I did not have Range Mode on the few times it has happened to me. Moving to another stall solved it, so it is not related the car or its settings.
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Weird Supercharger Incident (Reduced Charge)
- Thread starter esk8mw
- Start date
Only conspiracy theorists think they're being "throttled" when there is an issue with supercharging.
cmc5dc
Member
I have had that problem and switched stalls and everything went well thereafter.
Ciaopec
Active Member
Just because I am not a paranoid, conspiracy theorist doesn't mean they're not out to throttle me locally!
ddimit
Member
Its definitely not a range mode issue. I run range mode on long trips and never had a low amp issue that wasn't corrected by moving to another stall. I can also attest the range mode has no control over cooling circuit fan speed During hot summer days on a trip at superchargers Fans definitely ramps up to max.
SomeJoe7777
Marginally-Known Member
Like I said, I witnessed it myself. Fans refused to run in range mode, ran perfectly fine the next day at the same supercharger under similar temperature conditions with range mode off.
The fans aren't running because the charger isn't sending enough juice to the battery to warrant the fans running. If the charger were working properly the fans would be running to keep the battery cool.
I've experienced this same thing on a recent trip through New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma. The only time I had any issue was when supercharging between 11 AM and 5 PM (when it was very hot out). Usually, moving to another charger solved the problem.
I think it is simply coincidental that the first day it didn't work you were in Range Mode and the second day when it did work you were not in Range Mode.
Mike
I had a similar issue driving back from Fremont on Monday in our brand new Model X.
Gilroy was fine, but both Harris Ranch and Buttonwillow seemed to be limited to about 30-40 kW even at low SoC. On plugging in, I initially got almost 100 kW but after a minute or two the amps steadily dropped down. Pretty sure it is temperature related as it was 105+ degrees.
For the record, these Superchargers are not local to me in Los Angeles and I was not in range mode.
Gilroy was fine, but both Harris Ranch and Buttonwillow seemed to be limited to about 30-40 kW even at low SoC. On plugging in, I initially got almost 100 kW but after a minute or two the amps steadily dropped down. Pretty sure it is temperature related as it was 105+ degrees.
For the record, these Superchargers are not local to me in Los Angeles and I was not in range mode.
SomeJoe7777
Marginally-Known Member
It's possible, but I'm very curious now. I'll try to test this on my next road trip and see if I can get anything conclusive.
ElectricLove
Member
I hope we are taking into account whether there is another TESLA plugged in at the station? Remember every "charger" is actually linked to 2 cords/spots, if you plug in to one that has its partner (4A and 4B are partners for instance) in use then you will only get around 20% of the power until the partner is done charging then it will taper you up as they taper down...
SomeJoe7777
Marginally-Known Member
Yes, you are correct in that paired charging will reduce charging rates, but I definitely was not paired when I saw my strange behavior. I believe the OP said on one of the posts above that he was not paired either.
Not paired here either. As a matter of fact everytime it happened to me I was the only one at an eight stall location. Changing chargers (i.e., moving from 1x to 2x or 3x) usually cured it.
My supposition is that the chargers are overheating. Perhaps the cooling intakes or filters are dirty over time because I don't remember seeing this happen last year. You plug in, get the high, normal rate and then it drops down quickly as the chargers get too hot. I've even seen it charge at 117 kW for a few minutes, hear the full array of cooling fans spin up in the car, then have it drop down to 35 kW and the car's cooling fans drop back to inaudible.
Mike
My supposition is that the chargers are overheating. Perhaps the cooling intakes or filters are dirty over time because I don't remember seeing this happen last year. You plug in, get the high, normal rate and then it drops down quickly as the chargers get too hot. I've even seen it charge at 117 kW for a few minutes, hear the full array of cooling fans spin up in the car, then have it drop down to 35 kW and the car's cooling fans drop back to inaudible.
Mike
Also for the record, I was not paired and tried multiple stalls at each location and got the same result.
Petra
Member
I experienced the same thing on my last two trips through Harris Ranch--charging not exceeding 50kW or so (not paired) when it's 100+ outside. This is my first summer with my 70D (took delivery in November of last year) and the only long trip that I regularly take is up I-5 to San Jose and back... it's a little frustrating, given that it practically doubles the amount of time I have to spend at Harris Ranch. Everything was awesome during the fall/winter and spring.
All I can suggest is to call Tesla every time it happens. If they get enough complaints I'm sure it will hurry them up to implement some fix.
Mike
Electric700
Active Member
I'm curious to see what an examination of the log would reveal. May be send an e-mail to [email protected] about this?
Had this (started out above 350 mi/hr, started to drop steadily after a few minutes, down to low 100s before I gave up and unplugged) happen to me at one end of a supercharger this past weekend. I pulled in this evening and went to a bay on the other end and the same thing happened.
Immediately came to this forum because my "conspiracy theorists" self figured I was being throttled and knew if that was the case y'all would be talking about it. I saw the suggestion to switch stalls so I did that. In the second stall it only got up to 260 mi/hr (another Tesla sharing this circuit) but stayed steady for a while. Now it's dropping again.
I'm guessing it's the heat. We're in a bit of a heat wave here in Boston (currently 88 at night) but I would've thought it would have had to get much hotter for the ambient temperature to cause these sort of problems. Surprised we haven't been hearing about this issue all the time from folks in the southwest. Unless I've just not been paying attention.
Immediately came to this forum because my "conspiracy theorists" self figured I was being throttled and knew if that was the case y'all would be talking about it. I saw the suggestion to switch stalls so I did that. In the second stall it only got up to 260 mi/hr (another Tesla sharing this circuit) but stayed steady for a while. Now it's dropping again.
I'm guessing it's the heat. We're in a bit of a heat wave here in Boston (currently 88 at night) but I would've thought it would have had to get much hotter for the ambient temperature to cause these sort of problems. Surprised we haven't been hearing about this issue all the time from folks in the southwest. Unless I've just not been paying attention.
My theory is many of the superchargers have now been installed for a year or two and need some maintenance. They have big fans in the enclosures to circulate air so I assume they have filters. They may be dirty and it's just starting to show up with time and heat.
Just a theory based on what's been reported and my personal experience seeing this for the first time this year.
Just a theory based on what's been reported and my personal experience seeing this for the first time this year.
We drove over 500 miles from Tooele, UT to Denver on Sunday and had the car in range mode the entire day. The temperature outside was over 100 degrees and the cooling fans were definitely running in Green River, UT and Grand Junction, CO and could be heard from over 100 feet away.
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