May 23, 2014
efusco I don't remember the handle getting quite so hot as the last few times I've charged @80 amps. Is 141 F normal? The cable near the charger was ~119 F.
Tesla Model S HPWC @80 amps charging connector temperature measurement - 141 F - YouTube�
May 23, 2014
araxara I replaced my handle and cable about 6 months ago because the handle was getting too hot to touch. Not exactly sure of the temperature, but it was considerably hotter than the cable. The new handle also gets very warm, but about the same temperature as the cable and it definitely can be handled. Tesla exchanged the old cable/handle with a new one for me which I installed. Unfortunately, the new handle did not open the charge port door consistently. Tesla sent out an electrician and replaced the handle/cord again. So far the handle is not too hot.
What alerted me that the handle was too hot, was that I have another HPWC at my mountain home, which did not overheat, even when running for 4+ hours at 80A.
I also wanted to point out that now that it�s getting close to 100� here in Tucson, my garage temperature has been going up (85�) and consequently both the cable and handle feel hotter than they did in the winter. I should really measure the temperature, but I always forget to do that since the cable/handle seem to get hot when charging at 80A for over � hour and by that time I�m no longer in the garage.�
May 23, 2014
efusco Thanks. Maybe it's worth a call to service. It's not too hot to handle, but I have to be very careful b/c it is very hot to touch.�
May 23, 2014
FlasherZ Mine was replaced once for that same symptom, it was nearly untouchable after a half-hour of charging at 80A. It's starting to warm up again during 80A charging. It's not a big deal because it's rare when I have to interrupt it while charging, but still concerning nonetheless. They might need to issue contact cleaning kits.�
May 24, 2014
AmpedRealtor Yes, mine gets quite warm. My charge cord and handle were replaced after my handle failed and would not be recognized by the car. Both old and new cord/handle warmed to about the same level.�
Jun 16, 2014
pgiralt Evan, what was the resolution to this? I just measured the temperature on mine and I got a peak reading of 177 F. I had never really gone to unplug it while it had been charging for a while (in this case for about an hour). Is this normal or should I look to get it replaced? Seems pretty hot to me.�
Jun 16, 2014
efusco They sent me a replacement HPWC and paid to have the new one installed/replace the old one.�
Jun 16, 2014
pgiralt Wow. Awesome service. What's the temp on the new one?�
Jun 18, 2014
efusco You know, I haven't checked. I did one range charge at 80 amps, but it was while I was sleeping and had completed by the morning. I'll have to remember to try it out and see.�
Jun 18, 2014
LMB (LMB spouse)
Human temperature threshold of pain is around 130F / 55C. This is the point at which something goes from feeling hot to hurting, useful for estimating the approximate temperature of objects in that general range. There are lots of second-order effects which modify this somewhat, but it's a good first approximation.�
Jun 18, 2014
pgiralt Thanks for the data point. The local SC is sending someone to replace the cable on mine. Will also report back on what the temps look like with the new cable.�
Jun 18, 2014
pgiralt Got my cable replaced today and it's much better. After charging for about 45 minutes (and with an ambient temperature around 96 degrees) the handle and cable were most certainly still warm, but measurements were all below 120 - mostly around 110 F.�
Jun 21, 2014
Bill D Thanks for the measurements. It seems that my HPWC handle has been feeling hotter lately, so I just got an IR thermometer. After 45 min at 80A in an 85 F ambient, it measures 150 F at it's warmest spot, which is where the flexible cable meets the handle. Since I don't have previous measurements, I'm not sure what "normal" is/was. Do any other folks have any temperature measurements to help determine what "normal" is?�
Jun 22, 2014
pgiralt That is exactly the spot where I was getting my highest readings before the replacement. I think you should call your service center and let them know the temperature. I suspect they will volunteer to come out and replace it.�
Jun 22, 2014
Bill D Thanks. Am I correct that your hot spot (cable/handle junction) runs less than 25F above ambient after 45 min at 80A with natural convection cooling? (Mine runs 65F above ambient)�
Jun 22, 2014
pgiralt Next time I charge I will measure again and give you an exact number but that sounds about right.�
Jun 22, 2014
aviators99 I've had my HPWC replaced twice now, due to hot handle (140+). The first time it was replaced, it went down to tolerable (~115) for a while, and then back up in the 140 range again after a few months. With the current replacement, it's sitting around 123, which is considered "normal" by my SC.�
Jun 22, 2014
Bill D Thanks. That's helpful to know. I assume those temps are with about an 85 ambient temp?
