Setec CCS to Tesla Adapter

[GarthK]

Just got my Setech CCS1 adapter. Total shipping time from Hong Kong was 7 actual days.

I tried it twice and it worked great both times, although charging speed was a bit slower than I expected; 42kW

I tried at a 150kW Electrify America charging station. My SOC was 4%. I have a 2019 Model 3 SR+. Outside temps were 68F, and I had been driving for around 45 minutes to warm up the battery.

I stopped charging around 10% and moved to a 350kW stall. Noticed the same result... it would ramp to 42kW and stay there.

I sent the Setech guys an email and am awaiting their response. Really hoping they can push an update to improve speeds. TeslaKoreaClub has some YouTube videos showing multiple charge sessions:
Model 3 at 71kW
Model S at 74kW
Model X at 70kW
Model 3 at 68kW
Model S at 108kW

But the main difference is those say "SuperCharging" (in Korean). In the YouTube videos, it looks like they are emulating the SuperCharger protocol.

My car shows "Charging". So if I had to guess, perhaps they are emulating the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter. Since that is limited at 50kW, it would explain my charging limits.

 

[BritneySpears]

Just got my Setech CCS1 adapter. Total shipping time from Hong Kong was 7 actual days.

I tried it twice and it worked great both times, although charging speed was a bit slower than I expected; 42kW

I tried at a 150kW Electrify America charging station. My SOC was 4%. I have a 2019 Model 3 SR+. Outside temps were 68F, and I had been driving for around 45 minutes to warm up the battery.

I stopped charging around 10% and moved to a 350kW stall. Noticed the same result... it would ramp to 42kW and stay there.

I sent the Setech guys an email and am awaiting their response. Really hoping they can push an update to improve speeds. TeslaKoreaClub has some YouTube videos showing multiple charge sessions:
Model 3 at 71kW
Model S at 74kW
Model X at 70kW
Model 3 at 68kW
Model S at 108kW

But the main difference is those say "SuperCharging" (in Korean). In the YouTube videos, it looks like they are emulating the SuperCharger protocol.

My car shows "Charging". So if I had to guess, perhaps they are emulating the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter. Since that is limited at 50kW, it would explain my charging limits.

I'm 2019 M3, SC disabled by Tesla due to salvage title, and i charged today with the SETEC on a 150 kw Elec America at 42kw when at 40% SOC. It took 3 tries. I believe it only worked if I rather quickly connected the SETEC to the car right after I connected the SETEC to the station. The station seems to recognize it's plugged in when you attach the SETEC. At that point it's starts looking for communication, it appears.

I then tried it on an adjacent 350 kw Elec Amer and it worked on the first try, went to 52 to 56, stayed for less than a second, and then the station showed an error - charging ended.

In one of my emails with SETEC they had stated "CCS adapter is a little similar with CHAdeMO adapter" so that explains the 42kw charging. It doesn't explain the charging at 56 though, short as it was.

Soon after that I went to an Evgo station and couldn't get the SETEC to work. Right after that, at the same station that had Chademo and CCS I tried the Tesla Chademo and it worked at 42kw.

 

[MP3Mike]

It took 3 tries. I believe it only worked if I rather quickly connected the SETEC to the car right after I connected the SETEC to the station. The station seems to recognize it's plugged in when you attach the SETEC. At that point it's starts looking for communication, it appears.

Are you waiting to turn on the Setec adapter until after the CCS cable is connected to it and you have plugged it into the car?

 

[lukex4]

I thought CCS has/was a standardized protocol to avoid communication issues between different chargers/vehicles?

Obligatory XKCD:

 

[BritneySpears]

Are you waiting to turn on the Setec adapter until after the CCS cable is connected to it and you have plugged it into the car?

No, sorry, I forgot to mention that. The SETEC green light was on or turned on prior, always. I also forgot to mention that I didn't plug in the SETEC first into the car because doing so would have made it really difficult to plug in the giant, 2" ish diameter cable plug into the SETEC receptacle. The CCS1 into SETEC was a really tight fit and I was afraid of damaging the car receptacle while pulling and wiggling on it. And once I had the SETEC and CCS1 together I had to use my legs to get the right orientation of the cable in order for the Tesla plug inserted. I can say for sure my wife will not ever deal with using this adapter to charge the car. Even the Tesla Chademo adapter is bad in this regard but the flexible cable that's part of it makes it a little easier to contend with.

 

[cwerdna]

No, sorry, I forgot to mention that. The SETEC green light was on or turned on prior, always. I also forgot to mention that I didn't plug in the SETEC first into the car because doing so would have made it really difficult to plug in the giant, 2" ish diameter cable plug into the SETEC receptacle. The CCS1 into SETEC was a really tight fit and I was afraid of damaging the car receptacle while pulling and wiggling on it. And once I had the SETEC and CCS1 together I had to use my legs to get the right orientation of the cable in order for the Tesla plug inserted. I can say for sure my wife will not ever deal with using this adapter to charge the car. Even the Tesla Chademo adapter is bad in this regard but the flexible cable that's part of it makes it a little easier to contend with.

