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Upgrade to dual onboard chargers?

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I've got the lock-down blues so really just too much running through my mind.

Is the upgrade something that can be done on our own? I saw a thread from 2015 that said don't bother since it wouldn't be covered by Tesla and you'd have to pretty much root to enable the software. Has any of that changed in the intervening years? I saw Rich on youtube(lowercase on purpose - I hate youtube) run through installing a slave charger so I know what's involved physically and that's not scary.

Is the software enablement needed just on your master and slave chargers? I'd like to think yes but do wonder if the MCU has to be involved. It does know what your max charge rate is so that's why I'm thinking that. I saw a few salvage people selling chargers, masters, slaves, and most intriguing master/slave pairs. That put my hopes up that maybe the software is just between those two and I could snag a set.

At least it would give me a bit of justification for the gen2 HPWC I ordered. (Again, shelter-in-place boredom. What more can we do but sit at home and order stuff online?)

If there's a chance that Tesla still does upgrades for our decrepit first ten cars then by all means I'll go that route. I just kind of doubt they'll do it at this point. If someone know for sure that they still do please chime in.

Hope you're all staying safe and healthy. Try not to spend as much online as I've been doing.

Bill K.
 
It sure can, and you need to get a slave slave charger. You will need root or know a service center to enable it for you. Also you will need to deploy your car's firmware so it has the proper version once you've installed it in your car. Make sure you get the right generation for you car. Here's a retrofit we just completed recently. IMG_0400.jpg
 
Thank you both very kindly.

@EV-Fixme - Any chance you know where I could find out what part number or generation I'd be after if I went the go-it-alone route? I've got a 2015 S. Also I take it from your mention of redeploying the firmware for the vehicle that obtaining a master/slave pair isn't going to do me any good in my quest to avoid rooting?

@murphyS90D - Hey another 90kwh in PA! (I'm in the York area.) A big howdy to you. Would you be kind enough to share when you had Tesla perform the upgrade? If it was recent perhaps they still do it? Honestly I'd ring them up and ask myself but I'm not thinking I should trust the answer of one of the phony jockeys they have.

Thanks again everyone.

Bill K.
 
You will need to update your car's config and do a deployment. I believe a 15 is gen2 charger, the best way to obtain one is make sure it was pulled from a dual charger car and they place pulling should have identified it when it was pulled. Both parts are the same part number. I believe some chargers are labeled slave, but I dont know if all are. If you time your install with a pending software update, but you still need to have the configuration changed.
 
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Thank you both very kindly.

@EV-Fixme - Any chance you know where I could find out what part number or generation I'd be after if I went the go-it-alone route? I've got a 2015 S. Also I take it from your mention of redeploying the firmware for the vehicle that obtaining a master/slave pair isn't going to do me any good in my quest to avoid rooting?

@murphyS90D - Hey another 90kwh in PA! (I'm in the York area.) A big howdy to you. Would you be kind enough to share when you had Tesla perform the upgrade? If it was recent perhaps they still do it? Honestly I'd ring them up and ask myself but I'm not thinking I should trust the answer of one of the phony jockeys they have.

Thanks again everyone.

Bill K.
I’m in PA as well and have been considering the same thing for my 2015 70D. I’ll watch thus thread to see if you manage to pull it off.
 
@klufkee
The second charger install was done at the Devon, PA service center in 2017.
Something I have not seen mentioned about having two chargers is if I set the current to 50 amps both chargers are used but the current is evenly divided between them. The car ramps up to 25 amps and then does the startup current testing dance before resuming the climb to 50 amps.
 
@klufkee
The second charger install was done at the Devon, PA service center in 2017.
Something I have not seen mentioned about having two chargers is if I set the current to 50 amps both chargers are used but the current is evenly divided between them. The car ramps up to 25 amps and then does the startup current testing dance before resuming the climb to 50 amps.

Yes the load is supposed to be shared between both chargers.
 
Our "inventory" 2015 P85D came with dual chargers and a gen1 Tesla Wall Connector ("TWC"). Tesla approved electrician installed our TWC on a 100A / 240V circuit and had it inspected and signed off by our local building department.

Initially I charged at 80A but noticed the TWC cable plug end and plug got really hot. Tesla Ranger came onsite and replaced the cable and the TWC cable cable plug end and plug went from really hot to really warm. Knowing heat kills cables, connectors and electronics, I lowered our nightly charge rate to 60A and the temperatures dropped again to just warm... which is where I've left them for the past couple of years.

