Intermittent Charging Failure using 120 volt wall outlet

[AnesDragon]

The local mobile service came a few days ago and troubleshot my electric outlet and the UMC charger and indeed it was a faulty albeit new UMC charger electronic which was a fault for interrupted charging. They gave me a brand new UMC charger and now I have trouble free 120 volt charging at 4 mi/hr without any problems. This is enough for me since I have 240V charging at work and free supercharging rights for life. Actually the Sparks, NV Tesla local service center was very helpful in initiating this solution.

 

[Parebal0]

The local mobile service came a few days ago and troubleshot my electric outlet and the UMC charger and indeed it was a faulty albeit new UMC charger electronic which was a fault for interrupted charging. They gave me a brand new UMC charger and now I have trouble free 120 volt charging at 4 mi/hr without any problems. This is enough for me since I have 240V charging at work and free supercharging rights for life. Actually the Sparks, NV Tesla local service center was very helpful in initiating this solution.

Most happy to hear your charging problems are solved!

 

[StellarRat]

YEA!

 

[ctvsurgn]

2 week old model 3 owner; 1st charging via 110 volt socket 1 week ago in garage went flawless from 53% to 80%, overnight (approx 12 hrs)when I woke up; however last night started charge at 23% and it stopped at 37%when checked this morning on cell phone tesla app. Charging port was blank , and after pushing charger a bit and noticing the car lcd light up, the charge port started flashing green and charging restarted. Granted it was cold outside garage ,but car temp was about 60'
is it worth mentioning to tesla or just pass it.

 

[voip-ninja]

2 week old model 3 owner; 1st charging via 110 volt socket 1 week ago in garage went flawless from 53% to 80%, overnight (approx 12 hrs)when I woke up; however last night started charge at 23% and it stopped at 37%when checked this morning on cell phone tesla app. Charging port was blank , and after pushing charger a bit and noticing the car lcd light up, the charge port started flashing green and charging restarted. Granted it was cold outside garage ,but car temp was about 60'
is it worth mentioning to tesla or just pass it.

It is worth having your outlet tested, finding out what other equipment is on that circuit that could be drawing power while charging, etc.

IF the outlet is 100% and is isolated and you continue to have the problem the next step is to try another outlet on another circuit.

IF it continues to happen then maybe have Tesla check it out.

 

[Dmt3404]

I had the exact same problem you are describing on my wife’s model 3, and also concluded that other “applicances”, were causing the failure by stressing the 20A circuit. I isolated the circuit as best I could and problem continued. I also used the UMC from my model S, and it still continued to fail in the same manner. I then replaced the wall socket, and tried again with my known good UMC. Voila.... all was good. I explained the problem to Tesla and they sent me another UMC. New UMC worked great, and original UMC still failed. So, I not only had a bad 120V wall socket, but a bad UMC. Hope this gets you pointed in the right direction.

I just had a 240 outlet installed in my garage, which is connected to a 20 amp fuse. It starts out okay charging at around 40, but with two minutes it changes and says, reducing to a slow rate and check the UMC .I have a 2015 Model S, now I believe it the UMC.

 

[TexasEV]

I just had a 240 outlet installed in my garage, which is connected to a 20 amp fuse. It starts out okay charging at around 40, but with two minutes it changes and says, reducing to a slow rate and check the UMC .I have a 2015 Model S, now I believe it the UMC.

What do you mean by charging at around 40? 40 what? Not amps, I hope. You should be charging at 16A on a 20A circuit. What kind of outlet is it? What UMC adapter are you using?

 

[Dmt3404]

What do you mean by charging at around 40? 40 what? Not amps, I hope. You should be charging at 16A on a 20A circuit. What kind of outlet is it? What UMC adapter are you using?

Because I’m not at Electrian, I may have confused the terms. However, I meant that car was charging at 40 amp as stated on the Telsa screen.

Update, I contacted Telsa and they spoke with my Electrian, it was determine that the adapter that comes with the Telsa is setup to receive 50 amps, not the 20. I was told to purchase a adapter for using a 20 amp and that should do it

 

[Cosmacelf]

Can you post a picture of the receptacle your electrician installed?

 

[TexasEV]

Because I’m not at Electrian, I may have confused the terms. However, I meant that car was charging at 40 amp as stated on the Telsa screen.

Update, I contacted Telsa and they spoke with my Electrian, it was determine that the adapter that comes with the Telsa is setup to receive 50 amps, not the 20. I was told to purchase a adapter for using a 20 amp and that should do it

OMG, didn't anyone RTFM? How did you even plug the car in using the 14-50 adapter? Did the "electrician" wire a 14-50 outlet to a 20A circuit?

