# Charge port unlock feature



## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

Where and how should I request enhancements to Tesla? 
Just twit Elon?? Lol

What's really annoying is my Model 3 not able to detect my key nearby to automatically unlock the charge port when I have phone key in my pocket. If doors and trunk are smart enough to open when my key is in my pocket, charge port should do the same


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

There are a few other threads on the topic of phone key bluetooth issues.
If you have an Android phone, read through this thread and see if any of the suggestions helps:

Is Android as car key ever going to actually WORK????


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

This is not an issue but feature enhancement request to Tesla 

How do I request that? 

Bluetooth key works fine to unlock the door but wished it would unlock charge port when I am near the car to unplug it


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

My understanding is that if the phone is in your pocket, then pressing the button on the connector handle will unlock it from the car. Are you saying that's not the case?


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

garsh said:


> My understanding is that if the phone is in your pocket, then pressing the button on the connector handle will unlock it from the car. Are you saying that's not the case?


Not sure what @TSLA_Model<3 is using, but I use a J1772 with the adapter to charge (since I still have a LEAF as well) and it would be nice if I walked up and was able to open the charge port by pressing it without having to unlock the car or open it with the app.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

LUXMAN said:


> Not sure what @TSLA_Model<3 is using, but I use a J1772...


Ah, yes, that would make a difference.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Yeah charging with the J1772 is annoying. I can unplug the cable easy enough but the adapter remains locked in the car. If I get in the car and hit unlock I still have to unplug the cable before the adapter. Can't unplug them at one unit. It's annoying enough I'm considering getting another NEMA 14-50 installed and leaving the mobile connector in the garage plugged in.


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

TSLA_Model<3 said:


> What's really annoying is my Model 3 not able to detect my key nearby to automatically unlock the charge port when I have phone key in my pocket.


This is mildly annoying, but there is a hack. If you do a 'partial press' of the rear door handle, the car will unlock the charge port and you can remove the charge handle in the normal manner.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

BigBri said:


> Yeah charging with the J1772 is annoying. I can unplug the cable easy enough but the adapter remains locked in the car. If I get in the car and hit unlock I still have to unplug the cable before the adapter. Can't unplug them at one unit. It's annoying enough I'm considering getting another NEMA 14-50 installed and leaving the mobile connector in the garage plugged in.


There is a trick that someone showed me. First make sure the car is unlocked so that the port will even allow you to pull out the adapter.
Do a quick press of the handle release button without removing the plug from the J1772 adapter. The partial press of the handle release should trigger the port to release the adapter. As soon as the port releases the adapter, remove the plug and adapter as a single unit.


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

garsh said:


> My understanding is that if the phone is in your pocket, then pressing the button on the connector handle will unlock it from the car. Are you saying that's not the case?


That is exactly what I am talking about

When charge port is connected and car is locked, and my phone is with me, I cannot unplug the charger until, I unlock the car


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

RSavage said:


> This is mildly annoying, but there is a hack. If you do a 'partial press' of the rear door handle, the car will unlock the charge port and you can remove the charge handle in the normal manner.


That's a great workaround for now!


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

TSLA_Model<3 said:


> That is exactly what I am talking about
> 
> When charge port is connected and car is locked, and my phone is with me, I cannot unplug the charger until, I unlock the car


And can you confirm that you're using a Tesla Connector, and not a J1772 with an adapter?

@SoFlaModel3, does @TSLA_Model<3 have something not working correctly on his car? Shouldn't touching the button on the handle also unlock the plug from the car, as long as the phone is on his person?


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

BTW, I am using the nema 1450 mobile charger that came with my model 3 

I also spoke to Tesla and they said any feature requests can be made now by clicking on the mic button and saying 
Note 
Then ur requests 
So say:
Note, please make charge port automatically unlock when Bluetooth key nearby


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

garsh said:


> And can you confirm that you're using a Tesla Connector, and not a J1772 with an adapter?
> 
> @SoFlaModel3, does @TSLA_Model<3 have something not working correctly on his car? Shouldn't touching the button on the handle also unlock the plug from the car, as long as the phone is on his person?


Of course, I try to unplug by pressing the button the charger but that doesn't work when car is locked
I am using normal mobile charger


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

[
There's nothing wrong with his car...this is the current way it works. If the car is SLEEPING you can't just press the button on the charge handle and have it unlock. If the car is simply IDLING it works fine.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

garsh said:


> And can you confirm that you're using a Tesla Connector, and not a J1772 with an adapter?
> 
> @SoFlaModel3, does @TSLA_Model<3 have something not working correctly on his car? Shouldn't touching the button on the handle also unlock the plug from the car, as long as the phone is on his person?


Nope - I posted about a workaround trick. With the car asleep and charging, quickly pull the trunk release and let go. The car wakes up, unlocks, but the trunk doesn't pop open. Now you can release the charge cable.

One caveat, with recent updates I have noticed the sensitivity is higher and the trunk pops open.

This is a worthy enhancement request for sure!


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

TSLA_Model<3 said:


> That is exactly what I am talking about
> 
> When charge port is connected and car is locked, and my phone is with me, I cannot unplug the charger until, I unlock the car


I believe that is supposed to be a feature, and to a degree it is a feature that I kind of like. But the implementation has issues.

