I left my lights in overnight

[Richard__G]

LOL.

Was this an attempt at turning the energy created from burning gasoline back into electrons?

What can I say? I’m just an old fashioned guy who used to work on ICEs.

 

[Goobers]

Reminds me of last week. There’s this older person that lives near where I work, so I always see their vehicle, a Honda HR-V. Almost the same as the one I traded in, mine has the face lift update, theirs didn’t. It had its flashers on all night until it stopped flashing and was stuck barely lit later on. They must’ve had some fun the next day.

 

[fholbert]

Cool move, not too proud of it.

Do the lights draw power from the 12v battery or the main battery?
As a precaution & assuming that if it was the 12v battery (and harkening back to the olden days of alternators charging batteries), I did some highway driving with no heat etc. for about 30 min. hoping to make up for some or all of whatever charge was lost.

Am i now safe, battery wise?

TIA - Richard

Not sure what driving it for 30 minutes did? That works with ICE vehicles because the engine turns the alternator. Your 12v (really 15.5v) battery is charged by the high voltage battery.

 

[father_of_6]

What can I say? I’m just an old fashioned guy who used to work on ICEs.

I like old fashioned people. Way better then the new kind they're making these days.

 

[Richard__G]

I like old fashioned people. Way better then the new kind they're making these days.

LOL!

 

[rrolsbe]

100% nothing to worry about. The headlights are run off the 'low voltage' battery, which in a gas car is only charged up when the engine is running. In an EV, that 'low-voltage' battery is charged up from the 'high voltage' battery any time it needs it, regardless of whether the car is 'on' or not. You would probably have the leave your headlights on for a full year before you killed the high-voltage battery.

With the headlights on the car should not be allowed to sleep. Ideally the car should go to sleep and turn the headlights off. The power drawn from the HV traction battery while awake is somewhere between 200-250W. So the power used per day could be as much a 6kWh which would last less than two weeks. If for some reason the headlights were on and the car was asleep (contactors open), the 12/16V battery would probably die overnight.

 

[Big Earl]

With the headlights on the car should not be allowed to sleep. The power drawn from the HV traction battery while awake is somewhere between 200-250W. So the power used per day could be as much a 6kWh which would last less than two weeks. If for some reason the headlights were on and the car was asleep (contactors open), the 12/16V battery would probably die overnight.

The car will sleep with the headlights on. It will just wake up more frequently to recharge the 12 volt battery.

 

[rrolsbe]

The car will sleep with the headlights on. It will just wake up more frequently to recharge the 12 volt battery.

Learn something new everyday. Not going to verify it myself. Thanks for the info.

 

[Richard__G]

With the headlights on the car should not be allowed to sleep. Ideally the car should go to sleep and turn the headlights off. The power drawn from the HV traction battery while awake is somewhere between 200-250W. So the power used per day could be as much a 6kWh which would last less than two weeks. If for some reason the headlights were on and the car was asleep (contactors open), the 12/16V battery would probably die overnight.

Thanks. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson.

 

[drtimhill]

Cool move, not too proud of it.

Do the lights draw power from the 12v battery or the main battery?
As a precaution & assuming that if it was the 12v battery (and harkening back to the olden days of alternators charging batteries), I did some highway driving with no heat etc. for about 30 min. hoping to make up for some or all of whatever charge was lost.

Am i now safe, battery wise?

TIA - Richard

The car rechargers the 12V battery from the main (high voltage) battery when it needs to (even when it is parked). There is no alternator and no need to drive the car around to top up the 12V battery. So ultimately EVERYTHING is powered by the main battery, though mores things are powered indirectly via the intermediate 12V battery.

 

[Richard__G]

The car rechargers the 12V battery from the main (high voltage) battery when it needs to (even when it is parked). There is no alternator and no need to drive the car around to top up the 12V battery. So ultimately EVERYTHING is powered by the main battery, though mores things are powered indirectly via the intermediate 12V battery.

Great to know. Thanks a lot!

 

[455dan]

The problem is that a recent software update changed the car's behavior.

Previously, you could set the lights to ON or PARKING and they would return to AUTO when you put the car in park and got out of the seat.

Now, setting the lights to ON or PARKING keeps them on until the next time you start the car (get in and press the brake).

This change results in inadvertently leaving the lights on when you get out of the car. Yes, there is an alert that lets you know the lights are on - presuming you have a working driver's seat occupancy sensor, which I do not.

As mentioned by others, the 12 volt battery will be recharged automatically by the high voltage battery. You can leave your lights on indefinitely without issue.

It was handy for me the other evening.

Tesla Y parked in garage with no windows power went out (winter storm).

I had my phone in my pocket so turned on it's flashlight. Then walked to the MY and turned on the headlights, which allowed me to find the buried emergency generator that was stored under a bench with all the light from the Tesla I was able to gas up the generator check oil move the generator outside fire it up and power up the important things in the house.

Tesla to the rescue again. Now if it had bidirectional V to house, so I did not even need the genny for the 3 hours power was out...

 

[Richard__G]

The car rechargers the 12V battery from the main (high voltage) battery when it needs to (even when it is parked). There is no alternator and no need to drive the car around to top up the 12V battery. So ultimately EVERYTHING is powered by the main battery, though mores things are powered indirectly via the intermediate 12V battery.

So I've *JUST* learned in this thread. Thanks!

 

[sleepydoc]

The problem is that a recent software update changed the car's behavior.

Previously, you could set the lights to ON or PARKING and they would return to AUTO when you put the car in park and got out of the seat.

Now, setting the lights to ON or PARKING keeps them on until the next time you start the car (get in and press the brake).

This change results in inadvertently leaving the lights on when you get out of the car. Yes, there is an alert that lets you know the lights are on - presuming you have a working driver's seat occupancy sensor, which I do not.

As mentioned by others, the 12 volt battery will be recharged automatically by the high voltage battery. You can leave your lights on indefinitely without issue.

Yes - I noticed this recently, too. Rather frustrating. There also appears to be no way to turn them off from the app - doubly frustrating! There are many times when the ‘auto’ setting doesn’t activate and I want/need the lights on. The old system was nice as I could simply ignore the warning and Tesla would turn them off for me. It would have been nice for them to highlight the change. (No pun intended)

 

[sleepydoc]

The car rechargers the 12V battery from the main (high voltage) battery when it needs to (even when it is parked). There is no alternator and no need to drive the car around to top up the 12V battery. So ultimately EVERYTHING is powered by the main battery, though mores things are powered indirectly via the intermediate 12V battery.

Can we count the DC-DC converter as an alternator?

 

[drtimhill]

Can we count the DC-DC converter as an alternator?

and the electric motors as steam engines.

 

[sleepydoc]

and the electric motors as steam engines.

My dad had an old Dodge with a bad radiator. That was kind of like a steam engine!

 

[drtimhill]

My dad had an old Dodge with a bad radiator. That was kind of like a steam engine!

close enough

 

[EVer Hopeful]

I like old fashioned people. Way better then the new kind they're making these days.

That's what the generation before you said ... about YOU