BSM Contactor failure - unable to charge...

[dpeilow]

It's not damp as in water accumulating but just cold damp humidity in fall and winter.

The 283, 286 & 287 are the error codes down by the VDS when it happens. Same on both sides of the Atlantic as far as I know.

 

[ravng]

I also had a lot of problems last winter due to moist.
I did get a lot of warnings, sounds, and the car did not "turn off". It was drivable without the key in ignition (but dash, lights etc was off), unable to charge etc. Leaving it in a dry garage solved the problem. But it came back in different ways whenever driving in wet conditions.

Tesla disassembled large parts of the car and found problems with a connector lacking some kind of weather protection, they did the repair on "goodwill" and it has been good ever since since, but then again I did build a garage for the car
Going over all exposed connectors are now a part of the annual service for the roadster here at least.

 

[dpeilow]

So my Roadster is in for the annual service and I asked them to take a look at this fault.

The service centre left it parked outside for a few days anyway and then when they tried to charge it the 283 fault happened. They checked out the loom with some kind of simulator and concluded that there were no leakages there.

Then they swapped the PEM for a PEM on another car and it worked ok. So they have concluded the PEM is at fault and want to get me another one for circa £7000.

The thing is that the fault is intermittent, so this could have been a fault elsewhere that rectified as the car dried out in the workshop. Then when they swapped in the other PEM it worked fine so they just conclude it's the PEM.

I'm not paying that much to find out the fault is elsewhere...

 

[m0rph]

I have now been driving 2 months and 10000km without that error...
Maybe it was due to one of the 4 connectors on the PEM, as I did the PEM/Motor cleaning just before the errors stopped..

@dpeilow - I must say that every time I read about these crazy priced PEM swaps, battery packs, etc, I get the impression that the one day I'll sell the car only because of this. Especially as it's a lack of knowledge by the SC, and they go to swapping things way too soon. They must think we're all multi-millionaires... I don't like the Model S that much, but the warranty on that car and supercharging is very appealing if you drive 70000km/year.

 

[dpeilow]

Totally agree. It would break my heart to sell the car but I won't throw good money after bad. That's why I would like to see a third party PEM repair option.

 

[dhrivnak]

What I was told for the 1.5 models is the motor is used as an inductor for charging. I see this error under very damp conditions. But if the car is driven two or more miles it has always charged. But if I just run the heater for 15 minutes I still cannot charge. So for me the motor must be warm in damp conditions for things to work.

 

[Alexandersims]

I have an error like this as well but it seems to be directly linked to PEM temperature.
If i sit in the garage when its cold and the fault occurs, I start it up (having shut the charge port door!) and rest my foot on the brake pedal whilst accelerating lightly to put 10 amps through the motor. Looking at the motor, pem and battery temps, the PEM rises quickly and when it gets to 35 degrees celsius its warm enough to get rid of any damp I assume as then I stop and plug it in again and it all works.

Motor and Battery temperature are still stone cold ~10 degrees.

 

[Austrianer]

@Alexandersims
Did your trick today, it worked after several attemps. After approx. 5 min the PEM had arround 38 C and the motor 18 C.

My 2.5 European Roadster is sitting in the garage since beginning of December. I try to keep the SOC between 40 - 60 percent, so I'm charging the Roadster every 3 to 4 weeks. But this time I got erros 283 and 286. Weather in my country is very wet, it rains or snows every week for a few days, hope this will be over soon to get my baby on the road again.

 

[CruzInVA]

Got hit with the 283/286 BSM Isolation Fault double whammy on my drive home yesterday. So excited to be able to join the party. Ugh.

This is the first time I have seen this error on my 2.5.

Circumstances: the car sat out in a decent amount of rain yesterday while I was at work, but the rain had let up by the time I drove home. So the car and roads were damp, but I was not driving in any significant downpour. The error only popped up at the end of my drive (~ 15 miles/24 km), just as I was arriving at the house. Average speed for the commute was moderate- 40 mph/65 kph.

Battery is pretty full, so I did not try charging. Car sat in the garage overnight and this morning the error has cleared.

My concern is that, as any of you in the DC area know, it is dumping rain today.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[wiztecy]

I was hit with this error again on my 1.5.... 2nd time since owning it for 4 over years. Rainy & humid day, but I help it a bit by hosing down the car and must have sprayed some water through the passenger side vent. Even though I encountered this error once before, a couple of years ago during a heavier rain storm, this situation you're in is still quite scary since you can't charge your car and most likely low on the battery SOC. Tried charging 3 to 4 times and still received the red ring. After a few failed charge attempts the VMS throws up a deadly intimidating message to get the car serviced. Just ignore that... Tried drying out the car with the trunk lid open, no luck. Had a party I very much wanted to attend, so drove the Roadster. I did what @dhrivnak suggested, to just drove the car to heat up the motor area so things can air / dry out. When I came back after the short 35 mile drive, didn't stop raining, and just about 8 hours later and the Roadster took a charge as it normally should.