First, I often travel to the airport and there is a facility that supports EVs, there are probably 50 110V plus in a row to use. So I plug in. Slow charging isn't a problem when you are gone a week. In this case, I want the cable to be locked to my car, so someone doesn't steal it.

But at home, in the garage, I'm not really worried about it be stolen, hence, one of my issues. I DON'T WANT THE CAR TO LOCK AT HOME!!!

If the car isn't locked, then the charge port shouldn't be locked either.


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## TSLA_Model<3 (Nov 14, 2016)

RSavage said:


> [
> There's nothing wrong with his car...this is the current way it works. If the car is SLEEPING you can't just press the button on the charge handle and have it unlock. If the car is simply IDLING it works fine.


I agree its working as designed.

I submitted feature request to TSLA - that if I have my phone w/me, and I press unlock on my charger - it should be smart enough to unlock it.


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

RSavage said:


> There's nothing wrong with his car...this is the current way it works. If the car is SLEEPING you can't just press the button on the charge handle and have it unlock. If the car is simply IDLING it works fine.





TSLA_Model<3 said:


> I agree its working as designed.


The manual disagrees, which makes it a bug and not a missing feature:










And folks here, here, here, here, here, and here all reported that you *can* disconnect the charger using the button on the connector before unlocking the doors.

Granted, there are just as many people (or more) on this thread and others saying it doesn't work. So idk WTF to think.

This post seems to echo what RSavage said about "sleeping" vs "idling". But if it's consistently working for some and consistently not working for others, how does that make any sense?


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

Brokedoc said:


> There is a trick that someone showed me. First make sure the car is unlocked so that the port will even allow you to pull out the adapter.
> Do a quick press of the handle release button without removing the plug from the J1772 adapter. The partial press of the handle release should trigger the port to release the adapter. As soon as the port releases the adapter, remove the plug and adapter as a single unit.





SoFlaModel3 said:


> Nope - I posted about a workaround trick. With the car asleep and charging, quickly pull the trunk release and let go. The car wakes up, unlocks, but the trunk doesn't pop open. Now you can release the charge cable.
> 
> One caveat, with recent updates I have noticed the sensitivity is higher and the trunk pops open.
> 
> This is a worthy enhancement request for sure!


These tricks use to work for me but not anymore. They have become to sensitive. The door or truck will pop if I do. Since I use the j1772 for now, I have unlock every time.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

Hey fun fact — just tried pressing the button with my phone in my pocket and it worked. I’m on version 2018.21.9!


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> Hey fun fact - just tried pressing the button with my phone in my pocket and it worked. I'm on version 2018.21.9!


Right....now try that first thing in the morning before you wake up the car.


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## Dogwhistle (Jul 2, 2017)

I’ve only had the car 5 days, but I’ve never had to separately unlock the car before disconnecting my J1772 EVSE cable. The car is locked, mirrors folded. I suppose it could not be asleep, but I never check. I press the J1772 button, wait a sec until I hear some clicking, release it so it reengages the adapter, then just pull the whole thing out. Works like a champ.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

RSavage said:


> Right....now try that first thing in the morning before you wake up the car.


Good point - will try again in the morning!


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## iluvmacs (Jan 31, 2018)

LUXMAN said:


> Not sure what @TSLA_Model<3 is using, but I use a J1772 with the adapter to charge (since I still have a LEAF as well) and it would be nice if I walked up and was able to open the charge port by pressing it without having to unlock the car or open it with the app.


Uh, you CAN do that. I do it every time I plug mine in.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> Good point - will try again in the morning!


@RSavage it didn't work after overnight sleep


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Car was asleep. Hit the button on the j1772 and nopers, nothing happened. Unlocked the port via the screen after it woke up and it was fine. Small inconvenience. I'm pretty handy so one day while bored I'll probably install another NEMA plug and just leave the mobile connector on it.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

Dogwhistle said:


> I've only had the car 5 days, but I've never had to separately unlock the car before disconnecting my J1772 EVSE cable. The car is locked, mirrors folded. I suppose it could not be asleep, but I never check. I press the J1772 button, wait a sec until I hear some clicking, release it so it reengages the adapter, then just pull the whole thing out. Works like a champ.


Ok. I am gonna try this in the morning when she is asleep.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

iluvmacs said:


> Uh, you CAN do that. I do it every time I plug mine in.


Not on mine. I just tried. Phone in pocket and car locked. Presses charge port door and nothing. I have to open the car or use the app to open the door. Now @Dogwhistle above says I can unplug without unlocking. This I will check in the morning. But can't plug in a j1772 with adapter without some other action


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## iluvmacs (Jan 31, 2018)

LUXMAN said:


> Not on mine. I just tried. Phone in pocket and car locked. Presses charge port door and nothing. I have to open the car or use the app to open the door. Now @Dogwhistle above says I can unplug without unlocking. This I will check in the morning. But can't plug in a j1772 with adapter without some other action


Yes I do believe the car has to be unlocked. I interpreted your original comment to mean that you didn't know you could push the door to open it (at all), so my apologies if that wasn't your intent. I don't ever try to plug in the car when it's locked, since I do it right when I get out of the car...


