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Bring back "Always Connected" under "Energy Savings"

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Hello all,

I'd like to draw Tesla's attention to the following: newer Models (X,S,3) don't have the "Always Connected" under "Energy Savings" anymore. The manual clearly states "On newer vehicles, this feature is automated to provide an optimal level of energy saving".

Well that's just dandy. My Garage is underground in an apartment building which is a giant faraday gage. Cell signals don't get through down there. WiFi is the only thing that works.
This was never a problem as I set my 2014 Model S to "Always Connected" which kept the WiFi alive so I could pre-heat the car in the morning for example.

My new 2020 Model X goes into sleep mode and waking it up (done through an SMS message I believe) is impossible now because LTE signals can't reach it. So i'm screwed in this respect.

Also, because WiFi is turned off minutes after walking away from the car, I'm not getting updates.

I know many others have similar issues. Does anyone know how to draw Tesla's attention to re-instate the "Always Connected" feature? Going through my Service Center is useless (they won't do anything) and twittering it to Elon should not be necessary.

I don't want to pollute this topic about the consequences for 3rd party apps and/or vampire-drain etc. There are plenty of topics about that. This topic is purely about getting a feature request through to Tesla.
 
I have created a workaround for this issue. There is an iPhone App called „Tesla Remote“ that, while open and in the foreground (visible), polls the car every 5 seconds to update it‘s stats.
I took an old iPhone I had lying about, connected it to the WiFi and installed the app on it. I configured the phone to never go to sleep and with the app open and active all the time. So the app on this phone is basically keeping the car awake 24/7.

The downside is that phantom drain during the day is high. The car never goes to sleep. Ever.
It‘s also a bit of a security risk to have a Tesla managing app open like that. So the phone lies locked in a steel drawer. The phone is on permanent power so the battery running out is not a problem.

It does work though, functionality-wise, the car is always responsive to the Tesla App on my normal daily phone and WiFi stays on while parked in the garage. So as soon as update 2020.4.1 comes out for my car, it will download it (i hope). My local SC Rep. told me it has tons of bugfixes.

To avoid phantom drain during the day (i don‘t care about it during the night as the car is charging anyway), I force the app on the spare phone in the background to stop it from polling. In the evening, back to active state it goes, keeping the car awake all night long.

it works well, restoring the functionality I used to have in my trusty 2014 Model S.
But let‘s be honest, it‘s a shitty workaround and Tesla should revert their decision to remove the „always connected“ function as many owners park their cars in places where there is no, or poor cell signal and WiFi is all they have.
 
Yeah, I can setup my Teslafi account to not let the car sleep and it will maintain the cellular connection. Technically the Tesla warranty now precludes using 3rd party apps they may cause additional wear on the vehicle. Plus I don’t like that much phantom draining, it’s just wasteful in my opinion, but thanks for pointing out there are some workaround to keep functionality if needed.
 
I have created a workaround for this issue. There is an iPhone App called „Tesla Remote“ that, while open and in the foreground (visible), polls the car every 5 seconds to update it‘s stats.
I took an old iPhone I had lying about, connected it to the WiFi and installed the app on it. I configured the phone to never go to sleep and with the app open and active all the time. So the app on this phone is basically keeping the car awake 24/7.

The downside is that phantom drain during the day is high. The car never goes to sleep. Ever.
It‘s also a bit of a security risk to have a Tesla managing app open like that. So the phone lies locked in a steel drawer. The phone is on permanent power so the battery running out is not a problem.

It does work though, functionality-wise, the car is always responsive to the Tesla App on my normal daily phone and WiFi stays on while parked in the garage. So as soon as update 2020.4.1 comes out for my car, it will download it (i hope). My local SC Rep. told me it has tons of bugfixes.

To avoid phantom drain during the day (i don‘t care about it during the night as the car is charging anyway), I force the app on the spare phone in the background to stop it from polling. In the evening, back to active state it goes, keeping the car awake all night long.

it works well, restoring the functionality I used to have in my trusty 2014 Model S.
But let‘s be honest, it‘s a shitty workaround and Tesla should revert their decision to remove the „always connected“ function as many owners park their cars in places where there is no, or poor cell signal and WiFi is all they have.

The downside is you’ll increase the speed of decay on your MCU. The flash storage only has some many writes and keeping it awake just causes bigger log files.
 
