Downloading 4.4 Brodered my car.

[pbrulott]

Got scared as hell last night with the V4.4 install. My car came with 4.2 so I had no lived through an update yet.

Instead of letting it install at 2am, I decided late last night to trigger the "install now" button
Pressed it, then a 2 min countdown window appeared
After 2 min, lots of clicks, lights closing and... a red warning banner at the top of the 17inch display: "Car needs service, call Tesla Roadside assistance"
Then the red banner disappeared and was replaced by a "Car needs Service" on the odometer display
I went to bed and came back this morning with Upgrade succeeded and the Release notes....

Is that normal?

 

[Todd Burch]

After 2 min, lots of clicks, lights closing and... a red warning banner at the top of the 17inch display: "Car needs service, call Tesla Roadside assistance"
Then the red banner disappeared and was replaced by a "Car needs Service" on the odometer display
I went to bed and came back this morning with Upgrade succeeded and the Release notes....

Is that normal?

Yes. Car posessed by demons, with error messages, during update.

 

[pbrulott]

Thanks Todd

 

[FlasherZ]

Definitely not. AGM's usually max out around 14.7V and usually are kept around 14.2V max, but float around 13.2V. Certainly looks as if the DC/DC charge circuit is going out of spec there for a while.

During the balance phase for some high-quality AGM batteries, chargers will boost to 15.6V for up to 4 hours, but limit current. I think the "standard" balancing spec for those AGM batteries is 2.6v per cell, or at least that's what I learned some time ago. I'm certainly not an expert on batteries, though, and my head gets confused between AGM, advanced AGM, dry-cell AGM, etc...

 

[brianman]

The fact that there seems to be no easy way to manually release the parking brake is basic design flaw.

Yup. Reported this months ago to ownership.

 

[toto_48313]

Got scared as hell last night with the V4.4 install. My car came with 4.2 so I had no lived through an update yet.

Instead of letting it install at 2am, I decided late last night to trigger the "install now" button
Pressed it, then a 2 min countdown window appeared
After 2 min, lots of clicks, lights closing and... a red warning banner at the top of the 17inch display: "Car needs service, call Tesla Roadside assistance"
Then the red banner disappeared and was replaced by a "Car needs Service" on the odometer display
I went to bed and came back this morning with Upgrade succeeded and the Release notes....

Is that normal?

Yes this is perfectly normal, you can discover many funny behavior during update.

One that I never experience other than during update, is getting the icon on the wheel button illuminated. I ask at the service center, when the lights in the steering wheel button turn on during the "normal " operation? ,and no one was able to answer me so far.

 

[mknox]

One that I never experience other than during update, is getting the icon on the wheel button illuminated. I ask at the service center, when the lights in the steering wheel button turn on during the "normal " operation? ,and no one was able to answer me so far.

If you're referring to the illumination of the steering wheel buttons, I believe they come on when the headlights come on (i.e. the same time the accent lighting comes on, if you have it enabled). Now I'm curious too...

 

[pilotSteve]

Its like watching sausage (or laws) being made. Not pretty! I've sat thru this three different times and after being freaked out a bit the first time now its "normal".

Or you could just say "Update Now"...... and stay away for at least an hour.

Got scared as hell last night with the V4.4 install. My car came with 4.2 so I had no lived through an update yet.

Instead of letting it install at 2am, I decided late last night to trigger the "install now" button
Pressed it, then a 2 min countdown window appeared
After 2 min, lots of clicks, lights closing and... a red warning banner at the top of the 17inch display: "Car needs service, call Tesla Roadside assistance"
Then the red banner disappeared and was replaced by a "Car needs Service" on the odometer display
I went to bed and came back this morning with Upgrade succeeded and the Release notes....

Is that normal?

 

[wycolo]

> Opinions if this is a good way to treat the battery? [MichaelS]

I suspect this is a rather sophisticated approach to battery maintenance. Note the pulsing near the upper voltage range. High frequency pulsing is used to desulfate lead acid batteries (or is it some other chemical component?). Anyway serves to refresh battery. This is applying hyper-voltage onto a fully charged battery so the current involved is very low. So not a stress in the usual sense.

These charts are much appreciated! :love:
--

 

[MichaelS]

it could be an equalizing cycle. But it seems that 6 hours of equalizing is a bit excessive. I would think that the pulsing would be positive rather than negative to rejuvenate the battery. And it could be doing exactly what Tesla designed into the software. I have a message into engineering through the service department. See what they say.

The service center updated the DC-DC converter firmware, so I will be doing another long term test to see if anything is different. The previous charts take a voltage reading every 5 seconds. i will run another longer term test at one minute intervals.

> Opinions if this is a good way to treat the battery? [MichaelS]

I suspect this is a rather sophisticated approach to battery maintenance. Note the pulsing near the upper voltage range. High frequency pulsing is used to desulfate lead acid batteries (or is it some other chemical component?). Anyway serves to refresh battery. This is applying hyper-voltage onto a fully charged battery so the current involved is very low. So not a stress in the usual sense.