I wonder what degrades in the handle that would make it hot? (mine is 5 months old). I didn't measure my handle temp previously, but I recall it only felt warm. Now its clearly too hot to touch.
Did Tesla replace your whole HPWC or just your cable assembly (like they did for pgiralt)?�
Jun 22, 2014
aviators99 The whole thing. In addition to replacing the whole thing twice, they tried replacing the cable once, with no effect. And yes, since we live around the corner from each other, you guessed correctly about the ambient temps!
�
Jun 23, 2014
Bill D Amazing - My leap-of-faith assumption of your garage ambient temp was dead-on.:smile:
I decided to hold off reporting my hot handle to the SC until after we return from vacation. However, I plan to leave the HPWC on my MS, set to 10 amps and 50% to maintain the battery. Since it only gets hot with high current, I'm assuming that should work OK (Another leap-of-faith assumption, but I'm on a roll).:smile:
Separate from your hot handle problems, have any of your defective HPWCs ever failed to charge your car?�
Jun 23, 2014
aviators99 Nope. No other issues, other than having to get an oven mitt for the times I needed to disconnect when it was active.�
Jun 23, 2014
pgiralt 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.�
Jun 24, 2014
wk057 Just noticed this thread... figure I'll add a link to my IR cam pics thread of the HPWC: HPWC IR Pics (more fun!)�
Jun 24, 2014
jthompson Never had this problem with my HPWC in almost 2 years of use. And I charge every time at 80 amps.�
Sep 9, 2014
Bill D 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.�
Sep 9, 2014
FlasherZ 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.�
Sep 10, 2014
gpetti 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.�
Sep 10, 2014
FlasherZ 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.�
Sep 10, 2014
Bill D 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.�
Sep 10, 2014
FlasherZ Interesting... on mine the metal portion of the coupling was the hottest point (although you could feel the heat had conducted through the entire length of the cable).�
Sep 11, 2014
Bill D 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.
�
Sep 11, 2014
pgiralt That was exactly the spot where my handle was getting hottest although the metal part on the top was very hot as well.�
Sep 11, 2014
mknox 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.�
Sep 11, 2014
aviators99 I used to keep an oven mitt in the garage, for the occasions when I had to leave the house when it wasn't done charging. It was around 150 for me too. I had pretty much everything replaced (including the charge port) several times (probably a total of 5 service calls). Now it's around 122.�
Sep 11, 2014
SarahsDad Guess I'd better get mine replaced too. I rarely check it while charging but realized it was *really* hot the other day (ambient about 85 degrees inside the garage). This is after about an hour at 80 Amps.
�
Sep 11, 2014
pgiralt Yea - that's really hot. Tesla should come out and replace it for you.�
Sep 12, 2014
tom66 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.�
Sep 12, 2014
gpetti 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.�
Sep 12, 2014
tom66 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.�
Sep 12, 2014
gpetti 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.�
Sep 12, 2014
Cottonwood I beg to differ. You want black, not white.
0.95 emissivity is what you get with a good, black, opaque, non-reflective object, like black masking tape. For better accuracy, put some black masking tape on the object. The flat, black surface of the HPWC handle is probably pretty good, but the reflective, metallic parts are really bad for an IR temperature measurement. Also, distance spot ratio is really important. For an inexpensive IR Thermometers with a distance spot ratio of 8:1, you need to be 4" away to get a 0.5" diameter measurement spot.
From IR Thermometers & Pyrometers - Omega.com:
One way to determine emissivity experimentally is by comparing the radiation thermometer measurement of a target with the simultaneous measurement obtained using a thermocouple or RTD. The difference in readings is due to the emissivity, which is, of course, less than one. For temperatures up to 500�F (260�C) emissivity values can be determined experimentally by putting a piece of black masking tape on the target surface. Using a radiation pyrometer set for an emissivity of 0.95, measure the temperature of the tape surface (allowing time for it to gain thermal equilibrium). Then measure the temperature of the target surface without the tape. The difference in readings determines the actual value for the target emissivity.?�
Sep 12, 2014
tom66 I do thermal testing at work, we use white tip-ex.
