How often do you have to reset your HPWC?

[gsteele]

March was a wet month in the SF Bay Area, and I had to reset my HPWC five times. So far this month I haven’t had to reset it at all. I’m wondering if this indicates the power company was having problems or if I should open it up to check for water intrusion. Anybody else in the San Jose area that had to reset their HPWCs in March?

 

[dog_car]

I have reset the HPWC 3X in the last 1.75 years. Not sure what tripped it. I am further down the coast - San Luis Obispo area. More moisture in the air here - on the ocean. Moisture was not my first guess.

 

[David29]

I have never had to reset mine. It is the 2nd generation type and has been outside in New England weather for about 20 months. (Hope I did not just jinx myself!)

 

[sorka]

There's a reset?

 

[cmaster]

You might just want to replace the circuit breaker. Not many people would think that, but, usually it's the circuit breaker that is failing.

 

[BrokerDon]

1st generation HPWC running for 33 months charging our 2015 P85D with dual 40A chargers, mostly at 60A / 240V and occasionally at 80A / 240V HPWC installed on a 100A circuit breaker in a 100A subpanel off a 200A main panel. All work completed by a Tesla recommended licensed electrician with an electrical load calc, building permits, and electrical inspection.

Never a reset.

Agree to check your HPWC breaker... and verify your HPWC:

1. wiring connections to both your HPWC and circuit breaker are very tight
2. plug AND your Tesla receptacle contacts are both clean
3. cable and plug aren't heating up. Our original HPWC cable got SUPER hot when charging at 80A and very hot at 60A... was immediately defective and a Tesla Ranger replaced it onsite free of charge since our HPWC was new (see picture)
4. was installed correctly (preferably by a licensed electrician)
5. had an electrical inspection

Note #4 and #5 are critical in case your HPWC creates a fire and don't you want your property insurance claim to be denied.

 

[Rockster]

Once in five years.

 

[gsteele]

It was installed by a licensed electrician, and it did pass the city inspection. I over-provisioned the circuit in the thought that someday we might have two Teslas. It's a 2nd-gen HPWC on an 80 Amp breaker, but I only have a single 40A charger in the car, so it's no where near capacity. Wire is 3AWG, and I regularly see 246V at the car while drawing 40A. Everything in the plug and charge port looks clean. I think I had to reset it once last winter. I will have to check on whether it seems to be getting hot. At this point I'm sort of suspecting PG&E more than problems with my installation.

 

[Doug_G]

There's a reset?

That's what I said.

 

[scottm]

Never.
Gen1 HPWC
Got replaced once under warranty due to handle overheating.. now I use it at 64A dialed down in the car. Still configured for 80A at the wall in case I need it.

 

[Canuck]

Never and I have two of them, one running at 80 amps outside.

 

[wdolson]

Moisture doesn't seem to be a factor in the HPWC itself. We can have some pretty wet periods in the winter and I haven't had any problems during wet spells. It had crashed a couple of times and had to be reset, but that was in the first year. I don't recall resetting it in over a year.

 

[Bill D]

To all that needed HWPC resets - What were the status of the red & green lights on front of your HWPC when it needed a reset? Was it a single red flash (ground fault) or double red flash (self test failure)? The HWPC is supposed to auto restart every 15 minutes after a ground fault error.

I've never had to reset either of my two HPWCs. I installed my first one 4 years ago on a 100A breaker. After 6 months its handle & cable had to be replaced due to overheating. I installed the second HWPC 3 years ago sharing the same 100A breaker.

However, last week, after being out-of-town for 2 weeks, I had a troubling failure to charge that may have been caused by an HWPC ground fault and auto-reset. I checked my app and saw that one of my Teslas had not connected for one week. I had someone go to my garage and she found the car's touchscreen blank. After she rebooted it, charging resumed immediately, my app also connected and I saw that the car hadn't charged during the week the car wasn't connecting.

 

[SDRick]

I have had to reset the few times in the last two years. It always happens within a few seconds after I plug in. I hear a click of a solenoid or something and then I see a steady red light on the wall charger. if memory serves me correctly I unplugg the car, press the reset on the wall charger and then I am good to go.

Any ideas as to the cause?

 

[pilotSteve]

My original HPWC from 2012 has been reset maybe two times in 6 years. Tesla replaced the fuses in 2013 as a warranty upgrade and replaced the charge cord as a warranty upgrade in 2015 (neither caused any failure, they were proactive upgrades). 100A breaker for 80A charging. Beautifully engineered product.

 

[scottm]

Hey Problem Guys, do you ever clean the contacts on the handle and in the port? Just sayin'

I do this about once per year, more if needed. The mobile UMC gets the dirtiest.

If you use a lot of public or SC, then your chargeport (and J adapter too) could probably use a cleaning.

For SURE cleaning the UMC and port has restored my car back to making good solid first-try connects when charging, that leading up to the need, were intermittent / difficult to get green / click clacky / cut-outs with jiggling the handle, etc.

 

[scottm]

My original HPWC from 2012 has been reset maybe two times in 6 years. Tesla replaced the fuses in 2009 as a warranty upgrade and replaced the charge cord as a warranty upgrade (neither caused any failure, they were proactive upgrades). 100A breaker for 80A charging. Beautifully engineered product.

Time warp?

 

[pilotSteve]

Time warp?

Yup, Tesla service is THAT good!

 

[gsteele]

To all that needed HWPC resets - What were the status of the red & green lights on front of your HWPC when it needed a reset? Was it a single red flash (ground fault) or double red flash (self test failure)? The HWPC is supposed to auto restart every 15 minutes after a ground fault error.

I've never had to reset either of my two HPWCs. I installed my first one 4 years ago on a 100A breaker. After 6 months its handle & cable had to be replaced due to overheating. I installed the second HWPC 3 years ago sharing the same 100A breaker.

However, last week, after being out-of-town for 2 weeks, I had a troubling failure to charge that may have been caused by an HWPC ground fault and auto-reset. I checked my app and saw that one of my Teslas had not connected for one week. I had someone go to my garage and she found the car's touchscreen blank. After she rebooted it, charging resumed immediately, my app also connected and I saw that the car hadn't charged during the week the car wasn't connecting.

The red light was on solid. I don't see solid red listed in the troubleshooting guide of my HPWC, so I'm not sure what it means.
Two of the five times I had been gone for a couple days prior to discovering the HPWC with the red light on.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Never had to in 2 years.