12v dead? Can't start car.

[MileHighMotoring]

Typing this as I walk to my daughter's preschool to pick her up, as the Roadster wouldn't start just now. A few hours ago I sat in the garage and played a CD for a few minutes, the battery was fully charged.

I opened the door and turned the key and the gear lights went on but nothing else worked. After I got out, the door button wouldn't even open the door.

Ideas? Help?

 

[bolosky]

Did you get an error message on the VDS? How about a red (or yellow) fault indication?

You could try doing a reset by repeatedly opening and closing the charge port door. Maybe you've got the software in some strange state. I forget how many times it takes, but this will reboot the computer.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

The display didn't turn on at all. Forgot to mention, I did try charging and no go there too. I'll try to open and close it a bunch of times and see what happens! Edit: nothing happened.

I didn't turn on the interior light or anything, and in fact I turned the stereo off before I exited this morning.

 

[bolosky]

I wonder if you blew a fuse. You could look in the fuse panel to see if any of them are obviously blown.

It doesn't sound like a dead 12V, which seemed to produce warnings, and then when it really died prevented you from opening the door (other than by mechanically sticking the key in the key hole under the bottom).

I'd call Tesla service. While they don't see too many Roadsters, they mostly eventually seem to figure it out.

 

[JohnGarziglia]

I had a similar unsettling condition several months ago. Best I could determine, I somehow activated the alarm system with the key fob (or failed to un-activate it when returning to the car) but was still able to open the door without the alarm going off. The car appeared "dead" . Arming the alarm and then dis-arming it cleared things up immediately. Something to try if you have not tried it.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

I had a similar unsettling condition several months ago. Best I could determine, I somehow activated the alarm system with the key fob (or failed to un-activate it when returning to the car) but was still able to open the door without the alarm going off. The car appeared "dead" . Arming the alarm and then dis-arming it cleared things up immediately. Something to try if you have not tried it.

Umm - how do you disarm the alarm?

I opened the trunk with the key, and the circ pump was running and the trunk light was on full blast, so I don't know if this is a dead battery or something else. Pressing the Trip button on the steering column shows me the backlit odometer. And pressing the gear buttons makes them flash Red (reverse, or TC for example)

I'll dive into the fuse box now.

 

[ElectricLove]

Lots of unknowns here which make it tough to figure out...

Are any fans running? Is the Red lock icon on the Instrument Cluster illuminated? Does charge-port ring light-up? Can you pull log files with a USB flash-drive? Check the hazard flashers and brake lights, do they illuminate brightly?

Of course the next step is throwing a 12V jump-pack on there and seeing if it corrects the symptoms but in your 2010 model the APS (Auxiliary Power Suppy) provides 12V power in concert with the 12V battery, a low-12V warning should come up on the VDS prior to any problems occuring, your circumstances don't suggest you have a dead 12V battery (maybe it is the switchpack if not the battery) but your symptoms do seem to suggest that...

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Good (?) news - the 12v seems to be fine. I was checking fuses and found all of them intact, and tapping the screen worked finally. Same behavior as all day, but now the screen turns on. And... it has a Communication error and can't do anything.


It won't show me battery level, it won't even show me info on the car.


So ... no idea where to go from here. I know I'm not going anywhere in the Roadster

 

[Habious]

Not sure if this helps any, but the Wiki lists error code 1900 as:

1900 | orange | Communication Problem: Service Required | VMS-VDS comms fault | Happened twice while trying to download logs to USB stick. Went away on third attempt but logs were rejected by Tesla Motors Upload. The USB stick does not seem to be faulty.

Roadster Wiki Link

Edit: Since it looks like a VDS communications error, maybe resetting the VMS/VDS would clear it.

Edit #2: Here's the link to the instructions on how to reset/reboot the VMS - Link

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Edit: Since it looks like a VDS communications error, maybe resetting the VDS would clear it.

Thanks for the idea, I'm happy to try it. How is that done?

(BTW I'm sorry to be asking so many questions, I am googling like crazy but coming up empty, and when I do find a link that looks good on TMC it just goes to the main page since I guess the update killed a lot of old links)

 

[Habious]

Che

Thanks for the idea, I'm happy to try it. How is that done?

(BTW I'm sorry to be asking so many questions, I am googling like crazy but coming up empty, and when I do find a link that looks good on TMC it just goes to the main page since I guess the update killed a lot of old links)

Check out the link in my Edit #2 of my post

 

[wiztecy]

I've had the comms port error mesg happen as well, car went crazy. On my 1.5 I was in a parking garage, pulled the charge point charger out without hitting stop on the VDS, and then things went all wacky in the car. I turned it on, rolled my window down and then faults, comm port errors started happening. Car wouldn't start, windows didn't work anymore which was a panic for me since I'm in a public parking garage in not so best of town. VDS sceen went dead. I started thinking what to do, I knew how to disconnect the VMS to do a full cold boot and was getting ready to do that when all of a sudden the VDS screen started booting up, so it seemed like a crash of the VMS. Worked fine, windows worked, car started after it booted up so I didn't have to do anything.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Check out the link in my Edit #2 of my post

I must be missing something, I don't see instructions at that link. If you could be so kind as to cut and paste them here, I'd be grateful.

 

[supersnoop]

Try this:
How and where to pull plug / power to the VMS?

 

[Habious]

Try this:
How and where to pull plug / power to the VMS?

Dang it...linked to the wrong page!

Thanks for the assist, supersnoop. That's the page I MEANT to link to.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Thank you everybody.

Pulling the plugs from the VMS for a few seconds worked. It honked the horn like crazy for a few seconds, then 30 seconds later the car came alive! I took a short drive to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

 

[wiztecy]

Happy it worked!

 

[Habious]

Outstanding!

Glad we were able to help.

Sure beats a trip to the Service Center.

 

[supersnoop]

Thank you everybody.

Pulling the plugs from the VMS for a few seconds worked. It honked the horn like crazy for a few seconds, then 30 seconds later the car came alive! I took a short drive to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Sounds like maybe it did have something to do with the alarm. Mine certainly didn't honk when I pulled the plug and plugged it back in.

 

[JohnGarziglia]

Umm - how do you disarm the alarm?

So happy it now works! What I meant by arming and disarming the alarm was to simply use the key fob in the normal way to do so. Sorry I made it sound more complicated than I meant it to be.