Longevity of HPWC vs. Mobile Connector

[namlio]

I had been using a wall connector for about 2 years but it recently failed (red light on boot up and a reset would not clear). I had an electrician who has installed a number of these trouble shoot the thing, but they could not resolve the issue and told me there was no way to repair the unit. I also had a ranger look at the unit a few months ago when it would still reset and he told me that replacement was the only option when it finally failed completely. I had the electrician install a NEMA 14-50 and am now using my mobile connector to charge. Has anyone had reliability problems using the mobile connector when left plugged in and seldom removed?

I now have a $550 piece of junk in my garage (unfortunately I didn’t order the HPWC with the car, so the warranty was only for 12 months) and am wondering if I should expect to need another mobile connector in 2 years. Why should something so relatively simple be so expensive and non repairable?

 

[P85_DA]

I have heard about more UMC failures than HPwCs ..my gen one going in 4 years several hundred hours and charging mainly at 64a I did use higher on older car ...what version of WC do u have ? Normally Tesla is good about changing things like cable etc out of warranty ..u just need to work with ur local service center

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I have had at least 2 UMC's fail that were left plugged in all the time. I always had a second for travel. Considering getting a HPWC to replace my last failed UMC because it is more than 1 year old...HPWC's were so expensive at first otherwise I would have bought one for my house instead of a second UMC. My last new UMC got water in the handle /button the first day it rained + it was the revised version without a gap around the button.

 

[namlio]

I have heard about more UMC failures than HPwCs ..my gen one going in 4 years several hundred hours and charging mainly at 64a I did use higher on older car ...what version of WC do u have ? Normally Tesla is good about changing things like cable etc out of warranty ..u just need to work with ur local service center

I got the HPWC in mid 2016, so I assume it is a gen 1 unit. The ranger told me it was probably a contractor or some such thing and that the unit was not repairable. The cable was not the issue. The funny thing is that the HPWC never failed while the car was charging. I would go in the garage and find the red light on. The failure was always inconsistent, sometimes going weeks before failing, other times only a day or two.

 

[xyeahtony]

I wish i didn't get my wall connector (its not called a HPWC anymore ) mainly because im selling my house and moving and im still not sure how to deal with the connector. Leave it or take it? if i rip it out, am i gonna be liable for having high voltage wires sticking out of the wall? etc etc haha.

My daily charging needs can easily be accomplished by the UMC, even a Gen2 at 32A max.

 

[Wshowell]

FYI. If you ordered the wall connector using a credit card that doubles your warranty ( most do these days) then you’re still Covered. Just call the credit card company and locate the charge for them. Sometimes they want you to get an estimate on a repair, other times they just credit the money back to your account and you go buy a new one. When I had a Mac that broke at 18 months they asked me to get an estimate from Apple, they authorized the repair and then I paid for the repair with my card and they zeroed it out. We had a digital camera and the flash stop working a few months after the warranty expired, they just credited us back the money. Hope that helps.

 

[SSedan]

I wish i didn't get my wall connector (its not called a HPWC anymore ) mainly because im selling my house and moving and im still not sure how to deal with the connector. Leave it or take it? if i rip it out, am i gonna be liable for having high voltage wires sticking out of the wall? etc etc haha.

My daily charging needs can easily be accomplished by the UMC, even a Gen2 at 32A max.

Swap in a smaller breaker and 6-50 outlet(edited so the wrong info I had here doesn't mislead anyone). 10minutes for an electrician including the time to tell him what you want done.

 

[xyeahtony]

Swap in a smaller breaker and 14-50 outlet. 10minutes for an electrician including the time to tell him what you want done.

such a simple solution that evaded me. irony is my garage already has a 14-50. Guess now it'll have 2 LOL.

Actually now that i think about it, not so easy. the 14-50 needs a neutral wire while the wall connector doesn't. not sure how much he'll charge me to run an extra wire.

 

[Petra]

such a simple solution that evaded me. irony is my garage already has a 14-50. Guess now it'll have 2 LOL.

Actually now that i think about it, not so easy. the 14-50 needs a neutral wire while the wall connector doesn't. not sure how much he'll charge me to run an extra wire.

NEMA 6-50 (only 2 hots & a ground needed)

 

[SSedan]

I knew that and just spaced after a 12hour day at work.
Edited so the wrong info isn't lurking out there.
I just wired up my HPWC a few days ago.

 

[Rocky_H]

I've heard multiple reports of both wall connectors and mobile connectors failing, and I don't know if numbers are higher for one or the other, so I think they're both pretty susceptible. The main thing seems to be whether people are running them at maximum capacity or not, which tends to make them pretty hot, which is not good for the electronics and connections within them. So the wall connectors at 80A or the old mobile connectors at 40A got pretty hot. I am over 4 years with my original March 2014 mobile connector, and it stays plugged into the 14-50 all the time. But as I mentioned, I keep it set about 31 or 32A just because I don't need faster charging than that at home, and it does keep it cooler, so it extending the lifetime of it. I've used it at 40A a few times early on when I was on trips, but there's not much need for that anymore.

People sometimes forget that heat cycling is one of the really bad things for solder connections. When it's not being used, it is cooled down to room temperature. Then, when you charge with it, it heats up, which expands metals, creating stress and fatigue between dissimilar metals, etc. So even if something doesn't feel really hot at the moment, the farther that temperature difference is going from hot to cold to hot to cold every single day builds up stress. So running any kind of charging equipment a bit lower than the maximum rating its built for is probably going to extend its life and reduce the chance of failure.

 

[namlio]

I've heard multiple reports of both wall connectors and mobile connectors failing, and I don't know if numbers are higher for one or the other, so I think they're both pretty susceptible. The main thing seems to be whether people are running them at maximum capacity or not, which tends to make them pretty hot, which is not good for the electronics and connections within them. So the wall connectors at 80A or the old mobile connectors at 40A got pretty hot. I am over 4 years with my original March 2014 mobile connector, and it stays plugged into the 14-50 all the time. But as I mentioned, I keep it set about 31 or 32A just because I don't need faster charging than that at home, and it does keep it cooler, so it extending the lifetime of it. I've used it at 40A a few times early on when I was on trips, but there's not much need for that anymore.

People sometimes forget that heat cycling is one of the really bad things for solder connections. When it's not being used, it is cooled down to room temperature. Then, when you charge with it, it heats up, which expands metals, creating stress and fatigue between dissimilar metals, etc. So even if something doesn't feel really hot at the moment, the farther that temperature difference is going from hot to cold to hot to cold every single day builds up stress. So running any kind of charging equipment a bit lower than the maximum rating its built for is probably going to extend its life and reduce the chance of failure.

I was wondering if someone would mention this. I charged at only 24 amps with the wall connector because it was connected to only a 30 amp breaker. I replaced an EVSE I used with a previous car and didn’t want to go through the hassle of installing new wiring. However, I live near Houston, so the temperature in the garage is over 100 F at this time of the year, so the temperature cycling still could be an issue. I decided to dial back the mobile connector to 30 amps for now unless I need a faster charge for some reason. I’m hoping this will result in less stress and a longer life. We will see. Thanks for your experience.