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Tested the 'button' method on the j1772 this morning and it does work. Still have to unlock the charge port from the screen/app. From there I just push the button on the 1772 and can then use my other hand to remove the adapter from the car and the 1772 at the same time.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

BigBri said:


> Tested the 'button' method on the j1772 this morning and it does work. Still have to unlock the charge port from the screen/app. From there I just push the button on the 1772 and can then use my other hand to remove the adapter from the car and the 1772 at the same time.


Yeah. But you still gotta unlock the charge port even with the phone in your pocket. So y is this a big deal? It's not. But there are times when I need to just unplug the car and not open it. Like this morning. I came back from the gym in my Leaf. Since the wife was gonna drive it, I needed to charge it. So I wanted to just move the plug to the leaf. I can do that but to get the adapter out, you have to use the app or open the car. If you don't, the charge port door will close on the adapter. And I don't what to damage the door, not that that would but prob not good for it. 
So not a big deal, just one of this things. 
Now if I could figure out how to leave WALK AWAY LOCK on yet have it not lock in the garage, my issue would be gone


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

LUXMAN said:


> Yeah. But you still gotta unlock the charge port even with the phone in your pocket. So y is this a big deal? It's not. But there are times when I need to just unplug the car and not open it. Like this morning. I came back from the gym in my Leaf. Since the wife was gonna drive it, I needed to charge it. So I wanted to just move the plug to the leaf. I can do that but to get the adapter out, you have to use the app or open the car. If you don't, the charge port door will close on the adapter. And I don't what to damage the door, not that that would but prob not good for it.
> So not a big deal, just one of this things.
> Now if I could figure out how to leave WALK AWAY LOCK on yet have it not lock in the garage, my issue would be gone


Yeah similar annoyance here. I'm a tall dude and getting in the car in my garage isn't easy. So it's a bit of a dance to squeeze in just to hit the unlock port button. I'm sure they'll do something. I do need to test if the mobile connector will unlock the port by hitting the button on it. If so I can always add another plug for 50 bucks and not deal with the annoyance.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

If it does work for you then $50 is a no brainer. Then you can come down here outta the cold and put one in for me


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

LUXMAN said:


> If it does work for you then $50 is a no brainer. Then you can come down here outta the cold and put one in for me


I can report it works! Hooked up the mobile unit and let the car go to sleep. Walked up and pushed button on connector with phone in my pocket and the port unlocked without touching the handles or getting in the car. Have to be quick though as it did re-engage the lock a few moments later.

Guess I'm doing some electrical next week haha. I can use the mobile unit in the nema port for now.. only need the juicebox for the Leaf and thats only every few weeks I need it.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

TSLA_Model<3 said:


> Note, please make charge port automatically unlock when Bluetooth key nearby


My charge port is unlocked when I am nearby with my phone.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Further report: My car wasn't in a deep sleep. I left it all day and came out and it wouldn't respond to the button on the mobile connector. I had to open the door to get it to respond. Still easier then crawling in to hit the unlock button.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

BigBri said:


> Further report: My car wasn't in a deep sleep. I left it all day and came out and it wouldn't respond to the button on the mobile connector. I had to open the door to get it to respond. Still easier then crawling in to hit the unlock button.


But if you have your phone on you, I think it should unlock. 
Anyway. I wish we could set the doors not to WALK AWAY LOCK when parked in the homelink designated garage. But still fold the mirrors. That would solve this plus allow you to get stuff outta the car without having to search for your phone.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> Further report: My car wasn't in a deep sleep. I left it all day and came out and it wouldn't respond to the button on the mobile connector. I had to open the door to get it to respond. Still easier then crawling in to hit the unlock button.


What phone are you using? Have you done a complete check of all the settings?


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

LUXMAN said:


> But if you have your phone on you, I think it should unlock.
> Anyway. I wish we could set the doors not to WALK AWAY LOCK when parked in the homelink designated garage. But still fold the mirrors. That would solve this plus allow you to get stuff outta the car without having to search for your phone.


Agree! I love the phone key but I don't carry my phone around the house.



PNWmisty said:


> What phone are you using? Have you done a complete check of all the settings?


What settings? It's an iPhone 6S+. The phone key works normally just when the car is sleeping it takes opening the door and unlocking the port via the screen.


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

BigBri said:


> The phone key works normally just when the car is sleeping it takes opening the door and unlocking the port via the screen.


I'll repeat this once again.....if the car is fully sleeping you don't have to open the door and use the main display to open the charge port....simply do a 'partial press' of the rear door handle....the car will wake and, after the relay noise subsides in a few seconds, you will then be able to open the charge port by pressing and releasing the button on the charge handle.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

Without waking the car, how do you know if it is asleep or not. Most every time I open the app and haven't been in the car for a short period it says it is waking the car up and takes 10 to 20 seconds to connect.

Also - the first 7 days with the car, we had to do an unlock trick like most have talked about to get the connector to unlock and unplug, even with phone in the pocket. Change today, maybe it was just some circumstance, but twice today, walked up to locked car, phone in pocket, pushed the button on the connector and it unlocked and was able to unplug it. Once was in the garage at home and once at a SC I stopped at just to check it out for 15 minutes. Both worked just as you hope it would.


