Live in texas and get a lot of phantom drain during a 10 hr work day, about 16 to 20 miles. Is it safe to turn climate onto non ac or can I just shut it off. only owned tesla mod 3 for about a week. just really kills me to lose that much power since I commute 60 miles each way. installing wall charger this weekend so range should not be an issue. just want to know everything about the tesla options. mine is a 21 model 3 standard range. TIA
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Is it ok to turn off Cabin Overheat Setting?
- Thread starter havelka44
- Start date
I just recently bought a SR+ as well. I don't have overheat protection on but I keep sentry mode on while I'm at work for 8hrs. I lose around 4% consistently for my 8hr day with sentry mode. There's no need to keep overheat protection on. It's just a feature to protect any valuable items you don't want getting super hot. My car has been fine in 90+ degree weather.
Sure, why not. Try turning it to no AC (where I keep mine) or if you want, turn it off. Just access your car in the app 4-5 minutes before you are ready to leave wherever you are when parked outside, to remotely turn on the AC.
====================
(moderator note: changed thread title to better reflect what was being asked)
Last edited:
Try it, and check your interior temp in middle of day to see how hot it gets. If you find alot of range loss is not due to climate setting but sentry, try parking by backing in, may reduce number of spurious recordings using up range.
Awesome thanks alot!
okay never thought about all the movement. I try and park in the back to avoid the rush at the end of the day. but i will give it a try.
I got my Model 3 LR RWD in May of 2018 - before the Overheat Protection feature existed. I went through the first summer here in Phoenix just like a legacy ICE car, with the interior roasting in the sunshine. No issues at all - other than the normal "ouch, ouch, ouch" when putting hands on the steering wheel.
Putting Overheat protection on "No AC" will drastically reduce your daily phantom drain, but still keep the interior a lot cooler than without it.
These days, I'm not putting many miles on my Model 3, so I leave "Overheat Protection" on A/C just for the comfort factor of getting in the car (and if I'm really a wimp, I'll set the climate control to stay on when I get out of the car). 16 miles of range equates to about 4 kwh which is about $0.25 at the off-peak rate I charge at.
I'm not concerned about the interior temperature of the car (I've measured air temps of 165F inside the car during the summer, and interior surfaces exposed to the sun at 190F). Tesla is using the same materials and electronics as other car makers, and they've all learned to deal with those kinds of temperatures. The only thing that concerns me is the display - units that size are fairly new in the auto world (other than the Model S, and that one had a few issues...), and I'm slightly concerned about it's lifetime in full heat. On the other hand, I haven't read about significant failures of Model 3 displays, so my concern is probably unnecessary.
Putting Overheat protection on "No AC" will drastically reduce your daily phantom drain, but still keep the interior a lot cooler than without it.
These days, I'm not putting many miles on my Model 3, so I leave "Overheat Protection" on A/C just for the comfort factor of getting in the car (and if I'm really a wimp, I'll set the climate control to stay on when I get out of the car). 16 miles of range equates to about 4 kwh which is about $0.25 at the off-peak rate I charge at.
I'm not concerned about the interior temperature of the car (I've measured air temps of 165F inside the car during the summer, and interior surfaces exposed to the sun at 190F). Tesla is using the same materials and electronics as other car makers, and they've all learned to deal with those kinds of temperatures. The only thing that concerns me is the display - units that size are fairly new in the auto world (other than the Model S, and that one had a few issues...), and I'm slightly concerned about it's lifetime in full heat. On the other hand, I haven't read about significant failures of Model 3 displays, so my concern is probably unnecessary.
I dont know, that screen is my concern too. I got a really nice windshield screen I use all the time, and it also helps with the in car temps (and keeps direct sun off the screen, which was reason 1A in why I bought it.
As with many new Tesla owners, I'm currently very interested to know and understand energy usage. Over the past week, I've tried several apps which can give you more information about the car, specifically TezLab, Tessie, TeslaFi and even A Better Route Planner. Unfortunately, Stats App for Tesla is iOS only, so I couldn't try it.
I highly recommend TeslaFi. While it is the ugliest (by far) and not designed for a mobile device (barely usable if not on a computer), it can show you exactly when Overheat Protection is kicking in an how much energy it's using.
