Charge port lights

CaptDaveHowe · Apr 21, 2013

Since I've had my MS, I have been charging it on a 50 amp 6-50 plug with good success. The standard green blinking light indicated charging status. Today I plugged in and a blue blinking light at the charging port came on. My app indicated that the unit was not charging. I read that a blue blinking light means that the unit s communicating. So I left it in for about 20 minutes with no change. What does the blue blinking light mean? What can I do to regain charging my car?

Puyallup Bill · Apr 21, 2013

The sequence I get is:
Pop the charge door - pale blue pulsating
Insert the connector - dark blue solid
About a second later - green pulsating

Do the lights on the UMC tell you anything? The Mobile Charge Connector pamphlet you should have received with the car shows what the various light combinations mean. I would try unplugging everything, including the 6-50, waiting 10 minutes, and start over.

kinddog · Apr 21, 2013

well it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night...
i can see paradise by the dashboard light.

FlasherZ · Apr 21, 2013

CaptDaveHowe said:
Since I've had my MS, I have been charging it on a 50 amp 6-50 plug with good success. The standard green blinking light indicated charging status. Today I plugged in and a blue blinking light at the charging port came on. My app indicated that the unit was not charging. I read that a blue blinking light means that the unit s communicating. So I left it in for about 20 minutes with no change. What does the blue blinking light mean? What can I do to regain charging my car?

I've never seen nor heard of blue blinking. I have seen solid blue, which indicates that the pilot signal is present but the car is not choosing to charge. This happens when you have scheduled charging turned on but it's not time to charge. I've also seen blue after a power failure, since the car will wait a random time up to 5 minutes before (re-)starting the charge.

But the blinking? No idea.

Puyallup Bill · Apr 21, 2013

FlasherZ said:
I've never seen nor heard of blue blinking. I have seen solid blue, which indicates that the pilot signal is present but the car is not choosing to charge. This happens when you have scheduled charging turned on but it's not time to charge. I've also seen blue after a power failure, since the car will wait a random time up to 5 minutes before (re-)starting the charge.

But the blinking? No idea.

I do indeed get a pale, pulsating blue light after popping the door, and before plugging in. But it turns to dark solid blue immediately after plugging in. Then to pulsating green.

FalconNinetyD · Apr 21, 2013

Do you have timer charging enabled in your settings?

NigelM · Apr 22, 2013

IIRC, blinking blue light indicates that the plug is not fully inserted and locked in. Try removing it and reinserting so you get that solid "clunk" as it locks.

FlasherZ · Apr 22, 2013

NigelM said:
IIRC, blinking blue light indicates that the plug is not fully inserted and locked in. Try removing it and reinserting so you get that solid "clunk" as it locks.

Mine has always been yellow when that happens, but it's because it is charging - just at a lower rate. Perhaps blue is a combination of delayed charging and plug not properly inserted all the way?

That "pale, pulsating blue" is really supposed to be white, but I'll agree that it is a rather blue white.

tdiggity · Apr 22, 2013

I had this happen and they switched out my umc. Can you test out a friend/forum members cable? Test a different outlet? Or contact a service center for help. The service center lent me their cable and when it worked without the blue light showing up they ordered me a new one.

dtich · Apr 22, 2013

Puyallup Bill said:
I do indeed get a pale, pulsating blue light after popping the door, and before plugging in. But it turns to dark solid blue immediately after plugging in. Then to pulsating green.

i think you're seeing white, which is correct. the blue is VERY blue. not pale at all.

Puyallup Bill · Apr 22, 2013

Well, back to the OP's problem. Wonder if there are any fault lights showing on the EVSE.

NEWDL · Apr 22, 2013

My guess is that the connector is not fully inserted into the vehicle. Make sure it is fully inserted!

CaptDaveHowe · Apr 22, 2013

Thanks for all of the messages.

The charge port led remained dark solid blue, while the UMC light remained top led green, with no charge. The display in the car noted that the car port was open and to insert the UMC. So obviously the car was not communicating with the UMC. I tried both a 240 v and 110 v outlet. I also tried re-booting.

I finally called Tesla, who analyzed the car, which seemed to be OK and as it turned out was OK. They sent out a delivery with a new UMC, which solved the problem. As it turned out, the tech who delivered the new UMC showed me that the one I had was an older model ( the top did not have the Tesla label) and they had a high rate of failure with that vintage. Thumbs up for Tesla, who acted promptly to solve my problem.

Two other items to look at should anyone experience this problem. 1. Listen for the click when inserting the UMC. 2. Try pulling out the UMC without pushing the release button. If it comes out, it is not communicating with the car.

mknox · Apr 23, 2013

CaptDaveHowe said:
Two other items to look at should anyone experience this problem. 1. Listen for the click when inserting the UMC. 2. Try pulling out the UMC without pushing the release button. If it comes out, it is not communicating with the car.

I have a bizarre problem, but with a workaround in case it is relevant here: If I open the charge port door with the button on the UMC itself, the port just stays white and the cable will not lock in. If I open the charge port door with the touchscreen, it works perfectly. See this post.

Lloyd · Apr 23, 2013

Mine will stay white until the doors are locked, then turn blue and lock the port until the proper charging time.

mknox · Apr 23, 2013

Lloyd said:
Mine will stay white until the doors are locked, then turn blue and lock the port until the proper charging time.

Wow. Another weird one. If I use the charge timer, the port changes from white to blue and the cord locks in as soon as I plug the UMC in. It will stay blue until the car is locked, at which time it will go dark (sometimes immediately, and other times after a minute or so). If the car remains unlocked, the port will stay blue until charging starts, and then it will throb green. If the car is locked, it will just start to charge at the prescribed time and the port remains dark.

NigelM · Apr 23, 2013

mknox said:
Wow. Another weird one. If I use the charge timer, the port changes from white to blue and the cord locks in as soon as I plug the UMC in. It will stay blue until the car is locked, at which time it will go dark (sometimes immediately, and other times after a minute or so). If the car remains unlocked, the port will stay blue until charging starts, and then it will throb green. If the car is locked, it will just start to charge at the prescribed time and the port remains dark.

That's not weird, you're describing the norm.

WRT your earlier post, the port lights staying white is an indicator that the plug is not fully inserted. If you are fully inserted and that still happens best talk to your SC.

mknox · Apr 23, 2013

NigelM said:
That's not weird, you're describing the norm.

No, I meant Lloyd's situation where the port stays white until the car locks is weird.

NigelM said:
WRT your earlier post, the port lights staying white is an indicator that the plug is not fully inserted. If you are fully inserted and that still happens best talk to your SC.

Yep, did that and they replaced the UMC. It started acting up the same way after about two weeks. It works perfectly when I use the touchscreen to open the port, but not when I use the UMC's button to open the port. Since I have a workable workaround, I'll wait until I can leave the car with them to properly diagnose.

NigelM · Apr 23, 2013

mknox said:
Yep, did that and they replaced the UMC. It started acting up the same way after about two weeks. It works perfectly when I use the touchscreen to open the port, but not when I use the UMC's button to open the port.

Now that is weird. The method of opening the charge port door shouldn't make a difference to anything else.

Lloyd · Apr 23, 2013

Mine has started operating normally. Not sure what set it off last week.

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