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

GDN said:


> Without waking the car, how do you know if it is asleep or not.


Not trying to be a smartass but....if you press the button on the charge handle and the port doesn't open, it's a pretty good indication the car is asleep....if it opens, the car was merely idling. Another less direct method is to sign up with TeslaFi. Their service constantly queries the car without waking it up and will report back information that includes the waking state of the car.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

RSavage said:


> Not trying to be a smartass but....if you press the button on the charge handle and the port doesn't open, it's a pretty good indication the car is asleep....if it opens, the car was merely idling. Another less direct method is to sign up with TeslaFi. Their service constantly queries the car without waking it up and will report back information that includes the waking state of the car.


That's fair and understand, but the reason I asked is the first time I unplugged it this morning in the garage we hadn't touched an app or the car, and I have every reason to believe the car truly should have been asleep. The second time at the SC I was only out of the car about 15 minutes, but had run in a store and come back out to it, so a good chance it had not slept at that point, but I have every reason to believe it should have been asleep the first time. Was just wondering if there was any other way to know, without having to wake it up during the check process.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> What settings? It's an iPhone 6S+. The phone key works normally just when the car is sleeping it takes opening the door and unlocking the port via the screen.


I was talking about any setting that could affect the phone making itself visible via Bluetooth. I'm not familiar with the iPhones but our Samsung phones have a number of settings that affect this. I generally plug the car in when I get home so I imagine it would be "awake". How long does it take it to "go to sleep"? I guess I've never noticed that.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

RSavage said:


> I'll repeat this once again.....if the car is fully sleeping you don't have to open the door and use the main display to open the charge port....simply do a 'partial press' of the rear door handle....the car will wake and, after the relay noise subsides in a few seconds, you will then be able to open the charge port by pressing and releasing the button on the charge handle.


Yeah....mine wont do that without opening the door or at least popping the door. I have tried to press the handle just short of the door popping and nothing. If I go to the point of resistance in the handle, boom, the door pops and the window drops.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> I was talking about any setting that could affect the phone making itself visible via Bluetooth. I'm not familiar with the iPhones but our Samsung phones have a number of settings that affect this. I generally plug the car in when I get home so I imagine it would be "awake". How long does it take it to "go to sleep"? I guess I've never noticed that.


Yeah with iPhone bluetooth is on or off. They seem to work much better as phone keys then some androids. Not had a single time the car won't unlock and I can see it connected to 4 different bluetooth channels.

I've found there are a couple stages to sleep. I always plug it in. Within a few minutes the light on the charge port goes out but hitting the button on the mobile connector would wake it up and let me remove the cable. If I left it overnight it'd be in a deeper sleep and that wouldn't do anything. Even the screen takes a second or two longer to come on after opening the door when its that deep. I'm also usually back to 80% within an hour or two so the car sleeps a good 12 hours.

I did try this morning just opening the door and the charge port did unlock! So that makes it easier.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> Yeah with iPhone bluetooth is on or off. They seem to work much better as phone keys then some androids.


I've been following these threads on multiple forums and I don't think it's generally true that iPhones seem to work better as keys than Androids.

I believe what you're seeing is that the Android operating system gives the user more control over Bluetooth and battery saving modes. This means it's up to the user to configure it so Bluetooth remains "alert". There are also a plethora of third-party apps that could interfere with Bluetooth connectivity. I am quite selective as to which apps I'll load onto my phone.

iPhones of all generations have far fewer settings that are user configurable. I think in the initial release of the Model 3, a lot of Android users found they had power saving settings that were too aggressive or that Bluetooth was not configured optimally. On the other hand, there are a lot more hardware implementations in the Android ecosystem and it's possible that some manufacturers delivered flawed hardware implementation of the Bluetooth standard, particularly older phones from second or third tier manufacturers. I think newer Android phones from first tier manufacturers are at least as good at performing "phone as the key" as recent iPhones are. I'm still sceptical that the Model 3 can go into such deep sleep that it can't recognize your phone, even when pressing the button on the charge plug.

In other words, the distinction is not between iPhone vs. Android, it's the age of the phone and whether it's configured properly to function reliably as a key. Also, it's the phone that generally needs to "wake up", not the car. The car is designed to look for a Bluetooth signal even after it has been left overnight. It might look fewer times per minute, but it still looks.


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## RSavage (Aug 31, 2017)

LUXMAN said:


> Yeah....mine wont do that without opening the door or at least popping the door. I have tried to press the handle just short of the door popping and nothing. If I go to the point of resistance in the handle, boom, the door pops and the window drops.


Are you 'short pressing' the handle on the _left rear _door? If so, and it's doing what you describe, I don't know what to tell you. This trick has worked for the last couple versions of the software. Prior to that, it worked by short pressing the trunk release....this is an improvement.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> I've been following these threads on multiple forums and I don't think it's generally true that iPhones seem to work better as keys than Androids.
> 
> I believe what you're seeing is that the Android operating system gives the user more control over Bluetooth and battery saving modes. This means it's up to the user to configure it so Bluetooth remains "alert". There are also a plethora of third-party apps that could interfere with Bluetooth connectivity. I am quite selective as to which apps I'll load onto my phone.
> 
> ...


