My On-Board Charger Broke, and I'm Glad [charge port ECU]

[Baluchi]

TL;DR: My car's charger broke and they replaced it under warranty with an ECU that is CCS enabled.

A few weeks ago I went out to the garage to drive to work, and found out that my 2021 Model 3 hadn't charged overnight. I was getting a "Charging equipment not ready" error on the screen, and my Grizzl-E wall charger was flashing an error code saying it encountered a "diode fault" (9 red flashes). Because of the Grizzl-E error I thought the problem was my wall charger at first, but my Tesla mobile charger was throwing the same "Charging equipment not ready" error in the car (using multiple outlets). I suspected it was a problem with the car at that point. I managed to barely make it to a SuperCharger, which charged the car no problem. So I figured the source of the error was the A/C converter on the car's on-board charger and made a service appointment through the Tesla app.

I had to rely solely on Supercharging for 2-3 weeks until my appointment, topping up my battery every 1-2 days. A bit of a hassle, but luckily there's a Supercharger fairly close to my workplace. This would've really sucked if I lived in an area without Superchargers.

Fast forward to my service center appointment. Tesla had already diagnosed my problem remotely and had the part ready to install. I had a two-hour wait and the car was fixed. No cost to me because it's under warranty. When I checked my invoice, I noticed the part number for the newly installed ECU (1537264-00-B), and googled it to find out if it's CSS enabled. My original ECU was not, and stated "Not Installed" in the CCS section of the software screen. But now it says "Enabled." I was going to have to upgrade that part anyway once Tesla releases a CCS adapter in the US, maybe at my own expense. But since my ECU crapped out, it's already done, and done for free. my minor hassle turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

One side note...I submitted a trouble ticket with Grizzl-E tech support when this first happened. It took two weeks for them to reply, which was disappointing. In their defense, they offered to replace my Grizzl-E, but by that time my car was fixed and I knew the Grizzl-E wasn't at fault. So not a major black eye to the Grizzl-E folks, but I certainly expected a quicker response to my trouble ticket, especially since I chose their product due to their North American location.

 

[FalconFour]

I was gonna say, when I first saw your error message photo, I've seen that before! It's not the OBC (PCS), thank god. That would be MUCH more involved. PCS (the actual onboard charger) is part of the battery pack! Not a fun job to dig into.

But yours is just a fault of the charge port ECU (a little white box stashed next to the charge port, behind the wheel well), something that I've, strangely, actually seen before on a coworker's car (where Supercharging comms would work, but J1772 & Tesla UMC wouldn't). Similar fix for his: replaced the ECU, easy peasy.

Super cool that you've got the CCS-enabled ECU now too!

 

[JulienWA]

I think I gathered from this thread that this is now the default repair behavior but I'm now embroiled in a battle with my Service Center becuase they keep trying to order 80-B to replace mine that also somehow went bad. I keep explaining to them that they won't be able to get an 80-B and they need to order a 00-B (SMH!!)

 

[Baluchi]

I think I gathered from this thread that this is now the default repair behavior but I'm now embroiled in a battle with my Service Center becuase they keep trying to order 80-B to replace mine that also somehow went bad. I keep explaining to them that they won't be able to get an 80-B and they need to order a 00-B (SMH!!)

Oh geeze, I hope they don't stick you with the old board, though I bet at this point you just want a functional charger.

FWIW, this is the part they installed for me:
CP ECU, ASSY, GEN 4,
NA(1537264-00-B)

 

[JulienWA]

that's the right one. Still no answer from my text I sent the SC this morning about this. I even called and spoke to them and asked their manager to give me a call back...guess who still hasn't called or updated the texting in the app? I ordered a used 80-B from eBay this morning. I'll swap it out myself so I have working Level 2 charging for my upcoming trip as a backup if they can't get the part I specifically asked for.
At this point, I'm hoping they come to their senses and order the right part and that we can get a damned appointment before my trip on the 16th. But if not, then I'll just be happy with the used one. If you go into epc, you can't even find 80-B as a valid part.

 

[FalconFour]

Eh, the -80-B is common - it's easy to get, it's also lacking the CCS parts. So, they'll probably try and give you an -80-B. The reason you wouldn't want an -80-B is because it doesn't support a feature that Tesla themselves don't support yet: CCS. If you want CCS, you need an -00-B. That's the only difference between the two.

-80-B is more common because it omits parts they're having trouble keeping in production (Qualcomm suc?).
-00-B is more desirable because it has those parts and supports the CCS adapter you can acquire/use today from Korea (Harumio, etc).
But Tesla officially doesn't recognize a difference between the two, because CCS isn't officially supported (likely for this good reason).

 

[JulienWA]

Eh, the -80-B is common - it's easy to get, it's also lacking the CCS parts. So, they'll probably try and give you an -80-B. The reason you wouldn't want an -80-B is because it doesn't support a feature that Tesla themselves don't support yet: CCS. If you want CCS, you need an -00-B. That's the only difference between the two.

