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How I Recovered Half of my Battery's Lost Capacity

Discussion in 'Model 3: Battery & Charging' started by SomeJoe7777, Aug 27, 2020.

  1. Bad Dolphin

    Bad Dolphin Member

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    Hawaii
     
  2. Pricedm

    Pricedm Member

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    Denver, CO
    Use voice command! Right button on the steering wheel. Just yesterday, in a rain storm, I activated voice control and said "turn on rear defroster." Ta-da, it's on. PS-- my 3 likes a "please" at the end of each command
     
  3. 2Old2Bold

    2Old2Bold New Member

    Joined:
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    Florida
    Dear WattBeatsGas,

    I get it! I am getting ready to enter my 7th decade. My woodworking partner who is 15 years my senior inspired me to get serious, give up my old convertible ICE car and get a Model 3 Long range. He was an early adopter and is on his 3rd S.

    Like all of us, old habits are hard to break. That said I spent a lot of time in the first month of ownership to get all the setting just the way I like them. That's how I got over my learning curve. This minimizes, 'while driving changes' which makes my life, and 'No Name's' (that's what I call my TM 3) better.

    Now I will NEVER go back to an ICE car. My wife gets a bit upset when go someplace in her Subaru, get to destination, I get out and walk away while the car is still running. heh heh, that's how much the Model 3 has retrained me :)

    Now to the point of this article...
    - Bought the M3 in Nov 2018, have about 20,000 miles on it. Generally run it down to about 20% before charging at home.
    - Charge every other week or so, sometimes longer in between.
    - Took 3 round trips to RI about 1,400 miles, charge to 100% before leaving, use the Super Charger network on route.
    - My daily commute to woodshop is about 2 miles. Occasional 100 ish mile local trips once a month or so.
    - Sentry mode is normally on except when parked at home

    I have not seen much degradation at all, about 10 miles / 3% loss life to date. Maybe it is my retired lifestyle or Irish luck, but I am happy with battery behavior thus far,

    Thanks for listening
     
    • Like x 3
  4. Wennfred

    Wennfred Supporting Member

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    #44 Wennfred, Aug 28, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2020
    Thank you very much, will try these methods and report back on a week, I turned off Sentry mode and also use TezLab to put the Model 3 in Deep sleep.

    This is where I am at today.

    7A9FD0BC-5CD5-4A06-9BC4-349D6A7F00A4.jpeg
    Fred
     
  5. Raechris

    Raechris Member

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    I don't have a M3 (MS) but can't you use the talk button to control nearly all the M3 vehicle functions (E.g. wipers, glove box). This is not intended to be snarky but helpful tip if you have not tried it. My MCU1 is not very responsive to speech but when it works it works well.
     
  6. jpfive

    jpfive Supporting Member

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    I resemble this.
     
    • Funny x 1
  7. Rickland

    Rickland New Member

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    isn’t battery/range also affected by temperatures? Especially reduced range in cold weather?
     
  8. MikeHolliday

    MikeHolliday Member

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    #48 MikeHolliday, Aug 28, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2020
    I am a senior also and love my Model Y. If you are having a problem, use Voice Commands...

    You only need to push the Right Button on the Steering Wheel and state, Turn on Air Conditioner, Turn off Air Conditioner, Increase Fan 5 or Decrease Fan 3, Set Climate Control 72 degrees, Play Beetles Music, Play Simon & Garfunkel, Play Disney Music (for grandkids), Open Frunk, Open Trunk, Set Cruise to 75, Windshield Wipers Speed 2, Windshield Wipers Auto, Windshield Wipers Off, Open Easter Eggs…

    I love Voice Commands!!!
     
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  9. Dave EV

    Dave EV Active Member

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    Informative post, which I basically summarize as:

    Charge to whatever SOC you feel is best, then recharge once you get below 100 miles or so.

    Another observation which many people have been saying for a long time - change the display to show % instead of miles and stop worrying about it! No actual range has been lost.

