# New Wall Charger Notification



## Diana Anderson (3 mo ago)

Hi - 

just got my Wall Charger installed today and used it for the first time tonight on my new M3P.
Been using the mobile charger until now with no issue. 

When I plugged in the wall charger it seemed fully seated but got this message on my phone.

I unplugged and plugged back in and it was fine. Couple of questions:

1: it says adjust for "improved charging". Isn't an electrical connection either on or off, and not half on?
2: if I hadn't noticed my phone notification, could this have caused any harm or damaged something if it was not seated or not charging fully for an extended period
3: Kind of unrelated, but does the cable get warm while charging?

Thank you!


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

Diana Anderson said:


> Hi -
> 
> just got my Wall Charger installed today and used it for the first time tonight on my new M3P.
> Been using the mobile charger until now with no issue.
> ...


This happens sometimes to me, and like you, I simply remove and reinsert the wand.

Regarding your questions, considering that the car does detect this condition, it has to be handling it in a way that will prevent harm to its charging hardware.

My cable does get slightly warm while charging.

About your first question, although I'm not an expert on high power electricity, the charger supplies AC power at up to 11 kw so if the cable is not properly seated there will be a smaller contact area causing a higher resistance to the flow of current and potentially overheating the connection. Possibly the car is monitoring the connector's temperature but I don't really know.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Diana Anderson said:


> 1: it says adjust for "improved charging". Isn't an electrical connection either on or off, and not half on?


Nope. Real-world physics comes into play.  


francoisp said:


> ...if the cable is not properly seated there will be a smaller contact area causing a higher resistance to the flow of current and potentially overheating the connection.


francoisp is exactly correct. If the contact is bad, it could overheat enough to melt things, or even start a fire.

The car can monitor heat at the charging port as well as voltage drops to help detect when there is an issue like this.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

Think of the plug like a water hose. You can get it cross threaded and while omay work, water will probably be coming out of the connection. Same for not being tight enough.

If the plug connectors are only half way connected, it may charge, but the contacts will heat, possibly melting the connector and catching the house on fire


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

Ed Woodrick said:


> If the plug connectors are only half way connected, it may charge, but the contacts will heat, possibly melting the connector and catching the house on fire


That might be a scenario if the car didn't detect it but it does. So no worries.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Diana Anderson said:


> 1: it says adjust for "improved charging". Isn't an electrical connection either on or off, and not half on?


Your car _can_ charge with the metal parts between the cord and charge port just barely touching, but they will start to heat up quickly, causing the car to slow charging to prevent damage. Ideally more metal should be touching so more current can transfer with less heating. 

That's what the error is warning you about, and the solution is to push the charge cord into the charge port until you feel it 'clunk' against the back.

EDIT: I almost forgot - if you get that error consistently, have the "deadfronts" checked in your charge port. They are plastic rings that can break off and cause the charge cord to be unable to seat all the way into the charge port.




Diana Anderson said:


> 2: if I hadn't noticed my phone notification, could this have caused any harm or damaged something if it was not seated or not charging fully for an extended period


Not really, as I noted above, the car will slow charging to control the heat. If it can't do that you will get a 'stopped charging' alert instead.



Diana Anderson said:


> 3: Kind of unrelated, but does the cable get warm while charging?


It does get pretty warm, but it if gets alarmingly hot then something is wrong.


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