Phone charging cable - installation question

[route-66]

I'm trying to install an USB to Lightning phone charging cable in my Model Y. There is no room for the Lightning connector tip to make it's way out between the rubber pad and the cover (the one that slides left to remove). There's no gap - it's flush between the two.

The Tesla dealer told me I have to use the cable sold by them, it has a right-angle connector. Is this correct? I see no room for even this to protrude between the rubber mat and cover.

Have others experienced this? How did you solve it? Photos would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[tonyb99]

I'm trying to install an USB to Lightning phone charging cable in my Model Y. There is no room for the Lightning connector tip to make it's way out between the rubber pad and the cover (the one that slides left to remove). There's no gap - it's flush between the two.

The Tesla dealer told me I have to use the cable sold by them, it has a right-angle connector. Is this correct? I see no room for even this to protrude between the rubber mat and cover.

Have others experienced this? How did you solve it? Photos would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Same question - the Tesla store sells a cable with two right-angle lightening connectors for the Model 3, but it is not listed with the Model Y interior accessories. Anyone know if it will work? Sometimes wireless charging is just too slow.

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm trying to install an USB to Lightning phone charging cable in my Model Y. There is no room for the Lightning connector tip to make it's way out between the rubber pad and the cover (the one that slides left to remove). There's no gap - it's flush between the two.

The Tesla dealer told me I have to use the cable sold by them, it has a right-angle connector. Is this correct? I see no room for even this to protrude between the rubber mat and cover.

Have others experienced this? How did you solve it? Photos would be greatly appreciated.

I think to use cables you have to remove the wireless charging pad. (It's one or the other.)

 

[jerry33]

Isn't there another USB port? (have an X not a Y). If there is, just get a USB hub with four outlets and plug it into the port. That will let you have four devices--works fine in the X.

 

[leftfield]

I'm trying to install an USB to Lightning phone charging cable in my Model Y. There is no room for the Lightning connector tip to make it's way out between the rubber pad and the cover (the one that slides left to remove). There's no gap - it's flush between the two.

The Tesla dealer told me I have to use the cable sold by them, it has a right-angle connector. Is this correct? I see no room for even this to protrude between the rubber mat and cover.

Have others experienced this? How did you solve it? Photos would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Have experienced the same issue. There's simply no room for both a passed through cable and the rubber charging mat. Almost seems like the solution is a thinner rubber mat both for aesthetics and function (hold the phone in place).

Strange that they would equip the car this way AND include an animation of a passthrough you can't actually do.

 

[Jimt29]

I had to check to see what I had done. Under the armrest is the cigarette lighter/charger. I installed a usb to charger ($8.00) into that port. I connected an iPhone magnetic charger cable to one of the USB's and it works great. With the cable having a magnetic connection the phone just pops off when I exit the Y. Seems OK to me. Music plays great and the phone charges normally.

Here is a link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matter...igarette+lighter+to+usb&qid=1592347568&sr=8-3

Here is a link to the iPhone magnetic cables: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Cool-C...=1592347667&sprefix=iphone+mag,aps,151&sr=8-8

 

[route-66]

I think to use cables you have to remove the wireless charging pad. (It's one or the other.)

Have experienced the same issue. There's simply no room for both a passed through cable and the rubber charging mat. Almost seems like the solution is a thinner rubber mat both for aesthetics and function (hold the phone in place).

Strange that they would equip the car this way AND include an animation of a passthrough you can't actually do.

Glad I'm not losing my mind! The animation and instructions must be incorrect - surprising that no one at Tesla thought to test this out before putting it in the manual.

Looks like I'll either have to go get a thinner rubber mat or skip it altogether. The latter doesn't look great.

 

[Jimt29]

MP3Mike: As you can see above, what I did works fine. Charging pad connected and left alone. Am I missing something!

 

[route-66]

MP3Mike: As you can see above, what I did works fine. Charging pad connected and left alone. Am I missing something!

Hi Jimt29, apologies for jumping in on a question you addressed to MP3Mike. You're offering a good solution, but it doesn't explain why something Tesla says should work actually doesn't.

Tesla says you can set it up so that both are simultaneously possible:
1. Use the wireless charging pad which requires the rubber mat connected and remaining in place
2. Have a wired USB to Lightning cable positioned so that the lightning connector sticks out above the mat and the cable run beneath it

This is shown in the Tesla Model Y manual on page 24-25 under "Installing Phone Charging Cable".

It appears in reality that if one were to install the phone charging cable as shown, the rubber mat will not fit back in place. This does work on Model 3 where the rubber mat is not a wireless charger and is thinner.

 

[route-66]

And to elaborate, I woudl like to use both capabilities at the same time. I have an older phone which requires wired charging, my wife has one which can be wirelessly charged.

 

[leftfield]

And to elaborate, I woudl like to use both capabilities at the same time. I have an older phone which requires wired charging, my wife has one which can be wirelessly charged.

Agree that both capabilities would be ideal and is what the manual implies, just not going to be physically possible. Since I don't currently need the wireless charging capability, does anyone know for sure whether the M3 rubber pad part, which I assume is slimmer, will adequately allow the passed through cable underneath?

