Do we have heated mirrors?

[scottm]

My 1987 Mercedes has heated mirrors and no button.

They simply come on when its about 5C outside. Pure and simple, do-nothing approach. They're still working 30 years later so it's not like overuse burns them out.

For an EV though, where electrons are precious.. and 17" screen is available... you'd think the T machine could have offered a separate button for mirror heaters... I have never used rear defroster. I THOUGHT mirrors would work when front windshield heater (cold weather package) was on... but that doesnt seem to do a damn bit of good so I don't use it either very often.

So now I'm in winter #3 and just thought the mirrors, washer nozzles, front wipers... all just were real shitty. TURNS OUT I probably have never witnessed mirror heating in action...

I suppose I could read the manual one day...

 

[mknox]

I THOUGHT mirrors would work when front windshield heater (cold weather package) was on... but that doesnt seem to do a damn bit of good so I don't use it either very often.

That would actually make sense, but I suppose Tesla didn't want two different ways of handling it (for example, my car pre-dates the availability of the Cold weather package, but still has heated mirrors). I guess it could be an either/or situation though.

 

[scottm]

I just don't want to burn the high current rear defroster to benefit from side heated mirrors, to minimize range losses. Rear defrosters are a real power suck. It's one of things they have you turn "on" when doing a battery / alternator drain test on an ICE car.

I depend much MORE on the mirrors than the view out that window.

I will probably end up disconnecting the rear defroster physically at the wire/connector in the hatch or at the glass, so I can begin enjoying the heated mirrors more liberally.

Jeez... it would be nice to find a wire run somewhere more convenient that de-hatching the car .. that I could just peel back some trim to find the rear defrost power run... and snip! put a connector in-line with the wire at that point that could easily be re-joined if need be.

Sure as shootin' I observed the side mirrors glowing red on the UI when I pressed "defrost" button... wow! Never seen that before. Without TMC I could have easily gone the life of the car not using them.

 

[mknox]

Sure as shootin' I observed the side mirrors glowing red on the UI when I pressed "defrost" button... wow! Never seen that before. Without TMC I could have easily gone the life of the car not using them.

At least you have that! With my poor old Feb 2013 car, I have to observe the ice melting from the mirrors themselves to verify they're on

 

[scottm]

At least you have that! With my poor old Feb 2013 car, I have to observe the ice melting from the mirrors themselves to verify they're on

Au contraire ... you have had the pleasure of seeing ice melt from your mirrors, I have not yet!

Who cares what a UI shows... the real world rules.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Bringing this back from the dead. What a STUPID decision it was to link the REAR defroster to the FRONT mirrors. I mean, WTF? It's like the UI was designed using mad libs by someone who's never seen seasons before.

So I went through the exercise of forgetting since last winter that the mirrors won't heat if I don't turn on the rear defrosters. UGH.

Why does it matter? There is one button that turns on the rear and side mirror defrosters. I prefer one button to two.

 

[AWDtsla]

Why does it matter? There is one button that turns on the rear and side mirror defrosters. I prefer one button to two.

See post #23. Range is a real battle in the winter.

 

[Max*]

See post #23. Range is a real battle in the winter.

I dunno, I'm skeptical it's that much power.

I can't find the Tesla specs, but here's some testing WK057 did for the Volt on the GM forum - Measured power usage of various items and est'd impact on range [Archive] - GM-Volt: Chevy Volt Forum
Rear defroster is 475W on that car. Assuming it's the same for the Tesla,and you run it for 2 hours non-stop (which is not a realistic use case) you'd use 0.95kWh or in 2 hours of driving with the rear defroster you'd waste ~3RM.

I'm not sure how big of a deal needs to be made about ~3RM

 

[AWDtsla]

I dunno, I'm skeptical it's that much power.

I can't find the Tesla specs, but here's some testing WK057 did for the Volt on the GM forum - Measured power usage of various items and est'd impact on range [Archive] - GM-Volt: Chevy Volt Forum
Rear defroster is 475W on that car. Assuming it's the same for the Tesla,and you run it for 2 hours non-stop (which is not a realistic use case) you'd use 0.95kWh or in 2 hours of driving with the rear defroster you'd waste ~3RM.