IMHO dual chargers are an unnecessary luxury that I've only really needed a couple of times when I forgot to plug in when i got home. Otherwise pretty much a complete waste of $$$ since:
  1. 40A charging is enough to recharge even an almost completely drained battery overnight
  2. public TWC's are capped at 30A or 40A 99% of the time
YMMV but I sure wouldn't pay $2,000 to add a 2nd charger. Better to spend $2,500 on an MCU2 upgrade IMHO.
 
Our 2012 S P85 had dual chargers - and was charged at 80A from our HPWC. And until we sold it in 2018, there were only a few times when we actually needed to charge faster than 40A - and that was prior to a road trip before Tesla had built any supercharger stations. Once superchargers were available, we didn't need to charge faster than 40A.

Our 2017 S 100D is limited to 48A (Tesla has confirmed we have the 72A charger in the vehicle, and would have to spend $$$ to change the software setting to enable the faster charging). Our 2018 X 100D has the 72A charger. And we haven't found any need to charge either vehicle at home faster than 48A.

Before investing any time or $$ on upgrading the onboard chargers, review your charging use - and see if you'd ever benefit from faster charging... It's very likely 40A or 48A charging (depending upon how old the vehicle is) is more than fast enough - especially for overnight charging.
 
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Our "inventory" 2015 P85D came with dual chargers and a gen1 Tesla Wall Connector ("TWC"). Tesla approved electrician installed our TWC on a 100A / 240V circuit and had it inspected and signed off by our local building department.

Initially I charged at 80A but noticed the TWC cable plug end and plug got really hot. Tesla Ranger came onsite and replaced the cable and the TWC cable cable plug end and plug went from really hot to really warm. Knowing heat kills cables, connectors and electronics, I lowered our nightly charge rate to 60A and the temperatures dropped again to just warm... which is where I've left them for the past couple of years.

IMHO dual chargers are an unnecessary luxury that I've only really needed a couple of times when I forgot to plug in when i got home. Otherwise pretty much a complete waste of $$$ since:
  1. 40A charging is enough to recharge even an almost completely drained battery overnight
  2. public TWC's are capped at 30A or 40A 99% of the time
YMMV but I sure wouldn't pay $2,000 to add a 2nd charger. Better to spend $2,500 on an MCU2 upgrade IMHO.
agree, I have a car that accepts 72A and I have a HPWC with a 100A circuit and I dial my car down to 60A of charging at night. It's been the rare exception where I needed anything more than 40A. Personally I'd deploy the money somewhere else since the novelty wore off pretty fast. Gen2 HPWC is kind of a pain too since the cables are so thick.
 
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agree, I have a car that accepts 72A and I have a HPWC with a 100A circuit and I dial my car down to 60A of charging at night. It's been the rare exception where I needed anything more than 40A. Personally I'd deploy the money somewhere else since the novelty wore off pretty fast. Gen2 HPWC is kind of a pain too since the cables are so thick.

Best thing about the gen2 Tesla Wall Connector were the limited edition Elon Musk Signature series. I got one for our son's M3 AWD LR

s-l1600.jpg
 

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I have a 2018 75D and was told by the service center that it wasn't possible to upgrade. Would this part not upgrade my car to 72A? 1090835-00-A - MODEL S, ASY,GEN3 CHARGE SYSTEM,72A,1PHASE, UPGRADE KIT

Should I try again? I live in a place where sometime I _have_ to use 3rd party EVSEs when I travel, and some of them are 80A chargers. It would seriously shave charging time if I could make that upgrade.
 
It sure can, and you need to get a slave slave charger. You will need root or know a service center to enable it for you. Also you will need to deploy your car's firmware so it has the proper version once you've installed it in your car. Make sure you get the right generation for you car. Here's a retrofit we just completed recently.View attachment 532775

@EV-Fixme I'm unfortunately on another continent so can't enlist your services, but quick question - if a slave charger's procured (gen2, 2015), are there any additional cables, or harnesses, or plugs, or modifications to the junction box needed? Or just take out the coupling hose in the cooling line, put in the new slave charger, hook up the cooling lines, and plug it in with a plug that's just not plugged in yet? (and of course config/deploy) Also, is more coolant needed for the bit of volume at all? Thanks for any tips!