12V battery issues (error messages/car charging problems)

[MaturinNYC]

What do you see as an end user when it does not charge the 12V? How do you recognize the problem? How are you charging the 12v now?

From our view there is nothing to note that the 12v isn't being charged, until it reaches a threshold that kicks out the "Low 12v Battery" Warning. The tech's have a nice 'service door' view thru the MCU (aka "the big screen") where he can read the settings - this is the same interface that the engineers view remotely - so that's how i know of the lack of charge. However, if you ever need to recharge your 12v, just take off the nosecone and on the driver's side of the car are positive (red cap) and negative terminals. See the posts above for more detail.

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This car, so complete and by a rookie company so soon after development began, is an industrial triumph. Plus, for us, it provides local jobs. I know these bugs would drive me crazy were it a standard lux. automobile, but it is not a standard car at all. Early adopters gotta expect bugs.

Truth! I'm only posting my experience in case other owners find it helpful/useful in future - i'm not writing in anger, though i do miss the car (I loved my 4 days with it!). This isn't a Beta model anymore, but as the early adopters i think we do have a responsibility to report experiences and help improve the vehicle.

 

[cablue]

Unfortunately, we've now joined those with the 12v message, along with the error message about charging problem and service needed. We've not had this wonderful car for two weeks yet. Hated to se it being towed away from home on its way back to the factory, 130 miles away.
went to car this morning and the car was dead. Charge port was lit red. Car would not power up. Briefly the display did light up when I would try to charge and saw it did still have 77 miles on it. Will see what they say tomorrow. Had difficulty finding the 12 v to charge it to move the car out of the garage but eventually was able to do so. Really miss it already!

 

[ddruz]

Unfortunately, we've now joined those with the 12v message, along with the error message about charging problem and service needed. We've not had this wonderful car for two weeks yet. Hated to se it being towed away from home on its way back to the factory, 130 miles away.
went to car this morning and the car was dead. Charge port was lit red. Car would not power up. Briefly the display did light up when I would try to charge and saw it did still have 77 miles on it. Will see what they say tomorrow. Had difficulty finding the 12 v to charge it to move the car out of the garage but eventually was able to do so. Really miss it already!

cablue - What version of the firmware do you have?

 

[cablue]

I wish I knew. But I can say when we picked it up less than two weeks ago, the woman going over the car with us checked and said we were good with the version she expected us to have, if that gives any clue.

 

[wycolo]

Anyone confirmed that 4.2 firmware corrects 12v batt charging cycle i.e. that 12v batt now only gets charged when it actually needs it? My power socket goes dead when I POWER OFF car. Reads 14.5v when car is ON. Maybe someone has figured out a jumper to keep power socket live continuously. That would be a big plus.
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[Lloyd]

Anyone confirmed that 4.2 firmware corrects 12v batt charging cycle i.e. that 12v batt now only gets charged when it actually needs it? My power socket goes dead when I POWER OFF car. Reads 14.5v when car is ON. Maybe someone has figured out a jumper to keep power socket live continuously. That would be a big plus.
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I have had no issues whatsoever with the 4.2 software, including the battery warning.

 

[dlmorgan999]

I have had no issues whatsoever with the 4.2 software, including the battery warning.

Same for me.

 

[dsm363]

Me too. Haven't had a single error message since V4.2. I think I've only had to reboot 17" screen for frozen nav.

 

[cablue]

They're looking at it today. I'll report what I find out.

 

[johnnyS]

We have not had any error messages since installing V4.2, but we only had error messages and not an actual failure like Cablue describes.

 

[brianman]

cablue - What version of the firmware do you have?

I wish I knew. But I can say when we picked it up less than two weeks ago, the woman going over the car with us checked and said we were good with the version she expected us to have, if that gives any clue.

They're looking at it today. I'll report what I find out.

When you get your car back, tap the T logo at the top of the 17" display. The "about" screen that displays will list your car's firmware version.

 

[cablue]

Ok. The conclusion from the factory is that we have a faulty cable. The car is fine. But when there is a malfunctioning cable, it trips these error messages and the car goes a bit "haywire." He said the 12 v. was trying to start the car, but wasn't able to because of these error messages which were triggered by the charging cable. He mentioned swapping out the "UMC." The engineers looked at the logs from the car and determined this was likely the problem. Unfortunately, I did not throw the charging cable in the car for them to examine, but that's their conclusion. Hopefully, they're right. It's charging fine now. It should be towed home in the next day or two.

