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Level 2 charger overheating in garage
- Thread starter matty0505
- Start date
What EVSE is it? It’s possible the flashing denotes an error code or you can pull error codes from it and go from there.
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I'm in Florida with the same issue. When the garage is very hot, I point the ceiling shop fan at the charger and the overheat error does not occur. Additionally, I set the fan timer to coincide with estimated charge time..
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Given the same resistance, 48 amps will generate over twice as much heat as 32A .
Power=current^2*resistance
48=1.5*32
1.5^2=2.25
@matty0505 is that on a 60Amp breaker?
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nothing new. my UMC has the same issue in a hot garage (98F+)... plenty of youtube videos about it too. The UMC just gets hot without enough ventilation. Connectors and wires are good.
Just dial it down to 22A on hot summer days and it'll be fine. otherwise i charge at 32A which is the max.
Just dial it down to 22A on hot summer days and it'll be fine. otherwise i charge at 32A which is the max.
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100 plus degrees in my "hot" garage and I have no issues charging with 48A. Is yours Gen3 Tesla charger?
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whatever they included for free back in 2019 when you bought a car... using it with a NEMA 14-50 adapater... max charge rate is 32A
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Let's be clear.
60A breaker for 60A circuit, with wire for 60A circuit. Max steady load is 48A = 80% of 60A.
40A breaker for 40A circuit, with wire for 40A circuit. Max steady load is 32A = 80% of 40A.
The gauge wire required for the 60A circuit is thicker than the wire gauge than for the 40A circuit. Resistance goes down and, by P = I*I*R, the Power goes down, precisely because the amount of heat generated has to be low enough not to singe the insulation. In fact, if memory serves, as one goes to bigger wire gauges, there's not a wire gauge for 60A on the nose; the next one up is, I think, good for 65A.
Main points:
1. If the clamps on the wires aren't torqued to spec, one gets higher resistance at the improperly torqued wires. This causes heat (P = I*I*R) and Voltage Drop.
2. All wire has resistance. Connectors have resistance. The voltage drop, by Ohm's law, is Vdrop = Current*Wire_or_connector_Resistance. If you have the wrong gauge wire (too thin), there'll be more resistance, a bigger voltage drop, and that wire will get hot. Likewise, you got a loose connection (not enough torque) and you're going to get excessive power dissipation and heat and another voltage drop.
3. I happen to know that the Tesla will detect voltage droop; I suspect that the Wall Connector can, too. If either does, software/firmware will either limit the current or just cut the whole business off.
4. The Wall Connector has temperature sensors. If the temperature gets Too Darned Hot firmware/software will either vastly reduce the current or turn it all off.
5. If all this wasn't fun enough, there's checks built into the car/wall connector that look for improper connections of the feed wires: Ground not connected, one or the other of the two hots not the correct potential with respect to ground, and so on. Any of that happens and You're Not Going To Get Charged.
All of the above is, really, an effort by Tesla and various safety standards to keep users from Burning The House Down. This is not hyperbole, I am not kidding.
Given that this is happening shortly after install, a good flip of the coin says that this is an install issue.
Having hung around this and other forums, one hears the occasional scary story. As much as I hate to say this, incompetent electricians have been detected, lots. As a random example: Many electricians, when faced with a 240 VAC high-amperage circuit, don't know (or don't remember) to check the wire gauge, what kind of conduit, and so forth to safely wire things up. Instead, they pull their usual shtick of figuring that, "It's the same as an electric drier!". Which is usually handled by a 40A circuit, and they knee-jerk and put in the wrong (smaller) gauge wire, buying improper ROMEX or something from Home Depot. Because of course they do.
Was this a Tesla-certified electrician? Some $RANDOM guy in a truck who offered to do it for cheap? Did it get inspected by a genuine electrical building inspector? If it didn't get a building permit... all bets are off.
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That’s a mobile charger. Pretty sure the OP is using a wall unit since he mentions 48 amps. It is important to point out these are different devices.
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yes. sorry. the mobile charger is what i use and they are known to overheat quite easily in adverse conditions. not a big deal though as it will throttle automatically to 16A and only occurs when the garage is 95F+
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Tech just finished. Secured Loose wire at breaker. Charged for 1.5 hours at 48 amp before I unplugged. Hopefully that was the issue and is now resolved
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Yep. That'll do it. And lucky it got caught before the heat generated by the loose wire fried the breaker.
Likely reason: That's a dual breaker. One leg isn't loose, the other is. Over at the car, when the current starts up, the voltage on one phase won't be equal to the voltage on the other phase because there's lots more resistance on the loose wire. Car/Wall Connector detects that and Saves The Day by turning off the charging.
Nice when technology works right.
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