I'm connected to 4 different bluetooth channels that appear to be encrypted when I'm standing next to the car. The only other thing I use bluetooth for is my guitar amp and its generally off. Perhaps it's sleeping as my phone never really disconnects from the car. I keep the connection even when upstairs in my house. I just need a feature where the car doesn't lock while in my garage. Shouldn't be hard to add.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> I'm connected to 4 different bluetooth channels that appear to be encrypted when I'm standing next to the car. The only other thing I use bluetooth for is my guitar amp and its generally off. Perhaps it's sleeping as my phone never really disconnects from the car. I keep the connection even when upstairs in my house. I just need a feature where the car doesn't lock while in my garage. Shouldn't be hard to add.


Are you saying the charge port doesn't respond to the charge connector button, even when your phone is connected to four different Bluetooth channels, all of which originate with a Tesla device (either the charge connector and/or the Model 3)?


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Are you saying the charge port doesn't respond to the charge connector button, even when your phone is connected to four different Bluetooth channels, all of which originate with a Tesla device (either the charge connector and/or the Model 3)?


Within an hour or two of plugging the car in, yes. 12 hours later, no.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> Yeah with iPhone bluetooth is on or off.


It's not that simple. Apple likes to simplify menus and the user experience, often to the point of not telling you what is actually going on behind the curtain. So, not only is Bluetooth not always "on" or "off" (as shown in the menu) but something as simple as how often a background app is refreshed can affect connectivity. And iPhones can dynamically adjust app background refresh rates depending not only on state of charge but also on the detected condition of your battery. If your battery is below 20% charge OR if it has lost a certain amount of overall capacity since new, the OS can reduce background app refresh rate (amongst other things). This behavior is somewhat controlled by other settings. So, it's far from as simple as "Bluetooth is on or off" regardless of how simple Apple would like you to think it is. It's complicated.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

BigBri said:


> Within an hour or two of plugging the car in, yes. 12 hours later, no.


The question I intended to ask was whether you were still connected to 4 Tesla Bluetooth streams 12 hours later (when your charge connector button becomes unresponsive). Or do one or more of those connections go away before the button becomes unresponsive?


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

PNWmisty said:


> I've been following these threads on multiple forums and I don't think it's generally true that iPhones seem to work better as keys than Androids.
> 
> I believe what you're seeing is that the Android operating system gives the user more control over Bluetooth and battery saving modes. This means it's up to the user to configure it so Bluetooth remains "alert". There are also a plethora of third-party apps that could interfere with Bluetooth connectivity. I am quite selective as to which apps I'll load onto my phone.
> 
> ...


https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/2705811/









Regardless, if you have to configure your phone's settings in a particular way just to get into your fancy new car, that's a fault with the engineering of the car, not the phone or the user's preferred phone settings.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

jsmay311 said:


> Regardless, if you have to configure your phone's settings in a particular way just to get into your fancy new car, that's a fault with the engineering of the car, not the phone or the user's preferred phone settings.


Errr, no. The car can't make your phones Bluetooth turn on! If you want to use the Bluetooth features of any car it's necessary to have a Bluetooth device that is actively looking at Bluetooth transmissions. Hardly the fault of "your fancy new car".


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Errr, no. The car can't make your phones Bluetooth turn on! If you want to use the Bluetooth features of any car it's necessary to have a Bluetooth device that is actively looking at Bluetooth transmissions. Hardly the fault of "your fancy new car".


Right. Just like every other new car that has BT.


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

PNWmisty said:


> Errr, no. The car can't make your phones Bluetooth turn on! If you want to use the Bluetooth features of any car it's necessary to have a Bluetooth device that is actively looking at Bluetooth transmissions. Hardly the fault of "your fancy new car".


[Waiting for my eye balls to roll back into place...]

You're right. It requires Bluetooth to be on. (I figured that was so obvious that it went without saying.) 

_Nevermind the fact that there are no settings that actually make the phone key reliable! _There are endless examples of people on these forums trying all sorts of different settings in order to get their phone key to work reliably, and there is no silver bullet that makes it work every time.

Tesla decided to use phones as a key, not the phone makers, so the impetus was on Tesla to make sure it worked in the real world before plowing ahead with it and degrading the owner experience.

If you can look at the graph above and see that the Model 3's keyless entry fails to work reliably for 84% of Android users *(84%!!!!)* and still honestly come to the conclusion that this is _not_ a fundamental problem with the car itself... well then idk what else to say.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

jsmay311 said:


> _Nevermind the fact that there are no settings that actually make the phone key reliable! _


Really? The only two phones I have experience with using as a key on a Model 3 work 100% of the time.



> There are endless examples of people on these forums trying all sorts of different settings in order to get their phone key to work reliably, and there is no silver bullet that makes it work every time.


Only because every phone is different. My S8+ purchased from Verizon has different menus from an S8+ purchased from Sprint. And the menus on my wife's S9 are different from my S8+ even though both are Verizon phones. Change brands and the differences are even greater. Did you really think all phones work the same way?



