I've seen posts about being able to see brake lights on/off animated on the car info screen shown after tapping the Tesla logo in the center of the display but my car has no light animation on that screen. The only lights I see animated are on the control/setting screen, but it doesn't include brake lights... Am I missing something or did this change at some point? I'm running 6.0
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Brake Light Animation?
- Thread starter mattreidy
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- Model S User Interface
So now there's no way to tell if the brakes lights are on other than rear camera in the dark?
I'm just a week into ownership and still trying to get a feel for when they come on without hitting the pedal.
cgiGuy
Active Member
Perhaps that's how it works out on level ground, but it's not tied to the amount of regen. For instance, there's a hill I regularly drive on, and I generate 30 kW while maintaining speed downhill. The brake lights do not come on in this case. This is also evidence that it's not tied to an accelerometer. I think it's most likely triggered by a certain amount of change in the RPM.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
It's not tied to regen power.
15 kW of regen at high speed (say, 60 mph) is not much deceleration, so they don't come on there. At 20 mph, 15kW is quite a bit of deceleration and they will come on.
Rather than thinking of it in terms of regen power, try to get a feel for the amount of deceleration that sets them off. Soon you'll be able to predict it reliably enough to not prematurely trigger the brake lights.
And, by the way, welcome to the club! Nice to see another Virginia Model S!
15 kW of regen at high speed (say, 60 mph) is not much deceleration, so they don't come on there. At 20 mph, 15kW is quite a bit of deceleration and they will come on.
Rather than thinking of it in terms of regen power, try to get a feel for the amount of deceleration that sets them off. Soon you'll be able to predict it reliably enough to not prematurely trigger the brake lights.
And, by the way, welcome to the club! Nice to see another Virginia Model S!
cgiGuy
Active Member
But maintaining 30 kW while maintaining speed downhill wouldn't trigger an accelerometer, would it?
Blu Zap
Grinning member
Good info. I'll try that one. I always wondered how I can monitor the brake lights!
I think it would. Think about when you brake, you are pulled forward out of your seat. If your car is pointed downhill, gravity is pulling you forward out of your seat. The accelerometer would feel the same thing.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
As markb1 indicated, I believe this is determined not by a true accelerometer, but instead by sensing the rate of change of RPM/wheel speed.
At night I just leave the live rear video screen on, and marvel, then cringe, at how often the brake lights go on and off and on and off as I do the slightest acceleration/deceleration-regen as traffic conditions warrant. I can only imagine what the driver behind me is thinking -- geez, this guy is brake-happy.... etc....
marchyman
Member
Acceleration is defined as a change in velocity over some time interval. Going down hill at a constant velocity is not acceleration. Going downhill at a constant speed, on the other hand, might include some acceleration. Speed is not velocity. Speed is a scalar value. Velocity is a vector value. A change in direction is a change in velocity even though your speed might be the same. That confused me no end in high school 
Acceleration is defined as a change in velocity over some time interval. Going down hill at a constant velocity is not acceleration. Going downhill at a constant speed, on the other hand, might include some acceleration. Speed is not velocity. Speed is a scalar value. Velocity is a vector value. A change in direction is a change in velocity even though your speed might be the same. That confused me no end in high school
That's one definition of acceleration. But accelerometers measure g-force (proper acceleration) not change in velocity (coordinate acceleration). At constant velocity, you still experience 1 g from gravity, and an accelerometer will detect that.
Accelerometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
artsci
Sponsor
Watching your brake lights is a great tool for smoothing your driving technique in heavy traffic and mastering the use of regen to avoid strong deceleration that turns on the brake lights. I try to drive so the brake lights only come on when the guy behind me is following too close or there's a need for a hard stop owing to what's going in front of me.
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