the car is supposed to just detect and turn on and charge immediately whenever power comes back on, and that doesn't always work well because the car is asleep. I thought setting a scheduled start time wakes it up and makes that work. But yeah, if the wall connector is not reactivating, I get it. Sorry for my overreaction then.

 

[Sophias_dad]

One idea for OP is using Dashboard for Tesla to schedule the charge, assuming the HPWC will respond well to having the app(tesla or otherwise) turn on charging. This assumes OP has an android phone and it can be relied upon to awaken the car.

 

[brkaus]

One idea for OP is using Dashboard for Tesla to schedule the charge, assuming the HPWC will respond well to having the app(tesla or otherwise) turn on charging. This assumes OP has an android phone and it can be relied upon to awaken the car.

This theory could easily be tested by checking if charging could be started by the standard Tesla app. I’m guessing the answer is no sine the WC is gabbing s hard time getting through it’s checks while plugged into the car.

 

[PhilMac]

WTF?! Why would you do that? To quote from your own response you just posted:


Just use the car's scheduled charge starting time. It is simple and foolproof and always works.

As to this:

That setup with power cutting on and off is an odd situation that is not in the norm for what the cars and wall connectors were designed for. Electricians very likely wouldn't know about that.

To explain the setup in Australia. To "simply" change to the constant supply line means that I would need to employ a Level 2 electrician who has the authority to cut security tags and install new ones when they have finished working on the power meters. One power meter controls the constant supply circuits, the other meter is for the controlled load (off peak). When I had the Gen 3 installed, the Level 3 electrician charged $700 for labour. I had already purchased the charger.
The scheduled charger does not work on the controlled load circuit because apparently the Gen 3 charger must always be on or at least on when I plug it in.
The CL circuit is only on from midnight until 7am. I thought of plugging it in at 6.30am and then using the scheduling to come on at 1am, but this means I can't use the car all day.
My point about the electrician is that firstly, they are Level 2 contractors (much higher degree of training) and secondly, they have been trained by Tesla to install their chargers. I explained to three of these Tesla certified installers what I wanted to do ... none said that there would be a problem.
BTW the reason for using off peak is that it costs less than half the money compared to the constant supply circuit.

 

[PhilMac]

One idea for OP is using Dashboard for Tesla to schedule the charge, assuming the HPWC will respond well to having the app(tesla or otherwise) turn on charging. This assumes OP has an android phone and it can be relied upon to awaken the car.

At 1am this morning, I tried waking the car up to see if it would start charging by itself ... it didn't ... just the dreaded blue light.
I had to take the plug out and reinsert it. The charger then made a sound like a switch tripping and it started charging immediately (no lag time for "self testing").
So, it could be "simply" a software fix that tells the charger to flick this switch when power is detected.
Oh! I have an Iphone.

 

[brkaus]

One would think Tesla could address it in software. Depends on what / how they are testing things in the boot up process.

I would think the local Tesla folk would be understanding and push it up the ladder given the cost savings offered by this local standard.

 

[PhilMac]

One would think Tesla could address it in software. Depends on what / how they are testing things in the boot up process.

I would think the local Tesla folk would be understanding and push it up the ladder given the cost savings offered by this local standard.

I have just sent another email to Tesla to ask if the Gen 3 could be fixed by a software update as it seems that the Gen 2 is capable of coming back on after an outage, but the Gen 3 is not. Hopefully this can be accomplished soon so that I can get some quality sleep.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I have just sent another email to Tesla to ask if the Gen 3 could be fixed by a software update as it seems that the Gen 2 is capable of coming back on after an outage, but the Gen 3 is not. Hopefully this can be accomplished soon so that I can get some quality sleep.

Yes, I have now absolutely verified that applying power to a Gen2 that's been unpowered(breaker), then plugged into a car, then sits for 12+ hours, then gets power back(breaker on) automatically restarts charging in a few minutes.

 

[Rocky_H]

Yes, I have now absolutely verified that applying power to a Gen2 that's been unpowered(breaker), then plugged into a car, then sits for 12+ hours, then gets power back(breaker on) automatically restarts charging in a few minutes.

Thanks for checking that. Yes, that is what I had heard of for quite a long time as the normal standard functionality. And that would also explain why electrician installers and Tesla thought that should work fine when power comes back on--it always DID. But that never occurred to me to even consider that such a basic function would be broken and not working with the new Gen3 version. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that with how messed up so many other things were with the Gen3.

 

[Sophias_dad]

So I've been running experiments and PM'ing with OP about this. Running firmware 1.4.4 on my spare Gen3 on some temporary wiring in the garage, I can't get the auto-restart of charging to NOT work fine. I specifically unprovisioned it from my wifi so it wouldn't download new firmware and potentially mess up any further experiments.

I wonder if its possible to get and explicitly load old firmware for an HPWC. If Tesla won't supply it directly, maybe a TMC user still has it on their phone/computer.

