Broken DC Flap Causes Bad Charging Day

[kwanyu]

@DerekS Since your little flap seems to be intact, do you think the piece of plastic that prevented charing came from the previous person who tried that dock?

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[DerekS]

@DerekS Since your little flap seems to be intact, do you think the piece of plastic that prevented charing came from the previous person who tried that dock?

No, it was from my flap for sure. The flap used to click into a down position and stay there, and no longer does.

 

[Capt Mike]

TLDR: Be careful not to break your DC flap inserting the Magic Dock (or any other CCS charger)

I decided to drive to Fort Worth this morning to try out the Magic Dock Supercharger.

I arrived with pretty low SoC and was a bit stressed, but hey these things work great right?

The app and dock worked, but charging immediately halted with an error.

I tried several times and it would not work. I also tried another stall.

At this point I am experiencing range panic for the first time. I limp to nearby Kroger with a Blink AC charger to find one stall can’t scan my card and the other just didn’t dispense any power.

I’m currently waiting for a tow to get it home and hopefully charge there before I assess further.

if that doesn’t work then I’ll have it towed to the dealer Monday morning.

I’m sorry I tried this.

EDIT: What I think happened here is I broke the DC flap while plugging in the Magic Dock, which put some plastic debris in the channel around the DC pins preventing a solid connection. Car is fine both AC/DC working as expected. I'll try it again one day but with more overhead for contingencies.

I can foresee some law suits coming up for the Magic Dock if it keeps destroying charging ports on EVs.

 

[bsclywilly]

I can foresee some law suits coming up for the Magic Dock if it keeps destroying charging ports on EVs.

This isn’t a magic dock problem. I broke mine on an EA charger but the charger isn’t the problem, it’s the flap design… or maybe the user.

 

[DerekS]

This isn’t a magic dock problem. I broke mine on an EA charger but the charger isn’t the problem, it’s the flap design… or maybe the user.

That design looks made to break, since it's making direct contact with the CCS connector body.

 

[simcity]

Both CCS2 and NACS could not have had this problem - it's impossible due to simpler design with fewer moving parts.

We’ve got the silly little flap on our CCS2 equipped Taycans here, but as we don’t have any need for any third party adaptors at Tesla sites like magic dock here, I guess we don’t have any potential for an issue like this.

Not all CC2 cars have the little flap by the way. Tesla vehicles ironically are good example. Just the main cover is all that’s needed:

It’s just an over-engineering step too far and clearly just something else to break eventually.

 

[Jonathan S.]

For the silly flap award, our i4 (but not the new i5 I checked out) has flaps over both the AC and DC ports.
Even though if you're flipping open the main cover (which on the i4 is the same as on the ICE 4 series) what could you possibly be doing besides accessing at least the AC port?

 

[whitex]

For the silly flap award, our i4 (but not the new i5 I checked out) has flaps over both the AC and DC ports.
Even though if you're flipping open the main cover (which on the i4 is the same as on the ICE 4 series) what could you possibly be doing besides accessing at least the AC port?

Perhaps main cover is not water tight (I know I've come across ICE cars with fuel door not sealed) and it was cheaper to add a flap than redesign, then manufacture and stock a new version of the ICE fuel door/cover?

 

[Jonathan S.]

Ah hah, you're right: I checked our i4 just now, and it indeed lacks the rubber gasket that both caps have on our Taycan (and which I remember that the i5 has, which explains it lack of a flap over the AC-only part of the port).

 

[simcity]

Perhaps main cover is not water tight (I know I've come across ICE cars with fuel door not sealed) and it was cheaper to add a flap than redesign, then manufacture and stock a new version of the ICE fuel door/cover?

I’ve just been reading a thread on TMC about gasket failure on model 3’s which can result in water ingress through the DC part - typically when AC charging in our maritime climate where the DC pins are otherwise exposed to the elements.

The symptom of charger port gasket failure on the M3 is an error message for an inability to DC charge.

The little flap over the DC pins on the Taycan is no doubt there to keep unwanted rainwater etc out.

 

[corgidad]

It's a great question that I have no answer to!

This morning I got out there and examined the port some more...there's nothing visibly broken about the flap.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/084z-1j4C2XlqWI66iYNw5b5A

However, I shined the light in there and found that the "microswitch" I thought was in there was actually the broken bit of plastic! I was able to fish it out with a starbucks stopper and some sticky tape.

It's still very strange this happened. I've only used the DC charger (checking Chargey)...9 times before the Magic Dock attempt.

I still have no idea how this was broken; if the Magic Dock somehow caused it or just dumb luck. I do feel pretty confident that if I try again, charging at the Magic Dock will work fine.

I have the exact same piece of plastic broken from the flap too... Also from magic dock...

But the flap is able to stay down....

 

[DerekS]

I bought two versions of the part but didn’t install either one.

I lack the long thin tool to push into the slot under the flap to extricate it.

 

[snstevens]

I bought two versions of the part but didn’t install either one.

I lack the long thin tool to push into the slot under the flap to extricate it.

Sorry TLDR - Did you ever go to a dealer and ask them to give the charging port a look?

 

[DerekS]

Sorry TLDR - Did you ever go to a dealer and ask them to give the charging port a look?

No because the dealer gave me a crazy story about having to remove the door in order to fix the port.

Now that I have the part in hand I can quite clearly see that is inaccurate.

I just need to know which version my car uses; I bought two and they have different lengths of the “tongue” that goes into the slot.

I do think this job is easy with the right thin/long screwdriver to release the catch on the existing part.

 

[corgidad]

No because the dealer gave me a crazy story about having to remove the door in order to fix the port.

Now that I have the part in hand I can quite clearly see that is inaccurate.

I just need to know which version my car uses; I bought two and they have different lengths of the “tongue” that goes into the slot.

I do think this job is easy with the right thin/long screwdriver to release the catch on the existing part.

I asked the service department at my dealer to look at it. They told me they ordered the part. I didn't ask what they need to do to replace it. I think your dealer might misunderstand what was broken? I can see that if they need to replace the whole charging port module, they'd have to remove the door etc.

I'm going to bring it in next Wednesday. I'll ask them when I drop off...

It actually doesn't affect anything... The flap stays down if I push. And charges fine. It just bugs me that something is broken.

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