Sometimes unable to remove charger from port in car

[AcesUp]

There are times I walk up to remove the charging cable from the car and when I press the button nothing happens. It seems like car is totally asleep and won't awake unless I open a door to wake it up then I can disengage the charger form the port. Is this normal?

 

[Joshan]

it is because the car is asleep. The charging cable does not wake the car up. Tap a door handle and it will unplug.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Is this normal?

Yes, this is normal. Everyone's Model 3 behaves this way (when it is sleeping).

EDIT:
As mentioned, you can tap/push on a door handle so as to halfway pull it, and if you're careful, not open the door. You will hear a little whirring noise. Then you can remove the charge cable. Shortly after the whirring noise (not sure what this is exactly), you'll hear a "clunk" which means your car is now awake (it's the contactors closing). But you just need to get the whirr to happen in order to release the charge cable.

 

[boaterva]

Yep need to open a door on the 3. Not like the S and X.

 

[Joshan]

don't need to actually open it, just tap the handle and make the handle move a little.

 

[davewill]

Yeah, it's pretty silly that pressing the charge handle button doesn't wake the car. I can nudge the handle on the adjacent door without actually opening it and wake the car. Then I can remove the charge handle.

 

[WilliamG]

Yes, this is normal. Everyone's Model 3 behaves this way (when it is sleeping).

EDIT:
As mentioned, you can tap/push on a handle so as to halfway pull it, and if you're careful, not open the door. You will hear a little whirring noise. Then you can remove the handle. Shortly after the whirring noise (not sure what this is exactly), you'll hear a "clunk" which means your car is now awake (it's the contactors closing). But you just need to get the whirr to happen in order to release the charge cable.

Yuppers. I just recorded a video right now so people who are wondering - can see the process.

 

[DWdrum]

Remember......you either need your phone with you or your card......how does it know you're not some freak wanting to unplug your car?

Hope this helps

 

[JulienW]

....but you have to disassemble the 3 to remove the charger.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Remember......you either need your phone with you or your card......how does it know you're not some freak wanting to unplug your car?

This is not specifically the issue here. Even if you have your phone with you the charge cable button will not release the charge cable, if the car is asleep.

#Actually , to wake up the car, you don't need your phone with you - just press the door handle and it will wake up (it won't open the door of course). But once the car is awake, if you do not have your phone with you, the charge cable button will still not allow you release the charge cable. So having your phone with you is definitely a prerequisite. But it's not the core issue here.

 

[Tech_Guy]

I believe the real requirement / trigger here is that the car has to be unlocked to be able to remove the cable.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I believe the real requirement / trigger here is that the car has to be unlocked to be able to remove the cable.

Fairly sure that is not the case. If you have Sentry on, for example, any owner with the phone key would always be able to walk up to the car and push the charge cable button and release the charge cable. The reason is that the car is always awake when Sentry is on.

Or, if you open the app and wake up your car before approaching it, you can also remove the charge cable with the cable button.

It’s possible that removing the charge cable also unlocks the car (no idea), but I am fairly sure that prior to pushing that cable button, the car is locked.

The requirement is that the car is not asleep.

 

[WilliamG]

Fairly sure that is not the case. If you have Sentry on, for example, any owner with the phone key would always be able to walk up to the car and push the charge cable button and release the charge cable. The reason is that the car is always awake when Sentry is on.

Or, if you open the app and wake up your car before approaching it, you can also remove the charge cable with the cable button.

It’s possible that removing the charge cable also unlocks the car (no idea), but I am fairly sure that prior to pushing that cable button, the car is locked.

The requirement is that the car is not asleep.

You are exactly right.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

the car has to be unlocked to be able to remove the cable.

I have not experimented with this, but it is possible that leaving the car unlocked (I don't even know anything about that behavior) will also leave the charge cable unlocked. If that were the case, perhaps it is possible to remove the cable from the charge port even when the car is asleep - but probably pushing the charge cable button is not even required in that case - because the cable is not even locked to the charge port!

The above is entirely speculation, though, and it's beside the point, as we're talking about a situation where the cable is locked to the car. If it's not locked to the car, of course it can be removed.

 

[groovidad]

Normal.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Normal.

Yep.

Very normal. <---- hmmm. Is that grammatically correct?

 

[famoruwa]

Or you can just tap the app on the phone and the car will wake up.