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Jaff
Active Member
I just signed up, received the little thingy to attach to my S, and promptly went away camping for a month with the car parked. The program documentation says you can get all sorts of detailed information about what your car is doing, but I haven't logged in to check the one day of driving that I did with the doohickey installed.
Note that your car's GPS information will also be tracked by Fleetcarma... so, those of you with life parts to hide maybe think twice!
Note that your car's GPS information will also be tracked by Fleetcarma... so, those of you with life parts to hide maybe think twice!
Be sure this device actually works with Teslas if you want to get logging data from Fleetcarma. The Tesla OBD port only supplies power, not data, unless they have some special arrangement or something has changed. I assume they expect the usual data of what the car is doing to be supplied to the device (from what I see in looking at how their device works from documents I find on the web...).
GPS tracking probably comes from the device itself, so that should definitely work.
GPS tracking probably comes from the device itself, so that should definitely work.
mknox
Well-Known Member
While the device itself has an OBD II plug, they give you a little dongle if you say you have a Tesla. The dongle connects to the proprietary connector behind the center cubby and the FleetCarma device plugs into that. Works great.
Yup, what he said. I checked today and my one day of around-town driving and a little bit of charging was recorded and I have access to more information than I had before (e.g., all trip and charging info).
Lots of changes to Model S internals ... the install video from Fleetcarma into the OBD II plug (behind the cubby under the central screen) is either woefully out of date or current cars have a lot more space in there. In my car, there's no place to put the FC device, it won't quite fit through the plastic holes behind the cubby. The video shows lots of room, in fact no hard plastic backing at all IIRC.
I don't know (yet?). I installed the device, drove for one day, then headed out for a month of camping (not in the S). Won't get back to it until August.
mknox
Well-Known Member
It fit fine in my early 2013. Although the cubby would not fully detach as shown in the video... it would only swing down when the front clips release. Mine seemed to be lined with "felt" on the top side of the cubby. I just tucked everything inside and swung the cubby back into place and it worked great. It's snug enough that there are no rattles either.
I was worried about this too, but it doesn't seemed to have made any material difference to my already high vampire drain. Probably the same as a permanently connected dash cam (which I also have).
EDIT: Just realized this is in the Model X section of the forums. My comments are specific to a Model S. The Model X cubby may be different.
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May I ask for more details on how you installed yours behind the cubby? In my 2015 model s the cubby seems to behave the same way as yours. Only that I can't seem to be able to reach any cables while it swings in place.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Not really much more to it. I popped the retainer clips, swung the cubby down and the Tesla diagnostic connector was right there. It is an electrical connector on the end of a short piece of wire. I plugged the dongle/adapter into this connector, tucked the dongle and wiring up in there, and closed the cubby back up. That's it.
The dongle is made for OBD II ports, so they sent a short cable with an OBD II receptacle on one end and a Tesla diagnostic plug on the other.
I installed the device on my 2017 Model S. I had a problem with my cellular audio service and with my connected cell phone. The signal to the audio and phone were seriously degraded. I contacted fleetcarma and they said they knew about the problem and there was a workaround. I decided to cancel my membership and will send the device back. Too bad.
mknox
Well-Known Member
I get the old 2G cellular interference sound. Made me nostalgic about how my old BlackBerry used to make these noises in my car, on my computer speakers etc. if the phone was too close. I just put up with it because I know what it is and can't be bothered moving it further away from the 17" screen. And it only makes the noise occasionally when it's transmitting.
But absolutely no degradation to the audio and phone signal. Curious to hear more about that. My car's 3G connection and my iPhone's LTE connection both remain unaffected.
