Problems with HPWC?

[fdismuke]

Has anyone had issues with the HPWC from Tesla? I received mine and started using it about two weeks ago. I have been out of town quite a bit, and only used it about five times since receiving it. On Thursday morning, I awoke to find the HPWC with no power too it. I reset all of the house breakers and found the unit still had no power. I called Tesla and they stated that the internal 100Amp fuses must have blown. They sent me instructions on how to fix this, and told me to order fuses from a local electrical retailer. Well, my local retailer is about 50 miles away, and the fuses are about $50 each and there are two. Tesla said they would send me 2 fuses for free as a "goodwill" gesture since the fuses are not covered under warranty. Ugh! My opinion, since the charger is less than 30 days old the charger should be covered under warranty no matter what the issue. Also, my electrician is now a bit nervous to replace the internal fuses since those fusable links are the "last resort" fusable link. He feels the HPWC has a design or manufacturing flaw.

Has anyone had similar issues with the HPWC? I'm left now with no way to charge my car other than a 110 volt outlet. (This outlet charges at a whopping 2 miles per hour.) I'm having my electrician put back the NEMA 14-50 that I had in the interum and really considering sending back the HPWC for a full refund.

 

[Doug_G]

It's very odd that those fuses would blow. Most likely 100% of the power going through those fuses is going directly into the car. I find it hard to fathom how an HPWC problem could cause them to blow, unless the fuses themselves were defective.

 

[brianman]

My first HPWC blew it's fuse in the first few days. HPWC wentdark - no steady green when not in use. Same "no response" with resettting the house breakers.

Electrician came back out to look and chatted with Tesla. Tesla chose to replace the HPWC in part so they could diagnose.

New HPWC arrived and installed. Electrician said Tesla recommended limiting to 70A and/or not using the HPWC until next firmware. I held off on using 2nd HPWC for a few days until I could talk to Tesla directly. That conversation happened yesterday and, after discussing amongst themselves and calling me back, the same guidance "70A limit or wait 'til next firmware" was the conclusion. I set the car limiter at 70A last night and we'll see how she does.

In short, you're not alone and I don't have much more details than the above (yet).

 

[kendallpb]

"70A limit or wait 'til next firmware"

Model S update, or is there some kinda firmware in the HPWC that can/will be updated, did they say?

 

[brianman]

Model S update, or is there some kinda firmware in the HPWC that can/will be updated, did they say?

Car (Model S) firmware.

To my knowledge, there's no method to transmit firmware OTA to the HPWC.

 

[andrewket]

Car (Model S) firmware.

To my knowledge, there's no method to transmit firmware OTA to the HPWC.

There could be a way from the car to the HPWC. Theoretically, anyway.

 

[Al Sherman]

the same guidance "70A limit or wait 'til next firmware" was the conclusion.

In short, you're not alone and I don't have much more details than the above (yet).

Since they appear to be sending out HPWCs hopefully they're making this clear to everyone? Seems as though a lot of folks could be hooking them up and blowing 100 bucks worth of fuses.

 

[fdismuke]

Hi Brianman, Do you know with whom you spoke with at Tesla? The ownership experience line had no clue about the firmware, and stated that it must have been the way the electrician installed the HPWC that caused the fuses to blow. I would really like to speak to someone who knows the product. I feel I am getting the run-around.

 

[Doug_G]

I dunno, these are NOT complicated devices. They have a contactor to switch power on/off, a ground fault detector, and a simple microcontroller that communicates with the car.

If it wasn't installed correctly then the fuses would blow immediately. It wouldn't work for a while first.

I don't see how this could happen unless the car was drawing more than 80A.

 

[wycolo]

Those 100A fusible links ('fuses') blowing is serious. Akin to airbag deploying. Not to be replaced routinely. If this car charges ok at high amps from other EVSE then that HPWC should go back to maker. Are there no built-in diagnostics like on a Clipper Creek??
--

 

[brianman]

Hi Brianman, Do you know with whom you spoke with at Tesla? The ownership experience line had no clue about the firmware, and stated that it must have been the way the electrician installed the HPWC that caused the fuses to blow. I would really like to speak to someone who knows the product. I feel I am getting the run-around.

My SolarCity electrician talked to (I think) James at the Seattle Service Center. I spoke to (I think) Danny. I need to get memory pills or something. I suck at remembering names.

 

[hcsharp]

I dunno, these are NOT complicated devices. They have a contactor to switch power on/off, a ground fault detector, and a simple microcontroller that communicates with the car.

If it wasn't installed correctly then the fuses would blow immediately. It wouldn't work for a while first.

I don't see how this could happen unless the car was drawing more than 80A.

I agree. I'm surprised Tesla didn't want to look at your logs to see what's up with your chargers in the car.

It's also possible that there's a short in the cable or the connector or the cables in the car connecting to the on-board chargers. But unlikely.

 

[brianman]

As I mentioned in another thread (I think) but apparently not this one, they did pull the logs from the car around when the HPWC #1 fuse blew and didn't see anything troubling in the vehicle logs.

 

[hcsharp]

I wonder why they put fuses in there in the first place? It's already on a circuit breaker and fuses are a PITA to replace. Maybe they wanted to ensure quick action since the fuses appear to be blowing before the breakers.

