2022 model 3LR 12v Lithium battery died - battery not connected message

[Mik Leahy]

2022 Tesla model 3LR 12v Li-ion battery failure

Monday: The 3 month old 2022 Model 3LR with 5k miles displayed messages:

Connector on low voltage battery is not secured , push connector tab down until it locks in place.
Low voltage battery disconnected - reconnect low voltage battery or schedule service.
Elecrical system backup power is unavailable - vehicle will consume more power while idle

The car was in the garage. The car would not go into R N or F.

Called service, they recommended calling roadside. Called roadside they revived logs said nothing they can do, call service. Called service back they scheduled a tow truck for next day.
Tuesday: The car was dead, no power Tow truck arrived, the driver was the tesla specialist, we was good. He poped open the front port, attached a 12v batter source and opened the frunk. Revove the battery cover, the lithium battery was a surprise to him but he connect his external battery to the car. The car booted up, closed the windows and put the car in tow mode.
The car was transported 170 miles to Mesa , AZ. Service called said they would try and get it in Thursday.
Thursday: Service called/messaged they were working on it.
Friday: Service called/messaged Car was ready, service replaced the 12v Lithium battery, were not sure why the battery had failed.

If I were king of the forest, i would have sent someone to replace the battery instead of parading my dead product 170 miles on a flat bed...

 

[RayK]

Sorry to hear about your 12V Li battery problem. Hopefully Service was correct with their diagnosis and you got a battery that had some kind of infant mortality issue. Curious: did they flatbed your car back to your home or did you have to travel 170 miles on your own dime to pick it up?

 

[Regaj]

Aye, you'd think 12v battery test/replacement would be high on the list of things roadside/mobile service could provide.

The benefits of lithium-ion over lead acid battery chemistries are well known. That said, I've always been kinda surprised when an automaker replaces their lead acid 12v starter battery with a lithium item, like Tesla did six months ago. We talk incessantly around here about how 100% SOC is bad for our HV battery pack. Well, absent an intelligent BMS - for the 12v battery, not the HV battery - that 12v lithium battery is cooking away at a constant 100% SOC.

Lead acid likes 100% SOC. Lithium surely doesn't. Anyone know what the rationale is?

Hopefully your replacement 12v battery will give you many years of trouble-free service, Mik. My Model 3 is of similar vintage... and sports the very same 12v lithium battery.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Elecrical system backup power is unavailable - vehicle will consume more power while idle

Interesting that the failsafe failed and your car ended up undriveable. (Mine was fine in this scenario, but with traditional 12V.)

Guess somehow the contactors ended up not being closed.

Presumably disconnecting the Lithium battery entirely and jumping the car would have worked to get it permanently working with no Lithium "12V" battery, but you'd still be in for a sort of stressful drive with no service nearby.

 

[KenC]

Rather than be without my car for 5days, I'd have replaced the 12v myself, with an $85 flooded lead-acid, even if temporarily, so that the lithium 12v could be load tested. Less time wasted. I too live about 3hrs away from a service center. I don't care if the cost is on Tesla's dime, losing the use of my car for 5 days, is on my dime. Time is money.

 

[Mik Leahy]

Sorry to hear about your 12V Li battery problem. Hopefully Service was correct with their diagnosis and you got a battery that had some kind of infant mortality issue. Curious: did they flatbed your car back to your home or did you have to travel 170 miles on your own dime to pick it up?

I had to go pick it up no concierge service

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I had to go pick it up no concierge service

That would definitely have been a reason to not bother having it towed, and just get it running again without a 12V.

 

[Mik Leahy]

Rather than be without my car for 5days, I'd have replaced the 12v myself, with an $85 flooded lead-acid, even if temporarily, so that the lithium 12v could be load tested. Less time wasted. I too live about 3hrs away from a service center. I don't care if the cost is on Tesla's dime, losing the use of my car for 5 days, is on my dime. Time is money.

Ken,
There is no shelf for old lead acid battery and the cables are short and the connectors a wee bit proprietary

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Ken,
There is no shelf for old lead acid battery and the cables are short and the connectors a wee bit proprietary

There's a large positive terminal (the red thing) and the negative connection isn't really an issue, so with a 12V in the trunk and some thin cables that would fit past the frunk seal, you might be able to make it work. But in any case you don't need the 12V connected all the time, so you just remove the harness from the broken "12V", then use the 12V (or a jump starter) to get the car up and running, and you don't need to worry about the frunk seal.

