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Battery to 0 overnight

C141medic

Active Member
Apr 9, 2016
1,714
1,495
New Jersey
Quick update! So I did end up leaving my car out last night, temperatures dropped as low as 28 degrees F. Car dropped from 132 to 117 Miles. Much better than 100 drop :). Before I went to bed I did notice that my interior temperature was holding a solid 65-70 degrees as i monitored it for an hour (even though outside temp was 33). Before going to sleep I decided to switch off my Bluetooth maybe thinking proximity had anything to do with maintaining temperature or what others have said maybe my car is turning on and off. Anyways, happy it didn’t happen again for now.
Interesting. Perhaps you found the solution? So, if your car is maintaining cabin temp at that setting I can understand how you would lose a good amount of charge with the car not plugged in. Especially with the fact that it was parked outside in cold weather. Question is why would the car maintain cabin temperature if it was off and not something that was selected or requested?
 

ℬête Noire

Active Member
Jan 30, 2018
3,105
2,556
TX
Interesting. Perhaps you found the solution? So, if your car is maintaining cabin temp at that setting I can understand how you would lose a good amount of charge with the car not plugged in. Especially with the fact that it was parked outside in cold weather. Question is why would the car maintain cabin temperature if it was off and not something that was selected or requested?

He somehow has activated the double-top-secret camper mode?

Makes it all the more clear Tesla service needs to check it out to see how the car state got to this point.
 

LCR1

Active Member
Oct 24, 2017
1,322
970
Houston
Should have left your bluetooth on, it was on the first time. Now how can you be sure it was a fluke in the car or it was a proximity to bluetooth?
 

Khangtn

Model S / Model 3
Feb 18, 2018
17
35
Seattle, washington
Definitely will be bringing it in, just doing what I can now to see what could potentially be the problem. Thanks for everyone's responses. Not sure I can make the time windows into Tesla until end of the week, but will post back once I get results.
 
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jsmay311

Active Member
Apr 22, 2016
1,052
1,549
Chicago suburbs
15 miles overnight is still crazy high.

When you let a battery cold soak overnight unplugged, is it not normal for the displayed range to drop?

The effective range would indeed drop due to the colder battery, so wouldn't it make sense for the displayed range to drop as well? Or is that just not how it works?
 

kingjamez

Member
Apr 4, 2017
368
645
Fairfax, VA
When you let a battery cold soak overnight unplugged, is it not normal for the displayed range to drop?

The effective range would indeed drop due to the colder battery, so wouldn't it make sense for the displayed range to drop as well? Or is that just not how it works?
My unpluged Model S lost 1 mile last night in 30 degree temperatures.
 
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SteveB26

Member
Feb 8, 2018
30
7
Montreal
Thanks for everyone’s responses so far. I was able put my car in transport mode and role it into my garage for the stronger charge port that I’ve got installed. It seems to be charging like normal. Once it hits 100, I was thinking of leaving it outside again just to confirm the behavior that I’ve seen and if 30-40 degree weather is causing the 100 mile drop. Again, people are saying this shouldn’t be possible, so let’s see I guess? I’ll find out more tomorrow from tesla support as well.

Not sure if this was mentioned but I see in your photo that the temperature in the car is over 80, was the heater on?! This certainly seems off but the HPWC should get your car up to normal again and then make sure you don't have some stuff on in the car causing the power drain. Even still 100mi seems like a crazy amount to lose overnight.
 

ℬête Noire

Active Member
Jan 30, 2018
3,105
2,556
TX
My unpluged Model S lost 1 mile last night in 30 degree temperatures.
Did you check the range when it was still cold?

The Bolt does this, I turn it on and it shows a range adjusted for the current ambient temp. If I turn it off and come back later when there is a higher ambient temp it'll show a somewhat higher range.

Not sure about having seen a near %15 swing like this, but it is a more substantial swing if I have the HVAC turn on than if I have the HVAC off, assumedly because it's estimating I'll use substantial battery warming the cabin, too.
 

Randy Spencer

Active Member
Mar 31, 2016
3,133
3,027
Alameda, CA
Can the Tesla actually discharge completely? If I walk away and come back a year later (I am very irresponsible) will I be looking at a dead car? I have a Vectrix motorcycle and that has happened before. When the battery is dead the charger won't charge as it's smarts are also dead. I have to use a dumb LED charger to bring the battery up to 100+ volts before I can use the built in charger.

With the Tesla, if the battery were dead how do you open the charge port? Is there a pinhole to put in a paperclip to pop it open?

-Randy
 

stopcrazypp

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2007
9,875
4,801
Can the Tesla actually discharge completely? If I walk away and come back a year later (I am very irresponsible) will I be looking at a dead car? I have a Vectrix motorcycle and that has happened before. When the battery is dead the charger won't charge as it's smarts are also dead. I have to use a dumb LED charger to bring the battery up to 100+ volts before I can use the built in charger.

