There are a few threads going here and on other forums for charging issues that turn out to be PCS failures. Most owners notice the failure when they are AC charging (Wall Charger or Mobile Connector). The charge rate will drop from 48A to 32A or 32A to 16A and give an error message saying "Charge rate reduced, Unplug and Retry".
Up to now all the PCS failures I've heard about on various forums have had the PCS replaced on warranty but today I was given an estimate of over $2,000 CDN to have mine replaced. The PCS is not covered under the battery warranty, just the basic 50,000 mile / 80,000km warranty. The PCS sits on top of the battery and controls AC and DC charging as well as supplying 12 VDC. It really should be part of the battery warranty.
The PCS has three 16A controllers, one operating gives you 16A, two operating gives you 32A and all three operating gives you your full 48A. If you are using a Wall Charger set up for 48A and one controller fails your rate is reduced to 32A and you get the reduced charge failure message. In my case I only have the Mobile Charger so when one controller fails I can still charge at 32A using the remaining two controllers, but I don't get a failure message until I have lost two out of the three controllers. By the time I lost two controllers I was outside the basic warranty.
I subscribe to TeslaFi and went back through my charge records and found abnormal charging started at 69,000 km and didn't show normal charging until 76,000km. Every AC charge during that interval showed the charge attempting to charge at 32A then failing to 16A, going back to 32A for a while then dropping back to 16A. It seems that one of the controllers eventually failed completely at 76,000km and then just used the remaining controllers to get to the Mobile Chargers max of 32A. And no error message for me to report.
If I had used a Wall Charger set to 48A just one time prior to my warranty expire I would have received the error message and had the PCS replaced under warranty as so many others have done.
I presented the TeslaFi data to Tesla clearly showing an abnormality and well within the warranty period but they refused to acknowledge it or even view it, they declared it non Tesla data. I asked them to retrieve their own data on the car and they said that they don't go back that far.
Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on appealing warranty claims? The service manager at the Vaughn Service Center (Toronto) had zero interest in discussing the complaint or assisting me in an appeal.
Help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Up to now all the PCS failures I've heard about on various forums have had the PCS replaced on warranty but today I was given an estimate of over $2,000 CDN to have mine replaced. The PCS is not covered under the battery warranty, just the basic 50,000 mile / 80,000km warranty. The PCS sits on top of the battery and controls AC and DC charging as well as supplying 12 VDC. It really should be part of the battery warranty.
The PCS has three 16A controllers, one operating gives you 16A, two operating gives you 32A and all three operating gives you your full 48A. If you are using a Wall Charger set up for 48A and one controller fails your rate is reduced to 32A and you get the reduced charge failure message. In my case I only have the Mobile Charger so when one controller fails I can still charge at 32A using the remaining two controllers, but I don't get a failure message until I have lost two out of the three controllers. By the time I lost two controllers I was outside the basic warranty.
I subscribe to TeslaFi and went back through my charge records and found abnormal charging started at 69,000 km and didn't show normal charging until 76,000km. Every AC charge during that interval showed the charge attempting to charge at 32A then failing to 16A, going back to 32A for a while then dropping back to 16A. It seems that one of the controllers eventually failed completely at 76,000km and then just used the remaining controllers to get to the Mobile Chargers max of 32A. And no error message for me to report.
If I had used a Wall Charger set to 48A just one time prior to my warranty expire I would have received the error message and had the PCS replaced under warranty as so many others have done.
I presented the TeslaFi data to Tesla clearly showing an abnormality and well within the warranty period but they refused to acknowledge it or even view it, they declared it non Tesla data. I asked them to retrieve their own data on the car and they said that they don't go back that far.
Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on appealing warranty claims? The service manager at the Vaughn Service Center (Toronto) had zero interest in discussing the complaint or assisting me in an appeal.
Help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Attachments
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Aug 2019 67800km last normal charge before failure.JPG239.1 KB · Views: 17,339
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Aug 2019 69220km start of abnormal charging.JPG248.9 KB · Views: 832
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Sept 2019 71770km sample abnormal charging.JPG253.7 KB · Views: 666
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Oct 2019 76430km charging stays at 32A until second 16A controller fails.JPG247.7 KB · Views: 787