> Tesla





> decided to use phones as a key, not the phone makers, so the impetus was on Tesla to make sure it worked in the real world before plowing ahead with it and degrading the owner experience.
> 
> If you can look at the graph above and see that the Model 3's keyless entry fails to work reliably for 84% of Android users *(84%!!!!)* and still honestly come to the conclusion that this is _not_ a fundamental problem with the car itself... well then idk what else to say.


Well, I'm just speechless that you think it's Tesla's job to ensure that their customer's phones are set up properly (and adhere's to the Bluetooth standard). I've never seen a smartphone that wasn't highly customizable in just about every aspect of the way it works. To say that Tesla is responsible for their customer's phones is ridiculous in the extreme. All they can do is provide a car that is compatible with the published Bluetooth standard. Or not offer that functionality at all. They do give you a perfectly functional way to use the car without a smartphone and every potential customer has the option of not being a customer. What more can Tesla do?

They don't offer an app for Windows Phone users either. Neither does my bank or my Credit Card or the wi-fi controller for my cabin's mini-split heat pump. All require either Apple or Android OS and for the phone to be configured properly. I was having a beer with a 97 year old WWII vet. Also Korean War and Vietnam too. He didn't like the idea of having an app that could control your car. He said "I don't want that". I get it, it's not for everyone.

Personally, I'm really glad they offer that functionality.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Really? The only two phones I have experience with using as a key on a Model 3 work 100% of the time.
> 
> Only because every phone is different. My S8+ purchased from Verizon has different menus from an S8+ purchased from Sprint. And the menus on my wife's S9 are different from my S8+ even though both are Verizon phones. Change brands and the differences are even greater. Did you really think all phones work the same way?
> 
> ...


I agree with ya here. But I dont know what settings ya'll are talking about. On the iPhone the BT is either on and paired or not. What else can you do?

There is a BT standard and that is what Tesla is using. I am actually typing this with a BT Keyboard paired to an iPad. It uses a code to pair just like the car. When I have a problem, it seems to be my phone and not the car. If I cycle to BT on the phone it then works. But if someone doesn't like the concept maybe they need to buy a S,X or Leaf


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

LUXMAN said:


> I agree with ya here. But I dont know what settings ya'll are talking about. On the iPhone the BT is either on and paired or not. What else can you do?
> 
> There is a BT standard and that is what Tesla is using. I am actually typing this with a BT Keyboard paired to an iPad. It uses a code to pair just like the car. When I have a problem, it seems to be my phone and not the car. If I cycle to BT on the phone it then works. But if someone doesn't like the concept maybe they need to buy a S,X or Leaf


I agree with you -  and iPhone don't have any more settings for Bluetooth, it's on or it's off. I think Android lets you do all kinds of things with it, multiple settings.

No way am I getting in to one OS vs another OS because I even have a very love hate relationship with . This, however, is one of the things that Apple keeps tightly locked down and controlled. So far that seems to be paying off with my iPhone. However with Android, each phone hardware vendor can alter and implement to their likings and a good majority of the time the hardware makers don't continue to update software for most of the hardware beyond maybe one major release.


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## Dogwhistle (Jul 2, 2017)

I was wrong about always being able to release the charger (with adapter) by pressing the button and waiting a bit. Apparently in my first few days of ownership, I wasn’t letting it get into a deep enough state of sleep! That being said, a partial press of the left rear door handle seems to always do the trick to unlock the car/port without opening the door.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

Dogwhistle said:


> I was wrong about always being able to release the charger (with adapter) by pressing the button and waiting a bit. Apparently in my first few days of ownership, I wasn't letting it get into a deep enough state of sleep! That being said, a partial press of the left rear door handle seems to always do the trick to unlock the car/port without opening the door.


I'm thinking it's not the car that's going into too deep of a sleep, it's your phone cutting power to background apps or reducing their refresh rate. The amount of power that LE Bluetooth requires is absolutely trivial for the battery in the Model 3. It's actually fairly trivial in a smartphone too. But apps can consume a significant amount of power when running in the background which is why the OS might try to put them to sleep or reduce their refresh rate to a very low value.

When you have paired your phone to the Model 3, the pairing has persistence (it will remain paired until you unpair them). But that is not to say the pairing is active at all times. The app needs to tell the car it wants an active pairing and it can't do that if the OS has put the app to sleep or reduced its refresh rate to a very low level. Apple tries to oversimplify both the user interface and the user experience and is not always transparent about what is going on behind the curtain. So, no, it's not true that just because the Bluetooth switch is "on" and it's in range that it has an active pairing. Depending upon your power saving settings, the state of charge on your phone and other variables, it may be necessary to wake up the app on your phone before walking into range.


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## Dogwhistle (Jul 2, 2017)

PNWmisty said:


> I'm thinking it's not the car that's going into too deep of a sleep, it's your phone cutting power to background apps or reducing their refresh rate. The amount of power that LE Bluetooth requires is absolutely trivial for the battery in the Model 3. It's actually fairly trivial in a smartphone too. But apps can consume a significant amount of power when running in the background which is why the OS might try to put them to sleep or reduce their refresh rate to a very low value.
> 
> When you have paired your phone to the Model 3, the pairing has persistence (it will remain paired until you unpair them). But that is not to say the pairing is active at all times. The app needs to tell the car it wants an active pairing and it can't do that if the OS has put the app to sleep or reduced its refresh rate to a very low level. Apple tries to oversimplify both the user interface and the user experience and is not always transparent about what is going on behind the curtain. So, no, it's not true that just because the Bluetooth switch is "on" and it's in range that it has an active pairing. Depending upon your power saving settings, the state of charge on your phone and other variables, it may be necessary to wake up the app on your phone before walking into range.