 

[SteveH]

5 days into the car and ran into my first problem. Stopped on my way home to run an errand and opened the frunk. When I did the a clicking sound started from under the funk and the headlights to the car started to flash to the beat of the click. Got in the car and everything was dead. Rebooted and he came up with multiple error messages. Called Tesla service and they looked at the logs. Had me reboot again and told me the car was safe to drive home, but that they would alert the Dallas Service Center of my problem. By the time I got home I had an e-mail from Jack at the service center (it's well after his normal work hours by now) saying that he was looking at the logs for my car now with someone from Palo Alto and he would get back to me. Less than an hour later, confirmation that it was a 12 volt battery issue and Jack was making an appointment to meet me at my office and fix the problem.

I expected an occasional hiccup buying a product so revolutionary, but I must say it seems like it's past time for Tesla to put these 12 Volt problems behind them. That being said, I never expected service this exceptional. Thanks Jack!

 

[jlw]

Two weeks in on a Saturday my Tesla went dead while away from home. Apparently a form of the 12V subsystem problem. A Ranger came on Monday and replaced the battery. Took him two trip and 6 hours because despite the obvious description of the problem from me they didn't send him out with a battery. Unfortunately 2 days later it died again and had to be towed from a parking lot. So while I AM understandng of a part failing whether it be battery or some other portion, what is NOT acceptable is the obvious inability of Tesla to properly diagnose the problem. Whether due to lack of tech training or lack of proper diagnostics. These two episodes have now cost me at least 7 hrs of my time in the first two weeks of operation and given me a different form of range anxiety.

 

[PatP]

Now it's my turn. Car as 7000km. Was driving while I got "Car needs service". Stopped in a parking lot and called Tesla. Meanwhile, got the "12V battery low" message and car completely shutted down. Three hours later the tower came but as car was dead, I had to call Tesla and was told we had to "jump" the 12V battery to put in tow mode / high mode / neutral... So after about 45 minutes in the cold, we finally found a way to remove the nose cone... Car is being driven to the service center. Was a very bad experience. Thank god I read the forums and I'm somewhat technical.

Also, I heard a brand new 60Kwh car had the same issue yesterday in my area.

I really hate that a 12V battery issue can immobilize my 85Kwh electric car..

Hope they will find the issue and that the fix will be permanent as I was lucky to be 10 minutes from home.

 

[wycolo]

Voltmeter actually read below 14 volts (for the first time!) as I started up the other day. Could indicate that 4.2 firmware is not over-charging this little battery. Reading was 13.7v in fact.

Suggestion: Every S should have a dc voltmeter to plug into power socket. That way you wont start out on a trip with an impaired 12v system.

Suggestion #2: Look at Photos: 'How To Remove NoseCone' so you will be able to do this yourself out in the field using a credit card. Be prepared.
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[swegman]

Can you please provide a link to the video? Thanks

 

[pilotSteve]

When you get your car back, tap the T logo at the top of the 17" display. The "about" screen that displays will list your car's firmware version.

Well, only the major (top level) firmware version of the over-the-air updatable portion of the car.

Quite a few low level modules (specifically including the DC-DC converter) are only updated with a special cable and service laptop. Think of this more like a Mac or PC laptop where the OS has a given version number, each app has its version, and then there is the whole underbelly of firmware that we usually can't even see yet manages battery charging, keyboard, track pad, etc etc.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I have not had a problem with my 12V battery, but when I had my car in the other day to have the pano roof creaking noise fixed, they
also installed an updated version of the software that controls the DC-DC converter. As far as I understand it, this converter charges the 12V battery off of the main lithium ion battery. I wonder if Tesla discovered a problem in this bit of software and if the problem
was (is?) causing the 12V batteries to die.

 

[pilotSteve]

@Jeff - there is a Tesla Service Bulletin on this specific problem that fixes an issue where the 12V battery is NOT charged by the DC-DC converter under certain conditions (coolant temperature out of range). So yes I would agree with you that even if the 12V does not need to be replaced ("dead" e.g. cannot accept charge) it acts that way when its NOT being charged!

Good on Tesla for issuing the SB and finding a root cause resolution. Thats all we can ask for of a manufacturer: good engineering, honest disclosure, tested solution designed for the problem, then rolling it out as necessary (triage) or as cars come in for other service.