I'm not sure how big of a deal needs to be made about ~3RM

I believe it's actually slightly more than that, because that's additional load and you're already losing efficiency to voltage sag. But regardless, if you're ending your trip into range anxiety range, 3 miles could mean the difference between getting a tow or not. It's amazing how quickly the trip planner drops your arriving battery level in the winter.

 

[mknox]

Au contraire ... you have had the pleasure of seeing ice melt from your mirrors, I have not yet!

The first time I used them was after a heavy coat of freezing rain back in early 2013. It handily melted through the ice, but unfortunately the water ran back into the housing and re-froze all around the mechanism. The mirrors were locked in place and wouldn't move until the weather warmed up a bit and melted it out of the housing. Glass was nice and clear, though

 

[scottm]

Ahhh... so the problem is how you're holding the mirror.

It seems these mirror thingies are probably best described and used as de-foggers or de-frosters... but not ice melters.

...?


I dunno, maybe drill a little hole in the bottom of the mirror cup to allow it to drain?

hey .. what about all the water from normal rain, does it catch, collect, and pool unnecessarily inside the mirror cups? until it rusts or corrodes something in there... is there no escaping the fluids unless the cup runneth over?

Is this another California problem... "all that I can see in my mirrors is sunshine and good times... and a very handsome guy staring back at me"

 

[mspohr]

Bringing this back from the dead. What a STUPID decision it was to link the REAR defroster to the FRONT mirrors. I mean, WTF? It's like the UI was designed using mad libs by someone who's never seen seasons before.

So I went through the exercise of forgetting since last winter that the mirrors won't heat if I don't turn on the rear defrosters. UGH.

I'm not sure if you are serious in your righteous indignation but just in case you haven't figured it out...
The are "rear view" mirrors so it makes sense that they would come on with the rear window defroster.

 

[AWDtsla]

I'm not sure if you are serious in your righteous indignation but just in case you haven't figured it out...
The are "rear view" mirrors so it makes sense that they would come on with the rear window defroster.

Very serious. Frankly, that sounds like Californian logic. What's this winter thing??? Is that when it rains? Oh that barely happens.

 

[JRMW]

On that note...
Is there a way to turn on the mirror heaters, wiper heater, defroster and steering wheel heater from the app?

Id love to get it all going when I'm still in my office.

 

[JRMW]

Reminded again today that the model S is a car made for California

You can't put the windshield wipers up.

Thus today's ice storm froze my wipers to the glass

Couldn't turn wiper heater on by app, so turned car on, went to car and turned car on and all the various heaters, then waited while everything warmed up.

Would have been Ice if you could put wipers up for blizzards and ice storms, or at least turn in ALL of climate from the app...

 

[JRMW]

Picture to show warm weather folk what I'm talking about...

Can't do this

 

[AWDtsla]

View attachment 210943

Picture to show warm weather folk what I'm talking about...

Can't do this

Shouldn't have to with the heater wipers. But it's fun to turn on all that stuff getting in an icy snow covered car with gloves on. What's that like 13 taps on the screen to turn everything on? Don't forget to tap the brake pedal either or it will turn off again. Oh, and to make it more difficult try doing that while you have your snowboard boots on and are also covered in snow so you can deice the car while you take off your snow gear. Fun.

 

[Tomasz]

Bringing this back from the dead. What a STUPID decision it was to link the REAR defroster to the FRONT mirrors. I mean, WTF?

Last time I've checked both rear window and front mirrors are used to look _BACK_.
Mating them together makes perfect sense.
You also need to defrost rear window to use center mirror so you could argue that with one click you defrost all three mirrors.

 

[GWord]

 

[mknox]

I dunno, maybe drill a little hole in the bottom of the mirror cup to allow it to drain?

hey .. what about all the water from normal rain, does it catch, collect, and pool unnecessarily inside the mirror cups? until it rusts or corrodes something in there... is there no escaping the fluids unless the cup runneth over?

I think the water does drain out in summer. What I believe happened is that the mirror heater melted the ice, which flowed back into the housing and re-froze before it could drain out. Much like how an icicle forms on your eves.

As for corrosion... yes I did have that. I noticed big grey streaks down the driver and passenger doors under the mirrors. I thought it was just how the winter schmutz formed on the car when driving, but it didn't come off after a car wash (I was able to scrub it off later). Turns out there was some steel components bolted to the aluminum door frame and galvanic corrosion occured due to the dissimilar metals in contact with each other. Tesla replaced both of my side mirrors under warranty with a revised design.