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New Owner Of Vin 1157. Need Somewhat Urgent Help With Charging.

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Greetings,
I recently acquired VIN 1157. So far, I've only been able to drive it about 50 miles but I already absolutely love it. I have a potentially urgent situation with charging, however. I purchased a Can Sr adapter from the same dealership I purchased the vehicle. Unfortunately the dealership decided to, instead of just putting the Can in the trunk with the vehicle on the truck, ship it separately via USPS. Not only that, but they also waited until 3 days after the car had left on the truck. And in true Murphy's Law fashion, the tracking on the Can adapter hasn't updated in 24 hours so I'm concerned it might be lost (hopefully it'll update tonight).

....and the 115v 15a charger that came with the vehicle is now dead. The NEMA 5-15P end of the plug has that distinct aroma of charred electronics after getting the vehicle up about 10% in SOC.

So the bind I'm in is that my Roadster has about a 30% charge and I'm kinda desperate to get it charged up while I sort the situation with the Can adapter. Does anyone have any advice? I'm in SoCal (OC). Would the Costa Mesa SC possibly have a mobile charger I could use/borrow? If anyone knows where I could get my hands on even a 15a charger in the event I don't receive my Can in the next day or two, I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks!
 
I live in Irvine. Feel free to drop by my home for a charge. PM me for my address. I also have the CAN Jr an Sr.

Oh man that's super cool of you. I'll definitely contact you if my tracking doesn't update soon. I'm in RSM so you're not far away at all.

I think I remember reading one of your threads in the last week or two when I was doing my pre purchase research.... You're the guy who had his stolen off a transport truck right? Glad you found another one.

Thanks for the offer!
 
Greetings,
I recently acquired VIN 1157. So far, I've only been able to drive it about 50 miles but I already absolutely love it. I have a potentially urgent situation with charging, however. I purchased a Can Sr adapter from the same dealership I purchased the vehicle. Unfortunately the dealership decided to, instead of just putting the Can in the trunk with the vehicle on the truck, ship it separately via USPS. Not only that, but they also waited until 3 days after the car had left on the truck. And in true Murphy's Law fashion, the tracking on the Can adapter hasn't updated in 24 hours so I'm concerned it might be lost (hopefully it'll update tonight).

....and the 115v 15a charger that came with the vehicle is now dead. The NEMA 5-15P end of the plug has that distinct aroma of charred electronics after getting the vehicle up about 10% in SOC.

So the bind I'm in is that my Roadster has about a 30% charge and I'm kinda desperate to get it charged up while I sort the situation with the Can adapter. Does anyone have any advice? I'm in SoCal (OC). Would the Costa Mesa SC possibly have a mobile charger I could use/borrow? If anyone knows where I could get my hands on even a 15a charger in the event I don't receive my Can in the next day or two, I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks!
The GFI plugs can go bad I replaced mine with a similar one found at Lowe’s. About a 15 minute operation.
 
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You might try manually dialing down the amperage when using the 110V cable. This can be done on the car’s touchscreen with Settings > Charging > Current. Changing to 12A instead of 15A is sometimes the difference between it overheating or not.

However, the most reliable route is to replace the end of the plug like @dhrivnak said.
 
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Greetings,
I recently acquired VIN 1157. So far, I've only been able to drive it about 50 miles but I already absolutely love it. I have a potentially urgent situation with charging, however. I purchased a Can Sr adapter from the same dealership I purchased the vehicle. Unfortunately the dealership decided to, instead of just putting the Can in the trunk with the vehicle on the truck, ship it separately via USPS. Not only that, but they also waited until 3 days after the car had left on the truck. And in true Murphy's Law fashion, the tracking on the Can adapter hasn't updated in 24 hours so I'm concerned it might be lost (hopefully it'll update tonight).

....and the 115v 15a charger that came with the vehicle is now dead. The NEMA 5-15P end of the plug has that distinct aroma of charred electronics after getting the vehicle up about 10% in SOC.

So the bind I'm in is that my Roadster has about a 30% charge and I'm kinda desperate to get it charged up while I sort the situation with the Can adapter. Does anyone have any advice? I'm in SoCal (OC). Would the Costa Mesa SC possibly have a mobile charger I could use/borrow? If anyone knows where I could get my hands on even a 15a charger in the event I don't receive my Can in the next day or two, I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Those standard GFI ends of the 120V charging are notorious for going bad. I've replaced them on BOTH my 120V "yellow" charging cables.

If your OK with electrical, you can just rewire it you self as most of us have done with a replacement GFI end connector.

If you need it today, HomeDeopt and Lowes usually carries them. You just unscrew your old one, and match the colors to the new one, Hot, neutral and ground.

Leviton 15 Amp Compact Right Angle Plug-In GFCI, Black-R51-16693-THD - The Home Depot

upload_2019-6-19_11-15-37.png


upload_2019-6-19_11-16-13.png
 
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Those standard GFI ends of the 120V charging are notorious for going bad. I've replaced them on BOTH my 120V "yellow" charging cables.

If your OK with electrical, you can just rewire it you self as most of us have done with a replacement GFI end connector.

If you need it today, HomeDeopt and Lowes usually carries them. You just unscrew your old one, and match the colors to the new one, Hot, neutral and ground.

Leviton 15 Amp Compact Right Angle Plug-In GFCI, Black-R51-16693-THD - The Home Depot
The problem with the GFI plug that you linked is it's the wrong trip level. It might work once in a while, but usually it won't. The original GFI tripped at 20ma. The one you linked is set for 5ma. I think you're better off with a non-GFI plug.

If you get desperate I can send you a loaner but it doesn't sound like that's your best option.
 
