Tesla to Upgrade Wall Adapters After Reports of Garage Fires - Bloomberg News

[NoMoreGas]

I think it's how the electrical sockets were installed. I haven't had any heat problems with my wall socket. Ok, I've only been using it for three weeks. But, I have touched it after it's been charging my MS for a while. And I can say no issues to report.

 

[brianman]

The HPWC should not get that hot. You have an issue and need to notify customer care.

Indeed. Please do this sooner rather than later.

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Wow, I strongly urge anyone who is seeing this kind of heat to stop using the UMC and notify Tesla immediately, that kind of heat is super dangerous and suggests much higher than normal resistance. a litttle bit of warmth is normal, but scorching heat is exactly what is melting and leading to potential fire hazard, it's definitely not working properly.

He said HPWC...

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Yes, and don't use it again until you have a replacement.

What i want to know is which wall adapter are they talking about? HPWC is the only wall adapter they have but all the reports are about the UMC. My guess is Bloomberg is using imprecise terminology and it's the UMC they are referring to.

I wouldn't call the HPWC a wall adapter. To me adapter means "widget between two things", which lines up better with UMC than HPWC.

Don't be confused by the word "wall"; most sockets are on the wall.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I wonder why we haven't heard anything about this from Tesla directly. From reading the article, it seems like a good idea - add a thermal fuse in the plug so if it gets too hot, it shuts off. This should deal with any bad wiring in the outlet like what probably happened in the garage fire.

Tesla Provides Customers with Upgraded Charging Software and Adapter

Larry

 

[JPP]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What about NEMA 14-30? Less current? Less heat? Fewer out there to worry about? And I assume that all of the others at 120V are less of an issue.

BTW I assume that TM will need to get all of the old adapters back from owners--wonder if they will have a return label/tracking system. And what about folks like me who own 2 of the NEMA 14-50?[/FONT]

 

[Larry Chanin]

Is Tesla going to really address this problem.

Posting #58

Larry

 

[AlMc]

What about NEMA 14-30? Less current? Less heat? Fewer out there to worry about? And I assume that all of the others at 120V are less of an issue.

BTW I assume that TM will need to get all of the old adapters back from owners--wonder if they will have a return label/tracking system. And what about folks like me who own 2 of the NEMA 14-50?

I also have two. Assume they have records and will give you and I two replacements.

 

[miimura]

What about NEMA 14-30? Less current? Less heat? Fewer out there to worry about? And I assume that all of the others at 120V are less of an issue.

Yes, a 30 amp connection (through which Tesla will draw 24 amps) with high resistance like an improperly torqued wire on the back of the socket will generate much less heat than one passing 40 amps through a 50 amp socket.

 

[purplewalt]

That looks like it might have started to overheat and melt.

Your continual ranting about this topic is permitting you to generate suspect credibility.

To whit:
You are viewing a photograph of a plug head, AND respectfully I disagree with your assessment.
No melting is noticed.
Additionally our comment about overheating is frankly inflammatory (pun intended) and beyond the pale.
You do not know that it is starting to overheat, you are only ass-u-ming and speculating, and I suggest you stick to known facts.

In my real world experiences, I have encountered times in RV Parks where the outlet devices overheated and tripped the breaker.
When the same breaker tripped the third time, I told the ground-crew that it was worn out and needed to be replaced (it was).
And then I went to another charging outlet location, the outlet face was ALREADY cracked before I plugged in.
As I plugged into my car, the ring showed red, not blue or green, indicating a faulty ground.
The car is that smart that it detected the ground fault.
That outlet needed to be replaced.
At the third outlet, I was finally able to get a charge without any incident.

I charge my Model S every night in my garage at a 14-50, installed by a qualified electrician.
Yes, it does get mildly warm while charging.
But never hot.

Maybe after you have actually owned a Model S and charged it every day, perhaps then you will be able to generate a comment with genuine merit.
But at the moment, your tendency toward drama is provocative and in my opinion unwarranted.

 

[wcalvin]

http://www.teslamotors.com/about/pr...tomers-upgraded-charging-software-and-adapter

It is only the NEMA 14-50 adapter that they are replacing.

 

[Fedderman]

That looks like it might have started to overheat and melt.

Nope - this adapter is new and pristine. No overheating, no melting.

 

[Martini]

This seems to me inherently a problem with using a 14-50 plug, which does not demand a positive locked connection to operate. A heavy cord and adapter can back out slightly leaving a poor connection that heats. The thermal fuse seems like a good patch, but the fundamental problem really cannot be addressed without losing the "plug in anywhere" advantage of supporting a 14-50 plug. This is a good reason to get a HPWC instead of using a UMC.

