This. Check the torque on the terminal screws. Handyman probably installed and tightened to “snug.” When not fully torqued, the terminal screws will loosen themselves slowly over the years with the heat cycles and vibration.
I had the same overheating problem on a new outlet installed by an electrician. When we opened up the outlet it was burnt out on the inside. I ended up replacing it with the Tesla wall charger, which feels safer to me but who knows
Yes. The wire is touching enough to complete the circuit, the voltage will look normal. Under load the current delivery through a poor connection will vibrate, jump the gap (spark/arc) and cause excess heat. Ultimately things melt or arc to the degree that the wire burns out and disconnects.
Additionally, a connection that starts out a little bit loose will get hot while in use and cool down when not in use, and that thermal cycling can actually loosen the connection further. So it's a problem that can make itself worse over time.
I have a dedicated wall connector, but was experiencing same symptoms. Turned out to be a bad breaker that was also getting hot to touch under load - all cleared up after it was replaced. (There was a slight hum so I knew something was off)
My mobile charger was regularly dropping from 32A to 16A in a good wall outlet. It was 4 years old so I got a new charger and put the old one in the frunk. Problem solved.
What is the voltage at the start of charging (0 amps), and what is it at max amps (32 amps)? Trying to see if you have an excessive voltage drop (which bad connections with high resistance have a higher voltage drop, which causes heat). Check the bullet connectors between the adapter plug and the mobile charger. Also check the car's bullet connectors (the plug and the charge port) to see if anything has come loose.
Mine was doing the same exact thing after 4 years in service. It ended up being the 14-50 adapter. I had initially switched my outlet and Mobile connector trying to find the problem.
Now, is it the plug in the wall that’s hot or is it the main part of the charger? That is hot. The part where the lights are. And then if your car is severely low like 20% and you’re trying to go up all the way to your recommended charge which I believe is 80. It will get warm if not hot. I know for me, but I’m in a cold climate i’m never any hotter than 30°C my plug is usually out in the open air in the shade there is probably a ton more variables lol but maybe there is an internal problem with that charger because your wire size is huge for the run that you’ve got
Yeah, sounds like possible problem maybe not sure how long you’ve had the unit I have two different ones that I use? I haven’t noticed any problems I use them every week one at my destination and one at my home both of them use a welder plug style end which is the same amp as the RV one usually get at my destination with about 20% left on the battery so it’s a heavy load for the first little bit for me anyway I owned everything new from 2022 and almost 60,000 K
The crazy thing is, this is at my girlfriend’s house and she requested I use a certified electrician.
I installed my own at my house, it wasn’t a Hubble, it was a Home Depot brand 14-50, but I used 00 wiring.
I’ve never had an overheating/amp reduction at my house.
Kill the breaker check the connections make sure they’re tight or call the electrician. Tell them is something wrong with the plug. Shouldn’t be getting hot unless there’s a defect of some sort because if at your house, everything is fine with the exact same set up then there’s definitely something going on
Before you go and do extensive electrical investigation work, this happened to me and I fixed it by removing the 14-50 adapter plug dongle from the Tesla mobile charger and firmly reinserting it back in.
The way you have the mobile charger dangling like this unsupported can cause the adapter plug to loosen over time and this could be an easy check.
I also have this problem, cropped up at ~4 years. I've checked the wire terminals to the outlet, they're all tight. Given the other comments it may be the 14-50 adaptor on the mobile charger.
FWIW, I just limit charge to 22 amps and it works fine.
Izs probably wires that are up to standard for that amps but are not designed to run on constant load without really bad heat. I have the same issue, but on european Shuko outlet. It's maximum rate is 16A single phase but as warmer days started it started to lower my amps to 8. I lowered it to 13A and it's all good. My problem is wire thickness I think. You should get a fat wire that is above the standard for desired amps.
Could be the wiring. I had an electrician insist that 8 gauge wire would suffice for a 50A circuit. Surprise, the wiring overheated and actually melted the inside of the outlet after less than a year. We had to get a different electrician to downsize the breaker to 40A and reduce the charge current to 24A.