 

[kornelyus]

I was about to get a USB cable with the right angle connector, but when I started lifting up the rubber pad and the cover that slides off sideways, like @leftfield and @route-66, I too got confused about how the rubber pad would insert back and still allow the charging connector to protrude. Someone must have dropped the ball on that design, or forgot to update the manual.
Even if that was somehow possible, (or even with the rubber mat left off), I am still not sure how a fixed connector would successfully mate with the phone, considering varying depths of phones and phone covers.

 

[aahann]

I have an iphone 8+ and need to reposition it about a dozen times to reliably get a charging icon from the wireless mat. Is this a defect or just an imperfect setup ?

 

[Mo del Y]

I'm trying to install an USB to Lightning phone charging cable in my Model Y. There is no room for the Lightning connector tip to make it's way out between the rubber pad and the cover (the one that slides left to remove). There's no gap - it's flush between the two.

The Tesla dealer told me I have to use the cable sold by them, it has a right-angle connector. Is this correct? I see no room for even this to protrude between the rubber mat and cover.

Have others experienced this? How did you solve it? Photos would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I had the exam same problem. I thought I was losing my mind. I was using the Model 3 90 degree cable Tesla sells, and the rubber mat just wouldn’t fit with the cables installed.

 

[RetepRelief]

Took out wireless charger pad, put in usb c to usb c cable based on instructions. Then put charging pad back in by first pushing it up a little and then sliding it down into the crossbar.

 

[astrobill]

All,

Here's a spacer designed to remedy this problem, at least with the Jeda wireless charging pad. I ordered one to try with the stock wireless charging pad in my new Model Y:

Jeda Products | Tesla Model 3 and Model Y Spacer for Wired Charging

- Bill

 

[astrobill]

UPDATE:

I can confirm the Jeda spacer works with the stock wireless charging pad and Tesla right-angle-connector charging cables. A couple of cautions, however:

- It's **very** tricky to get everything to slip together properly, and I snapped one of the clips off the Jeda spacer on my first attempt. I anticipated this would be a possibility, and had ordered two spacers just in case. ;^).

- The Jeda spacer takes up some of the air gap needed for pushing down the door to release/open the center console compartment next to it. So that next door/cover does now slightly contact the shiny, curved Tesla stock piece that now sits connected to the top of the Jeda spacer. Over time, this contact may (or may not) start to scuff the curvy piece. Dunno...

- There's not quite enough gap between the charging cables connectors and the surface of the wireless pad to easily slide some phones onto the connectors. I had to remove the case from my Android phone to slip onto the USB-C connector on the left. It might work more easily with a thinner case. However, even without a case, I had to very slightly twist the connector upwards a tiny bit (not enough to damage or bend anything involved).

I suspect all of the above issues would occur even with Jeda's version of the wireless charging pad, but can't say for sure.

Overall, nice try from Tesla and Jeda, but they're both going to have to improve all of this in the next models of their respective solutions.

And it's still comical that the bottom tabs in Tesla's own wireless charging pad completely block their own cable routing scheme from working. I mean...they included an animated video in the owner's manual that is physically impossible to do based on the parts they ship with. It's really a funny mistake that some junior engineer at Tesla is probably embarrassed by.

- Bill

 

[astrobill]

All,

Here's a spacer designed to remedy this problem, at least with the Jeda wireless charging pad. I ordered one to try with the stock wireless charging pad in my new Model Y:

Jeda Products | Tesla Model 3 and Model Y Spacer for Wired Charging

- Bill

P.S. I think this all confirms what an original poster/commenter said: The Tesla cable routing solution is designed to work with the regular phone pad they used to ship with and *NOT* the new, thick wireless charging pad, which blocks the path to route the wired charging cables. It's definitely either one or the other. Tesla either hasn't updated their owner's manual to reflect the change or it's just an engineering mistake they'll need to fix.

If one wants to use a wireless charging pad *and* wired cables, one needs a spacer...at least until Tesla fixes the little shiny curved cover piece to allow cables to pass through it in the presence of the thicker pad.

 

[Ted T.]

Another option is to plug in a USB C to Lightning cable on one of the back seat ports. I've been using that to charge my iPad -- works for all iPhones, obviously.
USB-C to Lightning Cable (1 m)
to charge a new iPad Pro (and some new Android phones) you would need a USB-C to USB-C cable:
USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)

 

[EveryAmp]

And to elaborate, I woudl like to use both capabilities at the same time. I have an older phone which requires wired charging, my wife has one which can be wirelessly charged.

I made an adapter for our Model Y that works with Tesla's lightning to USB-A cables and also some 27W-capable USB-C to USB-C cables we were able to source. It works along with Tesla's wireless pad, so should fit your and your wife's needs with one of Tesla's lightning to USB-A cables.

We'd love to find some lightning to USB-C cables that will fit also, but from what we've seen, most Apple users are going to use the wireless pad anyway or are fine with lightning to USB-A since it's an older device.

Here's a video showing basically what you've already said about how Tesla's instructions in the manual are wrong too: