Broken DC Flap Causes Bad Charging Day

[007]

I called 1-800-PORSCHE to get a good flatbed.
Nearly $500 to get it towed to my house. Free to a Porsche dealer, but they are all closed today.

The car just made it home and thankfully is charging successfully at home, so at least that still works! Will assess fast DC after it gets a healthy charge.

There were a couple of screwups today:

1. Me - I pushed it way too close going to the Supercharger. I had full trust it would work.
2. Porsche - Their GPS should not have listed the Blink charger that was decommissioned and out of service. I could have tried an alternate within the same range.
3. Me/Tesla - The Magic Dock broke my DC charging flap; it no longer stays down on its own.

My hope here is that the broken flap (which did result in a piece of plastic in the DC channel) was the cause for the Supercharger failure. I'll know more later.

This is my all time record low Soc!

Well that’s just nuts! Both on the $500 charge and soc.

Here in Poland, most dealerships have 24-7 security that will open the gate for tow trucks to drop off a car.

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[DerekS]

Well that’s just nuts! Both on the $500 charge and soc.

I was happy to pay it to get it home safe, and with a "known good" charger! The Blink failures were making me quite concerned that something had failed with the charging system as a whole.

 

[Archimedes]

Can you clarify about the broken flap? How did it break and how did plastic get in the charging channel? Did you notice it and just couldn’t get it out? Is it still there?

 

[DerekS]

Interestingly, the brief 1-2 second of charging that I got reported as this in the Tesla app:

So it's still a potential that my 150kW option got zorted, or the Tragic Dock can't handle it.

 

[DerekS]

Can you clarify about the broken flap? How did it break and how did plastic get in the charging channel? Did you notice it and just couldn’t get it out? Is it still there?

Sure, so after the failed charge I removed the Magic Dock. At that point I was able to observe that the flap no longer stayed down, *and* that I had a piece of plastic in the bottom part of the channel around the 2 DC pins.

I had no tools to try and dislodge at at the time, and range anxiety had me panicked into finding the nearby Blink AC charger.

I did look again while waiting for the tow truck, and used a bit of a business card to sweep around the channel. I don't see it in there any longer.

I have no idea how it managed to break the flap; there's a bit of a blind spot while plugging in from the bulk of the Magic Dock. I'm guessing something caught on the flap, on the way in.

I do see a tiny microswitch in the bottom of the DC channel. It's quite possible the reason for the failure was simply the debris preventing a solid connection.

I'll be able to assess that once I get some kW in the tank. I might try the Magic Dock again, but only with a healthy amount of buffer should it continue to fail me.

 

[Tooney]

This is my all time record low Soc!

Arriving at a charging stop with 0%.
You da MAN!

 

[DerekS]

Arriving at a charging stop with 0%.
You da MAN!

Ha! I do not recommend this.

 

[Archimedes]

I’m gonna go with the Occam’s razor view that it was simply the broken piece of plastic disrupting the charge.

 

[DerekS]

I’m gonna go with the Occam’s razor view that it was simply the broken piece of plastic disrupting the charge.

You're probably right. If something got legitimately zapped I'd expect some complaining in the car's UI about it.

It is interesting that I got charged for 24 kWh though...

 

[satchurator]

@DerekS That is a real bummer. I do wonder if the dealership is equipped to be able to test the 400V/150kW onboard charger...

 

[DerekS]

@DerekS That is a real bummer. I do wonder if the dealership is equipped to be able to test the 400V/150kW onboard charger...

Ha! No chance. I'll just have to try it again, but next time I won't be hypermiling it and pushing my luck!

 

[DerekS]

Well, some good news. After I got a healthy AC charge on the car at home, I took it to a fast DC charger and confirmed that's working as well.

I tend to think @Archimedes is right; the plastic bit from the flap blocked the channel and prevented the magic dock from seating properly.

I will (eventually) try it again, but I won't go into it empty. I do want to confirm my 150/400V option works, and confirm to myself that I can count on Tesla Superchargers when traveling.

 

[Archimedes]

Good to hear. We’ve all had weird things happen like that.

 

[bluesky]

So where do you think the plastic obstruction come from? Do you see damage on the DC cover flap, or did it come off the Magic Dock somehow?

 

[bsclywilly]

I had the little tab on the flap break as well. Took a minute to figure what was blocking a plug (EA in my case) from latching. Not sure whether I prefer it broken since the flap is sure to close every time I unplug but it can be a pain when you’re trying to wrestle a stiff cable with two hands and holding the flap down.

It looks like the flap is designed to be replaced separately but I haven’t confirmed with the parts dept. Also wouldn’t be surprised if you have to buy a whole new charge port though. Cost you $400 on eBay just to replace that flap. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1450572328...p3naGonQU-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

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