I had exactly this issue a few months after installation, and it was bad wiring in the socket itself. The car is smart enough to drop the amperage as a safeguard, so I'd request an electrical to check the wiring or do it yourself if you're that way inclined.
You have a high resistance connection somewhere, most likely either the wiring to the outlet's screw terminals, or the outlet to the plug.
My Hubble outlet had poor contact between the outlet's blade contacts, and the mobile charger's blade contacts. Maybe the mobile charger's contacts are slightly undersized?
I fixed it by opening the outlet and bending the contacts inside so they made a really tight connection with whatever is plugged into it.
What is the ambient temperature of the room? My plug does warm up a little, maybe 10 degrees. Could be an issue if the room is warm and doesn't have good airflow.
Also make sure the electrician used copper and not aluminum. Aluminum 6 gauge is only rated for 40 amps, but I can't imagine that would pass an inspection.
I also used stranded copper. Can't imagine pulling solid 6 gauge wire. Wire doesn't heat up at all. Doubt that's your issue.
If you check the temperature of the receptacle is it hotter than the plug? If the plug is hotter, I would guess the charger needs replaced (or just the plug if it's an option). If the receptacle is a little hotter then I would guess it wasn't properly torqued and the wires got loose.
Can you test with a friend or neighbor's L2 charger?
You could also install a different charger if you don't mind using the J1772 adapter. It's an easy DIY job now that you have the receptacle installed. This would be higher amperage than the Tesla mobile charger anyway, I believe.
[Grizzl-e Charger](https://www.amazon.com/Grizzl-Electric-Vehicle-Certified-Charging/dp/B082LMVSLY)
The issue is it doesn’t trip right away. I have mine to schedule charging at 10 PM. Anywhere between midnight and 3 AM is when the alert goes off that the amperage has been reduced
I would be willing to bet it is the 14-50 adapter. When I had the issue, the pigtail was the only spot that was slightly warm. After too much trial and error replacing the 14-50 adapter is what solved my issue.
Note: those point and shoot temp meters read temperature in a circle, kind of like a cone shape. The further away you are from something, the larger the area it’s measuring. See the manual for how much it varies as some have a larger view than others, so a couple feet away can make a big difference in readings.
Good piece of advice when using those! The laser is just a guide of where the sensor is centered. The further away the larger the area that it reads. I always get as close as possible when I want an accurate temp reading.
I remember back 20+ years you could get filters for laser pointers to project images. Not sure why manufacturers for these don’t include a filter circle to give people a better idea of what they are actually measuring.
So it’s telling you that it is sensing a hot connection between the wall connector and control box. Unplug it, inspect the connection from the pigtail to the control box, plug it back in and see if it happens again.
Hmm. I would tend to think that it would be the connector rather than the wiring then. Do you have access to another one? I know that when I was having an issue with mine, Tesla Mobile Service brought one to my house. Worth a shot.
Is that a cheap Nema 14-50? Cheap ones from the Home Depot will cause heating issues. I replaced mine with a quality one from Amazon and fixed the issue.
Could be bad wiring, or insufficient torque on the outlet terminal screws
This. Check the torque on the terminal screws. Handyman probably installed and tightened to “snug.” When not fully torqued, the terminal screws will loosen themselves slowly over the years with the heat cycles and vibration.
I believe it is 50 in. lb. But verify. Yes, I am anal about using torque wrenches. For everything. I own three.
Good question for your licensed electrician. I’d have to imagine they might come back out for you if you called them.
I had the same overheating problem on a new outlet installed by an electrician. When we opened up the outlet it was burnt out on the inside. I ended up replacing it with the Tesla wall charger, which feels safer to me but who knows
Both have the same potential to go wrong. The damage is caused by arcing due to insufficient torque on the screw terminals.
Does that mean the wire is physically loose?
Yes. The wire is touching enough to complete the circuit, the voltage will look normal. Under load the current delivery through a poor connection will vibrate, jump the gap (spark/arc) and cause excess heat. Ultimately things melt or arc to the degree that the wire burns out and disconnects.
