Supercharger - Perry, OK

[SW2Fiddler]

If you do a range charge at Ardmore, you should only need to stop at an RV park for a short time to get enough to make it to Wichita.

Well, that was silly.

Not to me... I was going to use Perry tomorrow to get from Ardmore to Wichita! Is this the stretch with that Fairgrounds RV park?
I'd be checking out Onyx Theatres if it weren't a Sunday stop. I want to look at the Chihuly Glass collection at the art museum (free admission this Sunday, too!) in OKC.
Driving to Seattle and will see more Chihuly Glass there. LOL

Rick

 

[jerry33]

Not to me... I was going to use Perry tomorrow to get from Ardmore to Wichita! Is this the stretch with that Fairgrounds RV park?

Yes it is, although up-thread there is another RV park suggestion that is closer to I-35.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

Yes it is, although up-thread there is another RV park suggestion that is closer to I-35.

Sounds good!
For easy reference:

Hi Mike - you can stop for a top off right off of I 35 first exit into Kansas - at Oasis RV park - off I 35 a few hundred yards to the west... I have been there 4 times and the guy that runs it is very nice.

Thanks y'all! Anxiety = Vanquished.

Rick

 

[purplewalt]

I want to look at the Chihuly Glass collection at the art museum (free admission this Sunday, too!) in OKC.
Driving to Seattle and will see more Chihuly Glass there. LOL

Rick

Hi Rick,
Since you will be in OKC visiting museums, you might also consider visiting the National Country & Western Heritage Museum on the North side of town.

Art Galleries, Movie Galleries, panoramic paintings, Russels, Remingtons, etc.

Regarding Chihuly, they have recently had an exhibit in Denver's Gardens, and @ Dallas' Gardens.
There is a current exhibit of Chihuly @ Fairchild, FL Gardens.

 

[MyJoule]

Perry is still not working- I tried all the stalls, no current on any of the stations- Called Tesla and they say the utility has to replace the transformer. I had enough range to make it to Oasis RV in KS- as suggested above- $15 for 1 hour to get me enough range to make it to Wichita. Wish Tesla had removed the Perry from the active list if it's down- I would have stopped in OKC for a bit at one of the Chademo's or at least not driven so fast between Weatherford and Perry- I knew Perry was possibly down from this thread, but I guess I should have been more prepared. Lesson learned.

 

[bluefuego]

No power at all? Crap... I'm headed that way later today (going STL to Weatherford, leaving in a couple hours). Thanks for posting your backup plan. Might try stopping in OKC for some public charging too.

 

[MyJoule]

Highly recommend an OKC stop for charging. Good luck, heading east on 70 myself. Independence to STL should be a piece of cake after yesterday!

 

[reddy]

We've heard of other superchargers in small towns that had power issues like this. Apparently Tucumcari NM also has issues but some of the stalls will charge at a slower rate than usual.

 

[Cottonwood]

I've charged at many small town Superchargers and never had a problem like this.

If you are ever in doubt, or are really counting on a Supercharger, call Tesla at 877-798-3752 to check on the status of individual Supercharger Sites or to report problems. Tesla has cellular data connections to each Supercharger and has real time status. I have this number stored in my phone.

 

[tinm]

If you are ever in doubt, or are really counting on a Supercharger, call Tesla at 877-798-3752 to check on the status of individual Supercharger Sites or to report problems. Tesla has cellular data connections to each Supercharger and has real time status. I have this number stored in my phone.

It's great that Tesla offers owners the ability to call ahead to check on the availability of a SuperCharger. But it seems rather an inefficient way to go about it. If there were ever an obvious application for the 17" screen, it's an app that does exactly what you describe -- lets you check on the real-time status of any SuperCharger (how many are there, how many in use, whether there are any outages or decreases in power, etc).

Maybe if tons of people start calling Tesla's 877 number to check on SuperCharger status, someone within Tesla will figure it out: "hey, why don't we make this into an app for the car? We're spending too much time answering this phone..."

 

[reddy]

It's great that Tesla offers owners the ability to call ahead to check on the availability of a SuperCharger. But it seems rather an inefficient way to go about it. If there were ever an obvious application for the 17" screen, it's an app that does exactly what you describe -- lets you check on the real-time status of any SuperCharger (how many are there, how many in use, whether there are any outages or decreases in power, etc).

Maybe if tons of people start calling Tesla's 877 number to check on SuperCharger status, someone within Tesla will figure it out: "hey, why don't we make this into an app for the car? We're spending too much time answering this phone..."

Agree. There should be a warning on the supercharger status on the Nav screen; otherwise my range anxiety will come back. Which Elon claimed should have disappeared.

Maybe they could grey out the SC or put a red slash through it when they go offline.

While we are at it, why not display how many people are currently charging with a badged numeral like my iPhone. If a SC is 6/6 then I can plan on a wait.

 

[bluefuego]

I will def be sending off a feature request re supercharger status being accessible on the touchscreen (or on tesla's website)

Cottonwood: after reading Myjoules' report of Perry being completely down, I did call Tesla to check on the status while supercharging in Independence... Unfortunately they show it as being online with only a reduced charging rate. I let him know what I read on TMC this morning and he went back through the case notes and verified previous reports. I told him that I would stop by on my way to OKC and test each stall and call back in with an update since there seems to be a mismatch on the data they are able to pull vs what is actually working.

