Porsche Wall Charger Connect | Unbox & Install

[daveo4EV]

there are two issues with charging other EV's (with the PMC+/PMCC)

1. initial negotiations to start the charge
2. successfully completing the charge with no PMC+/PMCC internal faults

Examples:

• reported issues with BMW's seem to fall in to category #1
• my personal issues with Tesla Model Y fall into category #2

issue of the #1 type are easy/quick to diagnose
issues of the #2 type are discovered only after waking up from an over night charging session to find out it stopped 2 hours into a 5-6 hour charging session…see example here (https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-charging-my-tesla-model-y-long-range….10941/)

brief testing is insufficient to conclude there are no issues - but some success is better than no succcess - I would encourage people to complete a meaningful charging session before declaring victory on any particular EVSE…the real test of any EVSE is reliable overnight charging of any duration happening time and time again with no issues…

both the PMC+/PMCC are great EVSE's for 2 hours or less…it's the 5 days/week 2-9 hours overnight with no faults and "just works" test that they fail at…

but I'm encouraged to hear about any positive outcomes for the PWCC…also I do not expect "fault free" products - but when faults are discovered the willingness of the company to pursue resolution in a reasonable time frame is a factor - Porsche to date has demonstrated in writing they are unwilling to engage on any reports of incompatibility with non-Porsche EV - the response is different with other EVSE vendors…

so my opinion remains the same: the Porsche EVSE's are great, right up until they are not - and then good luck getting Porsche to respond to any issues in this product category.

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[whitex]

It would be nice if Porsche was as concerned about wire sizes it actually put in its PMCC and PMC+ EVSEs as it is about external supply wiring to this one.

They are - PMCC/PMC+ are technically safe in the exact same manner. What they are telling you is that if using AWG#4 the cable must be rated to 90C vs. 75C for AWG#3 or larger - this tells you that AWG#4 can potentially reach over 75C during charging. I think they should also mention that everything else connected to the AWG#4 cable should be rated 90C or above as well so things don't melt (this is where they failed with PMCC/PMC+, their wires didn't melt, but the sockets they plug into did).

Personally I prefer to upsize wires for my installations, keep thermal stress down, even if those wires are not going to be touched by a human (touching a wire at 75C is not pleasant).

 

[snstevens]

They are - PMCC/PMC+ are technically safe in the exact same manner. What they are telling you is that if using AWG#4 the cable must be rated to 90C vs. 75C for ARG#3 or larger - this tells you that AWG#4 can potentially reach over 75C during charging. I think they should also mention that everything else connected to the AWG#4 cable should be rated 90C or above as well so things don't melt (this is where they failed with PMCC/PMC+, their wires didn't melt, but the sockets they plug into did).

Personally I prefer to upsize wires for my installations, keep thermal stress down, even if those wires are not going to be touched by a human (touching a wire at 75C is not pleasant).

Agree that PMCC was NOT designed to satisfy its spec of 40A charging current. Also agree that better installation instructions are needed for the PMCC/PMC+, and I think its a great idea to "upsize" wiring for this application.

However, I disagree with the statement that 4AWG wire "can potentially reach over 75ºC during charging". The reason for the increased temperature on 4AWG wire is simply that its resistance/meter is higher than 3AWG wire. Higher resistance means more heat, so the wire has to be rated for that. At the same time, the goal of the designers is to create an EVSE that doesn't generate so much wire heat that the installation is unsafe. Had they used 6 or 8 AWG wire on the PMCC's cabling, it would not have the overheating problems that are occurring with the current 10AWG design (reference this post on the current PMCC wiring AWG).

The recommended wire size from the electrical panel and the NEMA 14-50 socket selection for a PMCC is a different matter, but one that should have been addressed in the PMCC/PMC+ installation instructions.

Regarding @daveo4EV 's concern about the ability of the PWCC to complete a charging session (#2 of this post above), I would like to know if excessive temperature mid-way through the charging session might be the cause of this problem. Has anyone with a newer PMCC tried charging a Tesla and did it complete the charging session successfully?

If I can get my neighbor's car for an overnight charging session I'll try to answer that question for the PWCC.

 

[whitex]

However, I disagree with the statement that 4AWG wire "can potentially reach over 75ºC during charging". The reason for the increased temperature on 4AWG wire is simply that its resistance/meter is higher than 3AWG wire. Higher resistance means more heat, so the wire has to be rated for that. At the same time, the goal of the designers is to create an EVSE that doesn't generate so much wire heat that the installation is unsafe. Had they used 6 or 8 AWG wire on the PMCC's cabling, it would not have the overheating problems that are occurring with the current 10AWG design (reference this post on the current PMCC wiring AWG).