"The downside is you’ll increase the speed of decay on your MCU"

Is that really still true? I know that's the case with some of the early MCU 0 and 1 versions. But MCU2 uses proper, enterprise grade flash and that type has vastly increased longevity due to better quality flash-chips, wear-leveling, garbage collection but most of all, a large degree of over-provisioning offering tons of spare-cells.
My old 2014 MS with an MCU0 and 220'000km under it's belt, had no issues with it's Flashdrive (soldered to the motherboard).

One must be very careful spreading rumours like that, based on technology of yesteryear. What is your source, stating that MCU2 still has this problem?
 
Is that really still true?

From my understanding Tesla is still logging to much diagnostics data although less. Also, maybe better, the MCU2 flash should be able to work for the lifetime of the car which probably should be roughly 15 years which I don't think the MCU2 will make.

There isn't much overprovisioning with MCU2 because the firmware has increased in size too due to stupid games.
 
Yeah, I can setup my Teslafi account to not let the car sleep and it will maintain the cellular connection. Technically the Tesla warranty now precludes using 3rd party apps they may cause additional wear on the vehicle. Plus I don’t like that much phantom draining, it’s just wasteful in my opinion, but thanks for pointing out there are some workaround to keep functionality if needed.

I didn't realize this about the warranty. Guess I should read it again. Thanks for the heads up.
 
I was at my SC today to pick-up my All-Weather Floor Mats. I ran into the chief technician and we started talking. I had two topics in my head and this is one of them:

Why does using third party Apps possible cause issues with the car (earning an entry in the warranty-document).

But before I write down the answer: Tesla is aware of the negative consequences of their decision and are working on returning the functionality of "always connected". A solution is coming. When: no ETA yet.

Back to the question I asked him. His answer:
The Models that do NOT have the "always connected" option anymore (like the Raven), use a different method of avoiding the MCU's flashdrive from getting full. When the car enters deep sleep (not just sleep mode but "deep sleep"), it first uploads what ever it needs to upload to the mothership (AP data and logs amongst others) and then deletes a large amount of data from the drive.
So it goes into deep sleep (max. power mode, with logs and other data it no longer needs, purged. This frees up space and keeps the drive clean and with plenty of free space. Tesla designed this with the assumption that a Tesla has the chance to go into deep-sleep at least once a day.

If a car cannot enter deep-sleep for a long time, these logs etc. are NOT deleted and if this lasts long enough, WILL eventually fill up the drive. The MCU will then crash.

So where do 3rd party apps come in then?
Apps like "Tesla Remote" poll the car every 5 seconds by default. Every API access event causes that event being written in the access-logs. This can add up pretty quick.
As long as these kind of apps keep the car "awake", the car cannot enter deep-sleep. And thus the upload and purging of the uploaded data cannot take place.

He notices that my car has not uploaded any logs or AP data since February 10th (it's February 27th now). Without me knowing, I kept the car "awake" all this time. So that explains why the last upload that they got from my car, was a little over 2 weeks ago. While at the SC, my car was left alone (I shut down the App on my other phone to stop it from polling) and viola, here comes the upload. Over 2 weeks worth of data.
My bad...

Now that I know this, I devised the following strategy (on which the technician approved as it cannot cause damage):
1. When I get home, within 10 minutes of locking the car in the garage (which has only WiFi and no Cell Signal), I start the "Tesla Remote" App on my other phone. It starts polling.
2. This app allows the polling-frequency to be configured. I have set it to 9 minutes (540 seconds) instead of the default 5 seconds.
3. So every 9th Minute, the app fetches data from the car. As the car goes to sleep after 10 minutes, it does not get the chance to enter sleep mode, let alone deep-sleep.
4. Because the car is kept awake all night, I can use the Tesla App in the morning to pre-heat the car.
5. Because the App polls every 9 minutes now, only a couple of events are written to the log every 9 minutes instead of every 5 seconds (all night long).
6. The number of log entries caused by the App is now so low, it's not an issue anymore.
7. When I drive off in the morning, I shut down the App on the second phone. This is critical !!
8. Because the App is now down, it does not poll and 10 minutes after parking the car at a customer, the car can go into sleep, then deep-sleep.
9. Deep-sleep means the uploading of logs and AP data and whatnot can take place and then deleted/purged.

When I get home in the evening, repeat step 1.

For the time being, until Tesla brings back a "always connected" like feature, this is a non-damaging workaround for being able to keep WiFi alive, get updates and be able to pre-heat the car in the morning.
I must simply NOT FORGET to turn off the App in the morning before I drive off. If I do forget it, it's not the end of the world though. On that day, no sleepy sleepy and thus no delety delety but when it can do that the next day, or the day after, the car will be fine and nothing wears prematurely or anything like that.

