If you power a cooler, tools or your house from your Tesla with a third-party vehicle-to-load (V2L) adapter, owners say you should think twice before installing the latest software. Reports on the Tesla Motors Club forum say update 2026.38.5.1 and later cut these adapters off after a few minutes.
What owners are reporting
Adapters such as Elejoy’s plug into the car’s CCS fast-charging port and start what the car sees as a DC charging session, then reverse the flow to pull power out of the battery. In a Tesla Motors Club thread, a Model 3 owner who had used one almost daily for about a year and a half said that after the update the car “throws a BMS_a076_SW_Dch_While_Charging fault and shuts down.”
- At about 3 kW, the session reportedly ends after roughly three minutes.
- Another owner says it cuts out after 15 to 20 minutes no matter the load.
- Old workarounds, including Theater mode, Camp Mode and Service Mode, no longer help.
- One owner says Elejoy sent test firmware, but it did not fix the problem.
Not a Tesla App (@NotATeslaApp) picked up the thread on October 29. Forum members think the car now checks that energy is really flowing into the battery during a charging session. That is their theory: Tesla has not commented, and it isn’t clear whether the change was deliberate.
Why it matters more in Canada
The timing is awkward. Tesla just announced its own Powershare outlet feature for new cars, but only for the U.S. and Mexico. That leaves third-party adapters as the main way many Canadian owners get V2L, whether for camping, a power outage or a job site.
What you can do
- If you rely on a third-party V2L adapter and your car is on older software, owners in the thread suggest holding off on 2026.38.5.1 or later for now.
- Watch for a firmware update from your adapter’s maker.
- Check the Powershare Support line under Additional Vehicle Information in your car before buying any new adapter.
Keep in mind these are owner reports, not a Tesla statement. If you need a newer update for something else, such as an FSD release, weigh that against losing V2L.
Using a V2L adapter on your Tesla? Tell us if it still works in our Facebook group, Tesla Model Y & 3 [Ontario, Canada], where Ontario owners compare notes on every update. Come join us!
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Featured image: Still from Tesla North America’s Powershare video, October 27, 2026 (Tesla’s own outlet feature, not a third-party adapter). Image: Tesla.