Indeed. The video at CCS1 To Tesla Adapter Finally Available For North American Market at the 11 minute mark gives the hint of plugging the heavy CCS1 cable into the adapter first before plugging the adapter into the car.

I can say that even w/o an adapter, the heavy and stiff Huber+Sunher cables + handles that EA uses for CCS really suck in terms of lining up and plugging into my Bolt. There also seems to be more friction (possibly caused by the weight and angle) than on other DC FCs.

The (usually) Rema CCS1 handles at the EVgo stations I use + on whatever's on the ChargePoint DC chargers I use are a lot less unwieldy. But, they're still a lot worse than the much lighter stuff on 30 amp J1772 stations (e.g. ChargePoint CT4000-series).

 

[MP3Mike]

No, sorry, I forgot to mention that. The SETEC green light was on or turned on prior, always

I think that might be part of the problems you are having. It seems for people that are having a lot of success they don't turn on the Setec adapter until after everything is hooked up and connected to the car.

 

[EfficientWatts]

Just got my Setech CCS1 adapter. Total shipping time from Hong Kong was 7 actual days.

I tried it twice and it worked great both times, although charging speed was a bit slower than I expected; 42kW

I tried at a 150kW Electrify America charging station. My SOC was 4%. I have a 2019 Model 3 SR+. Outside temps were 68F, and I had been driving for around 45 minutes to warm up the battery.

I stopped charging around 10% and moved to a 350kW stall. Noticed the same result... it would ramp to 42kW and stay there.

I sent the Setech guys an email and am awaiting their response. Really hoping they can push an update to improve speeds. TeslaKoreaClub has some YouTube videos showing multiple charge sessions:
Model 3 at 71kW
Model S at 74kW
Model X at 70kW
Model 3 at 68kW
Model S at 108kW

But the main difference is those say "SuperCharging" (in Korean). In the YouTube videos, it looks like they are emulating the SuperCharger protocol.

My car shows "Charging". So if I had to guess, perhaps they are emulating the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter. Since that is limited at 50kW, it would explain my charging limits.

I am pretty sure that they are not emulating Supercharging, though I wonder if maybe there's a hard limit somewhere else or there's something specific to Korean firmware in prep for this.

From one of their test videos using the adapter:

충전중 is just Charging. Also note the speed.

Source (Timestamp 1:57):

On the other hand, when at the supercharger:

You see 슈퍼차저로 충전중, which I think is lit. Charging by Supercharger (with 슈퍼차저 = Supercharger)

Source (Timestamp 9:29):

 

[C0ran]

They just sent me v124 to update.. Have not had a chance to test yet. That said, what did they send you?

I got v126-1 firmware. I think they will officially upload new firmware, soon.

 

[C0ran]

I heard that Model s and x does not have charging speed limit, but Model 3 has.
So if we use 100kWh DC combo charging station, Model s and x will be input 60~80kW speed, But model 3 is under 50kW.
I think SETEC will upload new firmware to release speed limit after internal test.

 

[cwerdna]

I heard that Model s and x does not have charging speed limit, but Model 3 has.
So if we use 100kWh DC combo charging station, Model s and x will be input 60~80kW speed, But model 3 is under 50kW.
I think SETEC will upload new firmware to release speed limit after internal test.

You mean a 100 kW station?

 

[Randy Sinn]

I am Randy from TKC(Tesla Korea Club), the guy who co-developed the SETEC's CCS1 adapter.
I am not sure all the Tesla work like those in Korea, but from the comments in here, I guess there's not much difference.

I gotta let you know these first.

1. Model s/x has no current limit. It is confirmed by me that it goes up to 200A or a little more. In SETEC's lab, it went up to more than 250A.
2. Model 3 has current limit by Tesla, not by the adapter. As you know, there is no other fast charging for Model 3 using an adapter than Chademo in the world. I guess that's why.
3. Model 3's limit can be lifted by FW update, but actually it is not lifted but "forced". So forced current could disrupt the system.
I have tested about 8 months with the curreent-forcing FW, but I had no problem. However, if you want to use the current-forcing FW, it should be totally on your risk. (I'll share it here if it is permitted.)
4. The chargers that do not work for the adapter can be analyzed and be made possible to use by FW update. If you guys volunteer to assist by reporting not working chargers and sending the messages and logs using a software provided by SETEC, it will be sooner.
5. You can see what speed patch for M3 works like from

 

[C0ran]

You mean a 100 kW station?

Oh sorry, typo.
100kW station right.

 

[Boeingpilot]

Ok, that's interesting. Are they going to send a firmware update to all their customers I wonder? Is it an installer program loadable onto Windows 10?