These charts are much appreciated! :love:
--

 

[JRP3]

I've used a high frequency pulse charger before and it didn't take the voltage that high that I'm aware of, but it did successfully recover a number of batteries.

 

[FlasherZ]

I've used a high frequency pulse charger before and it didn't take the voltage that high that I'm aware of, but it did successfully recover a number of batteries.

Just a brief search for "equalization charge voltage AGM" leads to a number of sources specifying equalization voltages of 2.6v per cell, across battery manufacturers and charger manufacturers. Certainly 6 hours is a long time, though - several sites recommended maximum 2-4 hour equalization time.

 

[MichaelS]

I heard back from Tesla Engineering today and they say that the charging profile is correct.

And I keep hearing on other threads about 12V batteries failing.

 

[JRP3]

Just a brief search for "equalization charge voltage AGM" leads to a number of sources specifying equalization voltages of 2.6v per cell, across battery manufacturers and charger manufacturers. Certainly 6 hours is a long time, though - several sites recommended maximum 2-4 hour equalization time.

Seems as if it's a last ditch attempt to save a dying AGM battery, not something that should be done regularly.

Equalization, or forced overcharge, is a 15.5 volt charge on a 12 volt battery for several hours. The process will create some heat, and will boil off some electrolyte, but eliminates much of the sulfate as well. The problem is not that you broke down the crystals, through forced overcharge or equalization. Equalization charging eliminates the electrolyte from your closed AGM battery, and you can not replace it. If you equalize the battery for too long, you have a battery without electrolyte, and sulfate, and the battery fails.

http://www.garageforklift.com/charged.php

 

[kendallpb]

Another FWIW .... I just updated to 4.4 and got the message, "Update did not complete ....." Called Tesla and they asked if I was charging when installing the update and I was...

She told me Tesla does NOT recommend charging during an update.

Odd, never heard that and both? all three? updates I've done were while plugged in--whether charging or not, I admit, I can't say for sure. "Not charging during an update" isn't the same as "not being plugged in" so I wonder which she meant. Anyway in either case, if that's actually their recommendation (and not something random this woman said--I've seen cases where person X from Tesla says one thing and person Y, also from Tesla, says something else, sorry...), then they should alert all drivers to this.

 

[aaronw]

I installed 4.4 while I was at work and the car was not plugged in at the time. I had no issues upgrading from 4.3 and don't really notice any changes.

 

[mknox]

I installed 4.4 while I was at work and the car was not plugged in at the time. I had no issues upgrading from 4.3 and don't really notice any changes.

Ditto, although I waited until I was home.

 

[dave]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Al! I have yet to have any problems with my car, and reading this stuff makes me nervous. A few thoughts I had while reading your story:

Never do a firmware update away from home!!! This applies to any electronics whether it be your computer, cell phone, or car. Any type of software update carries inherent risk, so definitely plan to do it when you're safe at home and have the time to mess with it afterwards even if the chances are small. I'm pretty sure when the car says it has an "Update Available" it means it's already downloaded, so 3G coverage is no longer necessary.

The second thought I had was, why don't they send a ranger to install the battery?? I live in Northern KY - probably about the same distance from the Columbus SC as you. From my early days of researching the car, and my subsequent purchase of the service plan, my understanding is that they will send rangers out for warranty repairs like this. I certainly don't want my car being towed hundreds of miles for little things like dead batteries, and if/when I do require service I certainly hope they will send out a ranger instead of requiring towing and the associated hassles.

 

[Al Sherman]

@dave. Yes I had similar thoughts about the Ranger thing. Mostly after the initial shock that my car wouldn't start. I can't say for certain but I think they wanted the car in case it wasn't JUST the 12 volt. Seems as though a variety if major and minor issues will present the same way. The techs only seemed to know that the 12 volt was dead from looking at the car from Fremont. I guess they wanted to check out the related systems that could have ended the car up at the SC anyway. Just a guess.

As far as the updates; Yes good advice. It just never occurred to me that the upgrade was already in the car when I got the window. From now on, no question. Only at the house. Any future problems and I think it'll just sit in the garage and wait for the Ranger service.

As always the SC folks have been wonderful and responsive. They were working on my car at 11pm last night. The towing was a slight fiasco and needs to be tweaked. Specifically, they new to make it clear that the Ebrake is locked and cannot be released. In this case they MUST bring at least 2 dollies that will fit 21 inch wheels. Pretty simple fix and I'll email my suggestions to ownership.

 

[Al Sherman]

Ouch! Update is not a warm fuzzy.

As my niece would say: Oh Poopy!

I thought he was ok since the app found him. Just got an update and they don't know what's wrong.
My saga continues. The only bad part is I'm gonna have to come clean at the golf course on Saturday. Ill never hear the end of it. Been driving the '96 Dodge Ram. Maybe it's time to ask for the P85 loaner? :smile: