Trinculo73
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2024
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 85
- Reaction score
- 85
- Location
- Inglewood, CA
- Vehicles
- Rivian R1T, Victory Magnum X1, Polestar 2 Launch Ed
- Thread starter
- #1
tl;dr - the operating temp on the adapter is -22° to 122° f. Do not store your adapter in the frunk in extreme weather and expect it to work.
A couple of weeks ago I was on a road trip (Inglewood to Bakersfield and back). Having already tested my Vortex adapter at a Tesla Supercharger I was pretty confident in it working flawlessly, so I skipped a couple of EV Go stations in Bakersfield I know are always crowded and pushed my R1T down to about 8 miles of remaining range to get to a Supercharger location (the Tejon Outlets, for those of you in SoCal) where I knew there were always available dispensers to connect to.
However when I got there and tried to charge, installing the adapter into the truck first of course, every time I clicked the NACS connector into the adapter a message popped up on my R1T's screen saying (and the exact phrasing escapes me because the message disappears quickly as well) "cable not fully connected, please disconnect and try again". I tried again several times, then moved to three different dispensers trying again to no avail. I also tried starting from the Tesla app vs plug-and-charge, but it just hung waiting for me to "connect".
Now I'm in basically the middle of nowhere and there are no other DCFS chargers anywhere near me, and while I'm getting a little worried, my spouse is freaking out. The only thing I can think of is how low my state of charge is - it doesn't make any sense that that would be a problem, but I'm not otherwise thinking of anything else different with this charging session vs the last - so I move to one of the janky level 2 chargers nearby and connect and walk away, hoping it will help. 30 minutes later I'm up to like 3% SOC, move back to a Supercharger and everything works perfectly. Really doesn't make sense, but at least I'm on the road again.
Yesterday we were making the same trip. This time I'd started from home with a full SOC so I didn't need to push things. We finally stopped at the Sherman Oaks Galleria Superchargers for a bathroom break and to charge. I grab my adapter from the frunk where I always keep it, noticing again how hot everything gets in the frunk when you've been in Bakersfield, and connect for a charge and immediately get the same message as I did at the Tejon Outlets, but this time with a 16% SOC so it's definitely not that.
Remembering about how Tesla will slow charging when their cables hear up, I grab the adapter, go inside the truck and hold it in front of the AC vents for about 2 minutes to help cool it down - sure enough, it immediately connects and works with no issues. Walk away, and as I get to the elevators to enter the shopping center, I get a message that charging has stopped. Walk back, I can feel that the adapter is still warm (I probably only cooled the surface, not the core), and stuck it in the AC vent again, this time for longer.
Third try is the charm, I managed to get 30% charge out of it before it quit again - but I've definitely learned the lesson to not store that adapter in the frunk if it's likely to exceed rated operating temps for the adapter. Because when it's 114° outside, inside the metal box of the frunk it's WAY hotter.
From the behavior, I'm assuming there's some sort of thermal protection in the adapter itself that allows communication, so the truck knows there's a dispenser connected, but shuts off charging when it gets too warm.
A couple of weeks ago I was on a road trip (Inglewood to Bakersfield and back). Having already tested my Vortex adapter at a Tesla Supercharger I was pretty confident in it working flawlessly, so I skipped a couple of EV Go stations in Bakersfield I know are always crowded and pushed my R1T down to about 8 miles of remaining range to get to a Supercharger location (the Tejon Outlets, for those of you in SoCal) where I knew there were always available dispensers to connect to.
However when I got there and tried to charge, installing the adapter into the truck first of course, every time I clicked the NACS connector into the adapter a message popped up on my R1T's screen saying (and the exact phrasing escapes me because the message disappears quickly as well) "cable not fully connected, please disconnect and try again". I tried again several times, then moved to three different dispensers trying again to no avail. I also tried starting from the Tesla app vs plug-and-charge, but it just hung waiting for me to "connect".
Now I'm in basically the middle of nowhere and there are no other DCFS chargers anywhere near me, and while I'm getting a little worried, my spouse is freaking out. The only thing I can think of is how low my state of charge is - it doesn't make any sense that that would be a problem, but I'm not otherwise thinking of anything else different with this charging session vs the last - so I move to one of the janky level 2 chargers nearby and connect and walk away, hoping it will help. 30 minutes later I'm up to like 3% SOC, move back to a Supercharger and everything works perfectly. Really doesn't make sense, but at least I'm on the road again.
Yesterday we were making the same trip. This time I'd started from home with a full SOC so I didn't need to push things. We finally stopped at the Sherman Oaks Galleria Superchargers for a bathroom break and to charge. I grab my adapter from the frunk where I always keep it, noticing again how hot everything gets in the frunk when you've been in Bakersfield, and connect for a charge and immediately get the same message as I did at the Tejon Outlets, but this time with a 16% SOC so it's definitely not that.
Remembering about how Tesla will slow charging when their cables hear up, I grab the adapter, go inside the truck and hold it in front of the AC vents for about 2 minutes to help cool it down - sure enough, it immediately connects and works with no issues. Walk away, and as I get to the elevators to enter the shopping center, I get a message that charging has stopped. Walk back, I can feel that the adapter is still warm (I probably only cooled the surface, not the core), and stuck it in the AC vent again, this time for longer.
Third try is the charm, I managed to get 30% charge out of it before it quit again - but I've definitely learned the lesson to not store that adapter in the frunk if it's likely to exceed rated operating temps for the adapter. Because when it's 114° outside, inside the metal box of the frunk it's WAY hotter.
From the behavior, I'm assuming there's some sort of thermal protection in the adapter itself that allows communication, so the truck knows there's a dispenser connected, but shuts off charging when it gets too warm.
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