Well, since I can unlock the door with a partial press, the phone must be talking to the car. It just won't react to just pushing the charger button alone in that state.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Dogwhistle said:


> Well, since I can unlock the door with a partial press, the phone must be talking to the car. It just won't react to just pushing the charger button alone in that state.


Mirrors my experience. My bluetooth screen looks identical if the car is sleeping or not. Always 4 connections being made to the car. I'm happy opening the door allows me to unplug.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

Dogwhistle said:


> Well, since I can unlock the door with a partial press, the phone must be talking to the car. It just won't react to just pushing the charger button alone in that state.


That's a good point and does make it sound like something that could be fixed with a software update. Maybe this issue was recently introduced when Tesla changed the unlocking behaviour of the car (it went from unlocked when in proximity to needing to be touched to unlock).


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## Gabzqc (Oct 15, 2016)

This is incredibly annoying... its one year later and still you cannot remove charge wand without opening a door... It really makes sense that when the phone is within range, the button on the wand should work to remove the cable!


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## Hugh_Jassol (Jan 31, 2019)

Gabzqc said:


> This is incredibly annoying... its one year later and still you cannot remove charge wand without opening a door... It really makes sense that when the phone is within range, the button on the wand should work to remove the cable!


you don't actually have to open the door... just press in "a little" on the thicker part of the rear door handle. You will hear the car wake, but it doesn't actually open then door. Then the button on the connector will release it.


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## MJJ (Aug 7, 2016)

Hugh_Jassol said:


> you don't actually have to open the door... just press in "a little" on the thicker part of the rear door handle. You will hear the car wake, but it doesn't actually open then door. Then the button on the connector will release it.


But still, the question is: Why can't the wand wake up the car?


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

I had a Model S loaner a couple months ago when my Model 3 was in the shop. Since the Model S uses a fob and has "walk-up unlock" (where the car unlocks and the door handles extend out when you get close to the car/doors), I thought that a click on the UMC handle would consistently unlock the charge port. But it's not that simple.

I made two interesting observations regarding how disconnecting the charge connector works vs the Model 3:

Observation #1: When approaching a sleeping Model S_ from the rear_ with a fob in my pocket and attempting to remove the charge connector from the port by pressing the button on the connector, it doesn't work because the Model S doesn't actual wake up / unlock until the fob is within maybe 2-3 feet of a door, and standing behind the charge port at the rear-left corner of the car is not close enough to wake up / unlock the car.

Observation #2: (Here's where it gets confusing...) If I clicked on the button on the charge connector before the car unlocked, the light around the charge port would turn on -- it would shine green for ~1 second and then turn blue. So, critically, this demonstrates that the car is capable of recognizing a button press on the charge connector even when it's locked/asleep.

This is where I'm totally confounded. If (A) the car can recognize when the charge connector button is pressed, and (B) the car is capable of sensing that the fob is nearby (even if it's not near enough to a door handle to trigger auto-unlocking of the doors) which it surely is capable of, then why doesn't it just unlock the GD charge port?

And what does this mean for the Model 3? Is it likely that the hardware and software on the Model S that allows the car to detect button presses on the charge connector when the car is asleep is similar to what's used on the Model 3 or not?

More questions than answers, unfortunately.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

standard evse protocol has: in the specification that tesla may or may not follow ...

The button does not tell the car to do anything. The button tells the charge connector (umc/wall connector/supercharger) to stop charging providing power. The charge stopping on a woken (charging) car causes the port to unlock. The charge 'stopping' on a non-charging asleep car doesn't transmit any instructions to the car, so the charge connector by physical design cannot wake the car. 

Bluetooth proximity does not wake the car, as wake on walk was causing huge battery drain issues last year...so it was patched out. (especially as a lot of people live in close enough proximity that they would regularly wake the car inadvertently...putting a lot of wear and tear on the mirror motors, etc).


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## HCD3 (Mar 3, 2019)

Frully said:


> standard evse protocol has: in the specification that tesla may or may not follow ...
> 
> The button does not tell the car to do anything. The button tells the charge connector (umc/wall connector/supercharger) to stop charging providing power. The charge stopping on a woken (charging) car causes the port to unlock. The charge 'stopping' on a non-charging asleep car doesn't transmit any instructions to the car, so the charge connector by physical design cannot wake the car.
> 
> Bluetooth proximity does not wake the car, as wake on walk was causing huge battery drain issues last year...so it was patched out. (especially as a lot of people live in close enough proximity that they would regularly wake the car inadvertently...putting a lot of wear and tear on the mirror motors, etc).


When I leave the house for the day and my car has been in deep sleep, my iPhone takes a minute to wake the car. Now I pick up my phone, run the Tesla app, and when I get to the car it's awake and I can unplug the charging cable.


