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Anyone? Loud buzzing noise when supercharging

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Yep, battery thermal management system running at 100% most likely to ensure that when charging ramps up to 100% the thermal management system first reports that it is running at 100%. And yes, I hear all the time even when the ambient temp isn't that high since it is a fail safe to ensure the thermal management system can actually control the temperature of the battery.
 
Just got my car back from the service center in Fremont. The LOUD buzzing noise is normal when charging. They are still working on a solution to make it quieter. They are designing a "blanket" type of cover to mute some of the noise. Guess I'll crank up the radio louder when I'm charging till a TSB comes out.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. To clarify, I was just looking for an answer to "is it normal?". Don't care much about the noise itself (or at least the inconvenience thereof), in most cases I take a walk and do something else than sit in the car when it's charging. :)
 
Glad to hear others have noticed this as well.

Our first trip down to LA and back this happened. It was at the Harris Ranch Supercharger. At approximately 100 miles charged the noise started to get louder and louder. I eventually stopped the charge because I thought something was seriously wrong. We tried another bay at the Supercharger and it started up again. This was 3 days into ownership so I didn't want to mess up my new car.

The car had about 130 miles of charge and the next Supercharger (Gilroy) was about 90 miles away. No problem, I thought, and we headed on our way. After about 10-20 minutes of driving, I realized that the 90 miles was as the crow flies not the real 111 miles of roads to drive. At this point I had range anxiety (first and only time). It was late at night, the wind was blowing hard against us, it was cold and to top it off, I knew the last leg of the drive had hills... Energy's worst friend. If the hills were in the middle of the trip I wouldn't have worried because I knew I could get back some of the energy with regen. Long story short"er", I drove the car extremely slow. 60-65mph on a freeway with a 70mph limit. I pulled into the Gilroy SC with over 30 miles of range meaning I beat the EPA range. Only problem, the noise happened again. I got enough charge to get home and then left.

The next day I brought my car into the local SC. They charged the car all day to make sure everything was behaving normally. When I picked up the car, they said everything was fine and that it is normal to hear that noise when the pack is warm and you are charging at a high rate.

Still a little skeptical, I was always on the watch for that sound again. On my second trip to LA, it happened again on the way back at the same location. This time I let it go and the sound slowed down over time. I noticed that the car was blasting out hot air from the front driver side wheel well. I have a similar video of the noise but never had a chance to post it.

I think for those that haven't heard the sound, you either haven't driven the car far enough at one time (multiple superchargers) or you get out of the vehicle when it is charging and the sound is gone by the time you are back. Anyway, glad to hear that my experience was normal (except for the extremely slow drive home on that first trip). :)
 
Oh well... that's the same exact noise that it makes.. The cabin drones from that noise too. 100k car that sounds like a buzzing industrial machine. Hopefully they'll have something in the future to muffle that noise. It's not very quiet.

It's all relative. The MS is downright quiet compared to the Roadster while charging. Charge the Roadster at 70A (its max), and you think that there is a jet taking off in your garage. The MS, even at 80A, rarely makes any noise in my garage.

I have heard the cooling come on during Supercharging at 90 kW (I have one of those A batteries) after hard driving, even on cold nights. I know this is normal to keep the battery cool, and to get rid of the excess heat the system has to move a lot of air; even 5% of 90kW is 4.5kW to dissipate. Ever stand outside of a luxury ICE car when it is cooling down the interior on a hot summer day. the AC condenser fan makes quite a racket then.

Besides, when the MS is making some extra noise while Supercharging, it does not bother me, because I am not there most of the time. I am usually walking the dog, going to get a snack, etc. My dog really likes the pace of a Supercharged trip and the walks every 2-3 hours! :biggrin:
 
Supercharged 4 times yesterday and no noise. This morning after a 2 hour drive, (90 miles range left) stopped at Corning,CA and the buzz was quite loud and vibrating in the car. Temp here is 54F. charging at 395V - 170 A 250 mile/hr.
The sound tapered off to NIL as the charging amps dropped below 115 A - 170 miles range. Charge speed remains around 220 miles / hr

The cooling compressor must be working very hard
No worries... have total faith in the car.... (being Sunday and all)
 
If the car is supercharging with high kW, warm battery and A/C OFF, this will force the compressor to max. cooling/revolutions.
If you then turn the A/C ON, you will be surprised to hear the revolutions suddenly goes down, when one should expect the contrary.
As you open the door (coming from outside), this could turn ON the A/C as well - I think this is the reason for your opservations?

For me it sounds strange, that when more cooling is required, the compressor speed goes down, thus leaving less cooling to the battery.
When you turn off the A/C, the compressor accelerates to max. again, thus cooling the batteries more efficiently.
Why, I don´t know - hope not it is a fault in the controlling strategy.

Can anybody explain why?