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3.0 Battery Longevity

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Yikes. My pack is reading Min: 61% and Max: 74%. I don't know much but this does not look good.

Appreciate the advice on balancing the pack. I also just got my car back from Carl. Please send over any other tips as well. Battery had a lot more range 6 months ago.
That is good. It means that you have an explanation for your terrible range and it's something that you can fix without having to take the car to service. You don't have a bad sheet or damage to the car, it's just unbalanced.

Just be patient. It will take 3 weeks or a month to get back to balance. Range charge it every night and check it every morning. You'll see it slowly, slowly get better both for balance and for range.

All that balancing means is that different cells in the battery are at different charge levels. When you charge or discharge the battery it goes equally to all cells so in theory they always stay the same. But really, it's not perfect and the cells aren't 100% identical so over time they get to different levels. You car can't charge more than would put the highest charged cell over 100%, and can't discharge more than would put the lowest cell below 0 (actually more than 0, there's a little slack to keep the cells from getting damaged). So in your case with a 13% difference at full charge you'll have the most empty cell at 87%. So you only effectively have 87% of your battery available.

My guess is that once you get to balance you'll have an ideal range of about 250 at full range charge.
 
That is good. It means that you have an explanation for your terrible range and it's something that you can fix without having to take the car to service. You don't have a bad sheet or damage to the car, it's just unbalanced.

Just be patient. It will take 3 weeks or a month to get back to balance. Range charge it every night and check it every morning. You'll see it slowly, slowly get better both for balance and for range.

All that balancing means is that different cells in the battery are at different charge levels. When you charge or discharge the battery it goes equally to all cells so in theory they always stay the same. But really, it's not perfect and the cells aren't 100% identical so over time they get to different levels. You car can't charge more than would put the highest charged cell over 100%, and can't discharge more than would put the lowest cell below 0 (actually more than 0, there's a little slack to keep the cells from getting damaged). So in your case with a 13% difference at full charge you'll have the most empty cell at 87%. So you only effectively have 87% of your battery available.

My guess is that once you get to balance you'll have an ideal range of about 250 at full range charge.
Appreciated. Do you recommend I plug in with range mode and leave the car untouched (and plugged in) for a month or should/can I drive and charge it nightly in range mode?
Thanks for all your help either way. I’ll report back what happens!
 
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Appreciated. Do you recommend I plug in with range mode and leave the car untouched (and plugged in) for a month or should/can I drive and charge it nightly in range mode?
Thanks for all your help either way. I’ll report back what happens!
You can drive it. It will take longer to balance that way, because it's only doing the balancing when it's plugged in at full charge, but unless you're in a hurry it's not a big deal.
 
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Appreciated. Do you recommend I plug in with range mode and leave the car untouched (and plugged in) for a month or should/can I drive and charge it nightly in range mode?
Thanks for all your help either way. I’ll report back what happens!
In general, to balance the car; charge it in standard mode until it completes the charge and then don't touch it. Leave it connected to the EVSE and monitor the 1050 diagnostics balancing screen (1s and 0s) to see the balance progress. Expect around 1% per 24 hours (or less) - it is a slow process.

(I don't suggest balancing in range mode, as that requires leaving the car at very high SOC in range mode charge for a considerable period of time, which is not generally recommended. It is also unnecessary as balancing can be done in standard mode.)

There is a possibility it is more serious, so while doing the above I suggest you pull the logs and send them to me / Gruber / Medlock for analysis. The logs will show the actual voltages of each brick in the ESS and we can make sure that the issue is not one bad brick pulling things down.
 
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In general, to balance the car; charge it in standard mode until it completes the charge and then don't touch it. Leave it connected to the EVSE and monitor the 1050 diagnostics balancing screen (1s and 0s) to see the balance progress. Expect around 1% per 24 hours (or less) - it is a slow process.

(I don't suggest balancing in range mode, as that requires leaving the car at very high SOC in range mode charge for a considerable period of time, which is not generally recommended. It is also unnecessary as balancing can be done in standard mode.)