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## Hugh_Jassol (Jan 31, 2019)

Frully said:


> standard evse protocol has: in the specification that tesla may or may not follow ...
> 
> The button does not tell the car to do anything. The button tells the charge connector (umc/wall connector/supercharger) to stop charging providing power. The charge stopping on a woken (charging) car causes the port to unlock. The charge 'stopping' on a non-charging asleep car doesn't transmit any instructions to the car, so the charge connector by physical design cannot wake the car.


This is not correct. First, the port would unlock when the Tesla stops charging and when I unplug in the morning, my car stopped charging hours before and yet the port is locked. Even when the car is woken by opening the door, the port still will not unlock _until_ you press the button. It absolutely does not unlock just because the charging has stopped - manually or otherwise.

Second, if the button does absolutely tell the car to do something. 1) as mentioned above, _even with charging stopped_ pressing it unlocks the port and 2) pressing it when not plugged in causes the charge port door to open.


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## Hugh_Jassol (Jan 31, 2019)

MJJ said:


> But still, the question is: Why can't the wand wake up the car?


I know - this seems like such a simple thing... I mean the car knows by proximity that it's ok to unlock the door when you pull the handle... it should be able to know it's ok to 'listen' to the button to unlock the port.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

Hugh_Jassol said:


> I know - this seems like such a simple thing... I mean the car knows by proximity that it's ok to unlock the door when you pull the handle... it should be able to know it's ok to 'listen' to the button to unlock the port.


That seems reasonable...
My interpretation was from the mikeselectricstuff teardown and description of aliexpress evse wiring. 




It seems the car isn't listening to the charging port can bus connection while sleeping - just the door handle instructions.


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

Frully said:


> standard evse protocol has: in the specification that tesla may or may not follow ...
> 
> *The button does not tell the car to do anything.* The button tells the charge connector (umc/wall connector/supercharger) to stop charging providing power. The charge stopping on a woken (charging) car causes the port to unlock. The charge 'stopping' on a non-charging asleep car doesn't transmit any instructions to the car, so the charge connector by physical design cannot wake the car.


I think the only thing right in this post is that Tesla "may not follow" the standard EVSE protocol. 



Hugh_Jassol said:


> *This is not correct.* First, the port would unlock when the Tesla stops charging and when I unplug in the morning, my car stopped charging hours before and yet the port is locked. Even when the car is woken by opening the door, the port still will not unlock _until_ you press the button. It absolutely does not unlock just because the charging has stopped - manually or otherwise.
> 
> Second, if the button does absolutely tell the car to do something. 1) as mentioned above, _even with charging stopped_ pressing it unlocks the port and 2) pressing it when not plugged in causes the charge port door to open.


+1.

The button on the Tesla UMC is totally different than the trigger button on a J1772 handle. The fact that you can open the charge port door via a button press on a Tesla charger connector is probably the clearest demonstration that it is communicating with the car.

And as I mentioned above, pressing the button on a UMC connector that's plugged into a _sleeping_ Model S _*does*_ elicit a response from the vehicle in that it causes the lights around the charge port to light up.


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## adam m (Feb 1, 2019)

I put a support ticket in about this with Tesla today. Prior to 2019.16.x I could just walk up to my car and press the UMC button once or twice and the car would unlock it. Now I have to open the trunk or rear door. I'd didn't know you could just slightly press the door handle though. I'll be doing that from now on.

I'm going to check if TeslaFi has a command to unlock the charge port, to I can ask my echo to do it while I'm walking out the door.


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## LakeWorthB (Mar 16, 2019)

adam m said:


> I put a support ticket in about this with Tesla today. Prior to 2019.16.x I could just walk up to my car and press the UMC button once or twice and the car would unlock it. Now I have to open the trunk or rear door. I'd didn't know you could just slightly press the door handle though. I'll be doing that from now on.
> 
> I'm going to check if TeslaFi has a command to unlock the charge port, to I can ask my echo to do it while I'm walking out the door.


The API does have support for open/unlocking the charge port. Also just waking up the vehicle probably would work.


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## Gabzqc (Oct 15, 2016)

Can anyone put a short video of the "slight press" of the door handle please?
I can only make the door unlock with the "slight press" idea.... then I have to fully open it, and shut it before moving off. Not much use...

thanks!


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## jsmay311 (Oct 2, 2017)

Gabzqc said:


> Can anyone put a short video of the "slight press" of the door handle please?
> I can only make the door unlock with the "slight press" idea.... then I have to fully open it, and shut it before moving off. Not much use...
> 
> thanks!


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## Gabzqc (Oct 15, 2016)

jsmay311 said:


>


Thanks jsmay311, that looks like a great solution. However no matter how carefully, quickly, gently or snappy I try... I cant get it to work... the door has to pop open for the charge port light to illuminate...
Cant just by my car can it?


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

Gabzqc said:


> Thanks jsmay311, that looks like a great solution. However no matter how carefully, quickly, gently or snappy I try... I cant get it to work... the door has to pop open for the charge port light to illuminate...
> Cant just by my car can it?


Your charge port light might not come on - you know it will work when you hear the squawk of the hvac turning on, then a few seconds later the HV contactor clunks.

It's about a 1cm depress on the fat part of the handle. After the car makes *any* noise after that shallow depress the button on the charge connector should unlock the port.


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