Tesla/J1772 adapter available from Tesla's website

[doug]

Regarding storage, I determined that I can fit the J1772 cable under the front bonnet...

Woah... any photos of that?

 

[vfx]

Other than price, the biggest downside is when traveling, my trunk will be filled with cables and adapters:

1 - UMC with NEMA 14-50 adapter
1 - J1772 Adapter
1 - Home-made NEMA 14-30 plug to NEMA 14-50 outlet
1 - Home-made NEMA 10-30 plug to NEMA 14-50 outlet
1 - "Spare" Mobile Connector (120V)
1 - 120v "cube" (to provide clearance for the spare mobile connector's right angle plug to fit into ChargePoint stations)'

It's quite a bundle, but looks like they'll all fit in the provided bag. Definitely bigger and heavier than the soft top.

pictures?
So would it be better to just have a UMC j1772 adapter?
I carry two kinds of "cubes" for 120V direction/cover compatibility.
(there is a better thread for this)

 

[smorgasbord]

So would it be better to just have a UMC j1772 adapter?

As others have pointed out, using the UMC with a J1772 adapter limits the max current you can obtain to 40 amps, since that's all the car will do with a UMC no matter what. So, if you're going along Hwy 101 in Calif. (which I intend to do), then you can't take advantage of the 70amp J1772-modified HPCs at the Rabobanks from Santa Maria to Salinas. That's a big jump in amperage and can really shorten the time you need to wait for a "top-off" or "security charge."

 

[vfx]

...you can't take advantage of the 70amp J1772-modified HPCs at the Rabobanks from Santa Maria to Salinas. ...

Do we have on-site confirmation that all the Rabo banks along the 101 have been converted to J1772 connectors? And more importantly, that they have been swapped out with 70 amp J conversion. I heard it is extra hard to get the high amperage J plugs.

 

[Lloyd]

Do we have on-site confirmation that all the Rabo banks along the 101 have been converted to J1772 connectors? And more importantly, that they have been swapped out with 70 amp J conversion. I heard it is extra hard to get the high amperage J plugs

If nobody knows I will drive to the Atascadero location and check it. It is only about a 20 minute drive for me.

 

[ChargeIt!]

Do we have on-site confirmation that all the Rabo banks along the 101 have been converted to J1772 connectors? And more importantly, that they have been swapped out with 70 amp J conversion. I heard it is extra hard to get the high amperage J plugs.

See here: J-1772 Converted Tesla ChargeStation Locations

Looks like "on-site confirmation" is based on user comments in the four Rabobank locations and does confirm 70A for all four; the Salinas one does not report 70A *after* the switch, but there's no reason to believe it was downgraded (the others weren't).

 

[vfx]

See here: J-1772 Converted Tesla ChargeStation Locations

Looks like "on-site confirmation" is based on user comments in the four Rabobank locations and does confirm 70A for all four; the Salinas one does not report 70A *after* the switch, but there's no reason to believe it was downgraded (the others weren't).

Good find. I guess I would bring both connectors on a trip and *hope* the Js are all 70 amps.

 

[slcasner]

Looks like "on-site confirmation" is based on user comments in the four Rabobank locations and does confirm 70A for all four; the Salinas one does not report 70A *after* the switch, but there's no reason to believe it was downgraded (the others weren't).

I charged today at Salinas, and it did charge at 70A, although only 201V. If someone observed less than 70A, that may have been because the car was already charged to a sufficiently high level that it had ramped down the current.

 

[ChadS]

Finally decided to head over to a Chargepoint location and see if it worked. I have the latest firmware (I think) at 3.6.1. It seemed to work fine although I only charged for 5 min, just long enough to see if it would work. It charged at 30A.

3.6.1? Isn't that for 1.5s? But you have VIN 1144. I'm VIN 690, and I have firmware 4.6.3, which Tesla confirmed is the latest.

My car still won't work at any Chargepoints whether I use the J1772 adapter, or my RFMC at 120V. I get a GFI fault in under a minute every time.

Tesla and Coulomb are looking in to it...

 

[dsm363]

3.6.1? Isn't that for 1.5s? But you have VIN 1144. I'm VIN 690, and I have firmware 4.6.3, which Tesla confirmed is the latest.

My car still won't work at any Chargepoints whether I use the J1772 adapter, or my RFMC at 120V. I get a GFI fault in under a minute every time.

Tesla and Coulomb are looking in to it...

Oh, I may have typed that incorrectly. It's probably 4.6.1 (latest firmware as of mid June). My car is charging at the moment but I'll check when it's done. I do have a 2.5 Roadster.
It worked in terms of charging, I just couldn't figure out how to tell the Coulomb station to stop charging. I hit 'stop' on the VDS then unplugged the adapter from the Roadster.

 

[dsm363]

I actually have 4.6.3 as well. Not sure why it didn't work with you. I only tried it on one Chargepoint charger but maybe your adapter is broken?

 

[smorgasbord]

I charged today at Salinas, and it did charge at 70A, although only 201V.

I charged twice in Salinas this past weekend - 201V and 70A. It took about 1 minute 35 seconds to get an increase of 1 Ideal Mile - this with the SOC about 40%. I didn't time it, but Atascadero put out 207V at 70amps and seemed to charge a bit faster.

An hour top-off doesn't seem like much, but given what's around both those locations (malls with Starbucks), seemed like it took forever and a day.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

If someone observed less than 70A, that may have been because the car was already charged to a sufficiently high level that it had ramped down the current.

The VehicleLogs will show both the full 70 A capacity (if that's what was available) and the actual charge current used. It's not terribly convenient to do on a moment's notice, but someone could download their logs and view them on a laptop to see if the full 70 A was available, but that would require waiting until the end of the charging session as well as the download time. My Mac log viewing application graphs both the charging capacity and actual charge current.