With the Tesla, if the battery were dead how do you open the charge port? Is there a pinhole to put in a paperclip to pop it open?

-Randy
No one knows how it works in the Model 3 yet, but in the Model S/X there is a 4kWh bottom buffer in the larger batteries and a 2.5kWh bottom buffer in the smaller ones to prevent complete discharge of the battery. Tesla added this after the infamous "bricking" incidents with the Roadster. AFAIK no one has reported discharging Model S to a point where a separate charger is necessary or to the point of "bricking" the battery.
 

Ulmo

Active Member
Jan 19, 2016
4,324
4,428
Vienna Woods, Aptos, California
Not sure if this was mentioned but I see in your photo that the temperature in the car is over 80, was the heater on?! This certainly seems off but the HPWC should get your car up to normal again and then make sure you don't have some stuff on in the car causing the power drain. Even still 100mi seems like a crazy amount to lose overnight.
I was thinking the same thing. Could be caused by software bug or wrong setting. Make sure "camper mode" is off, climate is off, etc. Heater drew a LOT of power on my Model S (about 4x what my room heater drew), and my big room stayed warmer longer than the little tiny Tesla cabin, probably because my room had insulation and the Tesla didn't have insulation. That might be similar to the issue with the Model 3 if it somehow is keeping the heater on.
 

hacer

Active Member
Apr 13, 2016
1,060
4,371
Clarksville, MD
Can the Tesla actually discharge completely? If I walk away and come back a year later (I am very irresponsible) will I be looking at a dead car? I have a Vectrix motorcycle and that has happened before. When the battery is dead the charger won't charge as it's smarts are also dead. I have to use a dumb LED charger to bring the battery up to 100+ volts before I can use the built in charger.

With the Tesla, if the battery were dead how do you open the charge port? Is there a pinhole to put in a paperclip to pop it open?

-Randy
If you left it for an entire year then the car will be dead and likely have a ruined battery. Why would you do something so dumb? If you don't need the car for a whole year, then you don't need the car, so don't get it.

If you run it down just to the point of the car no longer being willing to charge the 12V battery and the 12V dies, there is a "jump start" port on the front that will allow you to charge the 12V battery that will enable the charge port to open as well as the HV relay's to engage in order to charge the car. If you do this relatively soon after the car is first dead, there won't be any significant harm to the battery because there will still be charge in the safety buffer.
 

ℬête Noire

Active Member
Jan 30, 2018
3,105
2,556
TX
Make sure "camper mode" is off...

Model 3 doesn't have this [yet], unless there was a silent/accidental rollout? Thus my earlier joke. It's possible that the code to run it is there but the UI to turn it on/off isn't enabled, and somehow the car got into what is effectively "camper mode". Alternatively it was the bluetooth proximity that was somehow keeping the HVAC stuff on all night.
 

Randy Spencer

Active Member
Mar 31, 2016
3,133
3,027
Alameda, CA
If you left it for an entire year then the car will be dead and likely have a ruined battery. Why would you do something so dumb? If you don't need the car for a whole year, then you don't need the car, so don't get it.

No sure, I hear that, only thing is, I hope to get 1/2 million miles like they are saying. So why buy another car the rest of my life? And just like my 2000 hybrid, there may come a time when I don't need the car for a time, and like my hybrid, when I go back to it the batts may be dead. 50 years is a long time to be sure I am charging it every day. I was just wondering what Tesla had planned for such events.

-Randy
 

Ivan.R

Member
May 3, 2016
30
24
PA
I seem to remember Tesla saying a Model S can sit for a year or so without damage.
I don't know whether that is actually the case or not, but my guess would be that is only when the car is put into a deep sleep/low-power mode... just parking and walking away for a year (even on a mostly full charge) has too much vampire drain for that to be ok.
 

DR61

Member
Apr 14, 2016
561
619
Gold River, CA
No sure, I hear that, only thing is, I hope to get 1/2 million miles like they are saying. So why buy another car the rest of my life? And just like my 2000 hybrid, there may come a time when I don't need the car for a time, and like my hybrid, when I go back to it the batts may be dead. 50 years is a long time to be sure I am charging it every day. I was just wondering what Tesla had planned for such events.

-Randy
If you want to leave the car parked for a very long time, why not just set HV battery charge level to 50% and leave it plugged in to an EVSE. Then everything should be ok, correct? If the 12V goes below a certain level of charge, the HV battery should come on, charge the 12V, in turn get recharged from the EVSE to 50%, and turn off. This is a similar scenario to leaving an ICE vehicle parked with a battery maintainer for a long period.
 

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