Again thanks to the members of this awesome forum I was able to formulate 3 separate backup plans to get me to Weatherford today.

 

[Cottonwood]

I will def be sending off a feature request re supercharger status being accessible on the touchscreen (or on tesla's website)

Cottonwood: after reading Myjoules' report of Perry being completely down, I did call Tesla to check on the status while supercharging in Independence... Unfortunately they show it as being online with only a reduced charging rate. I let him know what I read on TMC this morning and he went back through the case notes and verified previous reports. I told him that I would stop by on my way to OKC and test each stall and call back in with an update since there seems to be a mismatch on the data they are able to pull vs what is actually working.

Again thanks to the members of this awesome forum I was able to formulate 3 separate backup plans to get me to Weatherford today.

Wow! I have never have seen such difference between status reports from the call center and reality. That lack of correct, current information needs to be corrected by Tesla.

 

[snellenr]

Wow! I have never have seen such difference between status reports from the call center and reality. That lack of correct, current information needs to be corrected by Tesla.

If the issue is on the power company side AND only shows up under load, their normal monitoring may not be able to detect it unless a car is charging. I doubt the sites have any kind of "dummy load" that could absorb enough energy to test the end-to-end charging cycle.

All the more reason to ALWAYS call the Supercharger support team if one isn't working.

 

[bluefuego]

Ok made it to Perry. I am able to charge at a reduced rate on 3a. I don't think I topped 200 mph but I had a decent amount of range left.

I called tesla to let them know. I will try the other stalls before leaving and update.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

You are now one of the awesome forum members yourself! Invaluable reporting.

 

[MyJoule]

Bluefuego- Glad you could get a charge at Perry- When I tried Friday -5-8 I tried several stalls, with the same results at each it would start to charge up to about 14 amps and then the current would drop to 0 and never come back ( I waited a few minutes each time) I had been warned by Tesla that Perry might be slow, but not that it would be down- If it had been slow I would have been ok, I only needed about 20 miles to make Wichita They told me that the input power isn't stable enough and that they are trying to get it fixed ( might require a new transformer) Also, they said this is why Tucumcari is not listed, which BTW worked for me on 5-8 I completed my adventure today with out further incident. I agree- that it would be nice if they fed the cars Real Time status of the chargers- How many are in use, and predicted availability based upon just knowing it is open or there is already a car charging. ( which in most cases would be finished by the time you could get there if long distance traveling. All in all- the car was a dream to drive over 1800 miles in 3 days.

PS The charge at Oasis RV park, was fine- I got 20 miles I needed in just under an hour on their 14-50

 

[bluefuego]

MyJoule: sorry that it didn't work for you. Upon further testing it looks like I got lucky with my picking 3A. I tried each of the others after filling most of the way up and experienced what you described - amps jumping up and down and then no charge. I went back to 3A and tried again - not great, but more stable than the others and actually still willing to give a charge. There is def. a lot wrong there - at least Tesla knows. It is unfortunate that they continue to list it as available when it is that flaky.

Time to brainstorm other features they could use to feed us information regarding supercharger health and availability. When it comes to these middle of nowhere chargers, supercharger health is vital. I mean what would Tesla have done if you showed up without enough charge to make it to that RV park? When Harris Ranch went down, I read that Tesla had flat bed trucks ready to take cars showing up to charge onto the nearest supercharger. This obviously is not feasible in such a remote area such as Perry, but having information regarding supercharger activity (time of last use, # of stalls, stalls in use, etc etc etc) would be very helpful. If it weren't for your posts regarding not being able to charge there and my happening to check TMC before leaving this morning, I could very well have been up a creek without a paddle (or plug as it were). So thank you so much for sharing your experience. Glad that you were able to finish your journey without further incident!

*Fingers crossed* for Tucumcari tomorrow. Depending on headwinds I will probably stop at the HPWC in Amarillo to give me some buffer, particularly if I have to make it to Santa Rosa.

 

[MyJoule]

Bluefuego.

Good luck today- hope you are able get some charge in Tucumcari. I would bail in Amarillo and spend some time at the HPWC just to be sure Santa Rosa is in range if you can- that's cheap insurance if Tucumcari is not working.
As for Perry, It figures, I probably tried every stall but 3A- I lost track of which ones I tried. again, glad it worked for you

I agree- and hope that Tesla is able to provide some real time for us for these remote locations- it allows options along the way if there is a problem. For instance there are several options in OKC for traveling north if Perry is down, but if you don't stop in OKC after a fairly full charge in Weatherford, you can't make it to Wichita. If I had charged to max in Weatherford and driven slower I probably could have made Wichita- and I would have done that had I known for sure Perry wouldn't work for me.

This experience has taught me well- and has not soured my love of my car! It is such a pleasure to drive.

Have a safe trip.

 

[MyJoule]

Took everyone's advice and tried 3A again on 5/21- and was pleasantly surprised that it worked well Got 212 amps ( I was not near empty) When I called Tesla later in the day to ask about Tucumcari, I mentioned that Perry was working fine today, and they acted surprised that there had been a problem at Perry. BTW, they would not provide me the status of Tucumcari when I called- sort of put me on edge for a while, but it worked. so I'm happy...