The problem with the GFI plug that you linked is it's the wrong trip level. It might work once in a while, but usually it won't. The original GFI tripped at 20ma. The one you linked is set for 5ma. I think you're better off with a non-GFI plug.

If you get desperate I can send you a loaner but it doesn't sound like that's your best option.

Your right... it is 5ma... which will trip frequently....
 
Greetings all,
My Can arrived, yay! She's charging at a healthy 32a right now.

@Bunnak you da man for offering that help. Let me sleepba lot easier last night while I waited for the tracking to update. Thanks again for that.

@DeedWest yeah I tried scaling her back to 12a because I had it plugged into a 15a circuit. What finally made me suspicious about the yellow charging cable was moving it to a different outlet on a different circuit. Happened to be a GFCI circuit which quickly tripped the GFCI protection. At that point I unplugged it and removed the screws from the bottom part of the cable head to see if I could observe anything obviously wrong. No visible damage apparent but the smell was there. Also, when I plug that cable into a wall now, the green light no longer illuminates. Hitting the reset button results in a quick blink of the light. I think the cable is toast at this point.

@jfischer Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty certain that's exactly where the failure was. Not huge deal as I'd planned on piecing together my own mobile charging kit to keep in the trunk with a umc and some cans/adapters.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions. :)
 
The 120v cable is super expensive so it’s worth swapping out the plug to get it repaired. I had to make my own because I couldn’t track down a cable at a reasonable price, by reasonable I mean less than a new Tesla UMC to use my can SR with.
 
What finally made me suspicious about the yellow charging cable was moving it to a different outlet on a different circuit. Happened to be a GFCI circuit which quickly tripped the GFCI protection. At that point I unplugged it and removed the screws from the bottom part of the cable head to see if I could observe anything obviously wrong. No visible damage apparent but the smell was there. Also, when I plug that cable into a wall now, the green light no longer illuminates. Hitting the reset button results in a quick blink of the light. I think the cable is toast at this point.
Just unscrew the GFCI end and put on a regular 3-prong plug. Mine was still good, but I was having trouble charging the car on a circuit that had its own GFCI (one known to be a bit touchy), so I found a heavy-gauge extension cord and swapped ends. GFCI on the extension cord, regular end on the Yellow Cable. Without driving the car into your living room, pretty much anything you can plug a car into will be on a GFCI protected circuit, so you shouldn't need a second one. It's not supposed to hurt having two in a row, but that's theory. Practice can be different. If I suspect an outlet isn't protected, I use the extension with the GFCI end on it. It's likely to need the extension, just to reach anyway. If I use the extension, I make sure I dial down the current, too. It's only for unusual circumstances.
 
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Two GFI stacked won't hurt anything but the problem is residential GFI outlets are required to trip at 5 or 6 ma. Sometimes that will work if the moon is in the right phase but usually it won't.
Yes, that's the theory. Maybe it's urban legend, but I recall reading other anecdotal reports of issues with having two in series.

The one that trips is original to the house (ca 1983), and it also trips when I key up my ham radio on 15 meters. A pair of new 20 amp circuits that were added along with the 14-50 outlet in the garage are of course also GFCI protected, and they charge just fine. No tripping. So, I think the original one is either defective or built to a different standard. Or I'm the unwitting source of the urban legend...

I hardly ever charge on the 120v outlets since I've got the 14-50, but added the new ones because they were essentially free, and to serve as a backup to the main charging system. One can never have too many outlets.
 
...A pair of new 20 amp circuits that were added along with the 14-50 outlet in the garage are of course also GFCI protected, and they charge just fine...
I hope your NEMA 14-50 is not GFI protected. It's illegal to install one of those on a GFI circuit. It's not even optional. It's simply against code and would trip every time you plugged in a modern appliance that a 14-50 outlet is made for.
 
I hope your NEMA 14-50 is not GFI protected. It's illegal to install one of those on a GFI circuit. It's not even optional. It's simply against code and would trip every time you plugged in a modern appliance that a 14-50 outlet is made for.
No, just the 120v outlets. Didn't think they made GFCI fixtures for that sort of outlet, but yes, I knew not to even try.

For the parts cost of a double 20 amp breaker, run of 12-3 wire, and a pair of GFCI outlets, we added the set of outlets on the wall next to the 14-50. I did the crawl-space labor on both the 120v and 240v outlets. The big cost was that the 14-50 would have pushed the panel over its limit, and we discovered it was one of those "Zinsco" type panels which probably needed replacing regardless of the car. So for the cost of the panel replacement / upgrade, I got the outlets at a bargain... Oh, and this was before the 30% EV Infrastructure tax incentive expired, so that helped too.
 
Yes, that's the theory. Maybe it's urban legend, but I recall reading other anecdotal reports of issues with having two in series.
It's real. Happened in a different context in my house (GFCI breaker in the panel, GFCI on the outlet in the room, the breaker GFCI was tripped by the outlet GFCI.) Apparently the one "further back" in the circuit (closer to the power source) is always the one which trips. Not quite sure how this works.
 
It's real. Happened in a different context in my house (GFCI breaker in the panel, GFCI on the outlet in the room, the breaker GFCI was tripped by the outlet GFCI.) Apparently the one "further back" in the circuit (closer to the power source) is always the one which trips. Not quite sure how this works.
I could be wrong but it's not real unless your house is wired wrong. A GFCI works by measuring leakage to ground. Just because one circuit testing for leakage is in parallel with another outlet testing for leakage does not make the other one trip, or either one more likely to trip.

All Tesla chargers (and most non-Tesla charging equipment for that matter) have a built-in GFCI system. That doesn't make it more likely to trip the GFCI outlet that you might plug your UMC into. The outlet will trip first but that's because it has a lower threshold, not because it's closer to the source, and not because the UMC also has a GFCI circuit.