So, the best thing is to just remove it entirely, if that is the only problem. Obviously at that point you have to jump to close the contactors, but then you should be good to go. Not clear why this did not happen in your case (the car is supposed to do this on its own) but certain battery failures might result in the contactors opening at the wrong time, and then no way to recover without a jump. In your case it's odd because the car was apparently not dead, but somehow refused to go into gear...if the 12V has enough power to power the systems in the car and the screen, it should be able to close the contactors:

The car would not go into R N or F.

Additionally, it died completely after one day. This should also not happen. The car should happily remain in idle mode, sucking down power, and it should know not to go to sleep in this case.

The 12V battery is not needed, if everything else is working correctly, and you have a means of closing the contactors (an external 12V source with sufficient capacity).

Hopefully Tesla will continue to work on the reliability of their failsafes, so they work whenever it is possible. (That way you don't need the external 12V source.)

A good idea if anyone does have this issue in future (and the car is still functioning) is to immediately turn on Sentry Mode everywhere, to prevent the car from sleeping. Just in case it decides it should sleep. That's what I did in my case at the beginning of this year.

 

[Mik Leahy]

That would definitely have been a reason to not bother having it towed, and just get it running again without a 12V.

Alan,
Just following the service departments recommendations. On a happy note I got to try out the Arizona Mills level 3 supercharger it was fast but Nearly full.
And the level 2 Payson supercharge was delightful not crowded, just as fast with lots of stores next to it. Got a picnic which was enjoyed at Forest Lakes.
Thx-mik

 

[davewill]

Rather than be without my car for 5days, I'd have replaced the 12v myself, with an $85 flooded lead-acid, even if temporarily, so that the lithium 12v could be load tested. Less time wasted. I too live about 3hrs away from a service center. I don't care if the cost is on Tesla's dime, losing the use of my car for 5 days, is on my dime. Time is money.

I'm pretty sure the cars with the new lithium batteries are nominally 15v and no longer compatible with a 12v lead acid. You can still jump start the car, but the charging circuit would fry the lead acid.

 

[Mik Leahy]

I'm pretty sure the cars with the new lithium batteries are nominally 15v and no longer compatible with a 12v lead acid. You can still jump start the car, but the charging circuit would fry the lead acid.

Dave,
I saw that post about the LI-ion battery being 15v, tink its caca, if u look at the photo above the battery is labeled 12v

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Dave,
I saw that post about the LI-ion battery being 15v, tink its caca, if u look at the photo above the battery is labeled 12v

Probably should read "12V."

 

[KenC]

I'm pretty sure the cars with the new lithium batteries are nominally 15v and no longer compatible with a 12v lead acid. You can still jump start the car, but the charging circuit would fry the lead acid.

Thanks to all who enlightened me about the new low-voltage lithium battery. So, if you had one of the newer models with a lithium battery, that failed, could you use one of those small portable chargers, like a Noco, to start it until Tesla sent a mobile ranger to replace your bad battery?

 

[Mik Leahy]

Ken,
There is still something missing. The tow truck guy opened the frunk with a big Noco, then attached it to the positive connector and chassis ground.

The car booted up, the radio and lights came on and it looked Ok. He shut the windows. BUT it still would not go into R, N or D, otherwise we would have back the car out of the garage or put it in N so it could be winched up on the flatbed. It did let him enable towing mode, which unlocks the rear wheels for winching.

thx-mik

 

[Mik Leahy]

One final note, here are some old and new 12V battery photos

The old LIFEPO looks like a regular 12V battery format.
Couple of shots of the new CATL battery with fancy connector.
enjoy-mik

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

BUT it still would not go into R, N or D, otherwise we would have back the car out of the garage or put it in N so it could be winched up on the flatbed.

Yeah that is the weird thing. Wonder what would have happened if the 12V were disconnected by the harness being removed. Or maybe the HV disconnect under the rear seat needed to be disconnected to reset things (I did not think it usually had to be, though I think it is official procedure so maybe this is why?).

Seems like it must have been recoverable somehow.

 

[OldPro]

2022 Tesla model 3LR 12v Li-ion battery failure

Monday: The 3 month old 2022 Model 3LR with 5k miles displayed messages:

Connector on low voltage battery is not secured , push connector tab down until it locks in place.
Low voltage battery disconnected - reconnect low voltage battery or schedule service.
Elecrical system backup power is unavailable - vehicle will consume more power while idle

The car was in the garage. The car would not go into R N or F.

