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HPWC Not Working

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Nevek

Overt Member
Apr 30, 2014
583
289
Seattle
My HPWC has no lights on in front and in place of my normal 3:00AM scheduled charge at 56A, my phone app reported three messages of "Charging Interrupted at 3:01AM with battery at 75%".

I've tried the HPWC reset button and resetting the 100A dedicated breaker with no change.

The 85D charges fine with the MC plugged into a 14-50 that I had set up as a spare/futures. The 14-50 is on a separate 50A circuit in a 200A panel dedicated to charging.

Since I can charge, I decided to just send Tesla an email as opposed to calling on this holiday Sunday, but I'm curious if the brain trust (I mean this most sincerely) has any other ideas in the interim?

Thanks!
brain_trust.jpg
 
and/or you could have a wiring/breaker problem going to the HPWC (check both the breaker at the main box and your secondary by the HPWC if you have one). Take it from someone that went through this recently. ;)

I had sporadic interrupted messages for a week before my hard failure earlier this month, but each time before, charging started again successfully so I figured it was a glitch in the Tesla App or MS firmware and just added it to my list to ask about next time I went to the SC. Then, one night I woke up to repeated interrupted messages from my Tesla App, and had to go out to physically stop my MS from keep retrying the charge -- at that point I still had a green light on the HPWC. Went back to bed and at 5:30AM the HPWC was dead. Called the 800-number, they queued the problem up with my SC; I received a call from an Advisor at 7:30AM when the SC opened who had already gone through my logs. My MS and HPWC are both within warranty (oh, and I have an optional dual charger). We talked through what was going on and what I'd tried including my UMC at 110V -- his assessment was it was likely the HPWC, but could be connected with a problem in my dual charger as well. I drove down to the SC and tested my MS on their HPWC to rule out my dual charger. My Advisor had already ordered a new HPWC which arrived later that afternoon. He scheduled an electrician who came out the next day, checked my wiring closely, and replaced the HPWC all on Tesla's nickel. No problems since ...and I couldn't have asked for a better service experience, except of course to not have had a problem in the first place.


Simply confirming mrElbe's observation that early HPWCs had problems like this. My 2nd electrician that Tesla sent out with a new HPWC, told me it's what he replaces most of. Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell you if you have a Gen 1 or 2.

Good luck.
 
As an FYI for anyone with the issue in the future, I opened the HPWC and it was obvious that the fuse had blown and the plastic melted around the power input connector.

Tesla is covering this under the one year HPWC warranty and will have an electrician replace it this week.

I normally charge at 56A and it's been fine for about 8 months. It is a little concerning that I've read of quite a few issues with the HPWC and people had attributed some of them to rev levels A and some of B, but this one is rev D.

Tesla Service has been very responsive, but I hope I don't need to deal with this again, particularly since the HPWC only has a 1 year warranty since it can no longer be ordered with the vehicle.
 

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From what I see in the photo, that appears to be heat damage originating from the wiring connection to the HPWC. The greatest amount of heat appears to have originated at the screw where the wiring was connected. Could be the wiring wasn't torqued correctly.

The fuse likely blew from conduction of heat to the fuse body from the power terminal.
 
From what I see in the photo, that appears to be heat damage originating from the wiring connection to the HPWC. The greatest amount of heat appears to have originated at the screw where the wiring was connected. Could be the wiring wasn't torqued correctly.

The fuse likely blew from conduction of heat to the fuse body from the power terminal.

Thanks for the feedback.
The same Tesla-recommended electrician that did the original install will be doing the replacement, so hopefully they get it torqued down properly. They do a lot of HPWC in the Seattle area.
 
I have a almost 3 year old HPWC that I use to charge at 80 amps. About 6 months ago (over 2 years since I got the HPWC) it started interrupting the charging (I charge from 1 am to 6 am), then it quit all together. Tesla sent out a Ranger to upgrade my old HPWC with the new fuse design. No cost and it has worked perfectly since then.

I would charge at 80 amps, which is how the HPWC is designed and rated, and the reason whay you paid for dual chargers!
 
From experience, the terminal torques are always way more than you think, and most people seem not to use a torque wrench. Worse, no one is going to achieve 50 lb-in on those screws with a normal screwdriver.
Yes, if you do a lot of electrical work it's handy to have some Robertson drivers around.
 
Yes, if you do a lot of electrical work it's handy to have some Robertson drivers around.

I do a lot of work with American electrical equipment manufacturers, many of whom wish to bring products to Canada. We put a lot of pressure on them to supply screws with Robertson heads (Square) on their products. *Many* comply with a tri-screw or Robertson. Robertson is the standard in Canada. Better torque, and the screws don't fall off the driver, even if completely inverted. It's a well kept Canadian secret.

You can blame us if you see them in your equipment....but just pick up a red and green "robbie" screwdriver....you'll like them.
 
I do a lot of work with American electrical equipment manufacturers, many of whom wish to bring products to Canada. We put a lot of pressure on them to supply screws with Robertson heads (Square) on their products. *Many* comply with a tri-screw or Robertson. Robertson is the standard in Canada. Better torque, and the screws don't fall off the driver, even if completely inverted. It's a well kept Canadian secret.

You can blame us if you see them in your equipment....but just pick up a red and green "robbie" screwdriver....you'll like them.

I remember when they told me we would be "switching to the metric system any day now" in elementary school. Americans are slow to adopt certain things, heh. Of course they also told me I'd "use algebra almost every day", so...