Actually come to think of it, it's more because we know the emissivity of white paint, rather than the emissivity of black rubber/plastic. It's a lot more dependable. (We used to use specialist thermal correction fluid, but came to realise tip-ex was basically the same stuff at a tenth the price.)�
Sep 12, 2014
Cottonwood I agree that a known emissivity is the key, but I have always been taught that dark and non-reflective got you closer to the 0.95 built into most units. What emissivity do you use for the "tip-ex" and how big a patch do you paint?�
Sep 12, 2014
Lloyd Amazon.com: Nubee� Temperature Gun Non-contact Infrared Thermometer w/ Laser Sight: Kitchen Dining�
Sep 12, 2014
tom66 We use 0.95.�
Sep 12, 2014
SarahsDad Heh. Another case of awesome if not somewhat spooky Tesla service. I posted my 190 degree HPWC cable pix above at 10:30 last night.
Got an unsolicited call from the service center today, wants to send a tech out tomorrow (Saturday) to see if it needs to be replaced.
Stalker-esque but pretty damn good service.�
Sep 14, 2014
SarahsDad ...and a Ranger came by the house yesterday, confirmed the overheating cable, switched out for a new cable, and now max temps only around 120-130F. Awesome service.�
Jul 30, 2015
redi I had to unplug mid-charge to depart for a mission and found the handle/cable area hot, and measured it at 135F while charging at 51A (in-car setting). My garage ambient temp is 80F. The rest of the cable was not hot at all, neither was the HPWC on the wall or the breaker. I usually don't run my HPWC at 80A, although it is configured to support that and is on a 100A CB.
Tesla has a ranger coming next week to replace the cable.
What is the "normal" peak handle temp for most folks running 80A?
Thanks. Sorry to zombie-up the thread.�
Jul 30, 2015
FlasherZ Tesla told me they expect max temp to be 140, anything more and it needs to be cleaned/replaced.�
Jul 31, 2015
islandbayy
I've hit 180+ *F at Superchargers.
I think I did narrow it down to Charge Port, or possibly my charge port is going flaky and not working right due to the extreme temps it has been being fed.�
Jul 31, 2015
redi 135F at 51A is hot enought that I would be a little leery to crank it up to 80A. A few weeks ago the Supercharger handle was warm, but not any worse than it is now.
I am packing my thermal gun for the next XC trip.�
Jul 31, 2015
spentan Has this been resolved? I just got a HPWC last week and had it wired up.
Will be charging at 80A, so wanna make sure that I don't get burnt haha�
Jul 31, 2015
FlasherZ New HPWC's typically don't have this problem. After a while, the contacts seem to get loose and/or dirty and the temp goes up.�
Aug 2, 2015
Khatsalano I have duals and an HPWC from February 2015. Yup, it will get warm at 40A-64A. It will get hot at 80A. It's not hand-burning hot, but it definitely enough to surprise you the first time. If you mind it for comfort grip reasons, stop charge and wait 60 seconds to unplug. It cools quickly.
Even supercharger handles get hot too if you unplug around 50-70% SOC from a 10-20% SOC since it's still at a very high charge rate.
- K�
Aug 3, 2015
AmpedRealtor My service center says that hot HPWC cords and handles are perfectly normal. In fact, they get so hot here in Arizona that the Tesla Gallery in Scottsdale will not allow anyone to charge at their HPWC after hours due to this issue. A Tesla employee must be the one plugging/unplugging the HPWC for liability reasons, at least that's what they told me. Hot handles at 80A seem to be the norm, and the unit is operating as designed.�
Aug 4, 2015
davewill What a brain dead comment on their part. They sell these for people's homes. It is supposed to be OK so long as you burn yourself at home?�
Aug 4, 2015
Lloyd The real reason from other sales sites is that the HPWC's are also used for charging the demo cars. Owners were plugging in and the demo cars were having a hard time getting charged for test drives. Employees from Tesla wanted to go home, and they had to stay and wait for an owner to unplug so the demo car would be charged for a test drive in the morning. I was told it was easier for them just to take over the HPWC's and regulate who charged.�
Aug 5, 2015
AmpedRealtor It sounds like someone complained and made a stink about it, I can't think of any other reason why they would have this policy. It makes no sense, to me anyway, why an HPWC should sit idle after hours just because some douche complained about the hot handle.�
Aug 7, 2015
ERP Its really not surprising the cable gets so hot. Tesla is pushing the limits of the wiring at 80 amps and has given us all electrical space heaters in our garage. The size of the wire inside the power cable is 6 awg, and 80 amps is right at the recommended limit of constant draw. With some quick calculations from this handy site (http://photovoltaic-software.com/DC_AC_drop_voltage_energy_losses_calculator.php) the wasted energy in just the 25 ft cable is ~130 watts.