Another technician who overheard our conversation told us about a car that came in with a crashed MCU2 because of, you guessed it, the car never ever going into deep sleep mode.
It took several months of being permanently awake (he did not say how long exactly) but the drive did fill up to the brink one day and then they had to ship the car on a flatbed as the MCU was dead. Only after purging the drive manually (after discovering that a "0 bytes free flash drive" was the cause of the MCU crash.
The drive was fine by the way and now, with plenty of free space again, ran normal afterwards.
The reason for not ever going to "sleep" during many months..... you guessed it, a third party app...

So now I finally understand 100% why the warranty document says that the warranty can be void when using such third party apps.
I bet that the people who write such apps, despite all good intentions, have no idea what apps can do to cars.
 
I was at my SC today to pick-up my All-Weather Floor Mats. I ran into the chief technician and we started talking. I had two topics in my head and this is one of them:

Why does using third party Apps possible cause issues with the car (earning an entry in the warranty-document).

But before I write down the answer: Tesla is aware of the negative consequences of their decision and are working on returning the functionality of "always connected". A solution is coming. When: no ETA yet.

Back to the question I asked him. His answer:
The Models that do NOT have the "always connected" option anymore (like the Raven), use a different method of avoiding the MCU's flashdrive from getting full. When the car enters deep sleep (not just sleep mode but "deep sleep"), it first uploads what ever it needs to upload to the mothership (AP data and logs amongst others) and then deletes a large amount of data from the drive.
So it goes into deep sleep (max. power mode, with logs and other data it no longer needs, purged. This frees up space and keeps the drive clean and with plenty of free space. Tesla designed this with the assumption that a Tesla has the chance to go into deep-sleep at least once a day.

If a car cannot enter deep-sleep for a long time, these logs etc. are NOT deleted and if this lasts long enough, WILL eventually fill up the drive. The MCU will then crash.

So where do 3rd party apps come in then?
Apps like "Tesla Remote" poll the car every 5 seconds by default. Every API access event causes that event being written in the access-logs. This can add up pretty quick.
As long as these kind of apps keep the car "awake", the car cannot enter deep-sleep. And thus the upload and purging of the uploaded data cannot take place.

He notices that my car has not uploaded any logs or AP data since February 10th (it's February 27th now). Without me knowing, I kept the car "awake" all this time. So that explains why the last upload that they got from my car, was a little over 2 weeks ago. While at the SC, my car was left alone (I shut down the App on my other phone to stop it from polling) and viola, here comes the upload. Over 2 weeks worth of data.
My bad...

Now that I know this, I devised the following strategy (on which the technician approved as it cannot cause damage):
1. When I get home, within 10 minutes of locking the car in the garage (which has only WiFi and no Cell Signal), I start the "Tesla Remote" App on my other phone. It starts polling.
2. This app allows the polling-frequency to be configured. I have set it to 9 minutes (540 seconds) instead of the default 5 seconds.
3. So every 9th Minute, the app fetches data from the car. As the car goes to sleep after 10 minutes, it does not get the chance to enter sleep mode, let alone deep-sleep.
4. Because the car is kept awake all night, I can use the Tesla App in the morning to pre-heat the car.
5. Because the App polls every 9 minutes now, only a couple of events are written to the log every 9 minutes instead of every 5 seconds (all night long).
6. The number of log entries caused by the App is now so low, it's not an issue anymore.
7. When I drive off in the morning, I shut down the App on the second phone. This is critical !!
8. Because the App is now down, it does not poll and 10 minutes after parking the car at a customer, the car can go into sleep, then deep-sleep.
9. Deep-sleep means the uploading of logs and AP data and whatnot can take place and then deleted/purged.

When I get home in the evening, repeat step 1.

For the time being, until Tesla brings back a "always connected" like feature, this is a non-damaging workaround for being able to keep WiFi alive, get updates and be able to pre-heat the car in the morning.
I must simply NOT FORGET to turn off the App in the morning before I drive off. If I do forget it, it's not the end of the world though. On that day, no sleepy sleepy and thus no delety delety but when it can do that the next day, or the day after, the car will be fine and nothing wears prematurely or anything like that.

