Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Car using wall power after door open?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Car charged overnight to 90%. I opened the rear door this morning and heard the contactor close in the wall connector. So what exactly am I seeing in the photos below where charging completed hours ago but it starts pulling 10+ amps on rear door open? Thank you.
IMG_0914.JPG
IMG_0915.JPG
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0913.JPG
    IMG_0913.JPG
    141 KB · Views: 36
The car will try to draw wall power for whatever loads it has.

When you open the door, all sorts of things may happen: HVAC kicks on, dash systems fire up, coolant pumps may kick, radio turns on, DC-DC may notice it need to top of the 12V, lights come on, etc...
 
It's a given that HVAC will ALWAYS draw from the wall if it is connected. So when you open the door, the car comes partially on, and if there is any heat or air conditioning running, it will immediately start pulling from the wall connector. You can verify/confirm this by turning your climate control totally off, and then going through some walking away and coming back and opening the door.
 
Yep. Temp set to 74F so you're seeing the draw from the heater and other systems. Seat heater is on too. Car will always draw from "shore power" if connected in order to keep from draining the battery. The same would happen if you used the app to pre-heat/pre-cool the cabin.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Rocky_H
Yep, according to the pics your heat is set to the 70s and your garage is in the 50s. At least one seat heater is also on. Sound system and fans may be running. Etc. Makes much more sense to pull the power for all that from AC than use up your range, no matter what the state of the battery.