 

[dhrivnak]

Glad the drive worked for you. Then this hit me even a 4 mile drive was enough to dispel the moisture from the motor.

 

[slcasner]

I got the BSM: Contactor power failure, ID: 271 Data:0x00004000, last night when I tried to start a charge. I tried five times, closing the charge port door in between, but the fault occurred each time. I did not look here at this thread last night, so I did not think to try @wiztecy's remedy of starting the car.

The car is kept in my garage, so there should not be a moisture problem, but the ambient temperature has been dropping now. This was my first attempt to charge since the car was in for annual service 10 days earlier, so my first thought was that some connector was missed or not seated well. I thought that Tesla had not charged my car during the service, but a check of the logs shows they did charge for 14 minutes at 120V.

This morning I collected the log again so I could check the list of faults. After that was completed I tried charging again and this time charging started successfully. I had to touch the Start Now button on the VDS since my programmed start time is midnight, whereas last night the time was already past midnight. I would not expect that factor to be significant.

Obviously this is disconcerting.

 

[Vger]

I get this issue every winter now, but sporadically. The solution seems always to run the car a bit. Sometimes just starting it works, sometimes it takes driving it a bit.

My thinking is that as long as I always keep the car at a reasonable level of charge in the garage, I can always afford to drive it enough for it to accept a charge. And though I rarely road-trip the car anymore, I assume that as long as I plug the car in to charge promptly at the end of the drive, while still warm, it should charge then also.

In summary, I just live with it now and do not worry too much...

 

[wiztecy]

People have reported the isolation fault in high humidity environments. I know that in the Bay Area it has been raining a good bit so the air is quite humid, even in a garage.

 

[dpeilow]

Since Tesla did whatever they did last February, I have not had this recur even though temperatures have dropped, we have had some damp misty mornings and the car has been sitting in a dampish garage where it faulted last year. I've even taken it out in nasty rain with spray all over the place and not a peep. Fingers crossed that solved the issue.

 

[PV-EV]

So, no PEM swap?

 

[lmore]

PLEASE HELP, MY CAR MAY SOON BE BRICKED! I have this problem with a 1.5. The lowest brick is 2.5 volts so I guess the car will be bricked if I don't do something smart.

It is -5 degrees C outside.
I took the service disconnect and got the battery heated to 8 degrees C (lowest brick), but it seemed like the power was taken from the battery since the cell voltage of lowest brick dropped from 3.1 V to 2.5 V. The charging amperage showed 0 during heating which it normally don't do.
What can I do?

I tried putting a heater under the dash as it was metioned in this thread. It did not help (I used the service disconnect to reset the car but the same BMS Contractor Power Failure).
Should I try to open the PEM and heat the PEM?

I will try to heat the garage, it is partially open so I will need to find a way to close it.

 

[dhrivnak]

PLEASE HELP, MY CAR MAY SOON BE BRICKED! I have this problem with a 1.5. The lowest brick is 2.5 volts so I guess the car will be bricked if I don't do something smart.

It is -5 degrees C outside.
I took the service disconnect and got the battery heated to 8 degrees C (lowest brick), but it seemed like the power was taken from the battery since the cell voltage of lowest brick dropped from 3.1 V to 2.5 V. The charging amperage showed 0 during heating which it normally don't do.
What can I do?

I tried putting a heater under the dash as it was metioned in this thread. It did not help (I used the service disconnect to reset the car but the same BMS Contractor Power Failure).
Should I try to open the PEM and heat the PEM?

I will try to heat the garage, it is partially open so I will need to find a way to close it.

Can you drive the car 4-5 miles? That has always cleared up the fault with my car.

 

[lmore]

When a brick is 2.5 volts the battery capacity shows 0 % and there is a message to carge immediately. Driving the car not an option unfortunately, which makes this difficult.
I have put fans that blow warm air (4-5 kW) under the car and put a outdoor Model S cover on top of the car to try to keep the car warm.
My hope is that after 8 hours the heat from the fans will dry up the thing in the car that is causing this error so that the car will eventually charge.
I pulled the service disconnect while doing this to prevent the battery from getting an even lower voltage.

If I can find an external charger that can deliver >350 Volts, what is the best way to charge the main battery using this charger, is it to open the PEM? (with another EV I put several voltage generators in series and charged the battery this way using a very low amperage)

Could it help to open the PEM and heat it with a fan?

Other suggestions are very welcome.

 

[Roadster]

This might be poor advice but desperate times call for desperate measures. Can you jack the rear of the car up to get the wheels off the ground enough to "drive" the motor to heat it up? Make sure to use jack stands and chock the front wheels securely!