Warning: Rainbow easter egg on charge port may be harmful to your EVSE

[mspohr]

If the car has started charging, the contactors will click. If the car has not started charging (or is configured for scheduled charging), then it will not.

This easter egg is cool to show people but seems to have been poorly implemented. When I press the charge cable button in succession the relays vary from doing nothing at all to clicking with every button push. I don't know what's different with the car when they actuate with every button push from when they don't. Either way, it's needless wear on components with a finite life.

I mean don't get me wrong. It's cool to look at and cool to show people but the first time I did it and the relays started disengaging/ engaging with every click I wondered to myself how they'd ever let this out.

I don't think they were anticipating people doing this compulsively every day.

 

[sorka]

Years ago, you could purchase it with the car and it came with the same warranty as the car.

As I understand it, it's now considered an accessory and is 1 year.

I purchased it with the car last year so I have the 4 year warranty.

 

[FlasherZ]

I purchased it with the car last year so I have the 4 year warranty.

Do your terms say that? Sometime in 2013 or 2014, the terms changed such that the HPWC portion of the purchase was considered an accessory and specifically called out only a 1-year warranty.

 

[sorka]

Do your terms say that? Sometime in 2013 or 2014, the terms changed such that the HPWC portion of the purchase was considered an accessory and specifically called out only a 1-year warranty.

When I ordered last year, I left the HPWC off the order because I didn't want my yearly registration fees to be slightly higher as ordering it with the car would increase the total purchase price. I thought I was being clever, but my DS told me that if I changed the order (before it was confirmed), the warranty would be 4 years instead of 12 months. This was an email conversation which I have saved of course.

I'm also pretty sure that at the time I picked up the car they went over the warranty for the HWPC on some form. I'll double check it when I get home on Friday but I remember saying to the lady at delivery time that that's why I ordered it with the car.

 

[sorka]

This is the agreement that was in place at the time my order was placed:

Tesla Gear Shop — Wall Connector

 

[sorka]

Now here's something that's a little ironic. If you purchase it separate from the car, it's 12 month warranty regardless of mileage. If you purchase it with the car and put on 50K miles in 6 months, then the warranty is only good for 6 months.

 

[FlasherZ]

This is the agreement that was in place at the time my order was placed:

Interesting - that's the new price, too. Well, that's a good sign for you.

Here's another update:

Over in this thread here...
Effects of charging on home service voltage
...I talk about how I discovered my voltage has been running a bit high over the past couple of weeks (since a storm - the HPWC failure didn't coincide with the storm). This may be a contributing factor to the HPWC's failure as well, or it could be a combination of the two -- easter egg frequent disconnects and high-voltage stress. I won't be able to gather any more details, as Tesla now has the original HPWC for any failure analysis they want to do.

There are also graphs of the voltage impact from charging both Model X and Model S on my 400A service.

 

[Chris1howell]

That's a requirement of the J1772 spec. The button is physically connected to the proximity line. J1772 doesn't know whether the car is unlocked or locked, and as a result it *must* disconnect the power in case the connector is pulled.

The J1772 adapter is a good example. Use a real J1772 station with the adapter, and the locking pin of the port can only hold in the adapter, not the J1772 connector plugged into the adapter. You need the power to stop flowing so that you can pull the coupler.

The J1772 spec requires the vehicle to stop pulling current within 100ms on a proximity event, disconnection of power is not required until the pilot signal moves from State C (6v) to State B (9v) or is lost completely. On a proximity event some EVs like the Leaf keep the pilot at State C and remove power other both remove power and open the contractor.

 

[sorka]

Interesting - that's the new price, too.

Interesting. The current price is $550 for charger with the 24' cable and they have a now one with an 8.5' cable for $500. What was the price before it was $750?

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I've never been able to unplug by pressing the button, I always long-press the trunk on the fob, which stops the charging, turns the port white, and unlatches it. When I press the button the contactor clicks off and then rapidly back on again, without even unlatching the plug. But I admit that was several firmware updates ago, I've had no reason to check if they fixed it again, I will go check again now. I did try several times to reproduce the easter egg, and off course the contactor was going crazy while doing it.

That's the behavior it exhibits when your car is locked.

 

[FlasherZ]

Interesting. The current price is $550 for charger with the 24' cable and they have a now one with an 8.5' cable for $500. What was the price before it was $750?

$1,200.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Has anyone tried pressing the HPWC button ten times before plugging in, plugging it in only on the 10th press?

 

[sorka]

$1,200.

I see that. Back in 2014. So it's gone all the way from $1200 to $550.

 

[FlasherZ]

Has anyone tried pressing the HPWC button ten times before plugging in, plugging it in only on the 10th press?

Yes, the car wants to see the proximity line pulsed 10 times. HPWC doesn't have the code.