Firmware 4.5

[kendallpb]

Looks interesting! But. . . .

- I hope there's a stealth fix in there to restore the auto-tilting of the mirrors. ;-(

- I'm not sure I really want it drawing shore power overnight as soon as charging stops; shouldn't the be configurable?

- I like Standard/Max; as someone else said, this % thing had better come with guidance. I'm not sure how I'd know what % to pick.

Anyway, I welcome all software updates!

 

[MichaelS]

The only way to fix the auto tilt mirror issue is to take the car into a service center and have the tech reenable that feature in the car. It won't get fixed through an update.

Looks interesting! But. . . .
- I hope there's a stealth fix in there to restore the auto-tilting of the mirrors. ;-(

- I'm not sure I really want it drawing shore power overnight as soon as charging stops; shouldn't the be configurable?

- I like Standard/Max; as someone else said, this % thing had better come with guidance. I'm not sure how I'd know what % to pick.

Anyway, I welcome all software updates!

 

[Todd Burch]

- I'm not sure I really want it drawing shore power overnight as soon as charging stops; shouldn't the be configurable?

No. If you're not drawing from the wall, you're drawing from the battery, which means unnecessary cycling of the pack. Plus you lose efficiency because the wall AC needs to be stored as DC in the pack, then drawn out again. This is less efficient than converting to DC and going straight to power components.

 

[bonnie]

Some posts moved over to Grammar Misteaks, Spelling Misteaks, and Bad Puns ). Apologies to the innocent bystanders.

This is a car forum. Grammar & spelling mistakes are (mostly) tolerated. Forum members come from all over the world and you will find all sorts of creative ways to use language to communicate. Again, this is a car forum. If you find you simply cannot help yourself, I suggest that 1) you stay away from twitter, and 2) lend a hand over at Grammar Forum - Grammar Questions Answers, Discussions .

 

[PopSmith]

- I like Standard/Max; as someone else said, this % thing had better come with guidance. I'm not sure how I'd know what % to pick.

This would be nice, especially for the general public. Have a message by each percentage (especially the lower ones, 30% and 50%) like the "Range Mode" charge. This could mention that the lower percentages are more intended for storage than actual driving and that a standard charge is better for everyday use. (Or whatever the case may be, based on Tesla's data gathering in regards to battery life.)

 

[Seattle]

We will probably need a 4G connection for that. As it stands now, the map refresh while driving down the highway can barely keep up. Refreshes to maintain north while turning are an equal challenge on a 3G connection.

No, you wouldn't need 4g. My 3g galaxy nexus is way faster at working with the map (rotates, zoom in/out), and has about as many pixels as our 17" screens. I think that tesla just hasn't optimized their os and map application as well as google. 4g in my humble opinion has little crucial use at this time other than video streaming and the people who use it for their home internet connection.

 

[ITSELE]

Some posts moved over to Grammar Misteaks, Spelling Misteaks, and Bad Puns ). Apologies to the innocent bystanders.

This is a car forum. Grammar & spelling mistakes are (mostly) tolerated. Forum members come from all over the world and you will find all sorts of creative ways to use language to communicate. Again, this is a car forum. If you find you simply cannot help yourself, I suggest that 1) you stay away from twitter, and 2) lend a hand over at Grammar Forum - Grammar Questions Answers, Discussions .

I understand and tolerate errors in grammar and spelling from other forum members. I was pointing out an error within the Tesla 4.5 update documentation... hoping that someone from Tesla would see the error and correct it before they release the update.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Can't say for certain, but I would think that such a great and wanted feature would NOT be removed unless there were some significant issues with it. That you havent run into them is great. But, I suspect there's the possibility something not good or desired could happen. I'd keep an eye on your 12V battery for instance. Just a suggestion, not an indictment.

Zero issues here over the course of 4 months on v4.1. I've left the car to sit in deep sleep, unplugged for days at a time with very little vampire drain and no 12v issues. If anything, it should be less of a hit to the 12v since that's where most of the accessories draw from, and my accessories are powering down.

No wake up issues either (this is where there were lots of problems on older cars). The car goes to deep sleep about 3 hours after I turn it off or it finishes charging. It wakes up every time in about 15 seconds from when I open the door. Just a few seconds longer than it takes to climb in and buckle up.

100% perfect. I'm sure Tesla is hard at work to bring this back for all, once they resolve whatever edge cases, timing difficulties, or work arounds for slightly out of spec modules they need. In the meantime, I ain't giving this up until they do! *

--EarlyAdopter, last of the v4.1's.


* Tesla, please don't forcibly override my firmware. If you're thinking about it, let's talk, mkay?

 

[andrewket]

Waiting for 4.5 firmware [now with release notes]

No. If you're not drawing from the wall, you're drawing from the battery, which means unnecessary cycling of the pack. Plus you lose efficiency because the wall AC needs to be stored as DC in the pack, then drawn out again. This is less efficient than converting to DC and going straight to power components.

This is all true, but for people on TOU plans they may prefer to draw from the battery rather than incur very high usage rates during peak times.