    That said, the comments about the balancing resistors being made 10x smaller to reduce vampire drain and thus balancing taking longer, don't make any sense to me. The amount of energy required to balance the pack is the same whether you use large resistors or small resistors is the same, so the load put on each module by the balancing circuit should have no effect on vampire drain in the BMS. Also, if Tesla wanted to reduce this error, they could easily change the BMS to pause balancing for a long enough to get accurate OCV voltages before proceeding with balancing, eliminating the need for the car to sit for 3 hours before taking OCV data.
     
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  10. Webeevdrivers

    Webeevdrivers Active Member

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    wow. Invaluable. Thanks.
     
    • Like x 1
  11. 11dString

    11dString New Member

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    Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Great post!
     
  12. LDMD7

    LDMD7 Member

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    Not at all. OP is merely explaining that actual range > predicted range if the car doesn’t get a chance to sleep and perform this process. Your M3 will be just as awesome to drive whether you do as OP did.

    As for reaching for the A/C, it’s muscle memory. I’m 61 and are ICE controls easier? Sure! But your brain builds new pathways when you do things that are difficult. Which helps you maintain your faculties and protects you from memory loss and that slippery slope.

    So a Tesla can help you stay young!
     
    • Like x 2
  13. Jromf

    Jromf Member

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    I know this is written in English but, dag nab it, I can barely understand it. Even with a law school education. Will study it, though.
     
    • Funny x 2
  14. FarmerDave

    FarmerDave Supporting Member

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    As mentioned previously, you can operate the wipers for a quick sweep by pressing the button on the end of the stalk, or hold it in for the washer. Temperature & fan speed can be changed using voice commands after pressing the right hand button on the steering wheel.

    As with most devices, for best results RTFM.
     
  15. CSFTN

    CSFTN Member

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    Respectfully disagree. You could jus drive it and don't worry about the miles of range. Just do that which the Nav tells you, and you will be fine. Unless of course you are traversing a gap of 300+ miles with somewhere between 0 and 2 DCFC on the route.
     
  16. SoloPilot

    SoloPilot Member

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    We could build an app that charges the vehicle to specific levels each evening. That would help generate many calibration points.
     
    • Like x 1
  17. ElectricMozart

    Joined:
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    Monterey
    My LR AWD range has been steadily declining over the past 2 years and I'm nearly at the level the OP has at 272 miles at 100% SOC. I've tried lots of "calibrations" with no luck. However, this information is promising so I'll try this too with some hope. My commute is 130 miles roundtrip so I usually charge daily but I will try to rest the battery at different SOC's and see if it helps. Thank you for this info. Here's hoping.

    Edit, forgot to mention, I just had my battery breather valves replaces this week due to unusual loud pops when supercharging. Coincidentally, I lost another 8 miles of range shortly after. Unsure if it had anything to do with it.
     
    • Like x 1
  18. ElectricMozart

    Joined:
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    #58 ElectricMozart, Aug 28, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2020
    However the car thinks the range has been lost. I'm unlikely to drive my car to 0 to find out if its hiding range so I drive within the 20-90% of the battery displayed range. I recently went on a 800 mile drive with a 250 mile stretch with no tesla charging. My displayed range is 272 miles and my car's nav plotted the route as if I could make it with 10% left at my destination. Well, I could not..even driving at the rated wh/mi, I was gonna be stuck so luckily I had the foresight to buy the expensive Chademo adapter and plug in at a 3rd party charger on the way to add another 20% or so. Point is, on long drives, its good to know what the cars estimated range in miles is because outside major interstates, tesla charging can be vastly spread out and the nav estimations are far to optimistic.
     
    • Informative x 1
  19. earthwormjim

    earthwormjim Member

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    I hate when this suggestion is posted. It display true ignorance on the part of the poster, and belittles people legitimately concerned with the batteries in their car. The range display is our only readily available window into the supposed health of the batteries.

    Besides, percentage will still reveal the issue you are trying to bury your head into the sand to not see. You'll see that your ending percentage after your daily commute will be lower and lower, despite maintaining the same wh/mi and charging habits. My commute, which used to take my car from 90% to 76-75%, now takes my car from 90% to 68-67%, despite maintaining roughly same wh/mi average.
     
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  20. gaswalla

    gaswalla Model S,3,X.. CT with Austin delivery

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    there are lots of really smart people here.. so impressed
    and a bunch of people who keep posting about how to open the glovebox with voice command
     
    • Funny x 7
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