Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register
This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I know theres other threads but I didnt see more recent ones regarding cost discussing onboard charger failures.

Car went out of warranty in March and they wouldnt let me buy the extended warranty when I purchased ~2 years ago because I purchased preowned private party.

The good news is they've dropped a few hundred dollars, more recent posts I saw people mentioned it was $2100, now its ~$1750 for replacing the on board charger. I just wish they'd last longer than 40k miles / 4 years, they did say the new one is a few versions newer in revisions so hopefully that makes it last longer.

Since february I've had battery pack, 12v battery, DC/DC Converter, air suspension louvre, lcd screen (bubbles), and now the onboard charger go out. It seems I get opposite problems most owners get lol, I must drive the only P85 with more than 40k+ miles that hasnt needed a driveunit replacement yet.

Don't get me wrong I love the car and its fair for me to pay it out of warranty, just hoping they get the $1k+ repairs to last longer than 5 years.
 
The good news is they've dropped a few hundred dollars, more recent posts I saw people mentioned it was $2100, now its ~$1750 for replacing the on board charger. I just wish they'd last longer than 40k miles / 4 years, they did say the new one is a few versions newer in revisions so hopefully that makes it last longer.

You should ask to get your old charger back, as it is likely worth a chunk of change to someone that wants to repair it and could offset your costs. (Most likely just one or two of the internal fuses blew.)
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: FlyF4 and GSP
You should ask to get your old charger back, as it is likely worth a chunk of change to someone that wants to repair it and could offset your costs. (Most likely just one or two of the internal fuses blew.)

Thanks that was one of my first questions earlier at the SC (if there was a core charge and since not I want to keep old part) lol.

Since I posted this I realized how many totaled teslas there are, hoping I can snag one for half the cost and just DIY the install, looks pretty simple.
 
In case you want to try to repair it yourself, assuming you haven't had Tesla do it, here is a video that shows how to replace the fuse:


And someone did a sort of companion piece on opening up their charger and replacing the fuse: Car Unable to Charge

Thanks, I just ordered the fuses after watching that. Going to definitely DIY that, fuses amazon prime were $10 each!!! I'll visually inspect it first to make sure nothing was cooked, I've fixed hundreds of liquid damaged computers in the past so its fairly obvious when something is really cooked IMO.
 
In case you want to try to repair it yourself, assuming you haven't had Tesla do it, here is a video that shows how to replace the fuse:


And someone did a sort of companion piece on opening up their charger and replacing the fuse: Car Unable to Charge

am i the only one really upset by this? i thought Teslas philosophy is to not make profit from repairs/rip off customers?
 
am i the only one really upset by this? i thought Teslas philosophy is to not make profit from repairs/rip off customers?

Elon has stated that service would not be a profit center for Tesla but given the amount of cash they are burning on warranty repairs and building more and more nice service centers, I suspect even at these prices no profit is being made from service. With that said, the bigger concern to me is the lack of available options from an independent service center etc. The customer has to trust that Tesla is giving them a fair price on repairs that only Tesla (or a knowledgable/adventuresome owner) can perform. In many cases we have seen prices for basic suspension work etc that exceed what would be charged by an independent garage. I recently shelled out
$2,535 for a remanufactured MCU after my center touch screen went dark a few months after the screen itself was replaced for $983.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CalBlue 85D
Following up with everyone,

I picked up the fuse for $10 on amazon prime and it came in yesterday. (its out of stock now for that price) That video was very helpful and had all the necessary steps but was missing some of the imbetween, but was able to figure it out with other youtube videos and some intuition.

IT WORKED

One thing the video was missing was the rear backrest removal and reinstallation, that was a royal PITA (Im sure if its done a lot you get used to it, but it took a lot of time). I actually called Tesla atlanta and asked them how to put it in (Brentwood service is closed on saturdays), they were helpful. I even told them why I was doing this and the guy said "Ya.. we dont service chargers, we treat them as a sealed unit, we mail them back and they refurbish them at HQ". I told him that was really strange considering ive had them open/replace components in my battery pack, why would they service the battery pack but not the charger?

