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Help! I have a brand new Tesla and a "line sync" error message when I try to charge i

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Hello! :confused::confused::confused:

Need help asap.

We just got our Tesla #1316 today, plugged it in Universal Mobile NEMA 14 50, got the flashing blue, a flashing red light and then "line sync error" message.

Unplugged everything, plugged it in again, and got the same sequence.

Car charges normally (albeit slowly!) on the 110.

We called Tesla, and they say its a problem with the line.

We called the electrician and he says line is fine, it's a problem with the car.

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Any advice?
 
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The "line sync" error occurs when the voltage fluctuated too much on the line, and pretty much in all cases this will be because of the line and not a problem with the car. You can try changing the charging current down to 12A or 15A which will reduce the chance of it occuring. I actually got this error the very first time I tried charging my Roadster-- I was at a public charging station in Tokyo before I had a place to charge at my house, and I was pretty low on charge. I plugged in, came back in 3 hours, and found the car had not charged at all! Fortunately I was close to the Telsa dealership so I just drove over there and charged. I have not seen the "line sync" error since....
 
I had this error before as well and ended up needing a new mobile charger. I also have a NEMA 14-50R. The new charger works fine.

Have them send you a new mobile charger and send your old one back. If that doesn't fix it, then maybe it is your line.
 
We just got our Tesla #1316 today, plugged it in Universal Mobile NEMA 1450, got the flashing blue, a flashing red light and then "line sync error" message.

Congratulations on getting the car. Did you try the mobile connector? I still only use the mobile connector and I believe I've had a similar error twice. Both times they had to replace the mobile connector and assured me it wasn't a problem with my electricity. It happened twice in about 3 months so I was a little worried at what was going to happen after the warranty was up because I didn't want to spend $600 every 3 months but they told me they had improved the cables with the last one they gave me and so far no issues. But Tesla should be able to tell you for sure.

--Correction: I see that you stated that the mobile connector is indeed working for you. Since it does charge only about 5 mi/hours it'll take a while to charge. I drive under 100 miles a day (during the weekdays) so it's not a problem for me.
 
This kind of issue makes me really nervous about getting the Model S. I understand fluctuations and varying line quality, but you can be pretty sure any 14-50 dryer would work with the line, so the Tesla should as well regardless of what engineering they need to do to make it work.
 
Thank you!
Bu tI want to get more charge-- I am planning to drive it to work, 64 miles round trip daily. So I need more charge!

Test your car with another power source first, but it may be that you are a long way from the local transformer and subject to noise and voltage drop.
You may need to consider a power conditioner if you own where you live such as the Eaton PowerSure700.
This is but one example there are many others.
Let us know how it works out.
 
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Test your car with another power source first...

Good point, before you send your cable in you should definately test it at a different location. Other than the first place I tried to charge at that gave me the error, I have not seen the error again and I have charged at a number of different locations.
 
Thank you!
Bu tI want to get more charge-- I am planning to drive it to work, 64 miles round trip daily. So I need more charge!

Whilst not ideal, if you can use it at a lower current, 12A at 240V will easily accommodate your 64 mile trip with an overnight charge and if you run longer one day, subsequent days will see the full charge being restored. So, no panic, that's the setting I use all the time.

As a rule of thumb, charging returns miles into the pack at a rate of about 3 x the "Killowatts"* of the charge, so, at 12A, 240V that's about 3KW so about 9 miles per hour, so an 8 hour charge will be plenty.

Usually charging errors appear to occur if the line voltage drops as charging starts as Benji4 said. You can see the voltage on the VDS as charging begins. Typically a drop from say 242 to 238 is fine, if the voltage drops 10V or more, you may have a bad connection in the socket, the panel or through the breaker. Simply measuring the voltage with no load shows nothing.

Other causes are poor grounding of the socket, if the 'earth' connection isn't good the gfi in the charger will trip - it's concerned that there is a human connected to the output. Again, this is a wiring fault.

One thing your electrician can safely ignore is the 'Neutral' line; the Tesla charger doesn't use that at all.

