First time trying to top up, Level 1

[gillmj24]

I received the car in October 2022 and the seller topped it up for me before I got there with his level 2 charger.

My home charger is being installed in a couple weeks, we've been level 1 with a leaf a bolt and now the S85D since Dec 2020. The other two cars charge to "100%"

First time trying it myself with the tesla overnight. I was expecting it to finish at 3 this afternoon but I just got a notice on my phone that "charging has completed with battery at 97%" even though my charge limit was set to 100.

Still reports 248 miles "full" at 97%. It's a beautiful 60 degrees out now. Is this a battery degradation thing? I figured topping it off for the first time in 6 months would be good for the BMS. Most of my charging is free albeit throttled supercharging and I never go past 82% there. Range seems the same as when I got it.

 

[DayTrippin]

I've found that sometimes it has a mind of its own and will vary a few % based on what the charge level setting is. For example, I keep mine set to 50% to minimize battery degradation (except for when I'll need more of course but never over about 80% except for a trip). It will charge my car somewhere between 49-53%. Rarely under but more often over. This applies to my 3 and S.

 

[GtiMart]

Is it cold outside? On 120V charging won't really heat the battery... When the battery's cold the car likes to report the energy that it thinks it can get out of the pack and not simply the "voltage level" of the cells. Your battery might be charged to 100% but the car says it can only get 97% out of it. That's not a problem and it's not degradation. When I say cold, it doesn't need to be freezing.

If you want to compare, use a level 2 or go to a supercharger and charge to 100%... I think then you'll see 100% on screen.

 

[ucmndd]

Run it down and charge back up a few times, it will find 100.

 

[gillmj24]

It's a nice 60 this morning. I'm not too concerned since the reported range is about where it should be.

 

[WilliamG]

I've found that sometimes it has a mind of its own and will vary a few % based on what the charge level setting is. For example, I keep mine set to 50% to minimize battery degradation (except for when I'll need more of course but never over about 80% except for a trip). It will charge my car somewhere between 49-53%. Rarely under but more often over. This applies to my 3 and S.

Yep, I've had 3 Teslas (a 2019 Model 3 Performance, a 2021 Model S Plaid, and a 2022 Model S Plaid), and all have varied in what the % ends up at between 1-4% on average. Normal battery behavior.

 

[dwbv]

Since my ownership, I've only attempted to charge to 100% once to go to an SC that was 141 miles away. I was only able to get to 98% at 244 miles before it quit. It may have gotten to 100% while I was sleeping but when I was heading out at 6AM, it was showing 98% and no longer charging. At the time, it was with a level 1 charger only. I've got a 2015 P85D that just turned over 16K miles on the clock. I've got level 2 now but have not had a need to go to 100%.

I have no evidence for this so take it with a grain of salt for fixing the 100% charge issue: I read on a post in a facebook group that said you should charge your battery to 90-95% and then let the car sit for a few days and let the BMS balance out the batteries. The argument was that it was very hard to charge "every" cell to 100% so the car will stop short of 100% to keep the HV battery safe. Also that anything above 80% is when the BMS will actually work at balancing the cells so it's a good idea to keep the battery above 80% to keep the cells balanced overall. Afterwards, you would eventually achieve 100% charge. Again, I just read this and it kinda makes sense but I have not personally tried this as everything I've read thus far is to not charge up that high and then just leave it.

I set my charge to 70% (down from 85% because I was trying to copy my samsung phone) and just leave the car plugged in 24/7. My commute to work and back is only 20 miles so it's not a big deal to me at all at this point. Probably gonna drop it down to 50% since all the loaner cars at the SC that I visited had their charge setting to 50% and they all seemed to be plugged in 24/7 as well.

 

[gillmj24]

I never need 100% either, was just curious if "all that supercharging" started to hurt the battery. Also I was taking a "long" (not really just longer than usual) trip Friday and there were plenty of chargers but was on a tight schedule on the trip up. Went about 110 miles and arrived with 38%, but it was fast driving and uphill. Supercharged to 67% Sunday morning and made it home with 20% driving a bit slower and more downhill.