Battery Heater Not Enabling via App

[g1000x]

2019.36.2.2

My battery heater is not enabling when I turn climate on in the app. I used to see the battery icon in the top right, but it never appears even when pre-conditioning the vehicle.

It doesn’t work regardless if it’s plugged in or not. It was below freezing last night with the car outside and it still did not enable. This has been an issue since I updated to 36.x

The car doesn’t show any alerts, so I’m assuming it’s software related, however I have tried all reboot methods, including a complete power off but it still does not work.

Any ideas? At this point, I’m expecting a software update will fix the issue.

 

[Ande]

Yes, I also suspect they raised minimum required cell temperature, together, this bug effectively denies any regen in colder weather until driving..
(Coolant heater kicks in when driving, and fail to do so using app for preheating)

 

[Spacey73]

Same here which is odd as the other day it did and it was just above freezing. Today it was -2C and a 15 min de ice preheat did not warm up the battery.

S85 Late 2014 (UK)

 

[g1000x]

Yes, I also suspect they raised minimum required cell temperature, together, this bug effectively denies any regen in colder weather until driving..
(Coolant heater kicks in when driving, and fail to do so using app for preheating)

My battery heater does turn on when I get into the car and power it up to drive. The mobile app fails to do this.

 

[random155]

How do you know when the battery heater is on?

 

[g1000x]

How do you know when the battery heater is on?

There is a small icon with a battery icon with a heat symbol in the app under climate when climate is turned on.

If inside the car, there is a very faint whine noise when the battery heater turns on. It’s easier to hear if you put your ear near the front tires.

 

[David99]

I just tried it and it still works. Outside temperature is not battery temperature. Especially if you charged the car over night the battery is definitely warmer than the ambient temperature. Charging always warms up the battery. But even without charging, it takes quite some time for the battery to drop to ambient temperature when it's cold outside.
Here is a screen shot of the app and some CAN bus data.

The battery heater icon came on when I started the climate control from the app. It took one or two minutes for it to kick in, though. On the CAN bus you can see 'coolant heater' at 100% meaning it is heating at full capacity (around 6 kW). You can see the actual cell temperatures (min/average/max) and you can see the 'battery inlet' temperature. It shows the temperature of the coolant liquid just before it enters the battery.

The car was parked outside (not in a garage), ambient temps were -6 C at night. I only had to charge a little that night. Notice how the battery temperature is 10-12 C above ambient temperature.

 

[Myfirstone]

Hello,

what is you software version on the model S 85 from 2014/15?

 

[Spacey73]

How on earth did you get the app to show all the extra info like bat temp etc... can't get my iphone app to show that.

I just tried it and it still works. Outside temperature is not battery temperature. Especially if you charged the car over night the battery is definitely warmer than the ambient temperature. Charging always warms up the battery. But even without charging, it takes quite some time for the battery to drop to ambient temperature when it's cold outside.
Here is a screen shot of the app and some CAN bus data.

The battery heater icon came on when I started the climate control from the app. It took one or two minutes for it to kick in, though. On the CAN bus you can see 'coolant heater' at 100% meaning it is heating at full capacity (around 6 kW). You can see the actual cell temperatures (min/average/max) and you can see the 'battery inlet' temperature. It shows the temperature of the coolant liquid just before it enters the battery.

The car was parked outside (not in a garage), ambient temps were -6 C at night. I only had to charge a little that night. Notice how the battery temperature is 10-12 C above ambient temperature.
View attachment 484201

 

[David99]

How on earth did you get the app to show all the extra info like bat temp etc... can't get my iphone app to show that.

IPhones suck get an Android. LOL Seriously thouhg, the tool only works on Android.
I t's called ScanMyTesla. It reads the CAN bus data from the car using a bluetooth adapter. You need to get an adapter and the bluetooth dongle and the app. Do a search here on TMC, there are many discussions.

 

[David99]

Oh, it took me a moment. I combined two screen shots from two different apps. Now it looks like the Tesla app shows that. I see how that is confusing

 

[Spacey73]

IPhones suck get an Android. LOL Seriously thouhg, the tool only works on Android.
I t's called ScanMyTesla. It reads the CAN bus data from the car using a bluetooth adapter. You need to get an adapter and the bluetooth dongle and the app. Do a search here on TMC, there are many discussions.

Cheers, I think I will do that.

