Gen1 HPWC stopped working - NEED ADVICE/HELP!

[johnyoung1234]

My Gen1 80A HPWC started acting up a few weeks ago and I cannot figure out what is going on. A few weeks ago I started getting a "Charging Stopped" message and the car would not start charging. I can hear the switch click in the HPWC like it wants to connect. Sometimes I could pull the charger in and out of the car a couple of times and it would finally connect and charge. This has gone on for a few weeks before getting progressively more tempermental and just showing the "Charging Stopped" message all the time. When I open the HPWC, I am getting a single flashing red. I know this is supposed to indicate a ground fault so I called an electrician and he came over and sunk a new ground rod and tightened everything. The ground is fine. Even after turning off the breaker and letting it sit or resetting the HPWC, the flashing red persists. The red light comes on right away when the HPWC is energized--even without being connected to the car. My mobile charger works fine but I have dual chargers and want 80A charging so I'm trying to figure out if there is a component on the motherboard that is bad, if it's the cable or something else.

Can anyone help or provide advice on what do try next?

 

[vanwho]

It probably got wet inside and some components fried. You have to buy a new one. Or, you can cut it open, very very carefully (don't go deeply, just cut the plastic, with a dremel likely, otherwise you can damage components/ribbon cable), and it's probably just a $6 relay and/or small resistor that fried, that can be resoldered in place. It should be visibly browned from the frying.

 

[vcor]

@vanwho - Great pictures. Looks like you got into an MC, not an HPWC? I think the HPWC isn't welded together and you can get into it fairly easily with the removal of a few screws. Don't know about repairing it though. Tesla doesn't have schematics or parts lists, making it a bit harder to fix. I see the burned area on your MC, what failed, and were you successful at fixing it?

 

[vanwho]

A relay shorted out due to moisture, and I damaged a resistor when taking it apart. I haven't replaced them, yet, but expect it to work. It was hard to get the Made in Austria relay in Austria, so actually got it in the U.S., go figure.

Pardon I mistook wall charger for regular adapter. If it was outside, I wouldn't be surprised if the elements got to it eventually. Definitely worth a disassemble and visual inspection.

 

[ResHacker]

I´ve sold my Gen 1 MC as broken as I was not able to find any visible problem inside. And the buyer then told me the problem was in some cold-solders, so I'd recommend to also check this and as best to resolder what is possible to.. Good luck

 

[sorka]

My gen 1 80 amp charger just failed last night. Car says "external charging equipment not providing power".

I put the dip switches into test mode and turned the breaker back on. In test mode, you should hear the relay click on. It didn't, so I repeated with a voltmeter on the relay control coil side. No voltage so I think it's the control board rather than the relay itself. Although I guess I should check the coil impedance. If the relay died, it could be that the board detects the impedance and doesn't apply power. That said, the leds indicate no error on the charger in test mode.

 

[ResHacker]

Check also the whole PCB for cold-solderings as it was my rootcause

 

[MonsterCarter]

Have you tried turning the amperage down to 48amp when charging on the HPWC? I experienced the same issue and when turning it down to 48amp charging isn't disrupted anymore. Seems like a software related issue or one of the onboard chargers failed. I'm not sure, hope this helps.

 

[sorka]

A new relay fixed mine. I have 8 left for sale on ebay.

Repair a broken HPWC?

The box of 10 switches came today. Look brand new. Surprised by the variance in control loop impedance ranging from 7.12 - 7.39 KOhms. None measured open like my broken relay. Will put back together tomorrow.

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[aviators99]

Mine just broke recently. It does click on, and the in-car display shows 2 amps (and then stops). Any idea what this might be?

 

[sorka]

Do you hear the relay click in the charger on the wall? Put it into test mode with the dip switches and then press and hold the reset button on the side. Does the relay click?