As I mentioned in another thread (I think) but apparently not this one, they did pull the logs from the car around when the HPWC #1 fuse blew and didn't see anything troubling in the vehicle logs.

 

[FlasherZ]

I wonder why they put fuses in there in the first place? It's already on a circuit breaker and fuses are a PITA to replace. Maybe they wanted to ensure quick action since the fuses appear to be blowing before the breakers.

When you're talking about currents this high, you want extra protection.

 

[R3dstang66]

Has anyone had issues with the HPWC from Tesla? I received mine and started using it about two weeks ago. I have been out of town quite a bit, and only used it about five times since receiving it. On Thursday morning, I awoke to find the HPWC with no power too it. I reset all of the house breakers and found the unit still had no power. I called Tesla and they stated that the internal 100Amp fuses must have blown. They sent me instructions on how to fix this, and told me to order fuses from a local electrical retailer. Well, my local retailer is about 50 miles away, and the fuses are about $50 each and there are two. Tesla said they would send me 2 fuses for free as a "goodwill" gesture since the fuses are not covered under warranty. Ugh! My opinion, since the charger is less than 30 days old the charger should be covered under warranty no matter what the issue. Also, my electrician is now a bit nervous to replace the internal fuses since those fusable links are the "last resort" fusable link. He feels the HPWC has a design or manufacturing flaw.

Has anyone had similar issues with the HPWC? I'm left now with no way to charge my car other than a 110 volt outlet. (This outlet charges at a whopping 2 miles per hour.) I'm having my electrician put back the NEMA 14-50 that I had in the interum and really considering sending back the HPWC for a full refund.

I just had installed my 2nd meter and they put a 100 amp breaker in preparation for the hpwc. That same day when i went and plugged in my mc, which was incredibly hot, it stopped charging. Called sc and they couldnt figure out what was going on. We called Tesla service center and discovered that the car was protecting itself. I guess there was an issue with 4.2 firmware and 100amp going through 50amp mc. Before we were using a 50amp with no issue and after the update to 4.3 everything was good with no issue.

 

[hcsharp]

I just had installed my 2nd meter and they put a 100 amp breaker in preparation for the hpwc. That same day when i went and plugged in my mc, which was incredibly hot, it stopped charging. Called sc and they couldnt figure out what was going on. We called Tesla service center and discovered that the car was protecting itself. I guess there was an issue with 4.2 firmware and 100amp going through 50amp mc. Before we were using a 50amp with no issue and after the update to 4.3 everything was good with no issue.

Why was your UMC incredibly hot? Do you mean it got incredibly hot shortly after you started charging? I'm surprised the firmware would allow 100A to flow for more than a few milliseconds before shutting down. I'm starting to see why they put fuses in the HPWC.

 

[FlasherZ]

I just had installed my 2nd meter and they put a 100 amp breaker in preparation for the hpwc. That same day when i went and plugged in my mc, which was incredibly hot, it stopped charging. Called sc and they couldnt figure out what was going on. We called Tesla service center and discovered that the car was protecting itself. I guess there was an issue with 4.2 firmware and 100amp going through 50amp mc. Before we were using a 50amp with no issue and after the update to 4.3 everything was good with no issue.

I'm scratching my head on this one... you're saying that the car ignored the 40A pilot signal from the UMC and just opened up to attempt an 80-amp draw through it? If this were a more universal problem, we should hear reports of 50A circuit breakers tripping, if cars attempt to draw 80A. Your UMC got hot because (I assume) you had a 50-amp receptacle on a 100-amp circuit breaker. This might be something isolated to your car.

This is a perfect example why we have the electric code, though -- that failure should have tripped the circuit breaker if the car attempted to draw an 80 amp load across the UMC.

Please tell me you no longer have that 50 amp receptacle on the 100 amp circuit breaker. Tesla's interim instructions were to use a 50 amp circuit breaker until the HPWC arrived, then replace it with a 100 amp breaker.

 

[Al Sherman]

HPWC not working

My electrician just "completed" everything including powering up the HPWC.
Tried to use it. The top green light comes on and stays on. The handle opens the charge port door and I get a blue ring. When I plug the handle into the car I immediately get a red ring, and the dash screen says "connector needs attention." The HPWC flashes red 8 times repeatedly. Sometimes it flashes green once quickly and then continues with the 8 red flashes. The reset switch on the HPWC (disconnected from car) appears to work (2 clicks, green light steady) but when I plug in the same deal with the red. Resetting the wall breaker does nothing to change the situation.

The UMC works perfectly as advertised on a 14-50.

Anyone?

 

[Al Sherman]

My electrician just "completed" everything including powering up the HPWC.
Tried to use it. The top green light comes on and stays on. The handle opens the charge port door and I get a blue ring. When I plug the handle into the car I immediately get a red ring, and the dash screen says "connector needs attention." The HPWC flashes red 8 times repeatedly. Sometimes it flashes green once quickly and then continues with the 8 red flashes. The reset switch on the HPWC (disconnected from car) appears to work (2 clicks, green light steady) but when I plug in the same deal with the red. Resetting the wall breaker does nothing to change the situation.

The UMC works perfectly as advertised on a 14-50.

Anyone?

The electrician left the DIP switches in test. I reset them for a 100 amp breaker and crisis averted.:smile: