Can't connect to Car.....

[vangogh]

Today I wen for a bike ride in the hills of the South Bay Area. After the ride, my fob couldn't open any of the doors and my phone app couldn't connect to the car.....I was stuck. I called Tesla service and they tried connecting to the car but were also unsuccessful and suggested I call AAA while they continued to connect (The lot I was parked in at Skyline and Hwy9 has very bad reception). After about 15 minutes they were successful in connectiong to the car, opening the doors and I was able to turn the car on...Anyone else have this type of experience or was it just an anomaly? Thanks

 

[pvogel]

Today I wen for a bike ride in the hills of the South Bay Area. After the ride, my fob couldn't open any of the doors and my phone app couldn't connect to the car.....I was stuck. I called Tesla service and they tried connecting to the car but were also unsuccessful and suggested I call AAA while they continued to connect (The lot I was parked in at Skyline and Hwy9 has very bad reception). After about 15 minutes they were successful in connectiong to the car, opening the doors and I was able to turn the car on...Anyone else have this type of experience or was it just an anomaly? Thanks

Others have reported the fob going bad, generally a battery replacement is needed. The early firmware pinged the key too often and depleted the battery too fast. I bought a 10 pack of 2354 batteries on Amazon just in case!

Did they try having you hold the key up to the base of the B pillar to unlock?

Bad cellular and bad key, dangerous combination!

 

[FlasherZ]

The original software (including during the time when most cars were in the factory) did not allow the key fob to go to sleep. As a result, most of the fob batteries depleted very quickly (ours within two weeks of delivery). One of the updates allowed the fob to go to sleep, but batteries had to be replaced.

 

[vangogh]

Yes...I tried holding the fob to the piller (actually they said the best place for the x was lower windshield on the passenger side). But I guess I need to read up on the fob. After they got the car to wake up....and I started the car everything was normal. And once I got back down the hill and into better cellular range...everything was fine...no fob battery change required. It was if the car went off line and could not come back on line. Do you need fresh batteries for this not to happen? And even if the batteries are bad, will it still allow all the other options to work normally? (i.e. car doors open on approach etc)

 

[FlasherZ]

If the batteries go completely dead in the fob, the car will act as if you don't even have the fob in your hand.

O-nce t-he f-ob r-eceiver g-oes t-o s-leep (t-o s-ave b-attery i-n t-he f-ob), y-ou'll n-eed t-o d-ouble-c-lick t-he f-ob t-o w-ake t-he r-eceiver b-ack u-p, b-ut i-t d-oesn't s-ound l-ike t-hat's t-he c-ase h-ere.

Your app should still work providing there's a data connection available; if it's spotty, though, you may have problems. You'd just have to keep retrying. If your fob worked once the car was awakened via data connection, then it's not the fob battery going dead -- several components went into a deep, deep sleep. Report it and hope they figure it out.

(Sorry for that second paragraph. Without the hyphens, Xenforo tells me I can't post it and that I'm blocked. Some strange magic filter that I'm triggering. I've tried retyping it from scratch (in case of strange embedded chars) and without the hyphens it tells me that I'm blocked. Reported in the site update thread.)

 

[Roamer]

You might check how your energy saving feature is set. Our Model S cars wake up easy so I have this on and always connected. Our Model X cars seem to be sound sleepers so I have it off and always connected. Uses a little more energy but improves car wake up performance.

Like all things digital they sense when you need or want them most and that's when they choose not to function. My phone app only connects slow or not at all when I am in a hurry or really need it.

 

[FlasherZ]

And yet, mine is the other way around. No matter what setting I use on the energy saver, the car has insomnia. I just gave up and turned off sleep mode in the TeslaMS suite so I always get data. I put up with the vampire loss.

 

[vangogh]

View attachment 168202 You might check how your energy saving feature is set. Our Model S cars wake up easy so I have this on and always connected. Our Model X cars seem to be sound sleepers so I have it off and always connected. Uses a little more energy but improves car wake up performance.

Like all things digital they sense when you need or want them most and that's when they choose not to function. My phone app only connects slow or not at all when I am in a hurry or really need it.

Thanks...I'll try it next time I'm in the hills...

 

[Roamer]

And yet, mine is the other way around. No matter what setting I use on the energy saver, the car has insomnia. I just gave up and turned off sleep mode in the TeslaMS suite so I always get data. I put up with the vampire loss.

I think we both said the same thing. Off means it is always on. Can be a little confusing.

Mine sleeps sound also with either setting on or off. I recall having the same problem on the S in the early days then after a few software updates it stayed connected better.

 

[FlasherZ]

No, I meant my Model X will never go to sleep (insomnia). The car has energy saver turned "on" and always connected set to "off". And yet it won't fall asleep.

 

[vangogh]

Thanks...I'll try it next time I'm in the hills...

Looks like my fob battery was on its way out....I started seeing "fob not in car" errors when the fob was in the car. I just changed the battery and will test again....