Called service, they recommended calling roadside. Called roadside they revived logs said nothing they can do, call service. Called service back they scheduled a tow truck for next day.
Tuesday: The car was dead, no power Tow truck arrived, the driver was the tesla specialist, we was good. He poped open the front port, attached a 12v batter source and opened the frunk. Revove the battery cover, the lithium battery was a surprise to him but he connect his external battery to the car. The car booted up, closed the windows and put the car in tow mode.
The car was transported 170 miles to Mesa , AZ. Service called said they would try and get it in Thursday.
Thursday: Service called/messaged they were working on it.
Friday: Service called/messaged Car was ready, service replaced the 12v Lithium battery, were not sure why the battery had failed.

If I were king of the forest, i would have sent someone to replace the battery instead of parading my dead product 170 miles on a flat bed...

Pre-Covid, My spouse and I traveled to New Zealand almost immediately after taking delivery of he 2018 Model 3. I didn't have my wireless set up connected to the Tesla yet. (Non Tech Old Person) While we were gone for 10 days there was a software update. The Tesla searched for a wireless signal repeatedly for several days until it killed the 12v battery. When we got home her Tesla was dead as a doornail. The Tesla Tech's were all over it try to figure out what happened. In a short period the Tesla people figured out what happened and now have put a "fix" in so the Tesla will not continue to search for a signal repeatedly. It's called "Old People can do the darnest things"

 

[tessienora]

2022 Tesla model 3LR 12v Li-ion battery failure

Monday: The 3 month old 2022 Model 3LR with 5k miles displayed messages:

Connector on low voltage battery is not secured , push connector tab down until it locks in place.
Low voltage battery disconnected - reconnect low voltage battery or schedule service.
Elecrical system backup power is unavailable - vehicle will consume more power while idle

The car was in the garage. The car would not go into R N or F.

Called service, they recommended calling roadside. Called roadside they revived logs said nothing they can do, call service. Called service back they scheduled a tow truck for next day.
Tuesday: The car was dead, no power Tow truck arrived, the driver was the tesla specialist, we was good. He poped open the front port, attached a 12v batter source and opened the frunk. Revove the battery cover, the lithium battery was a surprise to him but he connect his external battery to the car. The car booted up, closed the windows and put the car in tow mode.
The car was transported 170 miles to Mesa , AZ. Service called said they would try and get it in Thursday.
Thursday: Service called/messaged they were working on it.
Friday: Service called/messaged Car was ready, service replaced the 12v Lithium battery, were not sure why the battery had failed.

If I were king of the forest, i would have sent someone to replace the battery instead of parading my dead product 170 miles on a flat bed...

Today I had the same message popping out whilst I was driving, I could still drive home like normal but this got me worried.

Did popping the connector tab down worked in your case? Is this a simple case of something got loose that needs to be back in its position?

May I know how does the connector tab looks like?

 

[DrChaos]

Aye, you'd think 12v battery test/replacement would be high on the list of things roadside/mobile service could provide.

The benefits of lithium-ion over lead acid battery chemistries are well known. That said, I've always been kinda surprised when an automaker replaces their lead acid 12v starter battery with a lithium item, like Tesla did six months ago. We talk incessantly around here about how 100% SOC is bad for our HV battery pack. Well, absent an intelligent BMS - for the 12v battery, not the HV battery - that 12v lithium battery is cooking away at a constant 100% SOC.

Lead acid likes 100% SOC. Lithium surely doesn't. Anyone know what the rationale is?

The new accessory battery (15V CATL NMC it seems) has an electronic management system inside it. It won't charge to 100% SOC I assume.

Tesla's New 12V Li-Ion Auxiliary Battery Has CATL Cells Inside

With the refreshed Model S/Model X, Tesla has switched from lead-acid to an all-new lithium-ion 12V auxiliary battery. Let's take a look.

insideevs.com

Tesla usually cheapens out over time but here they changed to a significantly more expensive subsystem without raising the price. I suspect the lead-acid 12V service was eating up so much service effort and labor, as well as customer satisfaction (they care a tiny bit?), they felt it's worth it.

What other EVs use lithium accessory batteries? Taycan. Any others?