Here is the installation guide for a 14-50 outlet (50A circuit):
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default.../NEMA_14-50_installation_guide_NA_US_2017.pdf

and here is the installation guide for a 6-20 outlet (20A circuit):
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default...s/NEMA_6-20_installation_guide_NA_US_2017.pdf

 

[Garlan Garner]

My house is pretty modern for house standard, built in 2003 and has good electrical wiring. I have multiple plugs in the garage with a dedicated fuse. This happens even on 120-volt 20 amp dedicated circuit. It's possible but I don't think it is inadequate wiring since it is designed for 20 amp 120-volt standard but I could be wrong. Someone else had to get the ECU and the charge port exchanged in order to get it fixed. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue. I will try to plug into the friends 120-volt to see if it happens again since he has been successfully charging his without any issues at his house. He uses the 120-volt most of the time because he does not drive that far for a commute even though he has installed dedicated 240-volt charger since his wife parks it there.

Did you ever measure your voltage?

It may be rated at 120V, however...once your Tesla starts charging....what does the voltage drop to?

 

[AnesDragon]

Did you ever measure your voltage?

It may be rated at 120V, however...once your Tesla starts charging....what does the voltage drop to?

My problem was defective Charger provided by Tesla. The mobile unit came and tested and changed the defective charger. No problems with my wiring. Thank you for thinking about it.

 

[MountainJedi]

So I have the same problem as the OP in this thread. I’ve had my M3 LR AWD for two weeks and have been charging on a 120V without problem (I haven’t had a chance to get a 240V outlet installed yet). The 120V is an outdoor GFCI that is only on a circuit with another unoccupied outdoor outlet.

Last night I got a Charging Interrupted notice. Tried again this morning, same thing happened after a few minutes. Following the instructions in the thread, I tried at lower Amps and it showed 120 or 121v at all amps. I’m not super familiar with electrical systems so I’m not sure what this means. I also noticed that after charging was interrupted, the display and app both said to “Connect Charging Cable”.

I also tried a different outlet and that also was interrupted. This time it seemed like the car tried to reconnect with several interruptions in a row and some loud banging sounds from the car. I disconnected as quickly as I could.

I haven’t had a chance to try a level 2 charger or supercharger so I’m really not sure if it’s the car or the UMC. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I’m thinking about trying a level 2 charger tomorrow (nearest supercharger is too far away and would leave me without enough range to get home if it can’t charge).

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[vickh]

Have you plugged into another 120V in someone else's home? Have you tried borrowing someone else's UMC? You should be able to troubleshoot this pretty quickly at a Tesla service center.

There's nothing wrong with charging @ 120V although the efficiency is pretty horrible. You are wasting a lot of power charging that way but I'm sure it isn't more than it would cost you to put a 240V outlet in.

How bad is the efficiency? I don't need the range (about 40 mile daily)

We might be moving in a year, but I could have a Nema 14-50 plug put in right by the breaker box outside for about $150

 

[Cosmacelf]

So I have the same problem as the OP in this thread. I’ve had my M3 LR AWD for two weeks and have been charging on a 120V without problem (I haven’t had a chance to get a 240V outlet installed yet). The 120V is an outdoor GFCI that is only on a circuit with another unoccupied outdoor outlet.

Last night I got a Charging Interrupted notice. Tried again this morning, same thing happened after a few minutes. Following the instructions in the thread, I tried at lower Amps and it showed 120 or 121v at all amps. I’m not super familiar with electrical systems so I’m not sure what this means. I also noticed that after charging was interrupted, the display and app both said to “Connect Charging Cable”.

I also tried a different outlet and that also was interrupted. This time it seemed like the car tried to reconnect with several interruptions in a row and some loud banging sounds from the car. I disconnected as quickly as I could.

I haven’t had a chance to try a level 2 charger or supercharger so I’m really not sure if it’s the car or the UMC. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I’m thinking about trying a level 2 charger tomorrow (nearest supercharger is too far away and would leave me without enough range to get home if it can’t charge).

Thanks in advance for the help.

Loud banging from the car? And it happens with a different outlet? Sounds like you need to take the car to service. Good luck diagnosing it.

 

[MountainJedi]

Loud banging from the car? And it happens with a different outlet? Sounds like you need to take the car to service. Good luck diagnosing it.

Honestly the banging is what worries me. I’m hesitant to try charging at another location or level 2 system since I’m not sure if it was the charger shutting itself off because of a failure in the UMC or something wrong with the internal charging system.

I’m wondering if there’s a risk to charging in another location, with another UMC, etc.

 

[voip-ninja]

How bad is the efficiency? I don't need the range (about 40 mile daily)

We might be moving in a year, but I could have a Nema 14-50 plug put in right by the breaker box outside for about $150

The car uses something like 4-5 amps on a 120V outlet just for charging overhead.