 

[Todd Burch]

This is all true, but for people on TOU plans they may prefer to draw from the battery rather than incur very high usage rates during peak times.

Good point--but if you work out the economics (increased cost at peak rates vs. faster degredation of the battery pack and less efficient use of energy), it's not immediately clear to me which method would come out ahead.

 

[cdabel]

The percentage slider will help insulate against "Brodering". It´s one thing to say that "I charged the car to full, but no one told me to use range mode instead of standard mode", and quite another to not understand what a % of charge means.

 

[zax123]

Good point--but if you work out the economics (increased cost at peak rates vs. faster degredation of the battery pack and less efficient use of energy), it's not immediately clear to me which method would come out ahead.

And we're not talking about a lot of electrons here... just enough to keep the pack conditioned and run the onboard computers... we're talking MAYBE a few amps?

 

[andrewket]

And we're not talking about a lot of electrons here... just enough to keep the pack conditioned and run the onboard computers... we're talking MAYBE a few amps?

A few amps times 365 adds up. I think my point is that it should be an option.

 

[Todd Burch]

A few amps times 365 adds up. I think my point is that it should be an option.

I guess it should be an option unless someone works out the math and determines that--even with expensive peak rates--using shore power still comes out ahead.

 

[toto_48313]

% slider is a good option according to me, however some usage guidance should come with it.

Should i charge to 30 % all the time, and put more only when I need more and charge it at hight Amp level
Or is it better to keep it at 75 % and charge more at a low Amp level for the rare occasion needed?
Or should I put 30 % on monday, 40 % Tuesday, 50 % Wednesday , 60 % T, 70 % F and top it on the week end?

All customer are not Batteries experts.

The other great improvement is the charging location... next enhancement request, being able to sort the use location per charge level...

Thank Tesla for offering us a better car almost every month.

 

[qwk]

Something that nobody has brought up, is the effect that lower charges might have on pack balancing. Some roadsters had a big problem with this, and had to be range charged/left to sit a few times in order to get the pack back into balance.

 

[FlasherZ]

I guess it should be an option unless someone works out the math and determines that--even with expensive peak rates--using shore power still comes out ahead.

Well, let's calculate it. 6 kW pre-heat at half an hour is 3 kWh, or 1.5 kWh if you feel comfy after 15 minutes. $0.50 to $1.00 per day at the most expensive rates I've seen, roughly, compared to $0.15-$0.30? Between $100 and $250/year, roughly?

EDIT: This assumes a lot of things, namely that the heater is constantly on the entire time, and that's not necessarily likely. If I had to take a shot at it, I'd say the $100 figure is probably close if you used shore power every single day and had reasonable temps set in the cabin. This also doesn't deal with battery degradation - instead, it looks at the raw economics of cabin pre-heating at peak vs. using power in the battery pack that was charged at non-peak.

- - - Updated - - -

- I'm not sure I really want it drawing shore power overnight as soon as charging stops; shouldn't the be configurable?

My belief is that it will be only drawing shore power when you have large loads, like pre-heating the cabin. So after charging stops, unless you turn on the climate control (or the car does its 24-hour top-off), shore power wouldn't be used.

Remember, the car has to signal to the EVSE (UMC/HPWC/etc.) to turn on to deliver power to the car, so you'll be able to see when it's drawing shore power.

 

[MichaelS]

Li-Ion battery life is the longest when the charge level is kept close to 50%. Depending on your needs for range, you could cycle the pack around your range needs. For example if you only drive 30 miles a day, you could charge to 115 miles rated and discharge to 85 miles rated (60 kWh pack 100 mile range at 50%). I think that there is too much worrying about pack life. Unless the pack is really abused, any kind of charging protocol that fits your life style will be just fine.

Firmware 4.5 is supposed to implement shore power maintenance of the car. I have 4.4 and for the first time I plugged the car in at home and stopped charging at 131 miles rated. I left the car plugged in with the J1772. When I left for work this morning the rated range was 130 miles. Normally I lose about 8 miles range in 12 hours with the car not plugged in. So it seems to me that the car already makes up for vampire loses when plugged in and not actively charging.

 

[gregincal]

I guess it should be an option unless someone works out the math and determines that--even with expensive peak rates--using shore power still comes out ahead.

Given that my daytime rate is 10x my nighttime rate (31 cents/kWh versus 3.8 cents/kWh) I don't see how it could. However, it's a small enough amount that I won't worry about it (and most days my car isn't plugged in during the day, it's at work).

 

[djp]

% slider is a good option according to me, however some usage guidance should come with it.

Agreed they should include some guidance but I think it can be a few simple rules of thumb.

1. Don't leave the car sitting at high SOC for long periods of time.

2. Charge to what you plan to use the next day.

3. Give yourself a buffer so you don't risk running out of charge.

For example, if you plan to drive over 200 miles, charge to 100%. If you know you'll be driving less than 70 miles, charge to 50%.

Maintaining a lower SOC is better for battery life but comes with a trade-off of less range. The slider is a great addition which lets owners manage this trade-off based on how they plan to use the car. I'm sure it'll still default to the equivalent of a Standard Charge for those who don't worry about their range.