It disappointing that the cable is so wasteful, especially in the summer when my garage does not need the extra heat. But when you figure out the cost you can see why Tesla didn't opt for larger wiring.
I charge an average of 1 hour a day at 240 volts and 80 amps. Each month that translates to 4.1 kWh of wasted electricity, and at my current electrical rate it costs me $0.42 to heat the cable. Before I finished this calculation I was considering shortening the power cable by 15 ft to reduce energy waste and to tidy up that garage since I do not need 25 ft to reach the charge port. This would save me 83 watts and a whopping $0.26 a month. So I see why Tesla kept their cost down by minimizing the wire gauge, the wasted energy simply doesn't cost much. 2 gauge wire would cut the loss in half but costs 4-6 times more per ft.
I used my Seek thermal camera attachment to take these pictures.
�
Aug 14, 2015
redi My HPWC cable was replaced thanks to the good folks at Tesla. At 80A the handle/cable junction area could get to about 160F after ~~10 minutes charging in a 85F garage. The new cable gets to 105F-106F at that same place at 80A, farther down the cable a couple feet it gets to 120F. A good fix. Keeping an eye (and thermal gun) on it for a while. And will probably not normally charge > 52A unless I feel the need to hurry the charge.�
Aug 14, 2015
MyJoule I just checked my cable/handle area while charging at 64Amps after about 30 min of charging in a 91F degree garage, the temperature according to my non-contact thermometer was 170F. The handle itself at the button was 134F. I called the service center in Scottsdale and asked if this was ok, and was told it's not a problem ---it's pretty hot in AZ and to not worry about it.
I guess I'll take their word for it.�
Aug 14, 2015
AmpedRealtor Ditto. I swear you could fry an egg on the nozzle here in Arizona when charging at 80A, but was told the same thing - it's normal, heat is additive, don't worry about it.�
Aug 14, 2015
MyJoule AR- thanks, We should be ok as long as it stays dry- the cable is rated for 105C(Dry) and 60C(wet) at least that is how it's marked. That's 221F and 140F .. As long as it's not raining in my garage I guess I'll ignore it. I'm going to look at the contacts for dirt tonight though.�
Aug 14, 2015
MyJoule My wife's S85 after charging about 1 hour is also showing quite high temps- The cable is 180F near the connector. I think I'll call Tesla again about it. this really seems too high to me Meanwhile I'm going to go crank down the current from 64Amps to 45Amps ( that way both chargers still share the load )�
Aug 15, 2015
drees Instead of using a shorter cable, you could just charge at 60A instead of 80A and cut the energy loss in half. Just bump it up to 80A when you need full speed. Go all the way down to 40A and you'll cut the energy loss by 75% (~30W of loss instead of ~130W).
The main question is the charging overhead in the car fixed or will it also go down a proportional amount at least? Often there are fixed overhead charging costs (like cooling pumps) and those cooling pumps can pull 100W on their own. So while your cable may stay cooler, the overall energy used remains the same or higher.
Of course, if the thermal management system needs to kick into overdrive to keep the pack cool, then you could save even more energy.�
Aug 17, 2015
MyJoule I just got a call from Chris at the Scottsdale service center. he said that is too hot and that they would be sending someone to replace it- meanwhile I will run at 45 amps as I stated above until they change it out. I'm impressed with the service from Tesla.�
Aug 17, 2015
MartinAustin I keep my car in the garage of my house in Austin, Texas. The ambient temperature in there on a hot day can be 92F. (this is while it's in the mid-70's inside the air-conditioned parts of the house) My HPWC cable+handle already got replaced under warranty, last year. I had the exact same problems described above. The HPWC handle always gets very hot, and I typically keep a towel around that I can use to grip it and depress the button to get it out of the car. The end of the rubber cable that connects to the car plug was SO hot that I could not touch it without burning myself - that's when I measured it with one of those laser thermometer things and saw that it was like 135F.