My comment about the AWG4 getting hot was in relation to the PWCC (80A) not PMCC (40A). If the PWCC installation instructions tell you that AWG4 supply cables need to be rated for 90C but AWG3 or higher only 75C, clearly they are saying AWG4 may exceed a 75C rating, or they wouldn't have recommended 90C for AWG4 and 75C for larger wires.

 

[snstevens]

My comment about the AWG4 getting hot was in relation to the PWCC (80A) not PMCC (40A). If the PWCC installation instructions tell you that AWG4 supply cables need to be rated for 90C but AWG3 or higher only 75C, clearly they are saying AWG4 may exceed a 75C rating, or they would have recommended 90C for AWG4 and 75C for larger wires.

You might be right, but there are safety margins built into all wiring safety standards, and it is unlikely that the PWCC is operating at the limit of those standards. That is an assumption of course, and the overheating issues on the PMCC give me pause when saying that.

The only way to really know if the PWCC exceeds 75ºC with 4 AWG wire is to open the box during charging and measure the wire temps. If you or anyone else does that let me know - I'm curious.

 

[whitex]

You might be right, but there are safety margins built into all wiring safety standards, and it is unlikely that the PWCC is operating at the limit of those standards. That is an assumption of course, and the overheating issues on the PMCC give me pause when saying that.

The only way to really know if the PWCC exceeds 75ºC with 4 AWG wire is to open the box during charging and measure the wire temps. If you or anyone else does that let me know - I'm curious.

I ran AWG2 90C rated wiring for my 100A charger circuit because I tend to over-engineer my projects (buying a Taycan is also an over-kill if all you want is safe EV transportation). AWG3 would have been just fine. In my case I just wanted to upsize my wires so they run cooler and lose less energy during charging (not heat up my garage and charge the car a little faster). AWG4/90C copper wire for sustained hours of 80A however is running it on the bleeding edge of the spec (assuming you're not running it with other conductors in the same runway). Below is a table fragment from the US electrical code (source). Note that AWG4/90C copper running at 46C ambient (which can happen inside walls during hot summer days in some climates) would violate the code. The longer the run, the more heat the AWG4 will generate too, contributing to the heat inside an insulated wall for example.

The spec assumes everything is perfect by the way, that all connections are properly torqued, wires have never been pinched (at the store, transport, whatever), parts are not substandard, etc. My reasoning for overengineering my installations is that things don't always go perfect, sometimes the connection gets lose, maybe the breaker starts melting. I'd rather have more safety margin for the place where I live. Am I reducing an already small risk? Perhaps, but I sleep better knowing my install can handle more failures before it becomes catastrophic. It's like with cars, you can get a car with 4 stars crash ratings, or a car with 5 star crash ratings. 4 stars is still perfectly legal, and the risk reduction of 5 star is small, but should you be in an actual accident, the difference between 5 start and 4 star is walking away from the accident vs. going to a hospital. Heck, 3 star rated cars are still sold today, and with those you're looking at a hospital and potential lifetime effects, like a wheel chair. Odds are you will never get into such an accident, but I personally am willing to pay extra to hedge against this unlikely event given the potential disastrous effects.

 

[snstevens]

I ran AWG2 90C rated wiring for my 100A charger circuit because I tend to over-engineer my projects (buying a Taycan is also an over-kill if all you want is safe EV transportation). AWG3 would have been just fine. In my case I just wanted to upsize my wires so they run cooler and lose less energy during charging (not heat up my garage and charge the car a little faster). AWG4/90C copper wire for sustained hours of 80A however is running it on the bleeding edge of the spec (assuming you're not running it with other conductors in the same runway). Below is a table fragment from the US electrical code (source). Note that AWG4/90C copper running at 46C ambient (which can happen inside walls during hot summer days in some climates) would violate the code. The longer the run, the more heat the AWG4 will generate too, contributing to the heat inside an insulated wall for example.

The spec assumes everything is perfect by the way, that all connections are properly torqued, wires have never been pinched (at the store, transport, whatever), parts are not substandard, etc. My reasoning for overengineering my installations is that things don't always go perfect, sometimes the connection gets lose, maybe the breaker starts melting. I'd rather have more safety margin for the place where I live. Am I reducing an already small risk? Perhaps, but I sleep better knowing my install can handle more failures before it becomes catastrophic. It's like with cars, you can get a car with 4 stars crash ratings, or a car with 5 star crash ratings. 4 stars is still perfectly legal, and the risk reduction of 5 star is small, but should you be in an actual accident, the difference between 5 start and 4 star is walking away from the accident vs. going to a hospital. Heck, 3 star rated cars are still sold today, and with those you're looking at a hospital and potential lifetime effects, like a wheel chair. Odds are you will never get into such an accident, but I personally am willing to pay extra to hedge against this unlikely event given the potential disastrous effects.

