Mobile Charger

[Jack91]

Hi all,

Recently got my first Tesla yesterday, second hand M3 2019(69) and its amazing, i love it!

However, the first day it charged fine with the mobile charger and the speeds i’d seen quote about and i was happy with it.

Today i plugged my Tesla in to charge with the same charger and it adds around 2 mile in around 10 minutes and the charger block gets the T flashing red which means ground fault by doing some research?

I borrowed my brother in laws charger from a much newer Tesla and it charged fine, so the common 2 things, the car and the wall plug must be working fine, once his had charged for an hour i retried mine and got the same problem, for his charger to work properly again straight after, i’m now thinking the actual mobile charger is broken.

The car is 4 years old this month and it’s done 36000 miles, not sure how previous owners charged the car but does 4 years for a mobile charger lifespan sound about right?

I figure if i buy a new one, according the my brother in laws working it should be fine and start charging again?

Thanks for any help, i’ve been getting really annoyed today and don’t know what to do.

 

[DerbyDave]

The mobile charger is warranted for 4 years. Are you still under warranty?

 

[Jack91]

How do i check, i only just got the car yesterday and its my first one.

Do you think it sounds like a charger problem?

 

[DerbyDave]

There is a sticker on the driver's door jamb that shows the build month and year (I don't think this is a USA only requirement). Also, I am not certain of the warranty for UK, but even if it is 4 years, you have to be nearing the end of that. The in-service date would be about a month or 2 after the build date. It is suspicious that the charger worked once. See if it continually fails. If the other charger worked, sounds like an issue with the mobile charger.

 

[ATPMSD]

There is a sticker on the driver's door jamb that shows the build month and year (I don't think this is a USA only requirement). Also, I am not certain of the warranty for UK, but even if it is 4 years, you have to be nearing the end of that. The in-service date would be about a month or 2 after the build date. It is suspicious that the charger worked once. See if it continually fails. If the other charger worked, sounds like an issue with the mobile charger.

Try this:

Remove the adapter from the unit. Inspect all four ends and blow them out with air if you can. You are looking for any debris or “rust” looking items. When you reassemble, ensure the adapter it fully seated in the connector, it could be simply it was loose.

 

[Jack91]

I will try that, thanks for the suggestion.

I seem to remember turning it off at the plug when it was charging before taking it out of the car.

Would that matter?

 

[Jack91]

Try this:

Remove the adapter from the unit. Inspect all four ends and blow them out with air if you can. You are looking for any debris or “rust” looking items. When you reassemble, ensure the adapter it fully seated in the connector, it could be simply it was loose.

Tried this and it didn’t work, contacted Tesla and they’re gonna book a service to come check the charger, i asked how long a UMC would last if used as primary charging source and he mentioned it should last the lifetime of the vehicle?

 

[tldickerson]

Try your charger on your brother-in-laws car. That should verify if it's the charger or not.

 

[Rocky_H]

i asked how long a UMC would last if used as primary charging source and he mentioned it should last the lifetime of the vehicle?

A product can possibly fail, but they're not disposable or anything like that. I'm still using my original mobile charging cable from 2014 for daily charging.

 

[FL_and_Austin]

There have been several changes with the UMC which made by a 3rd party (Delphi electronics?) and you can tell by the serial number. Also, the tolerances have changed on the latch port. The two biggest variables you are facing are different versions of the latch device on the tesla and the cut out on the handle of the charging wand. If you have an old UMC some have suggested taking a dremel to make the latch square on the umc handle wand a little bigger. For comparison look at the latch whole dimensions on the umc wand handle and the j adapter that is for regular level 2 chargers, see how bigger the latch square is?

 

[Amanfromconn]

I use Tesla mobile charger as a primary charger at home. Is it OK to let the charger plug in at all time or should I unplug it after I'm done charging. I don't want it to get to get overheated it's made for mobility.

 

[tldickerson]

Mine has been plugged in for over 10 years with no problem.

 

[Mercimek]

Mine has been plugged in for almost 2 years with no problem.

 

[ucmndd]

Definitely preferable to leave it plugged in vs. unplugging all the time.

 

[Lasttoy]

In manual , applies to every Tesla