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Early model chargeports

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neroden

Model S Owner and Frustrated Tesla Fan
Apr 25, 2011
14,676
63,892
Ithaca, NY, USA
Having a February 2013 car, I had one of the early chargeports -- it was always "loose" when the charge cable was plugged in. With three successive cables, I had increased difficulty getting the cables to seat, and had to replace the cable (which was dead each time).

I told Tesla I wanted the physical port replaced, and they agreed to do it for free, though they wouldn't admit that it was defective. Since then, no problems -- and the port is *much snugger*. I think the looseness in the connection was frying the cables, one at a time

Anyone else with an early model S have this happen?
 
My Feb 2013 build's charge port was tight, however it developed an odd problem where it thought the charge door was closed when it was open, so they replaced it. I didn't notice any particular difference with the new port. My guess for the difference would be too large a tolerance window during production.
 
My March 13 build, had a very tight port(compared to the replacement). The charge port door stopped working, so it got replaced 8/13. I did go through a few UMC's, although the new port has too. The first UMC(delivery day), didn't work. After a bit of panic, I got it to work one time by wiggling it around in the charge port. I think that many early chargeports ended up being replaced due to a few issues. One of the issues was a poorly fitting -A revision J1772 adapter, which Tesla replaced with a -B revision whenever the car had work done.
 
My Feb 2013 build's charge port was tight, but I had the opposite problem of jerry33 - indicators shows the port door as being open when it was actually closed. I also did not notice any difference in fit of charging cable after new port was installed.
 
My March 2013 car's port does feel kinda loose, but works fine. It was replaced early on due to connection problems, but the replacement feels just as "loose" as the original. If I do happen to "move" the charge connector when the car is charging, it will wiggle a bit and give me a momentary red ring, but then go back to green and resume charging.
 
April 2013, my cable just stopped working. Ring stays white as though nothing was inserted. I'm pretty certain it's the cable since I just got back from a road trip and the superchargers all worked as did David's HPWC in Pungoteague (thanks David!).

Also, The car is sitting in my garage now with ~20 miles remaining. Hope this isn't too bad for the battery...
 
my cable just stopped working. Ring stays white as though nothing was inserted.

I had that happen twice and both times Tesla replaced my UMC. A few weeks ago, it started doing that again. Although the cable looked clean, I gently wiped it out with a Q-Tip and the Q-Tip came out black. After working it a bit, I got it to start working again.

I mentioned this to Tesla to see if they had a recommended contact cleaner spray, but they told me just to use compressed air. I bought one of those cans you use for cleaning computers and give the cable and port a blast every week or so. Seems to be doing the trick.
 
I had that happen twice and both times Tesla replaced my UMC. A few weeks ago, it started doing that again. Although the cable looked clean, I gently wiped it out with a Q-Tip and the Q-Tip came out black. After working it a bit, I got it to start working again.

Thanks for the info. I tried cleaning it... plenty of black gunk but no change/charge.

Odd that this started happening in front of the Sofitel (110v) in downtown Philly. Always worked before. Is there some sort of fuse inside the cable maybe? I still have a green light on the cable.
 
Thanks for the info. I tried cleaning it... plenty of black gunk but no change/charge.

There are plenty of electrical contact cleaner sprays on the market, and I was hoping Tesla would have recommended something like that. As I say, they told me just to use compressed air.

I think as long as you've got a green light, you should be good to go, but you may want to try it with another adapter just to be sure.
 
My Nov 12 Sig's port has always been very tight. I charge with my J1772 which I share with my Leaf, (the daily commuter) so much of the time I'm unplugging at the adapter level. I always turn off the current at the EVSE on the wall so there is no chance of arcing at the car if the car happens to be charging. (For some reason, pressing the hook release when interrupting charging on the Leaf doesn't send a pilot signal back to the EVSE to tell it to stop charging, but it works as designed with the S, but by force of habit I just hit the off button on the EVSE when I walk by it on my way thru the access door to the garage.) This keeps most of the potential contact wear at the EVSE contactor instead of at the plug.

I wish the charging pins on the Tesla's had been made much larger so the surface area was greater. The UMC's get too hot even when resistance is low.
 
Crisis averted... Got a new cable from Tesla, works perfectly. Charge port is now, always was, very tight FWIW. Any opinion on the car sitting at 17 miles for 2.5 days? Not that there's anything I can do about it now...