The Tesla engineer agreed this was too hot, but he said something interesting - the cable itself has a design flaw (effectively) wherein it "bends" at the joint where the cable is going into the plug, due to the heavy bulk of the rest of the cable pulling downwards. That bend creates more resistance, which causes more heat (and undoubtedly causes the efficiency of the charger to drop below 92%, though that's hard to measure without metering installed)
Also, I was at a Texas vineyard recently that has a couple of "destination charging" HPWCs. (let me give them a plug, no pun untended, Torre di Pietra | Romance of Tuscany, Wines of Texas!) The Texas summer sun was shining down and the ambient temperature was approx 103F. The entire cable was extremely hot while it was charging my car at 80A. The manager at the vineyard said they were still in the process of building out this area of the parking lot, and there would eventually be an awning over all this, thus getting it out of the hot sun.
The moral of this story is, "roll on liquid-cooled HPWCs" - I am sure Tesla is working on a new HPWC that sidesteps this whole issue. They may end up with a three tiered home charging product range - the "classic" or "some like it hot" HPWC, the new liquid-cooled "cool customer" HPWC, and the Tesla Snake.�
Aug 17, 2015
AmpedRealtor Can you please keep us in the loop on your replacement, and if that works better for you?�
Aug 17, 2015
MyJoule Will do--- it's scheduled to be replaced later this week.�
Aug 17, 2015
pgiralt Mine was over 175 degrees on the handle before it was replaced a couple of months ago. Now it doesn't even hit 120 after 30 minutes of charging at 80 Amps. I had posted a thread here with some FLIR ONE shots:
HPWC + New FLIR ONE for iOS�
Aug 17, 2015
Zroiron We had the same issue with our cable getting so hot that you didn't dare touch it. The service center was notified and they scheduled me for a brand new HPWC including the cable. This was just over a year ago, however, I've noticed that the cable is getting very hot again when charging at 80 amps. The circuit is 100 amps so I don't understand why 80 amps makes the cable so hot! Don't want to burn the garage down�
Aug 18, 2015
Khatsalano How do we measure handle temperature without fancy equipment? Right now, my handle does get warm, but I'm not sure it's getting into the out-of-spec range. After reading my post here, Tesla contacted me and offered to help me diagnose the problem and maybe service/replace the unit ... that was very good customer service. But I'm just not convinced mine is out-of-spec.
- K
PS: I've also learned not to post my VIN number in my signature because of this interaction with Tesla ... just feels weird to be watched.�
Aug 18, 2015
blanche IR thermometers are less than $20 on Amazon. However, I have one of these handy IR + probe thermometers that I use in the kitchen every day when making dinner. The IR end is used to make sure that griddle pans are in the right heat range, etc., when cooking. Apparently, also useful in the garage.
ThermoWorks - Combo Thermometer - Infrared + Thermocouple Probe Thermometer
If you already own a probe thermometer for grilling, perhaps it is sensitive enough if you touch it on the HPWC handle?�
Aug 18, 2015
Zroiron I didn't post my vin, but I just got a call from Tesla about my comment above! They've scheduled me for a cable replacement in a couple of days! Awesome, freakin' awesome!! Watch me all you want!! Nothing to hide here!�
Aug 20, 2015
MyJoule All- My HPWC cable was just replaced and I did a charge- the new cable temp rise was less than 10 degrees from ambient while charging at 64 amps.. Thank you Tesla for your fast response to this issue. Way to go!�
Aug 20, 2015
redi Basically the same here. I am curious to see if these cables deteriorate over time with use. I do not recall having the issue when the HPWC was new.
Whether repeated cycling and movement of the cable has some effect we'll have to wait another 2 years to see.�
Aug 21, 2015
m6bigdog You don't need to wait and see...
I guarantee the Tesla charge connector degrades with time if the HPWC is used daily at 80 amps (20kW) or Supercharged daily/often (90-120kW).