-80-B is more common because it omits parts they're having trouble keeping in production (Qualcomm suc?).
-00-B is more desirable because it has those parts and supports the CCS adapter you can acquire/use today from Korea (Harumio, etc).
But Tesla officially doesn't recognize a difference between the two, because CCS isn't officially supported (likely for this good reason).

As I said in another thread, I am sick of waiting..I'll let them keep the appointment stringing along if they need to so that they can fix this for me, but in the meantime, I've ordered a used -80-B from ebay so that I can at least restore the ability to charge at home. I have a road trip coming up and it involves an overnight with free charging. I'll be also be staying a hotel at my destination that has free level 2 charging. There is NO way I want to make that trip with zero ability to level 2 charge. I am praying that it is as simple as removing the old one and plugging in the replacement one. My only concern is that I have zero pending software updates and I'm not sure how well I can count on them pushing another one before my trip.

 

[3sr+buyer]

-80-B is more common because it omits parts they're having trouble keeping in production (Qualcomm suc?).
-00-B is more desirable because it has those parts and supports the CCS adapter you can acquire/use today from Korea (Harumio, etc).
But Tesla officially doesn't recognize a difference between the two, because CCS isn't officially supported (likely for this good reason).

Is it possible that -80-B is discontinued because -00-B can be used in place of it, and it is easier logistically to stock only -00-B for use in all cars that originally came with either -80-B or -00-B?

It is not rare for car companies to stock only the newer revision of a part when it is backward compatible with cars that came with the older revision of the part.

 

[JulienWA]

I went into EPC (the tesla parts ordering website)---80 isn't available anymore. They only list 00, so I'm convinced that the Service Center in my area is causing its own delay by ordering the wrong part.

 

[JulienWA]

they moved my SC appt to a brand new facility that is MUCH closer to me (30 minutes vs an hour). They were much more wiling to listen/discuss this. They confirmed they ordered the correct ECU AND the onboard charger just in case the problem is in one or the other.

 

[JulienWA]

well good news. They replaced the ECU board with the new Gen4 one and it seems to have fixed the issue. I have no idea why the refurbed 80 that I got from the salvage place didnt work but there you have it. Also, surprise surprise, they installed some update and now I finally have FSD (my score's been around 96). I haven't had a chance to play with that yet, but I will one of these days EAP has been more than fine for me.

 

[Baluchi]

well good news. They replaced the ECU board with the new Gen4 one and it seems to have fixed the issue. I have no idea why the refurbed 80 that I got from the salvage place didnt work but there you have it. Also, surprise surprise, they installed some update and now I finally have FSD (my score's been around 96). I haven't had a chance to play with that yet, but I will one of these days EAP has been more than fine for me.

Finally! Congrats!

 

[FalconFour]

Is it possible that -80-B is discontinued because -00-B can be used in place of it, and it is easier logistically to stock only -00-B for use in all cars that originally came with either -80-B or -00-B?

It is not rare for car companies to stock only the newer revision of a part when it is backward compatible with cars that came with the older revision of the part.

Ah, didn't see these new posts, must've missed an earlier notification...

As to this: -80-B is just a stripped version of -00-B. The "-00-B" is the original part. The -80-B was created when Tesla couldn't get enough PLC chips to keep making boards, so they designed it out (since CCS was never a feature they promised).

So the -80- seems to just come-and-go whenever they get stock of those PLC chips. They seem to be making both. One is no newer than the other; they keep basically the same firmware, and just have different capabilities.

Just like different features of the same car model. One or the other isn't "discontinued" or "newer" or "older" than the other, it's just coming and going with the supplies.

So, they'll have the -80- one day, and the -00- the next. It's an odd game they play, because functionally, they have the "same features" as far as Tesla is officially concerned. It's just that the -00- has (undocumented) CCS support, while the -80- doesn't

 

[SK360]

Tesla replaced my chargeport ECU last year due to an update that borked it and wouldn't let the car sleep... I was hopeful maybe it was a Gen 4 but just checked the invoice and it shows Gen 3 1092755-99-D

 

[FalconFour]

Tesla replaced my chargeport ECU last year due to an update that borked it and wouldn't let the car sleep... I was hopeful maybe it was a Gen 4 but just checked the invoice and it shows Gen 3 1092755-99-D

Tesla can't (and has never) replace(d) a Gen3 ECU with a Gen4. The "Gen" is actually part of the car's full model - so you have a Gen3 car (chrome trim, resistive heater, charge port with cables inside), or you have a Gen4 car (black trim, heat pump, charge port with tubes/conduit). One can't work in the other - unless you trick it. And Tesla's not in the business of installing aftermarket hacks, haha...