@whitex - this is great stuff. I love having hard data and plan to share this with my electrician. He tells me that he used 2 AWG not 4 AWG as I originally thought, so I was pleased with that.

I'm still interested if you ever take temperature measurement (e.g., on a conductor at the breaker in your distribution panel, or in the sub-panel) with the system running at 80A. I don't have the 19.2KW charger option so no way for me to test the system. I'm simply curious as to weather Porsche got the design of the PWCC right after the debacle with the PMCC.

 

[Porsche-dude-23]

I got my PWCC finally installed today and it’s set to 48A (D). Tried charging once and it was showing 10.5 kW charging with temperature 64 outside and battery at 94.

One issue that I faced while registering is that the error when scanned the QR code to pair Porsche ID. See the attached error message screenshot. Tried multiple times but it’s showing the same error. Anyone faced this same error?

i used the linkhttps://pair.porsche.com/auth/pair/redirect to test and it’s throwing the same error.

 

[Porsche-dude-23]

I got my PWCC finally installed today and it’s set to 48A (D). Tried charging once and it was showing 10.5 kW charging with temperature 64 outside and battery at 94.

One issue that I faced while registering is that the error when scanned the QR code to pair Porsche ID. See the attached error message screenshot. Tried multiple times but it’s showing the same error. Anyone faced this same error?

i used the linkhttps://pair.porsche.com/auth/pair/redirect to test and it’s throwing the same error.

quick update. After watching few PMCC videos (as no PWCC videos) on YouTube, I skipped the pairing and went straight to next page. It’s connected Tk my Taycan and charging. Though I would love to pair with my Porsche ID, I think this is good enough for now.

 

[snstevens]

@Porsche-dude-23 - I'd go through the recommended steps to register using your cell phone one more time. If that doesn't work, you can also try the web interface. If you know the IP address of the PWCC on your home WiFi network, you can enter the following URL in a browser as https://192.168.1.xxx/login, where you replace xxx with the actual IP address (the first part 192.168.1 is somewhat standard for home wifi, but check that to be sure).

The browser will typically give you a warning not to visit that site since it is not secure, but give permission to do so, them login as the "Home user" with the password in the envelope that was in the box with the PWCC. Now go to Connections > User Profile, and enter your profile login and password. I didn't do it this way, but I see no reason it shouldn't work.

Good luck!

 

[Porsche-dude-23]

Th

@Porsche-dude-23 - I'd go through the recommended steps to register using your cell phone one more time. If that doesn't work, you can also try the web interface. If you know the IP address of the PWCC on your home WiFi network, you can enter the following URL in a browser as https://192.168.1.xxx/login, where you replace xxx with the actual IP address (the first part 192.168.1 is somewhat standard for home wifi, but check that to be sure).

The browser will typically give you a warning not to visit that site since it is not secure, but give permission to do so, them login as the "Home user" with the password in the envelope that was in the box with the PWCC. Now go to Connections > User Profile, and enter your profile login and password. I didn't do it this way, but I see no reason it shouldn't work.

Good luck!

@snstevens thanks… I guess I will factory reset once to try with phone. If they does not work, then the web interface… does
It allow factory reset to restart the whole process?

 

[snstevens]

Th

@snstevens thanks… I guess I will factory reset once to try with phone. If they does not work, then the web interface… does
It allow factory reset to restart the whole process?

From the web interface it appears that you can login your Porsche ID.

Alternatively, if that doesn't work, then you can factory reset the unit on the unit itself or though the web interface. I've never done a factory reset, but it seems from this image on the web interface that it will start the process over again.

 

[Gubab]

A few day ago I got the same "backend missing " Error when trying to connect my Home energy manager to my Porsche ID although the Porsche mobile charger Connect i could pair without problems.

 

[Porsche-dude-23]

From the web interface it appears that you can login your Porsche ID.

Alternatively, if that doesn't work, then you can factory reset the unit on the unit itself or though the web interface. I've never done a factory reset, but it seems from this image on the web interface that it will start the process over again.

@snstevens There is an option in the PWCC settings to link the PID but the QR code scan is still showing the same error. I tried to open pair.porsche.com but seems like there is some server coding error...

I am able to successfully login to the web interface but i see no option to link PID.

 

[snstevens]

@snstevens There is an option in the PWCC settings to link the PID but the QR code scan is still showing the same error. I tried to open pair.porsche.com but seems like there is some server coding error...

I am able to successfully login to the web interface but i see no option to link PID.

Click on User Profiles. It should allow you to login, although I haven't tried logging out and then logging back in via this method. Please let us know if it works.