-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
HELP, stuck at a supercharger with 5 people and it's not charging!
- Thread starter Brandon332
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Model S
I stopped charging and switched to another stall, charge was somehow return to 50-60 kW/h still slow than normally 90-100 kW/h
I then switched again around 30%, then it back to normal 90-100 kW/h, So at least it's not a permanent problem on my car
EVie'sDad
Member
Plugging in at below 10 percent and above 90 percent charge will charge more slowly to balance the battery. Typically keep mine charged between 20 and 80 percent, so never encounter these 'slowdowns', but then I also charge at the office and occasionally @home. Also, as stated earlier, the battery may need to cool down/warm up before charging ramps up again due to keeping the battery in the optimum temperature range while supercharging.
Brass Guy
Active Member
My car did exactly the same thing, but only in one place - Las Vegas. I was on a 2 week burner of a cross country trip.
It happened on both A and B of only one charger, I think it was 1A and 1B, but plugging into another number the car charged fine.
I came back to this charger later that day after driving around, and had the same issue.
Then another driver plugged in and charged fine in that bay. (I asked.)
It happened on both A and B of only one charger, I think it was 1A and 1B, but plugging into another number the car charged fine.
I came back to this charger later that day after driving around, and had the same issue.
Then another driver plugged in and charged fine in that bay. (I asked.)
Drone Flyer
Active Member
GlmnAlyAirCar
Active Member
Don't make stuff up. There's nothing about starting a charge below 10 percent that would slow a supercharging session.
ThatOneRoadie
Member
It was on the same screen as the parking break. At work so can't check now. There are only 2 stalls in Milford CT and there was other S plugged in. I walked around the rest stop trying to find that person because I just had enough in theory to get to the next Supercharger but did not want to chance it with my entire family with me. luckily the charger started working after the full shutdown. Don't know if that was the solution or Tesla did something on their end. I just followed their directions.
Thanks everyone for the help. Sorry i didn't reply earlier, I had to continue the trip. I have no useful news here, I was on hold with Tesla, and after 45 minutes it just started charging so I hung up. Still unsure of the issue. And FYI, for the 1st 20 minutes or so we were experimenting, so I was only waiting on the call for about 20 minutes.
Chargers are paired A and B. If you are the first person in a pair, you get the full charge based on the state of charge of the battery. If you are the second person, you get what's left over. Note that pairs may not be next to each other. That is the can be installed 1A-1B, 2A-2B,... or 1A,2A,3A,4A 1B,2B,... You have to look to see which is which. So if someone is plugged into 1A, you should not plug into 1B for the quickest charge.
I understand there can also be throttling due to temperature. I've not experienced this myself so I don't have a lot to say about it other than it's been reported.
EVie'sDad
Member
I wasn't making stuff up.
"Charging from 10% to 80% is quick and typically provides ample range to travel between most Superchargers. Charging from 80% to 100% doubles the charge time because the car must reduce current to top off cells. Actual charge times may vary."
and
"There are many factors that affect the actual charge rate, including ambient temperature, utility grid restrictions and charging traffic, amongst others."
Source for both quotes: Supercharger | Tesla
and
"I am Supercharging, but not as quickly as I expected. What could be happening?
Your Tesla vehicle and the Superchargers communicate to select the appropriate charging rate for your car. Supercharging rate may vary due to battery charge level, current use of the Supercharger station and extreme climate conditions. Your Tesla vehicle charges faster when the battery is at a lower State of Charge, and charging slows down as it fills up. Depending on your destination, charging to completely full is often not necessary."
Source: Supercharging
There is also a forum discussion that references rates, and cites being less when BEV charging is started below 10%.
Model S supercharging times compared S60, S70D, S85, P85D, S85D | Tesla Motors
Last edited:
TMobe
I have forgotten more than I remember
Exactly the same thing happened to a guy at the new Folsom SC. I plugged into 3A and he asked me what I was charging at. He was in 1B. 1A was empty. He returned to his car because when he checked the app it said 5hrs till charge complete. He moved to 1A with same result. Then moved to 2A and normal charging was available.
We tested 1A/B with other vehicles that arrived with same results. So we called it in and coned the spots.
GlmnAlyAirCar
Active Member
EVie'sDad
Member
Where? Where random forum owners are trying to fit a curve to the SpC graph and have a formula for it? Due to them having a piece-wise formula with below 10% and above 10%? That doesn't mean it charges slower.
Look at the curve Bjorn posted, if it were an S-shaped curve, then you could argue that the car charges slower below 10%, and then higher; it's not an S-shaped curve. The derivative of the curve looks like it's monotonically decreasing, which means that the charging rate is monotonically decreasing (i.e. starts high and goes low, is not low-high-low).
Ok everyone, the issue has been solved, and it appears that @systemcrashed was the closest! Someone from our local SC reached out to me today, apparently they are reading the forums because I didn't talk to them about it. He said the following:
"Based on your screenshot [my screenshot of the app saying 0 amps] and the logs, the reason the vehicle took so long to supercharge was because it was so low on charge. This problem really only presents itself in the summer, but basically the battery pack is too hot to take a charge, so the Supercharger waits until the battery pack cools down before it starts charging. If the battery was at about a 20% state of charge this would not be nearly as much of a problem. Therefore, my suggestion would be not to run the battery down below about 40 miles or so if the ambient temperature is over 60 Fahrenheit when looking to go Supercharge."
I had been driving for hours and the temp was about 80, 6 people in the car and I had 8 miles to empty, so this would make sense. Problem solved
"Based on your screenshot [my screenshot of the app saying 0 amps] and the logs, the reason the vehicle took so long to supercharge was because it was so low on charge. This problem really only presents itself in the summer, but basically the battery pack is too hot to take a charge, so the Supercharger waits until the battery pack cools down before it starts charging. If the battery was at about a 20% state of charge this would not be nearly as much of a problem. Therefore, my suggestion would be not to run the battery down below about 40 miles or so if the ambient temperature is over 60 Fahrenheit when looking to go Supercharge."
I had been driving for hours and the temp was about 80, 6 people in the car and I had 8 miles to empty, so this would make sense. Problem solved
ElectricTundra
P85D AP1
Am I correct then that in order to deliver energy to the motor that the batter gets considerably hotter at lower charge levels than higher? So, when around 10% then slowing down a bit should reduce demand on the battery and thus heat build up and so decrease cooling time and so also decrease overall charging time?
So, at 10% SOC with 10 miles to SC and 72f. How fast would be optimal to keep temp down?
So, at 10% SOC with 10 miles to SC and 72f. How fast would be optimal to keep temp down?
I'm sorry, I have trouble believing that answer. A few weeks ago we drove from San Diego to Reno, mostly through SoCal desert at 100degF, and regularly pulled into superchargers along the way with 20-40 miles range left. At no time did I see slow initial charging. Sure, as soon as it was plugged in it started cooling the battery ferociously, but it took the charge at 80-90kW straight away (I have an A battery, it won't take 120kW. If the above is believable, maybe it's related to the later batteries.) I have never seen degraded charging other than when I was getting sloppy seconds, and once at Harris Ranch early on when the power was unreliable.