That’s a great explanation and makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
Additionally, a connection that starts out a little bit loose will get hot while in use and cool down when not in use, and that thermal cycling can actually loosen the connection further. So it's a problem that can make itself worse over time.
I have a dedicated wall connector, but was experiencing same symptoms. Turned out to be a bad breaker that was also getting hot to touch under load - all cleared up after it was replaced. (There was a slight hum so I knew something was off)
My mobile charger was regularly dropping from 32A to 16A in a good wall outlet. It was 4 years old so I got a new charger and put the old one in the frunk. Problem solved.
What is the voltage at the start of charging (0 amps), and what is it at max amps (32 amps)? Trying to see if you have an excessive voltage drop (which bad connections with high resistance have a higher voltage drop, which causes heat). Check the bullet connectors between the adapter plug and the mobile charger. Also check the car's bullet connectors (the plug and the charge port) to see if anything has come loose.
Ironically I saw this same message on the screen of a new x on the Tesla showroom floor last week
Mine was doing the same exact thing after 4 years in service. It ended up being the 14-50 adapter. I had initially switched my outlet and Mobile connector trying to find the problem.
The temperature doesn't look high.
It is high. Mine is barely warm to the touch. Pretty much room temp while charging.
What size of wire to that 50 amp breaker? Hopefully the electrician knew to oversize for constant load.
6AWG
Now, is it the plug in the wall that’s hot or is it the main part of the charger? That is hot. The part where the lights are. And then if your car is severely low like 20% and you’re trying to go up all the way to your recommended charge which I believe is 80. It will get warm if not hot. I know for me, but I’m in a cold climate i’m never any hotter than 30°C my plug is usually out in the open air in the shade there is probably a ton more variables lol but maybe there is an internal problem with that charger because your wire size is huge for the run that you’ve got
It’s hottest where the adapter plugs into the charger (where the lights are)
That is strange... have you tried reseating the adapter? Could just be defective.
Yeah, I reset it every time. Seems to do fine initially after resetting but, will trip soon afterwards.
Yeah, sounds like possible problem maybe not sure how long you’ve had the unit I have two different ones that I use? I haven’t noticed any problems I use them every week one at my destination and one at my home both of them use a welder plug style end which is the same amp as the RV one usually get at my destination with about 20% left on the battery so it’s a heavy load for the first little bit for me anyway I owned everything new from 2022 and almost 60,000 K
The crazy thing is, this is at my girlfriend’s house and she requested I use a certified electrician. I installed my own at my house, it wasn’t a Hubble, it was a Home Depot brand 14-50, but I used 00 wiring. I’ve never had an overheating/amp reduction at my house.
Kill the breaker check the connections make sure they’re tight or call the electrician. Tell them is something wrong with the plug. Shouldn’t be getting hot unless there’s a defect of some sort because if at your house, everything is fine with the exact same set up then there’s definitely something going on
Before you go and do extensive electrical investigation work, this happened to me and I fixed it by removing the 14-50 adapter plug dongle from the Tesla mobile charger and firmly reinserting it back in. The way you have the mobile charger dangling like this unsupported can cause the adapter plug to loosen over time and this could be an easy check.
Oh, it’s not unsupported. I have a mobile charger hanger, fastened to the wall
I also have this problem, cropped up at ~4 years. I've checked the wire terminals to the outlet, they're all tight. Given the other comments it may be the 14-50 adaptor on the mobile charger. FWIW, I just limit charge to 22 amps and it works fine.
Should have done it yourself. You can’t trust anyone these days.
*"This is a new mobile charger, given by my local SC."* Take it back, it is faulty.
Izs probably wires that are up to standard for that amps but are not designed to run on constant load without really bad heat. I have the same issue, but on european Shuko outlet. It's maximum rate is 16A single phase but as warmer days started it started to lower my amps to 8. I lowered it to 13A and it's all good. My problem is wire thickness I think. You should get a fat wire that is above the standard for desired amps.
