Using Tesla Universal Wall Charger - turns red when first plugging in

[Sylvius]

We recently had the universal charger installed. I’ve noticed a strange behavior. When I plug in, the Rivian will pulse white and then turn red. If I unplug and plug in again, it’ll pulse white and connects fine. Anybody else noticed this? Charging works fine once I get past the red…

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[solaskaze]

Turning red is completely normal (not a good look, but Rivian does that). Staying red is an entirely different matter : did you wait a good 7 seconds or so before unplugging?

 

[beyond]

Mine always does that; just give it a few seconds to kick in and it'll go green (at least mine does).

 

[Redmond Chad]

Same here - red for a couple of seconds, then it turns green and works fine.

 

[Sylvius]

Turning red is completely normal (not a good look, but Rivian does that). Staying red is an entirely different matter : did you wait a good 7 seconds or so before unplugging?

Honestly no I don’t think I waited that long.

 

[SeaRivian23]

I’ve set mine to “compatibility mode” and it’s now instant charge and no red.

 

[Sylvius]

I’ve set mine to “compatibility mode” and it’s now instant charge and no red.

The Rivian or the wall charger?

 

[PeterSK]

It’s because the universal wall connector first tries to charge using Tesla’s protocol and when that fails it switches to J1772. So you get a brief red and then it works fine.

As pointed out above it is possible to configure it so this doesn’t happen. I’m not sure how to do it. I can’t find any such settings in my Tesla app, and I wasn’t there when the electrician did the initial configuration in the Tesla Pro app.

 

[SeaRivian23]

The Rivian or the wall charger?

The wall charger. You have to connect to the charger’s wifi and use the installation app:
https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/installing

 

[solaskaze]

As pointed out above it is possible to configure it so this doesn’t happen. I’m not sure how to do it. I can’t find any such settings in my Tesla app, and I wasn’t there when the electrician did the initial configuration in the Tesla Pro app.

I never got a mode where the red went away (I had much bigger firmware issues: behavior changes a lot per firmware update), but compatibility mode is accessed a) through the Tesla pro app (if I recall) b) force the UWC into setup mode by pressing and holding the connector button, then connect to its network, and go to http://92.168.92.1

 

[Sylvius]

Actually now I see that in the Tesla app you can change to compatibility mode under the Access Control menu. I’ll try this if the red doesn’t go away by itself.

 

[PeterSK]

Actually now I see that in the Tesla app you can change to compatibility mode under the Access Control menu. I’ll try this if the red doesn’t go away by itself.

Ah that’s where it is, thanks. Mine is set to “any electric vehicle” and since it’s working fine after the brief red, I’m not going to change it.

 

[EnjoyTheRide_79]

mine would start red for maybe 3-5 seconds and than would change to a properly working color.

In the Tesla app, make sure “access control” in settings is set to “any electric vehicle”.

I also make sure I have same charging schedule set in both the Tesla and Rivian apps. Not sure if this is necessary I think I read it in another person’s post.

 

[RD TRP EV]

I have a Tesla Wall Connector (leader) and a Universal Wall Connector (follower) both configured to share 80 amps (100-amp panel).

I've noticed that when I set the Universal Wall Connector to "Compatibility mode" (so that I don't see the brief red light on the Rivian), and I charge both EVs, the Universal Wall Connector doesn't go back to 48amps (stays at 40 amps) after the other EV stops charging.

By having both on "Any Electric Vehicle", the Universal Wall Connector goes back to 48 amps for the Rivian after my Tesla finishes charging. The downside is that I do get the red light on the Rivian when I first plug it in for 2-3 seconds.

Not sure if it is a bug on the Tesla Wall Connector firmware side.

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