Message: Charging Problem, but charging continues

romp · Jun 27, 2014

This might've happened earlier, but only noticed it today. Have anybody seen that? Search doesn't find any threads on this subject.

The car has the -D battery pack. I'm charging at home at 240V 30A with the normal limit set to 75% SOC. Today when I plugged it in, I stayed in the garage for a while, left the car door open and listened to Slacker. When I went back to close the car I noticed the "Charging Problem" "Check Power Source and Charge Cable" message on the dashboard. So I did: I unplugged the charger from the car, made sure the charger's lights are still on, checked the temperature of the charger and both plugs (wall and car) -- everything was normal. Plugged the charger back in, the charging resumed:

then, within a minute or so, there was a faint click down (felt like second row area, but not sure) and the screen started to switch between

and

Checked the status of the car via the API. Here's what the server told me:

{
"charging_state" : "Charging",
"charge_limit_soc" : 75,
"charge_limit_soc_std" : 90,
"charge_limit_soc_min" : 50,
"charge_limit_soc_max" : 100,
"charge_to_max_range" : false,
"battery_heater_on" : false,
"not_enough_power_to_heat" : false,
"max_range_charge_counter" : 0,
"fast_charger_present" : false,
"fast_charger_type" : "ChargerTypeTesla",
"battery_range" : 194.82,
"est_battery_range" : 136.84,
"ideal_battery_range" : 225.39,
"battery_level" : 73,
"usable_battery_level" : 73,
"battery_current" : 17.7,
"charge_energy_added" : 0.11,
"charge_miles_added_rated" : 0.5,
"charge_miles_added_ideal" : 0.5,
"charger_voltage" : 241,
"charger_pilot_current" : 30,
"charger_actual_current" : 30,
"charger_power" : 7,
"time_to_full_charge" : 0.28,
"charge_rate" : 15.0,
"charge_port_door_open" : true,
"scheduled_charging_start_time" : null,
"scheduled_charging_pending" : false,
"user_charge_enable_request" : null,
"charge_enable_request" : true,
"eu_vehicle" : false,
"charger_phases" : 1
}

So I spent ~15 minutes researching the problem, then hit the server again. Apparently, the car successfully finished its charge:

{
"charging_state" : "Complete",
"charge_limit_soc" : 75,
"charge_limit_soc_std" : 90,
"charge_limit_soc_min" : 50,
"charge_limit_soc_max" : 100,
"charge_to_max_range" : false,
"battery_heater_on" : null,
"not_enough_power_to_heat" : null,
"max_range_charge_counter" : 0,
"fast_charger_present" : null,
"fast_charger_type" : "<invalid>",
"battery_range" : 200.17,
"est_battery_range" : 140.35,
"ideal_battery_range" : 231.57,
"battery_level" : 75,
"usable_battery_level" : 75,
"battery_current" : null,
"charge_energy_added" : 1.68,
"charge_miles_added_rated" : 5.5,
"charge_miles_added_ideal" : 6.5,
"charger_voltage" : null,
"charger_pilot_current" : null,
"charger_actual_current" : null,
"charger_power" : null,
"time_to_full_charge" : null,
"charge_rate" : 0.0,
"charge_port_door_open" : false,
"scheduled_charging_start_time" : null,
"scheduled_charging_pending" : false,
"user_charge_enable_request" : null,
"charge_enable_request" : true,
"eu_vehicle" : false,
"charger_phases" : null
}

Is it a known issue? A reason to worry? Should I unplug just in case?

bonnie · Jun 27, 2014

Did you call your local service center? What did they say?

I had a somewhat similar (not identical) issue with my Roadster a few years back - it somehow was throwing itself into diagnostic mode, so I was seeing messages I was not supposed to see. I'm not saying that is what is happening here, but your service center could quickly answer that question for you. Check with them for the definitive answer.

If the car has finished charging, you might as well unplug.

romp · Jun 27, 2014

Didn't call the service center: it's Friday night here, so will call tomorrow. Unplugged for now. Will try a different charger tomorrow, maybe a supercharger as well.

Electricfan · Jun 27, 2014

In the second two pictures the display is telling you that the car is drawing 30 amps and charging at a rate of 16 mph. So the messages about charging problems are erroneous. Probably a bug in the Tesla software. I would ask the service center about it, but I think your car and your wall outlet and wiring are all fine. It finished charging while you were researching a problem that didn't exist, except for the false error messages.

russman · Jun 28, 2014

I have a loaner car from Tesla running .11 software. It's a S60 and I plugged in to charge today and it has the same error. I used both my UMC and the UMC with the car, plug and unplug, but the car will try to get to 40A, then downgrades to 30A, but only does 27A of charging, but has those same errors. I looked back at the power usage when my own car was charging and it was charging at 40A. So I want to assume it's the loaner car. It does look like it's charging at the downgraded 27A, even though it's continuing to show the two errors.

iplugin · Jun 28, 2014

Did you try to reboot the computer?