 

[reddy]

I've found that at RV parks, if the charge is going to fail, it does so in the first 15 minutes. Not really enough time for it to get hot. Also I've had better results by dialing the amps down to 38 from 40.

My experience differs. I had a charge fail 5 hours in, at a KOA in Abilene. I was running 40 amps. The bad part is that it failed at 4 am, so it wasn't discovered right away. By the time I discovered it, the socket was cool. The breaker wasn't tripped and resetting it didn't help so I suspected the problem was upstream. An adjacent unit was available 1 foot away and worked fine. Having a disconnect text like my Leaf gets would have been useful here.

 

[andrewket]

Btw, if I try to unplug my HPWC during charge or right after charge, it is impossible to do without burning my hand. I mean the type of burn that leaves redness for several hours. I now have an oven mitt next to the car.

This is not normal. Get your HPWC replaced. I charge at 80A almost every day and the handle is not warm. The cable is slightly.

 

[scaesare]

I appreciate the one pic of the new adapter.

I am, however, puzzled by some of the recent discussion here regarding the outlet-blade side of the new adapter. Just about all of the reports of overheating/failure I've seen with the UMC have been on the OTHER side of the adapter where it mates with the UMC cable head. I am assuming that side is what has been redesigned... either the phsical seating/locking configuration, or the electrical interface itself. Or perhaps both.

Any chance we can get a pic of that side of the new adapter?

Thanks.

 

[artsci]

Typical overblown headline corrected by the first sentence of the article.

Imagine if the headline was written truthfully without the sensationalism: "Tesla voluntarily upgrades wall adapters to prevent overheating of plug-in connections." The media is addicted to sensationalizing everything they write about. And they give no truthful attention to the matters they are really important, such as the huge risk facing civilization because of climate change. They deserve absolutely no respect.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Imagine if the headline was written truthfully without the sensationalism: "Tesla voluntarily upgrades wall adapters to prevent overheating of plug-in connections." The media is addicted to sensationalizing everything they write about. And they give no truthful attention to the matters they are really important, such as the huge risk facing civilization because of climate change. They deserve absolutely no respect.

That would be inaccurate, the correct headline would add "... after they investigate following media reports of a garage fire caused by overheating behind or at the socket, or in the adapter." It's not like there weren't already reports of overheating problems.

 

[vgrinshpun]

That would be inaccurate, the correct headline would add "... after they investigate following media reports of a garage fire caused by overheating behind or at the socket, or in the adapter." It's not like there weren't already reports of overheating problems.

Just to clarify, the add-onn is inaccurate.

Overheating behind the socket = overheating in the socket = overheating in the adapter as all of these components are in close proximity to each other with current carrying copper conductors in each tightly connected to another. Metal is very good conductor of heat. All of these parts will have approximately the same temperature. Overheating of one invariably leads to overheating the others.

 

[Chris TX]

The heat builds up at the bottleneck. There are three connection points that can cause this at the 14-50 wall outlet:

1. Wires not torqued properly to the connector lugs (inside the wall)
2. 14-50 plug not pushed all the way into the outlet
3. UMC not plugged properly into the 14-50 outlet

The problem with one of these resistance points, is when heat does arise, it is easily conducted (transferred) to the other points of potential resistance. Heat itself causes additional resistance, causing the condition to worsen.

I wonder if this new 14-50 adapter has a resettable thermal protection. Also, at what temperature it trips and if leaving that adapter in the frunk of a Texas MS in the middle of the summer will cause it to trip (permanently?). Hopefully it's not like a turkey thermometer. I'm keeping the old adapter, just in case.

 

[jerry33]

What would be nice would be an additional replaceable thermal sensor (the kind that changes colours) so that you could tell what the hottest temperature was. That would give you some early warning before things actually got to the tripping stage. House wiring doesn't go from "perfect" to "failed" overnight, it degrades over time.

The thermal sensor needs to be replaceable so that an over-temperature colour change doesn't impact future use. That is the colour change needs to be permanent, and then you replace the heat sensitive material once the wiring problem is rectified.

 

[vgrinshpun]

There are two other potential problems that can contribute to the overheating.

First is related to the gauge of wire installed between the panelboard breaker and the wall NEMA 14-50 outlet. According to National Electric Code (NEC) it is supposed to be #6AWG for 50A circuit, but electricians are routinely confused and install #8 AWG (American Wire Gauge). For a given current #8 AWG will run hotter than #6 AWG, contributing to overall heat build-up, particularly in the outlet-adapter.

The second is that NEC Tables used for sizing of all current carrying conductors are based on ambient temperature of 30 Deg C (86 Deg F). The typical installation in the garage, however, will see higher temperatures during the summer. This will require further derating of the current carrying conductors between the panelboard and the wall NEMA 14-50 outlet.