It may well be your charger, it may have the issue but to solve this, I'd do the following:

1. Lower the current, if it works, it's probably the wiring; verify by starting at 12A, check the voltage after charging begins and see if it drops as you increase the current... This can be down whilst charging, go in to the settings and change it as it's charging.

2. Try the same charger at another premises

3. Swap out the charger.


* I know, bad use of the term but works right?
 
Okay now you've got me worried. I have a shiny new UMC that I bought a few months ago, in anticipation of taking road trips. Now I'm actually going to do one, and I don't have a readily-available way to test it. If the UMC doesn't work then I won't be able to reach my destination.

I know that the site where I'm going to charge has been used previously by the Toronto Tesla salesman, so the power source is good. Should I be rigging up something to let me test it?
 
Having once been standed by a newly-purchased UMC that didn't work, I would say yes, you should test it before you leave.

Then again, the Tesla rep that sold it to me said he had tested it...maybe you should test it twice!
 
Having once been standed by a newly-purchased UMC that didn't work, I would say yes, you should test it before you leave.

Then again, the Tesla rep that sold it to me said he had tested it...maybe you should test it twice!

In both cases where my UMCs went bad, they had been working fine for several weeks/months before going bad for no apparent reason. This was of great concern to me but they told me they were making better cables when I got my last one (probably around 6 months ago) so hopefully this last one doesn't just die out of the blue one of these days. These sorts of issues is also my biggest fear in EV adoption. At $600 a pop it adds up quickly when it is out of warranty.
 
Okay now you've got me worried. I have a shiny new UMC that I bought a few months ago, in anticipation of taking road trips. Now I'm actually going to do one, and I don't have a readily-available way to test it. If the UMC doesn't work then I won't be able to reach my destination.

I know that the site where I'm going to charge has been used previously by the Toronto Tesla salesman, so the power source is good. Should I be rigging up something to let me test it?

Don't forget to bring your spare cable along on your trip. It's what could really keep you from getting stranded when things go wrong.
 
Can you head out to a campground in the Ottawa area for a "test"?

Okay now you've got me worried. I have a shiny new UMC that I bought a few months ago, in anticipation of taking road trips. Now I'm actually going to do one, and I don't have a readily-available way to test it. If the UMC doesn't work then I won't be able to reach my destination.

I know that the site where I'm going to charge has been used previously by the Toronto Tesla salesman, so the power source is good. Should I be rigging up something to let me test it?
 
Can you head out to a campground in the Ottawa area for a "test"?

I managed a test yesterday. A neighbour of mine owns a garage for import cars (I've previously had tire service done there), and he said there was a 240V plug at the back of one of his bays that I could use.

So I drive down there, and when the bay is free I back it in. Then I see the plug. NEMA 6-20P. Never seen one of those before! I walked over to the local hardware store and bought a NEMA 14-30 socket, a few feet of wire, and a 6-20P plug. I rigged up an adapter, plugged it in, dialed back the current, and presto! I'm charging.

So it works. I'll just have to assume it still works at full power...

This leads to a question about the touchscreen. Apparently you can't adjust the current until AFTER you have plugged in. Fortunately it takes a minute for charging to spool up, so you have time to get in there and adjust. But shouldn't it let you adjust the current before you plug in the car? Am I missing something?
 
Doug, on my 2.5 I just went out into the garage, car powered down and charge cable removed. I got in and touched the dark VDS to wake it up. I then clicked on the Wrench, clicked Charging, and then Current. It then let me set a "user limit" on amperage and said "setting saved for this location". Granted it's charged at my house before so maybe it remembered and just let me modify it. I'll try it at work later (where it's never charged) and see if it lets me there.

UPDATE: I tried it at work and it also let me choose amperage values from 12 to 70.
 
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This kind of issue makes me really nervous about getting the Model S. I understand fluctuations and varying line quality, but you can be pretty sure any 14-50 dryer would work with the line, so the Tesla should as well regardless of what engineering they need to do to make it work.

If you want to charge the S in 45 minutes, you have to use DC Charging by an external Charger, connected to the 3phase 480V grid.

emq > powerquality / EV charging solutions