Btrflyl8e · Jun 28, 2014

I saw that same message once a few weeks ago. I just unplugged as it was accidentally set to max charge (so the error saved me from charging to 100% when I didn't mean to), and went about my day of driving. Plugged in that night as usual and haven't seen that error since. I didn't bother calling the service center since it seems to have resolved itself.

romp · Jun 28, 2014

Update: took a trip to the supercharger and back. Charged at the supercharger -- no error messages. Plugged in after returning home -- no error messages so far. I didn't have to reboot the computer, but it may have rebooted itself. BTW, is there a way to tell the uptime of any devices in the car?

ken830 · Jun 28, 2014

Since 5.11, I've had the "Charging Problem" error whenever I do a range charge. It seems around 95% Soc, it would drop down from 40 to 30 Amps, and then continue to charge.

russman · Jun 28, 2014

The loaner car is on 5.11, however it's far from 95% SOC. I rebooted and still having the same error. I wonder if this is a 5.11 item or this car. I did double check and my car previously was charging at 40A. The loaner drops down to 30, but then stops at 27.

andydoty · Jun 29, 2014

romp said:
...Checked the status of the car via the API. Here's what the server told me:...

How did you check the status? VisibleTesla?

scaesare · Jun 29, 2014

Are you getting any weirdness with the lock behavior when you insert the charge cable in to the port?

I started getting the port going through several lock/unlock cycles, and occasional dash messages similar to yours and the current being throttled at 30A also. The current thinking is that that contacts on the cable may not be seating well and/or making full contact. I notice it more if I don't insert the cable forcefully.

I have a HPWC to swap out to see if that does the trick.

russman · Jun 29, 2014

For me, not on this loaner car. Insert the UMC cable (on two different UMCs) all the way in, it appears to function perfectly fine and then starts to charge. Goes up to about 27A of 40, then drops down to 30A at the max level, stays at 27-28 and then shows the error, but keeps charging.

russman · Jun 30, 2014

I've plugged the loaner car at another location a J1772 30A and it also has the issue. Looks like there's something wrong with this car.

romp · Jul 2, 2014

andydoty said:
How did you check the status? VisibleTesla?

Nope, just sending API requests using curl and reading the JSON response. It's all in this thread: Model S REST API

- - - Updated - - -

scaesare said:
Are you getting any weirdness with the lock behavior when you insert the charge cable in to the port?

I started getting the port going through several lock/unlock cycles, and occasional dash messages similar to yours and the current being throttled at 30A also. The current thinking is that that contacts on the cable may not be seating well and/or making full contact. I notice it more if I don't insert the cable forcefully.

Have not noticed any problems with locking: everything seems to lock immediately with no problems. If the wand is not inserted completely, the ring lights orange or red, so it would be pretty obvious.

I wouldn't expect the dirty contacts problem just yet: both the car and the charger are less than 1mo old.

NigelM · Jul 2, 2014

What did your service center say?

muleferg · Jul 2, 2014

I had an issue like this 2 weeks ago. It said unable to charge. then charging problem, then, bad cable. I have the J1772. so i get out the Tesla 110. it worked fine. The J1772 had a red light on it. Never seen this before. Went down stairs and the breaker was not tripped. I reset it and it works fine. :love:

romp · Jul 2, 2014

NigelM said:
What did your service center say?

Didn't call the Service Center yet since I wasn't able to reproduce the problem after using the Supercharger. Will call if it reproduces.

NigelM · Jul 2, 2014

romp said:
Didn't call the Service Center yet since I wasn't able to reproduce the problem after using the Supercharger. Will call if it reproduces.

The car is less than 1 month old. It's worth having them check the logs just in case.

mknox · Jul 2, 2014

ken830 said:
Since 5.11, I've had the "Charging Problem" error whenever I do a range charge. It seems around 95% Soc, it would drop down from 40 to 30 Amps, and then continue to charge.

Isn't that normal? I thought the charge rate starts to taper as you get close to 100%. I've never really watched it in real time, so can't say for sure if the tapering begins at 95%, but that seems about right.

Message: Charging Problem, but charging continues

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