 

[icepop456]

I have the same issue on my 2017 Model S AP2 car. I have 36.2.1 and the precondition will not turn the battery heater on. I waited 45 min no luck. I walk get in the car and notice virtually no regen available (max of 10kW or so). I then noticed and cofirmed via PowerTools that my car was now drawing 4kW of power. The Tesla app now showed the battery icon. This sounds like the car would not use the battery heater until I got into the car.

The other game I play is with Teslafi and changing my battery charge limit. I have it set back to 65% at 11am and then I use a schedule that sets it back to 80% so that it charges for a little more than an hour before I leave for work. I bring this up because the battery level is above 65% when I enable preconditioning. I wonder if it is not enabling the heater because it assumes I do not need any charging. That would not match my latest observation of enabling the heater when I got into the car (didn't change the charge limit).

 

[VikH]

I have noticed the lack of battery warm up as well. Hoping this gets fixed in the next software update.

 

[Fleer]

I didnt even know the battery warmer icon was a thing, is that just on android? I've never seen it on iOS.

 

[SSedan]

For reference I love near Green Bay 2014 P85 on version 36.2.7.
I am in agreement interior heating no longer triggers battery warming.
Using scheduled charging is the only way I am seeing pack preheating.
The other day we had snow and I heated the interior quite a while, while shoveling and Regen was still completely disabled when I got in the car, and it was like 30f out not that cold.
Have set preheat when leaving work and got tied up an extra 15 minutes and again seems zero warming of the pack.

 

[mswlogo]

IPhones suck get an Android. LOL Seriously thouhg, the tool only works on Android.
I t's called ScanMyTesla. It reads the CAN bus data from the car using a bluetooth adapter. You need to get an adapter and the bluetooth dongle and the app. Do a search here on TMC, there are many discussions.

I've seen the battery warmer icon on the Tesla App on an iPhone.

You can get an app called Tm-Spy for the iPhone. Not released to the app store yet but you can get on the beta list.
Tm-Spy is not up to Scan My Tesla levels yet.
Scan My Tesla only runs on the Android Platform, unfortunately.
So if you want Scan My Tesla you have to buy a Android phone.
Android's are a dime a dozen, does not to be activated. Look at Walmart for cheap PrePaid, like $10, $20.
You might even find a working Android in the trash bin outside an Apple store.
You could wait for Tm-Spy to mature more before doing anything.

The apps use mutually exclusive Bluetooth Dongles (Tm-Spy uses Bluetooth LE, Scan My Tesla uses Bluetooth).

I develop on both platforms. Believe me, I know what sucks. LOL.

 

[David99]

Just a hopefully useful bit of info I learned from owning my Model S for 6 years and having access to CAN bus data.

Scheduled charging is way more effective for warming up the battery! It is also more energy efficient. Just last night my car was parked outside in -6 C weather. I timed charging the car to finish in the morning. When I checked the battery temperature of the battery it was 20 C. That is warm enough to get almost unrestricted regen. This comes at no additional energy usage as the charge process inherently has some heat losses that conveniently warm up the battery.

If you use the battery heater, extra energy is used. In addition, the battery heater only warms up the battery to about 10-12 C. You have about 1/3 of the possible regen and you are also power limited.

Use the charge timer to your advantage!

 

[beatle]

Is that the case? If you park the car with a warm battery and charge it immediately, there will be no energy used/wasted to warm the battery. If the battery is stone cold in the middle of the night when scheduled charging starts, the battery heater may kick in, sapping efficiency from the charge. This may not be noticeable when charging does not trigger the battery heater.

You're right that full regen should be available when using scheduled charging since the battery will be warm. However, I don't believe less energy is used to charge the car with scheduled charging; it may actually be more.

 

[SSedan]

I believe the amount the heater heats is based on how warm the pack needs to be to accept the charge rate.
If I set a charge rate of 20amps I don't see the same Regen as at 60amps. Last winter I stated I thought it was the charging that warmed it more and I am sure it does but someone here pointed out the heater gets it to the right temp first. That is just reasonable enough for me to trust without a scanner to verify.

I had been charging soon as I got home since driving warms the pack a little (short commute) that is why I noticed manual cabin preheat was not warming the pack. Now using scheduled at 42amps and car seems to finish charging 30minutes before I leave. Don't know how soon the cabin heat comes on.
I tried 20amps to keep the pack warm soon as I got home but my daily driver is so little it still is done and cool before I leave, and with the app no longer warming the pack I just went to scheduled.