Noob question on Chargepoint chargers

[Rocky_H]

That has nothing to do w/Chargepoint itself. L1 and L2 stations are EVSEs. They're basically smart safety switches. They don't alter the incoming supply voltage nor convert AC to DC. There's a problem w/what's feeding the EVSE.

You seem to be barking up the wrong tree, trying to "correct" something that no one is saying. No one is saying that the equipment is technically different or does some different function. It's more about how the Chargepoint employee installers or subcontractors do their installations badly in a high percentage of cases. It seems to be a very frequent occurrence that they are doing these very long wiring runs out to parking lots without upsizing the wire (being cheap) to account for the long distance, so it accumulates quite a bit of voltage drop, which causes some of these usability problems.

 

[Eno Deb]

You seem to be barking up the wrong tree, trying to "correct" something that no one is saying. No one is saying that the equipment is technically different or does some different function. It's more about how the Chargepoint employee installers or subcontractors do their installations badly in a high percentage of cases.

Site installation isn't performed by Chargepoint employees or subcontractors. They have a network of trained and certified contractors, but it's up to the site owners which contractor they want to use.

 

[Rocky_H]

Site installation isn't performed by Chargepoint employees or subcontractors.

Oh, it's not? Then who is it done by?

They have a network of certified contractors that station owners can use, but they can also use their own contractors (which I suspect are more likely to deliver shoddy work than the certified ones).

...which are employees or subcontractors, like I said.

That was about the wierdest post I've seen on this site.

 

[Eno Deb]

...which are employees or subcontractors, like I said.

No. Chargepoint neither employs nor subcontracts installers. They can refer customers to their network of certified contractors if they wish. It works in a similar way as getting a Tesla wall charger installed. Tesla doesn't send someone, but they can help you find a contractor.

 

[SSedan]

And Chargepoint which can see the charger performance does nothing about the frequent issues therefore they basically condone it.

 

[JB858]

There are several Chargepoint L2 chargers in my office park. Twice now I've come across a situation where it seems like they should work but they don't. Here's what happens:

1) Use Chargepoint keyfob or iPhone app to authorize... done.
2) Remove charger cable from the harness
3) Attach the J1772 Adapter to the cable
4) Insert firmly into the charge port on the car

The screen in the car says "Charging Stopped". The screen on the Chargepoint charger says "Waiting for vehicle....". If I open the Tesla app on my iPhone and select the Charging tab, I'm presented with a button that says "START CHARGING". If I push it, nothing happens. I then remove the cable from the car, remove the adapter from the cable and return it to the charger. It then closes the session and sends a notification to my phone saying "charging complete, total cost $0.00" (or something like that).

On other occasions I've repeated the exact same procedure and charging starts as I expect.

1) Am I doing anything wrong?
2) The Chargepoint chargers are "twins", ie they're 2-in-1, shared between two parking spots and there are two cables. It seems like each time this has happened there's already been another car charging off one of the two cables, but if I move parking spaces to another Chargepoint where nobody's there yet (0 of 2 cables in use), I can start charging successfully.

Any idea what's going on?

Went through the same situation today at a free ChargePoint station outside of an isolated business complex.

Not being able to charge, I continued on to my next destination which was a condo complex with ChargePoint chargers. Same thing occurred here. At this point I called the CP help line only to find out that the condo’s HOA would have to provide a code. Wondering if this code that would allow me to charge was also needed at the business complex and made available for employees and/or visitors?

 

[yuhong]

Most 208V CT-4000's I've run into have been between 198V-202V's. 189V does seem a bit low, but the on-board charger in your Tesla will happily accept anything around 120/110V'ish to 277V.

P.S. I wonder if the on-board charger would accept voltages as low as 100V like it in in Japan. LOL. Imagine the L1 charging speed...

I don't think there are any that don't. Though thinking about it, many outlets in Japan are not even grounded though that is slowly changing.

 

[TexasEV]

Most 208V CT-4000's I've run into have been between 198V-202V's. 189V does seem a bit low, but the on-board charger in your Tesla will happily accept anything around 120/110V'ish to 277V.

P.S. I wonder if the on-board charger would accept voltages as low as 100V like it in in Japan. LOL. Imagine the L1 charging speed...

Actually the Model 3 charger won’t accept 277V. HPWCs wired that way won’t charge Model 3s. It also won’t charge at 100V, at least not in the US. Voltage drops down to about 108 or 109V seem to be the lower limit before you get the red ring and charging error messages.

