"Unable to charge - Disconnect cable and retry" - fixed

[charliepmayer]

Saw this warning several times in the past day. Range shows 265 miles, but the car is 416 miles from my service center.
Performed all the stupid human/car tricks on my own and again with tech support on the line. No joy. Log showed nothing useful to tech support. Problem occurred with three separate cords and locations. Thought I was in for a long tow, or a very long Ranger deployment.

Fix: flashlight-aided inspection of the charge port revealed just a couple of drops of water in the main charging pin receptacles, hard to see, but wet nonetheless. Smaller ones were clear. Quick dry with some compressed air and - success! Instant charge.

Have no idea how the water got there. Saw similar post from 2016 - seemed they moved the car to a service center for a fix. Not so easy here.

Don't know if this will fix all cases of the generic fault indication, but worth a try.

 

[Johann Koeber]

That might explain my problem a while back:

Car would not charge. Not at the Supercharger. Not at the public charger (22 kW AC).

Tesla had it towed to the service center. It was late at night and I wanted to go home. Range of the car was about 20 km, trip home about 120 km, service center about 50 km. Thank goodness the car was still under warranty.

So I got a rental late that night.

Next day service calls me and tells me, they can find no fault. Car charges fine.

What do you think?

a) could it have been just a little bit of water in the charge port?

b) who should pay for diagnosis work, towing and rental car?

 

[charliepmayer]

Johann: yes, perhaps the receptacle dried out in time. Was very little water in mine to cause what I thought was a real problem.
Fix was trivial - once I found it!

 

[charliepmayer]

oh oh - NOT fixed. Error message has returned several times. Scroll+brake reset, and power off - several times - no change.
Replugged many times - last time this showed up:
This is a new one:

 

[Electric700]

Sorry to see that. No charging method works for you (even at a Supercharger)? I would contact Tesla, and hopefully they can schedule a service visit for your location.

 

[Tam]

...a) could it have been just a little bit of water in the charge port?...

I've been charging in the rain and I also wash my cars and charging at the same time with no problem. Lots of water inside of charge ports with no problems.

...b) who should pay for diagnosis work, towing and rental car?

If your car is still under warranty or Extended Service Agreement, Tesla should take care of repairs and rental car cost.

 

[charliepmayer]

Problem seems to be intermittent. I have other pics showing the same warning but no charging. Charge port turns red and 0 mph is displayed. Pic above shows the warning but it is now successfully charging - curious.

I've now seen this same issue on SC, HPWC (72 and 60 amps), and 120.
Don't know if water was the culprit or only a coincidence. Firmware glitch?
I use several non-Tesla apps to monitor the car - is it possible that she gets conflicting messages and gets confused?

Yep - never had a problem in rain - SC or otherwise.
Yes, still under warranty - service has been quite responsive on the phone.

I just don't want to get stranded on my next trip (416 mies). I am about 100 miles from the nearest Supercharger, 200 miles from the El Paso Service Center and 400 miles from the San Antonio Service Center.

Don't want Tesla to send anyone if I can get home without assistance, but I don't want to get stranded on the way home, either.

Anyway, first world problem. Will update when I have more info.

data point on 120 v: car shows charge rate of 2 mph when a/c is on, 4mph when off.

 

[PetriKarj]

I am not unfamiliar with that either. In my case the charger was limiting the power as another car was charging nearby, thats what I guess anyway. Looks like the signalling got Tesla confused.

 

[Darmie]

Considering the car won't charge while doing a firmware update, I would think maybe a reboot of the computer may aid on getting the charge to restart.

 

[charliepmayer]

Darmie: no updates lately, did all the stupid human tricks (scroll/brake reboot/power off) several times, no joy, except sometimes .
Don't know what causes it or what cures it. Very happy it cures itself, but makes me a little concerned about my next long trip.

PetriKarj: you have my first Tesla! Does the circled "3" on the dash mean 3-phase charging?

 

[jplasmd]

I had a similar intermittent charging problem a couple of years ago: same messages, and the red ring of death. Everything returned to normal after I cleaned all the charge port contacts with soft and hard bristle pipe cleaners and some WD-40 Electrical Contact Cleaner Spray.

 

[lardlad00]

I have had similar issues with multiple cars and I suspect that a recent firmware update is to blame. I believe it is related to the fire in Shanghai. See these articles:

Tesla pushes battery software update after recent fires
Tesla Model S Shanghai Fire, Range, And Charge Issues Seem Connected

I started a thread here to discuss. Check it out: "Unable to Charge" Errors Appearing Mysteriously. Is Software to Blame?

 

[charliepmayer]

Problem resurfaced on 4A at Junction SC on the 15th. Moved to 3A. All good there.
Not seen the alert since then.

My 2 cents: problem was generated by an update re Shanghai, and fixed via update after that.

No empirical evidence, just my guess.

lardlad00: good idea on the new thread