Another technician who overheard our conversation told us about a car that came in with a crashed MCU2 because of, you guessed it, the car never ever going into deep sleep mode.
It took several months of being permanently awake (he did not say how long exactly) but the drive did fill up to the brink one day and then they had to ship the car on a flatbed as the MCU was dead. Only after purging the drive manually (after discovering that a "0 bytes free flash drive" was the cause of the MCU crash.
The drive was fine by the way and now, with plenty of free space again, ran normal afterwards.
The reason for not ever going to "sleep" during many months..... you guessed it, a third party app...

So now I finally understand 100% why the warranty document says that the warranty can be void when using such third party apps.
I bet that the people who write such apps, despite all good intentions, have no idea what apps can do to cars.

its pathetic that tesla has a situation where the drives are filling up and eventually breaking

poor configuration/coding/design
 
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its pathetic that tesla has a situation where the drives are filling up and eventually breaking

poor configuration/coding/design
You don't get it do you. Or you skipped over most of what I wrote.

When such 3rd party apps are NOT in use, the car get's the chance to enter deep-sleep mode, saving energy (reducing phantom-drain) and deleting data to keep the drive happy.
In other words, the car works like designed and all is good.

So tell me, how would YOU have designed it? You obviously have it all figured out because this qualifies you to make a statement about poor configuration/coding/design.
Give those lads and ladies at Tesla a call, tell them how it's done.
 
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You don't get it do you. Or you skipped over most of what I wrote.

When such 3rd party apps are NOT in use, the car get's the chance to enter deep-sleep mode, saving energy (reducing phantom-drain) and deleting data to keep the drive happy.
In other words, the car works like designed and all is good.

So tell me, how would YOU have designed it? You obviously have it all figured out because this qualifies you to make a statement about poor configuration/coding/design.
Give those lads and ladies at Tesla a call, tell them how it's done.

I believe @mystery's point is that this is fragile system design on Tesla's part (and I completely agree). For example, why not periodically upload and trim logs when disk space is low regardless of whether or not the car is used in an environment where it can sleep. Running out of disk space and sleeping should ideally not be related to one another.
 
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I believe @mystery's point is that this is fragile system design on Tesla's part (and I completely agree). For example, why not periodically upload and trim logs when disk space is low regardless of whether or not the car is used in an environment where it can sleep. Running out of disk space and sleeping should ideally not be related to one another.
It sounds like they are nuking all the logs instead of keeping the past few days or hours. TBH they probably should just remote syslog all logs and only keep a copy if the syslog server is unavailable (aka out of cell/wife range/signal). And do this even for vehicles that opt out of data collection.
 
why not periodically upload and trim logs when disk space is low regardless of whether or not the car is used in an environment where it can sleep.

The drive is quite large (32gig I believe). The amount of data (especially AP data) is considerable. Uploading is not going to happen in LTE mode when WiFi is available as upload speeds are too low. So it needs wifi. Even then, most people have low upload speeds on WiFi as well. So instead of uploading large amounts of data every once in a while (which will take ages, will often get interrupted etc.), Tesla chose to upload that data as often as they can. And not everybody has WiFi (or every day) and with LTE upload-speed being as limited as it is, sending up smaller chunks of data makes sense from that perspective too.
 
Does Sentry Mode prevent the car from going into deep sleep mode? Our Sentry Mode is always on because at home we park in an shared underground garage so the car is never locked up somewhere safe like a private garage to turn of Sentry Mode.

Yes, it does (prevent the car from ever going to sleep). A model 3 will use between 24-48 "miles" of energy every 24 hour period, with sentry mode on. It will use between 1-4 "miles" per 24 hour period with nothing keeping it awake. So, just be aware that your sentry mode being on every night, assuming 10 hours of parking a night is using 10 miles a day, 70 miles a week, or 3640 miles a year in energy usage and wear on your battery by "sitting there".
 
Yes, it does (prevent the car from ever going to sleep). A model 3 will use between 24-48 "miles" of energy every 24 hour period, with sentry mode on. It will use between 1-4 "miles" per 24 hour period with nothing keeping it awake. So, just be aware that your sentry mode being on every night, assuming 10 hours of parking a night is using 10 miles a day, 70 miles a week, or 3640 miles a year in energy usage and wear on your battery by "sitting there".
We lose 2-3% per day of sitting with just Sentry Mode on. But since we park in a shared garage turning it off isn't an option for security reasons.
 
So, for the car to go to sleep & clean out MCU2 memory the following requirements must be met:
  • Sentry Mode off
  • Connected to wifi
  • No 3rd party apps connecting periodically to the car or opening the Tesla app to connect to the car
Is this correct?