There is a possibility it is more serious, so while doing the above I suggest you pull the logs and send them to me / Gruber / Medlock for analysis. The logs will show the actual voltages of each brick in the ESS and we can make sure that the issue is not one bad brick pulling things down.
Unfortunately I do not think the 3.0 pack balances in standard mode as it was charging to 77% below the 82% where I saw the balancing begin.
 
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Unfortunately I do not think the 3.0 pack balances in standard mode as it was charging to 77% below the 82% where I saw the balancing begin.
First I’ve heard of that. You saying the 3.0 packs can’t balance in standard mode? That doesn’t really make sense.

Balancing in range mode is not desirable as it would mean leaving the car at a very high state of charge for several days / weeks, which is well known as bad for the battery.

I suggest to try it. The balancing is easy to see, if it is active, on the 1050 diag screen.
 
First I’ve heard of that. You saying the 3.0 packs can’t balance in standard mode? That doesn’t really make sense.

Balancing in range mode is not desirable as it would mean leaving the car at a very high state of charge for several days / weeks, which is well known as bad for the battery.

I suggest to try it. The balancing is easy to see, if it is active, on the 1050 diag screen.
I agree sir and please feel free to collect data from your car as the VDS reports it.
 
Hi all,
I have an update for you :)

Plugging in on Night 1, in Range Mode, showed the biggest improvement. Before this my battery difference was as much as 15%. Within 48 hours it came down to 9% difference! Since then, it's been improving by 0.5-1% per night.

I tried switching to Standard Mode in later nights and the diagnostics screen did show the battery balancing once "fully" charged. As far as I can tell, the rate of battery balance hasn't changed by being in Standard mode but I'll probably choose a mix of both Standard and Range modes over the next few weeks. Personally I have not left the car plugged in 24/7. I've been driving the car on occasion (sometimes daily) while this balance happens.

Anyways, my max range in range mode has increased to 260 miles! The battery difference is now just 7% and improving. I'll report back in the coming weeks as the battery returns to normal and if I learn anything else between Standard vs Range charging the car.

Thank you all very much for the help!
 
My R80 was installed 3 years ago.
The vehicle was mostly garaged until 3 months ago, and now is driven quite frequently.

Here's my current CAC

xrwMOQE.jpg
 
Hi all. Final update:

The car is now getting 276 miles per range charge and I've learned the pack is about 4 years old with about 12,000 new miles.

Pack difference is now just 2%. I did Standard Range for all charges this past week and then one Range Charge at the end to get a final range readout. That final charge bumped me from 3% to 2%.

I am going to end my quest of balancing here. I'd like to greatly thank @bolosky and @markwj. Thank you so much for your help!
 
Hi all. Final update:

The car is now getting 276 miles per range charge and I've learned the pack is about 4 years old with about 12,000 new miles.

Pack difference is now just 2%. I did Standard Range for all charges this past week and then one Range Charge at the end to get a final range readout. That final charge bumped me from 3% to 2%.

I am going to end my quest of balancing here. I'd like to greatly thank @bolosky and @markwj. Thank you so much for your help!
Glad to hear it worked out, and thanks for the feedback. Difference of 2% is good.
 
A28F7E88-61E6-44A7-AD94-EE5E4C1EAAA0.jpeg

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Tried a range charge last night after work to see if it could balance the pack better. My CAC at the end of August was around 154 and now sitting at 130. The colder weather and my daily driving maybe giving the firmware better estimates? The car was sitting for almost a year and a half due to the PEM issue. I’m hoping it’s not a bad sheet or brick.

First picture was taken this morning at 0700 and second pic was taken before leaving to work at 0850
 
Interesting. My working theory on my recent CAC decline is probably all the miles I've been putting on for work giving the firmware better estimates. Not to mention the weather here in New York has been brisk. The warranty on mine ended April 2020 (3 years from install date, though still under the 36k miles)
 
View attachment 871105
View attachment 871106

Tried a range charge last night after work to see if it could balance the pack better. My CAC at the end of August was around 154 and now sitting at 130. The colder weather and my daily driving maybe giving the firmware better estimates? The car was sitting for almost a year and a half due to the PEM issue. I’m hoping it’s not a bad sheet or brick.

First picture was taken this morning at 0700 and second pic was taken before leaving to work at 0850
Guys I have had the car little over a year. What am I looking at and how should it look like? Thanks for your patience.