Yes installer is windows.


Did install, tried a different charger, still no success. It was dark cold and wet so had no interest in trying to capture data in the rain

I don’t have more than 1 CCS charger near me, no EA chargers. Will try again in way home from NY tomorrow.

I figure I’m good for 2 or 3 more data logging and firmware test. If I get no success within a week it gets sent back

 

[mrc3]

I am Randy from TKC(Tesla Korea Club), the guy who co-developed the SETEC's CCS1 adapter.
I am not sure all the Tesla work like those in Korea, but from the comments in here, I guess there's not much difference.

I gotta let you know these first.

1. Model s/x has no current limit. It is confirmed by me that it goes up to 200A or a little more. In SETEC's lab, it went up to more than 250A.
2. Model 3 has current limit by Tesla, not by the adapter. As you know, there is no other fast charging for Model 3 using an adapter than Chademo in the world. I guess that's why.
3. Model 3's limit can be lifted by FW update, but actually it is not lifted but "forced". So forced current could disrupt the system.
I have tested about 8 months with the curreent-forcing FW, but I had no problem. However, if you want to use the current-forcing FW, it should be totally on your risk. (I'll share it here if it is permitted.)
4. The chargers that do not work for the adapter can be analyzed and be made possible to use by FW update. If you guys volunteer to assist by reporting not working chargers and sending the messages and logs using a software provided by SETEC, it will be sooner.
5. You can see what speed patch for M3 works like from

Thanks for your presence here Randy. In Bullet 2, you are saying that Model 3's and presumably Model Y's are limited by the CAR when charging off of an adapter (rather than a Tesla Super Charger) to 50KW? How does the car know what is plugged into it's Tesla port? Some sort of vender ID string sent in the communication protocol?

Regards,
Mike Carney

 

[chronoreverse]

Yes installer is windows.


Did install, tried a different charger, still no success. It was dark cold and wet so had no interest in trying to capture data in the rain

I don’t have more than 1 CCS charger near me, no EA chargers. Will try again in way home from NY tomorrow.

I figure I’m good for 2 or 3 more data logging and firmware test. If I get no success within a week it gets sent back

I'm curious if you'd be interested in me buying the unit off of you (for the full price of course). I missed the lower price and I've actually become more optimistic about this than before it had been shipped.

The most ideal scenario is still for Setec to do right by you and get it 100% (or even 99%) working for you though.

 

[ericj5]

For what it’s worth I finally tried mine with an EA charger today and couldn’t get it going. Will reach out to support and keep trying for a bit

 

[cwerdna]

For what it’s worth I finally tried mine with an EA charger today and couldn’t get it going. Will reach out to support and keep trying for a bit

Can you post the Plugshare link to the EA site you used and/or address? It's possible you used a broken station as EA isn't the pinnacle of reliability. Also, would help us identify the DC FC manufacturer as EA uses four different ones. And, not each EA site even has a 350 kW charger. Most EA sites in my city have 150 kW max chargers.

at ~11:00 gives some hints. Plug the CCS1 handle to the adapter, plug adapter into the car then press button on top of adapter.

 

[Randy Sinn]

I've just read all the comments on this thread.

Thanks for your presence here Randy. In Bullet 2, you are saying that Model 3's and presumably Model Y's are limited by the CAR when charging off of an adapter (rather than a Tesla Super Charger) to 50KW? How does the car know what is plugged into it's Tesla port? Some sort of vender ID string sent in the communication protocol?

Regards,
Mike Carney

Thank you for your warm greeting.

During a charging session, a Tesla requests voltage and current.
Ms/x requests up to its max current: its max current is modified to 200A by FW to protect the adapter.
M3 requests up to 126A. It never requests its real max current beyond 126A. The value is the same as that from Chadomo adapter.
From this, you can know M3 limits the current when it is charged via an adapter.
No vendor ID is sent in the protocol.
If it is permitted to upload exe files here, I will upload them here.

 

[ericj5]

Can you post the Plugshare link to the EA site you used and/or address? It's possible you used a broken station as EA isn't the pinnacle of reliability. Also, would help us identify the DC FC manufacturer as EA uses four different ones. And, not each EA site even has a 350 kW charger. Most EA sites in my city have 150 kW max chargers.

at ~11:00 gives some hints. Plug the CCS1 handle to the adapter, plug adapter into the car then press button on top of adapter.

Thanks for the reply! I did watch the video in advance, fortunately. I did ccs, then tesla, then turned the power on. The screen showed connecting to car, then the payment screen. I swiped a card, it said approved, then charging started it started making noise. then pretty quickly a charging failed message. then unplugged everything, powered off adapter and tried again a few times.

this is the one i used. tried 2 different machines. PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You yes, i felt like an idiot standing right across from the tesla chargers