ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
When our sub-breaker went on the fritz we found the 14-50 receptacle was getting scalding hot at full power before tripping which made everything connected to it hot as well.
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Gen 3 cord 23 degree temp rise in 10 minutes :(
- Thread starter MY-Y
- Start date
FWIW I just went out to my Gen 3 charger, which I’ve stepped down (from inside the car) to 36A because I get the overheating error at 48A too. My car has been charging at 36A for over an hour now and the cord isn’t even warm. This whole thing is such a mystery but at least I’m not alone in experiencing it.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
the last 3 days I've been having over heating issues. It was running perfectly fine for the last month at 48 amps. I bumped it down to 40 to see if that helps. Still stupid though as its down to 65 degrees outside right now, and it worked at 48 amps in the 90's
Tesla support told me this is a known issue and they are mailing me a new one, so we'll see with that.
I was thinking though, My cord was coiled pretty tightly on the charger, as I have an 18ft cord and need basically 4 feet. I wonder if this has anything to do with the heat not dissipating. I loosened the wrapping of it so it hangs quite a bit lower now, so we'll see what happens when I charge next
I was thinking though, My cord was coiled pretty tightly on the charger, as I have an 18ft cord and need basically 4 feet. I wonder if this has anything to do with the heat not dissipating. I loosened the wrapping of it so it hangs quite a bit lower now, so we'll see what happens when I charge next
lachambers
Member
I tried the same thing and NO difference with the overheating. The actual overheat problem is nonexistent, it's showing overheat but it really isn't. That's why tesla said we can continue to using the wall connector without worries.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
I don’t disagree. That’s the trouble with these things though, you have to run down every connection point to make sure you’ve done your due diligence.
On that note, I think my Gen1 (40A) connector is having issues. Starting to get the same hot receptacle and breaker problems running full bore so had to tamp down to 32A when charging in daytime.
I’m getting back to this thread really late—sorry about that.
My Gen 3 would overheat at 40A too, dropping the charge to 20A, so the firmware clearly just cuts the rate in half. It could do 36A for hours without problems, though. So I left it at 36A until Tesla sent me a replacement. Note it used to do 48A all day long for about a month. Then it abruptly stopped working, dropping to 24A every single time after about 45 minutes of charging.
Tesla sent me a replacement three weeks ago. I’ve only been able to use it a handful of times though (car is getting work done) but so far it has stayed at 48A. The cord still feels very warm. But no super long charges yet so I haven’t really tested it hard.
Also - mine is the 18 foot cable. I wish I’d gotten the shorter cable and maybe I’ll ask for that if they send another replacement.
ElectricIAC
Good-Natured Rascal
Huh. So at least they are having different reduction ratios that we can use to diagnose the different problems. For anyone who hasn't seen these yet, here are the telltale indicators:
1. 1/2 apparently indicates the wall connector reducing from overheating (I hadn't known about that one yet)
2. 3/4 Reduction from the car detecting too much voltage drop in the circuit, indicating possibly bad connection.
3. Reduction by an increment of 16 amps indicates one of the modules inside the car's internal charger has failed. (This applies to the newer 32 and 48 amp chargers, not the older 40/80 chargers.)
Pluturi
Member
Tesla has pushed 1.3.0 firmware to my Gen 3 HPWC. Here's hoping that it addresses the "phantom" overheating. Obviously it won't do anything for the ones that are really overheating.
mcorf
Member
Pluturi
Member
It’s supposed to come automatically, but if it doesn’t you can call them and get it pushed. For the record, it improved my charging situation as it stayed above 37A for 4 hours of charging. However, it only stayed at 48A for the first 30 minutes.
I’m responding to this thread because I see you have at least seen that #3 issue discussed. I think my car has that issue now, unrelated (I guess?) to my prior HPWC issue.
First, on topic for this thread and an update to my situation: my replacement Gen 3 HPWC has continued to function at 48A without error.
Or at least it did until yesterday. All of a sudden it was taking forever to move from 0A after plugging in, as though it couldn’t communicate with the vehicle. Then it would go up to 16A and no more. Hitting “stop charging” in the app just made it spin.
Inside the car, I saw the error message “charge speed reduced unplug and try again” or something. I tried multiple times, tried rebooting, cleaning contacts (which looked fine), no improvement, same thing every time, no more than 16A. Definitely not due to overheating, no red lights on the HPWC.
This is on a 4 month old 2020 M3P. Ugh. Searching the error online suggests the Power Conversion System (PCS) is faulty and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately the Tesla app doesn’t let me talk to anyone to ask—is the car driveable? I made a service appt but the next one is 2 weeks out.
UncleCreepy
Member
My gen3 wall connector never reduced the charge rate, but I am not comfortable with the thin cord. It gets very hot during the summer.
The Tesla SC told me not to worry, saying "it's normal". Well I am an electrical engineer and if a cable gets this hot, I do worry. It doesn't help if the HPWC dials down the current. It's made for 48 A and I want to be able to charge at 48 A, period. The cable is just not made for this kind of current and no firmware update will fix it.
My solution was to keep an eye on used gen2 HPWCs. Luckily I found a reasonably priced and brand new unit. Installation was a bit more work than with the gen3 but it's absolutely worth it. The cable gets only slightly warm after hours of charging at 48 A and as expected, the voltage drop is lower, too.
Obviously I lost the WiFi capability, but whatever. My phone charger doesn't have WiFi either and nobody cares.
Btw, does anyone need a gen3 wall charger? The cable gets hot while charging, but don't worry. According to Tesla it's perfectly normal
.
The Tesla SC told me not to worry, saying "it's normal". Well I am an electrical engineer and if a cable gets this hot, I do worry. It doesn't help if the HPWC dials down the current. It's made for 48 A and I want to be able to charge at 48 A, period. The cable is just not made for this kind of current and no firmware update will fix it.
My solution was to keep an eye on used gen2 HPWCs. Luckily I found a reasonably priced and brand new unit. Installation was a bit more work than with the gen3 but it's absolutely worth it. The cable gets only slightly warm after hours of charging at 48 A and as expected, the voltage drop is lower, too.
Obviously I lost the WiFi capability, but whatever. My phone charger doesn't have WiFi either and nobody cares.
Btw, does anyone need a gen3 wall charger? The cable gets hot while charging, but don't worry. According to Tesla it's perfectly normal
.How hot is "this hot" and what are the temperature ratings for the components involved?
What is there to worry about? As an electrical engineer, I'm sure you are aware that even the lowest domestic wire rating of 65C (149F) is safe, though at the limits of a touchable surface (depends on contact material).
Temperature Limits for Handling Electronics
I started this thread and have since decided that while the warm cable is suboptimal, but not an issue. (I'm an EE as well.)
My 14-50 on my Juicebox got much hotter than my Tesla HPWC. If I leave the Tesla cord with one loop instead of two, it drops about 20*. It's well within the limits of the cable. If the inefficiency gets to me, I can drop to 40 or 32 amps and enjoy the lower i^2*R losses.
My 14-50 on my Juicebox got much hotter than my Tesla HPWC. If I leave the Tesla cord with one loop instead of two, it drops about 20*. It's well within the limits of the cable. If the inefficiency gets to me, I can drop to 40 or 32 amps and enjoy the lower i^2*R losses.
everydaychris
Active Member
yikes so still not fixed?!
I'll be trying it this TUesday after it gets installed on my prius prime and report back to you guys with my very accurate review. HA
I'll be trying it this TUesday after it gets installed on my prius prime and report back to you guys with my very accurate review. HA
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