 

[yuhong]

Actually the Model 3 charger won’t accept 277V. HPWCs wired that way won’t charge Model 3s. It also won’t charge at 100V, at least not in the US. Voltage drops down to about 108 or 109V seem to be the lower limit before you get the red ring and charging error messages.

It now will charge at 277V (they updated the software). Have anyone tested 100V again?

 

[Big Earl]

Actually the Model 3 charger won’t accept 277V. HPWCs wired that way won’t charge Model 3s. It also won’t charge at 100V, at least not in the US. Voltage drops down to about 108 or 109V seem to be the lower limit before you get the red ring and charging error messages.

277 volt charging was fixed a few software updates ago. Model 3 charger should run from ~108 to ~285 volts in North America.

 

[yuhong]

277 volt charging was fixed a few software updates ago. Model 3 charger should run from ~108 to ~285 volts in North America.

Do anyone know about below 108V?

 

[TexasEV]

277 volt charging was fixed a few software updates ago. Model 3 charger should run from ~108 to ~285 volts in North America.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Big Earl]

Here is the information about the Model 3's charger:

Info from Tesla - 277v feed to Wall Connector (HPWC) - Which Cars Support It

 

[bearflag]

This happened to me at work today. We have Chargepoint stations at work, which I've used successful in the past with my Model 3. However today it won't charge, with "stopped charging" indicated. No matter what I do it won't start charging. So annoying.

 

[batdorf9]

This happened to me at work today. We have Chargepoint stations at work, which I've used successful in the past with my Model 3. However today it won't charge, with "stopped charging" indicated. No matter what I do it won't start charging. So annoying.

Same story here in San Diego. And same problem at two different Chargepoint stations both near my work. I have enough charge to get home and more, but still really annoying.

 

[andy92782]

Same story here in San Diego. And same problem at two different Chargepoint stations both near my work. I have enough charge to get home and more, but still really annoying.

Make sure you report the problematic chargers to Chargepoint, either via their app or through the website. In my case, I also bugged the property management company (The Irvine Company) to fix them.

 

[batdorf9]

I'm having repeated problems charging at the chargepoint stations around my office location. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. It's seriously like a 50/50 chance they will work. I've called their chargepoint help number, but there's frequently not much they can do. They suggested there may be a problem with my car. But it works fine every other day, and it works fine at home and with supercharging. Perhaps I need to talk with the property management company (also Irvine), but I'm not sure how they see what's wrong or not. Argh, completely maddening though. Maddening like when your internet is down at home sort of maddening...

 

[eladts]

I'm having repeated problems charging at the chargepoint stations around my office location. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. It's seriously like a 50/50 chance they will work. I've called their chargepoint help number, but there's frequently not much they can do. They suggested there may be a problem with my car. But it works fine every other day, and it works fine at home and with supercharging. Perhaps I need to talk with the property management company (also Irvine), but I'm not sure how they see what's wrong or not. Argh, completely maddening though. Maddening like when your internet is down at home sort of maddening...

If you have an issue with a dual-port ChargePoint L2 station, try both ports. I've encountered a station where only one of the ports works with my Model 3.

 

[vanbasten007]

Hi, I am considering buying a Chargepoint charger. My company Southern California Edison offers a rebate up to $1,500 on installation of a Level II Charger but a separate meter needs to be installed as well and this cost is covered by a rebate as well. What is not covered is the cost of the charger. According to a friend of mine, the Chargepoint charger can act as a separate meter. My question to anyone who's installed this charger is do you know if this would qualify for a meter for the purpose of Time of Use and hence the cost of the charger itself could be passed on as that of a meter. In other words, the cost of the charger would be covered by the rebate as well?
thanks much.

 

[saminatlanta]

I'm having repeated problems charging at the chargepoint stations around my office location. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. It's seriously like a 50/50 chance they will work. I've called their chargepoint help number, but there's frequently not much they can do. They suggested there may be a problem with my car. But it works fine every other day, and it works fine at home and with supercharging. Perhaps I need to talk with the property management company (also Irvine), but I'm not sure how they see what's wrong or not. Argh, completely maddening though. Maddening like when your internet is down at home sort of maddening...

I'm going to follow this thread as I've been having almost exactly the same issue (office charger not working about half the time I plug it in). It was working fine before the cold weather updates were installed...