Charging stops due to jump from 30A to 72A

[Mark Bazz]

WHAT CAUSES MY APP TO SHOW 31A WHEN I PLUG IT IN AND THEN IT JUMPS TO 72A STOPPING THE CAR FROM CHARGING AND FRYING OUT MY OUTLET?
I REPLACED THE OUTLET DUE TO FRIED WIRING, TESTED IT AND ITS PERFECT ($478.00)
THEN I WENT TO TESLA IN WESTMONT ILLINOIS TO BUY A NEW ADAPTER THAT HAD BEEN CHARD IN THE INCIDENT
THEY DIDN'T HAVE ONE SO I BOUGHT A WHOLE NEW CHARGING DEVICE - THE NEW DESIGN- AND WHOLE NEW CORD ($330.00)
I CAME HOME AND PLUGGED IT IN TO CHARGE - SAME THING HAPPENED - CHARGING STOPPED AND I NOTICE ON MY APP THAT IT JUMPED TO 72A
I IMMEDIATELY UNPUGGED EVEYTHING
I SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT FOR A TECH TO COME OUT
I RESPONDED TO SEVERAL MESSAGES AND SUPPLIED PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING
I GET A CALL TODAY THAT THEY NEED TO LOOK INTO PROBLEM SO NO TECH COMING OUT TOMORROW
I AM REALLY WONDERING IF THEY KNOW

ANYONE ENCOUNTER THIS??

I HAD NO PROBLEMS FOR ALMOST 5 YEARS!!!

THANK YOU

 

[DerbyDave]

What connectors are you using to attach to the car? What is the year and model of your car? Are you wanting to limit the charging to 32A? what is the breaker size and the wire size connecting from the breaker to the connector? Why is the wire frying? The breaker should be blowing, no?

 

[Mark Bazz]

What connectors are you using to attach to the car? What is the year and model of your car? Are you wanting to limit the charging to 32A? what is the breaker size and the wire size connecting from the breaker to the connector? Why is the wire frying? The breaker should be blowing, no?

Thanks for your reply. I was using the Tesla Charger that came with the vehicle 4 1/2 years ago - never had a single problem. When it fried (it did trip breaker but only after) 2017 Model S - 61,000 miles Yes I would like to limit the charging to 32A. The breaker can handle up to 45A
I think and do not know much about this but I think something happened to the APP on my phone - it just jumps to 72A on its own and I told the service guy why are we allowed to go to 72A when the charging device provided with the vehicle can only accommodate 35-40A tops?

 

[Mark Bazz]

What connectors are you using to attach to the car? What is the year and model of your car? Are you wanting to limit the charging to 32A? what is the breaker size and the wire size connecting from the breaker to the connector? Why is the wire frying? The breaker should be blowing, no?

Also when I went to a nearby supercharging station this weekend my phone APP would not allow me to stop the charging
Very weird - I never had any problems for close to 5 years

 

[ucmndd]

There are lots of potential reasons why your outlet melted and tripped the breaker, but your car trying to draw 72 amps through the mobile connector is not one of them.

The MAX your car can draw via the onboard charger is 72 amps, IF and only if it’s connected to an EVSE that can supply that much current.

Your outlet most likely failed due to worn contacts or a loose connection on one of the hot wires causing arcing/heat. This is pretty common, especially with cheap consumer-grade 14-50 outlets.

If the car actually tried to draw 72 amps through a 50 amp circuit for longer than a few seconds or maybe a minute any properly functioning breaker would trip. Your outlet didn’t melt in a minute.

The main question to answer is why the new mobile connector isn’t working and what else may have been damaged by the failure.

 

[DerbyDave]

The app usually takes a few minutes to display correctly my limited Amp setting of 32A. This has been true for nearly 2 years on my App.
Mine always starts out at 48A (the max for my car) and eventually will show my correct 32A lower setting. Inside the car, it will show the accurate setting you make, and should always be correct. Don't go by the app for this. Again, press the button on the connector or insude the car to stop charging until your app starts behaving correctly. Are you running the latest app for your car?
Your electrical issues other than this indicate a more serious issue, and someone with more knowledge than I might be able to help, or call your electrician.

 

[mswlogo]

You should never depend on lower amp setting in the car to keep it from blowing a breaker. The charger itself should always be properly limited.

 

[DerbyDave]

You should never depend on lower amp setting in the car to keep it from blowing a breaker. The charger itself should always be properly limited.

True. I was just pointing out that your should not depend on the app for accurate information on the limit you set for the car's charging rate, as it routinely shows the maximum charge rate, which is not correct if you set it lower. The car is not really set to charge at the app's rate, so you can generally rule that out in this instance.

 

[brkaus]

I guess my first question is what does it show in the car?

If you do think it’s really going over the limit set by the evse…. Sit in the car. Set the current limit waaaay down. Plug in. Try to set the limit higher and see how high it will go. It should display current_charge/max_charge_for_adaptor shortly after being plugged in.

You can watch on the app, but I wouldn’t trust what that is saying.

 

[ucmndd]

You should never depend on lower amp setting in the car to keep it from blowing a breaker. The charger itself should always be properly limited.

Given OP’s description of their setup this response isn’t relevant.

 

[Rocky_H]

@Mark Bazz First off, you've got the cause versus the effect totally reversed here. You think that the car jumped to trying to draw 72A, which CAUSED the outlet to fry and disconnect. It is actually the opposite of that. When your car is not plugged into anything, the car will just display the default of what the onboard charger is capable of receiving. The car was using a reasonable amount of current, but when the outlet had a failure, that caused the equipment to disconnect, which then made the car revert back to showing that default value because it thought it wasn't plugged in anymore.

OK, now to the other stuff, we just need more information about what your outlet setup is, as @DerbyDave was asking for. What type of outlet? What breaker size? What wire size and type?