 

[ChadS]

My car still won't work at any Chargepoints whether I use the J1772 adapter, or my RFMC at 120V. I get a GFI fault in under a minute every time.

Tesla and Coulomb are looking in to it...

Their "looking in to it..." apparently consists of: doing nothing. Well, they do at least talk to their manager and then not get back to me.

My car still doesn't charge at Coulomb stations; although Tesla, RFMC and Ecotality stations are fine. I've seen other cars (including Teslas) use the EVSEs--and I have tried several--so I know it's not the EVSEs. I have the latest firmware, so I know it's not that. I've talked to the owner of #691, who says it works for him (I am #690) so I know it's not some manufacturing issue from my era of car. I have swapped my cable for a known working cable from another owner, so I know it's not the cable.

So what can it be? It seems to me that everything that talks to the EVSE is in the PEM, so I assumed (and have suggested more than once) that they would do a PEM swap. But they don't want to do that because it's expensive and they are not "sure" it will fix the problem. I suppose there is a very tiny chance it could be something in the ESS, but you think they'd want to try to PEM first because it's cheaper AND easier to swap. I suppose there is a small chance it could be the inlet and/or the cable to the PEM, which is cheaper but harder to replace. I'm willing to work on whatever, but they just seem to be ignoring my requests for them to do something. It's been 5 weeks.

I'm leaving for an 800-mile trip on Thursday, and of course where I'm going has Coulomb chargers...but nothing else. I'm going to have to do a few extra hours of driving to make the trip work. This sucks.

Any other ideas on what I can do, or what they should do? I'm just about to cancel my Model S Signature reservation and file a complaint with the state Attorney General's office. And I'm sure as heck not taking my car to events and talking about how great Tesla is anymore (I've done that about 50 times since I got the car).

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Any other ideas on what I can do, or what they should do?

Assuming that you can reproduce your problem on demand at a specific charging station, then ask Tesla Motors to send an engineer (not just a Ranger) to meet you there to diagnose the problem.

Did Tesla Motors indicate whether anyone else has had this problem, or is it just your car?

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

So who in the US is NOT buying one? And if not, is it because you don't like the design, the cost, or because you've converted your Roadster (or plan to convert your Roadster)?

E.) I haven't even seen a J1772 charging station yet, so I don't really feel an urgent need.

I do have the UMC with NEMA 14-50 and SMC, so those should take care of 95% of available charging stations.

Have any of the charging database sites like Recargo done a database query showing percent of charging sites with J1772 capabilities, HPC capabilities, 50-amp capabilities, et cetera? I would find that very interesting because it would let me estimate what sort of coverage I have with my existing adapters. I realize that these databases are incomplete, so the percentages might be skewed a little, but an idea is better than a guess.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Obviously no one is going to steal one of these adapters to use it or sell it to a Roadster owner. Someone might steal it as a prank, or maybe for the copper. There have been a number of thefts of charger cords in California, presumably for the copper. At less than $3 per pound, the value of the copper in Tesla's adapter can't be much.

The logic employed by thieves is questionable at best, and you probably should be careful trying to rationalize what they might and might not do based on your own perspective as a productive member of society. I've had my car stolen and they took $5 headlight bulbs that probably weren't worth the time it took them to cut the wiring harness and unscrew the bulbs. I've also had a $400 car stereo stolen, but the catch is that they only get $20 for a hot stereo. The remaining $380 is simply lost. It might seem silly to steal a $750 charger for $3 of copper, but if they can unload it for $5 to $20 then they'd surely take it. Maybe inflation has thieves being more picky, but I bet the economic downturn has probably reversed any effect that inflation may have had.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

I've got an earlier car (VIN 362), and heard from a service tech that my primitive and barely supported PEM should tolerate the adapter with only a few possible charing faults. He said to ignore them.

Charring faults? or charging faults? Upon first reading this, I imagined your tech telling you that a little smoke or fire was nothing to worry about with the old PEM.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Well, I got an e-mail saying I'd have to pay the mobile Ranger fee ($920 in my case) to get the firmware update since it's a non-warranty repair. They're not willing to split the cost of the trip among all the owners in the area who need the firmware update either.

If you're willing to wait until your Roadster needs a firmware update for some other reason, then I assume that the Ranger fee might not apply.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

I just had the firmware updated on my roadster. Looked like quite a bit of messing around with a laptop, adaptor cables and ODB ports.

It's a very involved process - I've watched from a distance.

There's an expression in the electronics world known as 'bricking.' If anything goes wrong during a firmware upgrade, the CPU is effectively lobotomized. In most cases, the CPU cannot even function well enough after such a problem to reload the firmware on a second attempt. At this point, your electronics are no more useful than as a heavy doorstop - e.g. a 'brick.' 'Bricking' is merely the verb form of turning your electronics into a 'brick' by screwing up the firmware update.

So, not only would it probably take all day for your Roadster to download a complete firmware image via GSM, and not only is the Roadster probably not designed with the ability to store and execute its own firmware updates, but you really don't want to take the risk of doing this unless you have the tools to resurrect the system if there is any problem. The laptop, adapter cables, ODB port and the rest of the Tesla system ensures that there is a recover path in case they need to start over.

I've designed several firmware-based electronic systems, and I always avoid giving the end user the ability to upgrade their own firmware. It's just too risky. There has to be a very clear need for the user to handle this kind of technical operation before such a feature can be justified (besides, it requires a significant amount of design and testing to make it possible for a non-engineer to pull off without special tools).