Even if that is true, tesla has GOT to get a better solution for customers in the long run. I understand refurbishing a component such as a 10kw charger at HQ (I inspected the rest of my board and didnt see any burns/obvious signs of damage, ive repaired hundreds of liquid damaged laptops before).

Honestly, as hot as it is outside (almost 100 degrees and 60-70% humidity in TN right now) I would have GLADLY paid $300-400 to have it fixed. But $2k? That is obscene.

I still love my car, and I still love Tesla. I know they haven't had too many out of warranty repairs yet, but they are coming, and they better get their **** together for these kinds of repairs or it will result in really bad PR. The only positive experiences I had in this (other than saving $2000) was that the Atlanta guy helped me with the rear seat, and that the brentwood location diagnosed it remotely for free.
 
In case anyone else searches for onboard charger failures and needing some specifics:

The fuse part number for the charger was: A50P50-4 , that is it for at least the first gen charger (I'd bet 2012-~2015).

The youtube video above describes everything you need except the kinda rush through the 12v/HV battery disconnect process and removal of the rear back seat.

In the video he explained he removed the charger altogether but also mentions it is way easier to leave the charger in the car and to work on it in the car so you dont have to disconnect the coolant lines. I chose that route, leaving it in the car:

Below in the picture of the charger torn apart in the bottom middle of the charger you'll see the 2 fuses, I used a DMM to test them both and 1 was bad (I really wish I had just ordered 2 and replaced both, but amazon only had 1 in stock for prime and the rest would have taken longer).

View media item 117034View media item 117033
 
I'm hoping that by charging at 42 amps -- so each charger puts out 21 amps -- since I have the old dual chargers, I will avoid this problem. But if not, I'll be back looking for this thread. Great info.

Ironically recently on July 12th i posted on FB Tesla group about if charging at a lower rate would prolong the lifespan of onboard chargers. The first night I did it at ~25 amps instead of 40amps it blew. Not saying it caused it, but odd timing indeed. Probably gonna charge at ~35 amps now.
 

Attachments

  • badluck.png
    badluck.png
    73.3 KB · Views: 377
Last edited:
Ironically rcently on July 12th i posted on FB Tesla group about if charging at a lower rate would prolong the lifespan of onboard chargers. The first night I did it at ~25 amps instead of 40amps it blew. Not saying it caused it, but odd timing indeed. Probably gonna charge at ~35 amps now.

@Timothy Meredith Just as an FYI on the old dual charger setup amps 0-40 are all on the primary charger. Once you go over 40 amps it splits it evenly between the primary and secondary charger.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Rocky_H
@Timothy Meredith Just as an FYI on the old dual charger setup amps 0-40 are all on the primary charger. Once you go over 40 amps it splits it evenly between the primary and secondary charger.

Wrong. It splits the load and it's easy to prove. Set it to any number over 40 and watch it ramp up to 1/2 that number, pause as it switches chargers, then ramp up full.

Ironically recently on July 12th i posted on FB Tesla group about if charging at a lower rate would prolong the lifespan of onboard chargers.

The less current the less heat. Heat is bad for wear. I know they're cooled but best not to heat up as much as possible in the first place, at least that's the theory anyway -- and I've yet to hear from anyone who's split the load needing an replacement.
 
Last edited:
Wrong. It splits the load and it's easy to prove. Set it to any number over 40 and watch it ramp up to 1/2 that number, pause as it switches chargers, then ramp up full.



The less current the less heat. Heat is bad for wear. I know they're cooled but best not to heat up as much as possible in the first place, at least that's the theory anyway -- and I've yet to hear from anyone who's split the load needing an replacement.

I only have 1 so i wouldnt be splitting, ya that was my logic in making that post I referenced above, less heat = less likely to fail. Just bad luck mine failed 5 days after that post lol.
 
Wrong. It splits the load and it's easy to prove. Set it to any number over 40 and watch it ramp up to 1/2 that number, pause as it switches chargers, then ramp up full.

Isn't that exactly what I said? If you charge 0-40 amps the primary charger handles it all. Once you charge over 40 amps it splits it evenly between the two. (i.e. at 42 amps each handles 21 amps.)