If you look at the industry standard NEMA 100amp connector (80amp continuous load - as all electrical connectors can only be used to 80% for the max current rating) they are huge compared to what Tesla has selected for a charge connector.
I would suggest that if you want your HPWC and charge connector to last (be reliable) you will charge at a rate sufficient to complete the daily charge during the night without exceeding 50 amps (12.5kW). After all, even a 24 amp (6kW) charge rate will provide a 100 mile recharge in 6 hours and that will be much less stressful on the HPWC and charge connector reserving the real stress for the occasional short duration Superchargering events.
The 80 amp charge rate generates 2.5 time more internal power loss and heat in the HPWC and cabling than charging at 50 amps while 24 amps generates 11 times less power and heat while providing 30% of the charging rate of 80 amps.
So while the fast charge rate of 80 amp @ 58 mi./hr seems desirable it is also very stressful (potential to generate a lot of heat) on the EVSE and given the daily charge requirement for most owners is unnecessary.�
Aug 22, 2015
AmpedRealtor Scottsdale Service is sending an electrician to my house on Monday to swap HPWC cords. I charged at 80A for at least 2-3 hours on Thursday in my garage. When I went to unplug the HPWC, my burn reflex kicked in and I had to drop it. I was holding the rubber cable with my other hand, so thankfully it didn't hit the ground, but I could not keep my hand on the handle long enough to carry it two feet to the cable organizer. My hand stung a little bit afterward, but there was no burn.
I don't remember it being this hot before. My HPWC cord does not apply any downward pressure on the handle given how I have it looped and that the cord does not hang significantly below the handle. This hot HPWC cord is a replacement that I received about a year ago when my original failed. This new one has always felt warmer, and I noticed some increased resistance (lower voltage) than with the original cord/handle.
Hopefully Monday's replacement will behave a little bit better. I do wish that Tesla used thicker cabling to reduce resistive losses. I don't think the HPWC should get this hot.�
Aug 22, 2015
FlasherZ From what I can tell, the HPWC connector's pin-sleeves are wearing mechanically over time. A thorough cleaning does very little to reduce the temperature - so it's not dirty contacts, and it just seems as if the mechanical connection is working its way to be less tight than it is when new. I've had my cable replaced 3 times now, each time due to high heat exceeding 180 degrees F when charging at 80A. Each time the heat dropped dramatically, so it doesn't appear that the car connector's pins are wearing.�
Aug 22, 2015
redi Thanks for this info. I suspected as much. I charged at 80A only for the first few months (probably the last quarter of 2013) then backed it off to about 60A, then further to 51A for the last year or more, partially because of concern about unnecessary heat/stress, partly because my daily missions did not call for charging that rapidly.
I've since dropped it to 30A given my daily use requirement is still fast enough. If I need it, or I get a travling plugshare visitor, faster is only or two away. Even with this new use pattern, I am still curious how the cable might deteriorate over time.
Do the UMC users experience anything like this with the highest current options over time?
- - - Updated - - -
I am wondering if the UMC or Euro plugs will exhibit the same thing after years of use? Thinner wire can get away with carrying the same current because of the higher Euro voltage?�
Aug 22, 2015
AnOutsider So with the recent charging interrupted notification issues I've had to go out to my car rather often to plug it in again. I don't know if this is the norm or because of the rapid interrupt and restart, but the cable is extremely hot to the touch when I go to unplug (and reinsert) the cable. Could be this is the norm and I've only recently noticed because of the interrupts.�
Aug 24, 2015
mknox I was going to post the same thing when I saw @FlasherZ's comment. I've had 3 UMCs now and I believe that they become mechanically loose over time. Cleaning carefully with a Q-Tip and compressed air only helps marginally, but in all 3 cases, it would get to the point that it wouldn't connect at all, and the port light would just stay white. While on its way to total failure, I could sometimes get it going by "wiggling" it back and forth, hence my suspicion it is a mechanical problem. I recently purchased and installed a HPWC. It's been rock solid, but it's only a couple of months old.�
Aug 24, 2015
AmpedRealtor My HPWC cord was replaced this morning. Hopefully it will be a little bit cooler. The electrician said Tesla has received a lot of calls for replacement in recent weeks. We've also had a spike in ambient air temperatures - up to 117 last week, I believe. The two may be related.�
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét