Nope. No other issues, other than having to get an oven mitt for the times I needed to disconnect when it was active.
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Nope. No other issues, other than having to get an oven mitt for the times I needed to disconnect when it was active.
Nope - never had a charging problem and as far as I know it's never backed down from the 80A draw either, but no way to know that for sure since I don't sit around watching the car charge and it's always charged in the morning.
Never had this problem with my HPWC in almost 2 years of use. And I charge every time at 80 amps.
Bill D
Member
Tesla just replaced my HPWC cable & handle. The original handle had gotten too hot to touch. After one hour at 80A the old handle measured 155 F at the cable-end of the handle (which is the hottest spot).
The new handle now measures 125 F at that same spot. It now feels about the same as it did when it was new (I didn't measure temp until it began feeling too hot). Although it had continued to get hotter, it never failed to charge my MS at 80A.
The new handle now measures 125 F at that same spot. It now feels about the same as it did when it was new (I didn't measure temp until it began feeling too hot). Although it had continued to get hotter, it never failed to charge my MS at 80A.
Mine was replaced today as well. For the past 5 days or so I've been notified that the car stopped charging before completion, usually about 30 minutes into charging - going to the garage I found the red ring of charging death and "charging stopped". Unplugging and re-plugging generally made it start again and allowed it to complete. Service said that the logs indicated proximity signaling errors between the EVSE and the car, so they came out and replaced the cable. As of late, the cable had been getting warmer and warmer at 80A.
Wow, this is timely. I was just wondering about the temperature of the charge cable where it inserts into the car. It is not too hot to touch but it is definitely very warm at 80 amps charging. I don't normally notice as the car charges at lower currents, usually at 4 AM; however, a few times recently I wanted to charge the car immediately using 80 amps. I haven't actually put a thermometer on the handle but it sounds like that might be good for comparison purposes.
Tesla came out and replaced the cable. I suppose I could have gotten out the rubbing alcohol and Q-tips to try and clean the contacts a bit more before calling service, but I didn't want to let unreliable charging devolve to no charging at all, if there was a different issue. For those of you who have very warm to hot HPWC couplings, I'd be interested in a temperature measurement after 30 minutes of 80A charging before, then a good cleaning of the HPWC contacts with 90% alcohol and Q-tips, then a temperature measurement after 30 minutes of 80A charging after, just to see if it's a "dirty contacts" issue or if the connector pins are experiencing some fatigue that results in higher resistance.
Bill D
Member
I don't suspect dirty connectors because the source of the heat in my handle (both old and new handles) seems to be coming from the cable-end of the handle and not the car-end of the handle.
I'm guessing that flexing of the cable-to-handle wire connections slowly loosened and caused increased resistance directly at that crimp. Molded cable & connector assemblies (headphones, extension cords, etc) always seem to be prone to failure at that flex & strain point.
The Tesla Ranger said the cable had a new part number, so he suspected it had a new internal design. He said he had installed four of the new cables. Maybe the new design has stronger crimps, better strain relief or soldered connections. I now have a base-line temperature of 125 F at my handle hot-spot after one hour at 80A, so I'll know if it is increasing.
Bill D
Member
A series of those color-coded IR heat-map photographs would be a great way to see exactly where the heat increases in a failing handle/cable. Maybe someone with one of those cameras will post some. What I did was move around my IR thermometer to find the hottest spot on my handle/cable. These photos show the hottest spot on my old handle (155 F) and new handle (125 F). Both after one hour at 80A.
mknox
Well-Known Member
About a year ago, I used the HPWC (80 amps) at the Toronto Yorkdale store. The handle got so hot, I had to use a rag to grip it and unplug. I nearly burned myself when I first grabbed it. I'm not kidding... it was seriously hot! I let the store know and they said it was "normal" for it to get that hot. FWIW, the car charged just fine.
Be aware that you can't rely on an IR thermometer to tell you the temperature of a black surface. Its emissivity is calibrated at 0.95 (which is about what an opaque white surface is.) To get around this, you can use a small amount of tip-ex or white correction fluid on the point you want to measure.
How is it that so many people have IR thermometers? DOn't think I'll buy one just for this. Sounds like if the handle becomes hot enough that I can't keep my hand on it, I should definitely replace. If it's hot to the touch but bearable, I should mention it to my SC rep next time they are out.
You can buy them for something like $10 for a moderately decent one. They are very useful for doing spot checks on electronics and heating systems. For example, pointed at a ceiling surface or white wall will tell you approx room temperature. I use one for my home-made reflow jig for soldering PCBs.
Well that does sound useful - and just cheap enough that I would probably impulse buy one if I saw one in an electronics store (or Canadian Tire for those who know it). Sounds like I have the perfect excuse to buy one now - and some "White out"/"Tipex" - assuming one can actually still buy that stuff.
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