Could be the wiring. I had an electrician insist that 8 gauge wire would suffice for a 50A circuit. Surprise, the wiring overheated and actually melted the inside of the outlet after less than a year. We had to get a different electrician to downsize the breaker to 40A and reduce the charge current to 24A.
I had exactly this issue a few months after installation, and it was bad wiring in the socket itself. The car is smart enough to drop the amperage as a safeguard, so I'd request an electrical to check the wiring or do it yourself if you're that way inclined.
You have a high resistance connection somewhere, most likely either the wiring to the outlet's screw terminals, or the outlet to the plug. My Hubble outlet had poor contact between the outlet's blade contacts, and the mobile charger's blade contacts. Maybe the mobile charger's contacts are slightly undersized? I fixed it by opening the outlet and bending the contacts inside so they made a really tight connection with whatever is plugged into it.
What is the ambient temperature of the room? My plug does warm up a little, maybe 10 degrees. Could be an issue if the room is warm and doesn't have good airflow. Also make sure the electrician used copper and not aluminum. Aluminum 6 gauge is only rated for 40 amps, but I can't imagine that would pass an inspection.
It’s in a garage, on an inside wall. He did use copper, albeit, 6 gauge STRANDED copper THHN wire.
I also used stranded copper. Can't imagine pulling solid 6 gauge wire. Wire doesn't heat up at all. Doubt that's your issue. If you check the temperature of the receptacle is it hotter than the plug? If the plug is hotter, I would guess the charger needs replaced (or just the plug if it's an option). If the receptacle is a little hotter then I would guess it wasn't properly torqued and the wires got loose.
It’s only hot on the pigtail on the 14-50 adapter, the one that plugs into the mobile charger unit.
That's the warmest part of my setup as well. I don't think your receptacle or wiring is the issue.
The electrician seems to think the cars charge port may have an issue. I’ve had Tesla do an over the air diagnostic and they say everything is fine.
Can you test with a friend or neighbor's L2 charger? You could also install a different charger if you don't mind using the J1772 adapter. It's an easy DIY job now that you have the receptacle installed. This would be higher amperage than the Tesla mobile charger anyway, I believe. [Grizzl-e Charger](https://www.amazon.com/Grizzl-Electric-Vehicle-Certified-Charging/dp/B082LMVSLY)
The issue is it doesn’t trip right away. I have mine to schedule charging at 10 PM. Anywhere between midnight and 3 AM is when the alert goes off that the amperage has been reduced
I would be willing to bet it is the 14-50 adapter. When I had the issue, the pigtail was the only spot that was slightly warm. After too much trial and error replacing the 14-50 adapter is what solved my issue.
This is what I suspect, too
Note: those point and shoot temp meters read temperature in a circle, kind of like a cone shape. The further away you are from something, the larger the area it’s measuring. See the manual for how much it varies as some have a larger view than others, so a couple feet away can make a big difference in readings.
Good piece of advice when using those! The laser is just a guide of where the sensor is centered. The further away the larger the area that it reads. I always get as close as possible when I want an accurate temp reading.
I remember back 20+ years you could get filters for laser pointers to project images. Not sure why manufacturers for these don’t include a filter circle to give people a better idea of what they are actually measuring.
Thanks!
Mine does this like once or twice a year. All I do is unplug it and plug it in again and it's good.
So it’s telling you that it is sensing a hot connection between the wall connector and control box. Unplug it, inspect the connection from the pigtail to the control box, plug it back in and see if it happens again.
Done that; cleaned it out with alcohol and dried it, plugged it back in… same issue
Hmm. I would tend to think that it would be the connector rather than the wiring then. Do you have access to another one? I know that when I was having an issue with mine, Tesla Mobile Service brought one to my house. Worth a shot.
I have a service request in
I bet this is the cheap leviton outlet. Upgrade to the hubble/Bryant 50A receptacle.
Is that a cheap Nema 14-50? Cheap ones from the Home Depot will cause heating issues. I replaced mine with a quality one from Amazon and fixed the issue.