240 Volt NEMA 14-50 Charger No Longer Working

JohnnyLounge21 said:

I've been really proud of my little set up. I got a NEMA 14-50 receptacle installed @ work especially for my Roadster. I riveted the charger to the wall (it's in a public garage so I just wanted it secure). I figured I'd never need it to go anywhere. I've always left it plugged in.

Today I went to plug in the car and nothing happened. Of course, I was devastated. I remember that the power button being always lit - and it is still lit now. However, I think one of the "test" and/or "fault" lights lit when I was charging. Right now, none of them are lit when it's plugged in and/or when it's plugged into the car. When I hold down the "test" button, the "fault" light blinks. I've held it down for 20 seconds or longer. . . I've unplugged the charger and tried again. It just seems to be dead.

Any guidance? Below is my set up that I was once so proud of :crying:

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Did you verify that you're getting the correct voltage at the receptacle?

A couple to times mine stopped working showing a fault light. I unplugged it for a few minutes and plugged it back in and it worked again. I have not found any of the buttons to be useful. You might eve reset the circuit breaker to your outlet.

A few ideas from my experiences (on my third UMC!): One possibility is that I notice you have it mounted flush to the wall - these things run hot, and have a tendency to degrade from heat; not having airflow might have caused the problem, so I'd suggest that whether you have to get a new one or not, mount it with some air space behind it. My first one (I'm a CPO owner) had been almost totally burned out when I got it. Second thought: If there's work going on nearby, the grounding may have been compromised. That was one of my problems with the second (refurbished) one. I had my grounding redone/upgraded. A good electrician can check that potential problem. Tesla never said what the other problem with my second UMC was, but they gave me a brand new one. (Now that I have a new one, it's a few inches from the wall and I have a small fan to cool it.) Are you still under warranty? It's covered.... If not, the website shows new ones for sale. But you don't mention what fault (if any) the VDS shows - does a fault code come up, or is there no response to plugging in from your Roadster at all? If the latter is the case, I would think that maybe the slide switch or the electrical contacts between the plug and your Roadster might be the problem, and the charging system in the Roadster doesn't know you've plugged in. Maybe you can borrow someone else's UMC to be sure it's not the electrical supply, and maybe first check the contacts on yours are nice and clean? Best of luck!

I have had several issues with my Roadster UMC cable, just returned it for a third time to get fixed. The wires keep coming apart, as you can see in the picture. Seems like the cable it not meant to hang down and is really meant to be lying on the ground. I don't want to actually move my NEMA 14-50 socket, so am looking to get a charging station that has a very long cord. Found this:

HCS-40P, 30A, 240V Charging, 25 Cord, NEMA 14-50 Plug | Clipper Creek Vehicle Charging Station

and its a J1772 cord, but I have the J1772 to Roadster connector. I hear great things about Clipper Creek, I read that they are the manufacturer for the Tesla Roadster High Power Wall Connector. At under $700, thought it would be worth a shot since I have repeated issues with my UMC. Plus, figure that if I get another EV, I already have something that is compatible.

Thoughts?

andy-sf said:

I have had several issues with my Roadster UMC cable, just returned it for a third time to get fixed. The wires keep coming apart, as you can see in the picture. Seems like the cable it not meant to hang down and is really meant to be lying on the ground. I don't want to actually move my NEMA 14-50 socket, so am looking to get a charging station that has a very long cord. Found this:

HCS-40P, 30A, 240V Charging, 25 Cord, NEMA 14-50 Plug | Clipper Creek Vehicle Charging Station

and its a J1772 cord, but I have the J1772 to Roadster connector. I hear great things about Clipper Creek, I read that they are the manufacturer for the Tesla Roadster High Power Wall Connector. At under $700, thought it would be worth a shot since I have repeated issues with my UMC. Plus, figure that if I get another EV, I already have something that is compatible.

Thoughts?

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I'm surprised to see wires pulling out like that. I've never heard of that happening to anybody else.

Clipper Creek makes good products. Much better than the junk Tesla makes. But that charger is only 30A. Maybe that's all you need but I would consider the HCS-60 which is capable of 48A charging, although it would have to be hard wired. Don't they have something that could plug into your NEMA 14-50 that will do 40A?

The EVSE that Leviton made for the RAV4 EV can do 40A charging from a plug. From looking at it, it's a NEMA 6-50 and not a NEMA 14-50 though.
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ProductDetail.jsp?partnumber=EVB40-PST&section=37741&minisite=10251

I went ahead and ordered the Clipper Creek HCS-40P, which will plug into my existing NEMA 14-50 plug. The big bonus is that it has a 25 foot cord. I charge at 30A anyway, since it meets my charging needs. Its my daily driver, and I commute 75 miles per day. Plus, I heard its better for the batteries to charge at a lower AMPerage?

Tesla was also really surprised that the wires kept popping out, and suggested I prop the cable in a way where it would never be stressed or "pulled" on. It happened twice. The first time, they repaired it, but then it happened again. This time they gave me a replacement. I am surprised that other's haven't had the same issue, unless others have their NEMA 14-50 much lower to the ground so that the UMC is not hanging.

I'm on my 3rd charger. The first two went out slowly. They were working fine, then would occasionally not charge, then would never charge at all. After my first one failed, I worked with the Orange County store to get a replacement (San Diego wasn't open back then). They said that since San Onofre (nuclear plant) went offline earlier that year, they'd had a bunch of UMC failures due to SDG&E (elec company) supplying power from older plants which didn't regulate the grid as well.

My 2nd one went out about 6 weeks ago. New one just arrived -- still have to pick it up. Not sure why this one died, there's nothing mechanically wrong (wires pulling out/etc). But apparently they don't hold inventory of Roadster chargers anymore. Since it was my primary means of charging, they were able to expedite a replacement: only 6 weeks instead of the 3 month estimated backlog. Ouch!

My UMC also started failing recently.

At first, it would always work for immediate charging, but would occasionally fail on timed charge or when waking up for daily battery maintenance when left plugged in. VDS displays "External Charger Problem", charge port LEDs go red, UMC status light blinks red 4 times. UMC Reset button doesn't reset this issue. Must completely unplug from the wall.

Then, an immediate charge would work, but charge on wake-up would fail. I initially saw this happen once several weeks ago, but it has become more frequent, and is now a persistent problem.

Then, starting a couple of weeks ago, it would fail even on immediate charges, never going for more than 20 minutes. I took it to the Rockville Service Center, where it (of course) worked perfectly. Still, they let me borrow the Service Center UMC to try at home. It has been working fine.

After several days, my original SMC was failing consistently at the Rockville Service Center, and I just picked up a new one (and returned the borrowed one). Hoping this one does better.

About a year ago my charger was also failing. I sent it to the Costa Mesa SC and of course it worked fine in their air conditioned building. I figured it was the ambient heat in the garage during the summer coupled with the heat of charging would make it trip. I have the outlet on the garage ties and the charger unit is ~ 10' off the ground. TM didn't charge me and I haven't had any more problems.