4 startup problems caused by "Energy Savings ON"

[tomas]

I always try to use "energy savings on" to avoid wasting a few kWh per day while my car should be sleeping.
HOWEVER, in the 2019 software releases, startup problems have been multiplying:

1) Instrument cluster takes up to a minute to come up
2) Sometimes MCU (center) screen reboots at startup
3) Sometimes backup camera starts up black or fails to come up on first reverse
4) Often audio does not resume (when it doesn't, it will if I leave and re-enter car)

These (particularly #1, which just cropped up) have been driving me CRAZY because they are ALL REGRESSION (i.e., used to work!). So, on a whim, I went to Display settings, and turned "Energy Savings OFF. That completely cured all of these bugs. Unfortunately, that means I have to choose between buggy startup, and wasting several kWh per day.

FWIW, I have experienced the same on both my 2012 P85 and my Model 3 Performance. I posted here in S-land because problems are more severe and frequent in my S.

Anyone else getting these issues (or others) with Energy Savings on?

ASIDE: harking back to my systems engineering days... I suspect this is caused by programmers of the various sub-systems failing to coordinate and fully test how state is saved when energy savings kicks in and puts car to sleep, and restored after startup. Either saved state data is being overwritten, or "go to sleep"/"wake up" procedures are inconsistent in terms of sequence. Regardless, a thorough system test process ought to catch this.

 

[keithf]

I always try to use "energy savings on" to avoid wasting a few kWh per day while my car should be sleeping.
HOWEVER, in the 2019 software releases, startup problems have been multiplying:

1) Instrument cluster takes up to a minute to come up
2) Sometimes MCU (center) screen reboots at startup
3) Sometimes backup camera starts up black or fails to come up on first reverse
4) Often audio does not resume (when it doesn't, it will if I leave and re-enter car)

These (particularly #1, which just cropped up) have been driving me CRAZY because they are ALL REGRESSION (i.e., used to work!). So, on a whim, I went to Display settings, and turned "Energy Savings OFF. That completely cured all of these bugs. Unfortunately, that means I have to choose between buggy startup, and wasting several kWh per day.

FWIW, I have experienced the same on both my 2012 P85 and my Model 3 Performance. I posted here in S-land because problems are more severe and frequent in my S.

Anyone else getting these issues (or others) with Energy Savings on?

ASIDE: harking back to my systems engineering days... I suspect this is caused by programmers of the various sub-systems failing to coordinate and fully test how state is saved when energy savings kicks in and puts car to sleep, and restored after startup. Either saved state data is being overwritten, or "go to sleep"/"wake up" procedures are inconsistent in terms of sequence. Regardless, a thorough system test process ought to catch this.

I am seeing more "systems powering up" messages after upgrading to 2019.1.1

 

[tomas]

I am seeing more "systems powering up" messages after upgrading to 2019.1.1

Energy savings on or off?

 

[keithf]

I have energy saving ON and always connected ON, Range Mode OFF

 

[hulk2k17]

I noticed some of the bugs above as well and realized that since I charged daily at home, why bother with energy saving. I typically have 150+ miles of range left each day anyways. Turned it off and reaping the benefits of that.

 

[tomas]

Right. It usually burns an extra 3-4 kWH per day. That’s fifty cents to a dollar depending on your rate. Let’s call it $25 per month. Not going to break the bank, but annoying to have to spend when energy savings USED TO work fine.

 

[keithf]

Guess I'm lucky. I pay 2¢ per kW to charge at home
So that's 120 kW / mth = $2.40/mth.
Guess I'll turn of energy savings mode

 

[tranzndance]

I have experienced issues 2 and 3 with Energy Savings off. I'm not sure what is described in item 4 of the list.

Issue 1 was the reason I turned off Energy Savings. The current version that I have, 12.1.2, doesn't cause reboots as often as the previous version.

 

[tomas]

Sorry, #4 I resume of USB music. I should have been clear. I seldom use other sources... don’t know how they behave.

 

[JoeS]

Tomas, thank you for posting this.

I have a 2013 S 85 that is only used for seriously-long (cross-country) trips; the rest of the time it sits in my garage as I consider this car way too big for in-town driving. It can sit unused for many weeks at a time, and thus the vampire drain has been a significant concern.

In 2016 I started using a Battery Tender (smart float 12v charger) which completely stopped the occasional waking up of the car to recharge the 12v battery and I could leave the main plug unattached with no drop in SoC. I always enable Energy Savings ON. Despite the seeming degradation in the user interface from v6 to v7, life was good.

Then v8 came along and the user interface further degraded, now requiring more than one screen tap to perform even the simplest task. By August 2018, with version 2018.28.5 the Instrument Cluster started rebooting about once every ten minutes while driving and, when parked, something was happening to the vampire drain such that the car would now need to be plugged in to prevent SoC degradation despite having the 12v battery on that float charger. Energy Savings ON, Always Connected OFF, Range Mode OFF.

I sent an email to Tesla Service Support and my next update 2018.34 took care of the IC reboot problem, or so I thought. The inordinate vampire drain continued.

When v9 came along I thankfully did NOT perform the update, as that further degradation in our user interface I felt was now unacceptable.

Something changed in March. I am now sitting at version 2018.34b4c2b9a In the last couple of months the Instrument Cluster has been blank whenever I entered the car and would go through a re-boot. I had one instance when both displays were blank and stayed off. A manual reboot brought the IC back on, but the the main display required multiple attempts at rebooting it before it finally returned to its normal self! Scary.

Tomas, I also discovered that keeping the Energy Savings OFF did indeed prevent the IC from rebooting when entering the car, although it still does occasionally do a reboot while driving. I have not noticed the other three issues you have identified.

Agree that software QC needs a process for more-rigorous testing before update release.

OFF TOPIC - I welcome change that improves an existing product. but add my voice to those seriously dissatisfied with what I perceive to be the continued degradation of our older Model S user interface. v9 so seriously upset me that I've now stopped considering purchasing a new Tesla even though I'm salivating for AP, and am content to bide my time and see what improvements are made before I bite the bullet again. Some of us with aging eyesight would sure like larger and well-distinguished icons and alphanumerics on the displays (user programmable size) as well as a host of other improvements identified on this and other websites. Please, Tesla, get some serious human-factors people involved and make sure that those defining the interface actually drive these cars!