 

[davewill]

Ok, this is a bit out in left field. The pilot signal is how the wall connector knows that the car is plugged in. The module linked below has a relay that triggers a configurable amount of time after power is turned on. You would wire it into the wall connector with the pilot signal switched by the relay. Set it to keep the pilot signal disconnected for short amount of time (a minute?) after power comes on. The wall connector should be fooled into thinking that you plugged in the car at that point. To power the module, tap into 12v coming from the wall connector's power supply. If 12v isn't available, you might be able to find a 5v powered module out there.

Alternately, you could wire a small 12v power brick into the wall connector's AC supply, but space may be too tight for that, and in that case the brick should probably be fused.

Note: The pilot signal is an AC signal between -12v and 12v, so follow the directions on configuring the module to control AC.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BT25J52

 

[Sophias_dad]

I had actually chatted via PM about supplying just such a circuit(aka relay/capacitor/resistor) to stand in-line with the chargeport handle signal wire(s). In my basement it would take a few minutes to hardwire, but there's no good no-soldering-required solution to get power to it within the plastic under-case of the Gen3 HPWC. Even switching all four signal pins(if needed) would be essentially the same cost, albeit with a slightly larger 4PST relay.

 

[davewill]

If necessary, you could wire a 12v brick into the wall connector's AC supply outside the unit and run the power wires into the case. Or if he's got a standard plug that's also on the controlled load, he could just plug the brick into that.

Obviously, it would be better if it were done completely inside the case, but it doesn't have to be.

 

[4charger]

I have the same issue with my gen 3 charger on off-peak power. Doesn't start charging until I unplug and plug. I moved to a 14-50 plug and it now works. Tesla needs to address this issue. Really disappointing.

 

[PhilMac]

I have the same issue with my gen 3 charger on off-peak power. Doesn't start charging until I unplug and plug. I moved to a 14-50 plug and it now works. Tesla needs to address this issue. Really disappointing.

My installer checked "Tesla only" when he installed the charger.
After heaps of helpful advice from the Tesla club ... most specifically Sophias_dad, I changed the setting on my Gen3 charger to "charge any vehicle" and it has worked perfectly ever since.

 

[Max Spaghetti]

My installer checked "Tesla only" when he installed the charger.
After heaps of helpful advice from the Tesla club ... most specifically @Sophias_dad, I changed the setting on my Gen3 charger to "charge any vehicle" and it has worked perfectly ever since.

Hi,

I've read this thread and just want to verify that the original problem (not charging when plugged in at the time of controlled load activating at midnight) - was solved merely by setting the charger to "charge any vehicle"??

I have a purchased a Gen 3 Wall Connector and I'm just working out whether I can/should connect it to controlled load (Vic, AU).

Out of interest, how many amps did they let you run through the controlled load? A sparky friend thinks it will be limited to 20A.

 

[OffPeak Driver]

I purchased a Gen 3 charger and had it installed on the Controlled Load 1 circuit so that I could charge the car overnight when off-peak rates kick in about 12.30am and turn off at 7am. In Australia, electricity only runs through that circuit during these times.
Unfortunately, the charger does not start charging when the power goes on ... just gives the blue light (communicating with vehicle). So, if I want to have a full charge the next day, I set the alarm for 1am, get up and plug it in. If it is already plugged in, I need to remove the plug and replug it in to start it charging.
I have communicated with 5 Tesla people so far over the past 2 months with no resolution to the problem.
One Tesla person told me that the Gen 3 charger cannot start recharging again after a power outage.
Apparently, it needs to be continually powered.
This would be a problem if an outage occurred, and you thought that you would wake up to a charged car.

I did try scheduling it to start at 1am, but it didn’t work.

Does anyone else have the same issue? Does anyone have a solution?

Hi,

I've read this thread and just want to verify that the original problem (not charging when plugged in at the time of controlled load activating at midnight) - was solved merely by setting the charger to "charge any vehicle"??

I have a purchased a Gen 3 Wall Connector and I'm just working out whether I can/should connect it to controlled load (Vic, AU).

Out of interest, how many amps did they let you run through the controlled load? A sparky friend thinks it will be limited to 20A.

Hi,
I'd like to purchase a Tesla Wall Connector Gen 3 to charge my non-Tesla using overnight Controlled Load power for the cheaper rates. Can anyone confirm that cutting the power to the TWC charger with the circuit breaker for a few minutes, then plugging in a non-Tesla while TWC is unpowered, will still allow charging to start upon TWC power reconnection?
Many thanks

 

[davewill]

Hi,
I'd like to purchase a Tesla Wall Connector Gen 3 to charge my non-Tesla using overnight Controlled Load power for the cheaper rates. Can anyone confirm that cutting the power to the TWC charger with the circuit breaker for a few minutes, then plugging in a non-Tesla while TWC is unpowered, will still allow charging to start upon TWC power reconnection?
Many thanks

That would depend more on your car than the wall connector. It should work fine, but there's no way to be positive without trying it.