Abandoned Lectron Adapter

[Dmsail]

when I got mine, I wiped the inside down with pledge and put a drop of oil on the moving parts....after hearing the stories.

I doubt that Pledge would have helped with my tightest Tesla connector. Also I was leery of spraying anything even close to the electrical conductors.
Lectron Motel—NACS connectors check in but they don’t check out.

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[BUGWILLY]

I received my vortex this week… have been charging at all the superchargers in my area just to get the experience…
Works perfectly and has not bee sticking at all

 

[ndmiller]

Pledge is an awesome idea. What sort of oil if I may ask?

I think it was teflon lock or some type of lucas gun oil. Mineral would have been fine as well, just don't want to make a mess.

 

[ndmiller]

I doubt that Pledge would have helped with my tightest Tesla connector. Also I was leery of spraying anything even close to the electrical conductors.

Agreed, I sprayed it on a microfiber and wiped everything down. It removed any extra molding bits and made the entire plug smoother/slipperier if that makes sense. I've used pledge to wax motorcycles and other smaller surfaces and it removes grime and adds some slip.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

 

[nc10]

Perhaps these will work fine with use but left me without confidence to try again for fear of damaging something or leaving attached to a supercharger.

My wife was with me the first time I used my Lectron adapter. After watching me struggle to get it off the supercharger cable, there is no chance she would ever use it.....

I'll try it again next time I am close to a supercharger,

FWIW, this was the response I got from Lectron:
(attaching the video, short but 10mb, so not sure it will stick)

"We're sorry to hear about your experience.

Could you please try this:

Push the charger into the adapter then press the latch, this way you should not have any issue with the worn out Tesla Supercharger couplers which is what is possibly causing. "

Attached is a short video showing that it's coz it's actually securely locked in which is why you have to push it into to make it easier to unlocK"

 

[Vantripping]

FWIW, this was the response I got from Lectron:

"We're sorry to hear about your experience.

Could you please try this:

Push the charger into the adapter then press the latch, this way you should not have any issue with the worn out Tesla Supercharger couplers which is what is possibly causing. "

Attached is a short video showing that it's coz it's actually securely locked in which is why you have to push it into to make it easier to unlocK"

I did all of that, watched their use video before I used it and still had the same issue others have. I don't like that they are blaming it on a worn supercharger plug as all supercharger plugs will be worn once used so they have to design to that, and they have now twice mailed out defective units--one with latch installed in reverse and now too tight--so they don't seem to be doing any reasonable QC or real-world testing before selling their product. This concerns me to a loss of confidence in the company. Also that they want the consumer to pay for the return shipping of a defective product that they should had never mailed.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I did all of that, watched their use video before I used it and still had the same issue others have. I don't like that they are blaming it on a worn supercharger plug...

Ditto. I feel like they rushed to get product to market and only did validation of final dimensions internally and in controlled environment... rather than that plus the real world. To a lesser extent, I'd say the criticism applies to A2Z as well. Not saying product development and manufacturing is easy. Or don't appreciate the lengths they took to get to market. Not at all. But when you have to explain or come up with very specific procedures for something that should be as intuitive as plug-and-play, you've missed the mark to some extent. If they were fully successful, they wouldn't have to address all these inquiries now.

 

[FutureTruck]

Oof. I guess Rivian and Tesla made a valid point when saying only to use their approved adapter.

Having said that, I'll keep using my A2Z.

 

[Vantripping]

But when you have to explain or come up with very specific procedures for something that should be as intuitive as plug-and-play, you've missed the mark to some extent. If they were fully successful, they wouldn't have to address all these inquiries now.

Yep, it's a plug adapter. Plug in, use, when done unplug. Should be as simple as these three instruction steps. If many of us are having issues with a simple plug, then it's a product issue, not an issue of the user.

 

[Riviaenz]

I charged my Tesla at a supercharger station in Fremont, California today and I noticed that someone had left a Lectron adapter attached to the cable on the stall next to me. I tried to remove it and it wouldn’t budge.
This was exactly what I was concerned about when I received my Lectron Vortex adapter a couple of weeks ago. I had read that some people were having trouble removing the Lectron adapter from Tesla connectors so I decided to try the mechanical fit on my Tesla charging cable at home. It went on with a tight fit and was extremely hard to get off. I ended up removing it while wiggling it back and forth vigorously while depressing the release latch. I was relieved that I got it off but decided to try it on a second Tesla connector that I have. This one was even tighter. I could not remove it by hand. I finally got it off by using a C-clamp to depress the latch as much as possible while simultaneously prying on the Tesla connector with a very beefy screwdriver. This left some ugly gouge marks on my Tesla connector and the Lectron adapter. The Lectron adapter is now “broken-in” and easily attaches and releases from all three of my Tesla connectors. I then had confidence that I could use the adapter at a Tesla supercharger to charge my R1T without it getting stuck. It worked fine.
I emailed Lectron and pointed out that they might have a problem with some of their Vortex adapters. I got a reply saying that I should only use the Vortex with Tesla supercharger stalls. I replied that I knew that and I was only trying it out for the mechanical fit. They did not seem to acknowledge that they might have a quality problem on some of their adapters. They said they would accept a return for a refund within 30 days if I paid the shipping cost. Even though it is kind of beat up now, it works so I will keep it for now.

Free adapter! Did you drop some Silicon WD40 in there and take it home?

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