Teslas basically have three modes which TeslaFi calls Driving, Idle and Sleep. TeslaFi (and only TeslaFi as far as I've found), will tell you exactly when a car is in each state and how much energy was used. So you can look back to see when the car woke up, did some stuff and then went back to sleep. Someday, I'll use this to be able to tell exactly how much energy Sentry mode is using, so I can figure out when/how we can use during an upcoming trip. In particular, I'm curious how much of the drain is caused by being in Idle mode vs Idle + Sentry Mode.
Anyways, back to Overheat Protection...
Thanks to TeslaFi I can see that our car woke up at 12:13 PM yesterday because the interior temperature had reached 102 F. It eventually cooled the interior to 93 F and then for some strange reason had troubles going back to sleep and finally slept at 4:44 PM. Over that period, it used 1.24 kWh which per rating is 5.74 miles of range. Given that my wife's commute only uses 2.5-3.0 kWh each way, this is a big deal for us. From what I'm reading above and elsewhere, it sounds like it should be safe to disable Overheat Protection.
For point of reference, our car's longest sleep cycle was 6 hours 53 min which used 0.09 kWh or .43 miles of range.
One word of caution about trying these apps... During sleep mode, the car can only tell it it's sleeping. It can't give any other information. But sleep mode is where it's most efficient. Apps need to wake the Telsa up from Sleep in order to get any information about it. And frustratingly, most apps do this every time you use it. If you try TeslaFi, you'll go crazy for a few days trying to figure out why the car is switching from Sleep to Idle so many times a day.
My recommendation is to start with just TeslaFi and the Tesla app and try to keep track of every interaction with each and the car so that that evening you can associate the changes with what you are doing. Just focus in on when/why it's switching modes. Then you can try different apps (one at a time) and you should be able to see how they impact the sleep cycles.
Or...you can just enjoy your car and occasionally ask the community when you are curious. As for Overheat Protection, I'm still not clear on what problem it's trying to solve (is it for the car? for our stuff we left in the car? for us?), but I do know that for us yesterday it cost almost 6 miles of range, and we'll be shutting it off.
I highly recommend TeslaFi. While it is the ugliest (by far) and not designed for a mobile device (barely usable if not on a computer), it can show you exactly when Overheat Protection is kicking in an how much energy it's using.
Teslas basically have three modes which TeslaFi calls Driving, Idle and Sleep. TeslaFi (and only TeslaFi as far as I've found), will tell you exactly when a car is in each state and how much energy was used. So you can look back to see when the car woke up, did some stuff and then went back to sleep. Someday, I'll use this to be able to tell exactly how much energy Sentry mode is using, so I can figure out when/how we can use during an upcoming trip. In particular, I'm curious how much of the drain is caused by being in Idle mode vs Idle + Sentry Mode.
Anyways, back to Overheat Protection...
Thanks to TeslaFi I can see that our car woke up at 12:13 PM yesterday because the interior temperature had reached 102 F. It eventually cooled the interior to 93 F and then for some strange reason had troubles going back to sleep and finally slept at 4:44 PM. Over that period, it used 1.24 kWh which per rating is 5.74 miles of range. Given that my wife's commute only uses 2.5-3.0 kWh each way, this is a big deal for us. From what I'm reading above and elsewhere, it sounds like it should be safe to disable Overheat Protection.
For point of reference, our car's longest sleep cycle was 6 hours 53 min which used 0.09 kWh or .43 miles of range.
One word of caution about trying these apps... During sleep mode, the car can only tell it it's sleeping. It can't give any other information. But sleep mode is where it's most efficient. Apps need to wake the Telsa up from Sleep in order to get any information about it. And frustratingly, most apps do this every time you use it. If you try TeslaFi, you'll go crazy for a few days trying to figure out why the car is switching from Sleep to Idle so many times a day.
My recommendation is to start with just TeslaFi and the Tesla app and try to keep track of every interaction with each and the car so that that evening you can associate the changes with what you are doing. Just focus in on when/why it's switching modes. Then you can try different apps (one at a time) and you should be able to see how they impact the sleep cycles.
Or...you can just enjoy your car and occasionally ask the community when you are curious. As for Overheat Protection, I'm still not clear on what problem it's trying to solve (is it for the car? for our stuff we left in the car? for us?), but I do know that for us yesterday it cost almost 6 miles of range, and we'll be shutting it off.
>>> As with many new Tesla owners, I'm currently very interested to know and understand energy usage.
I know; it's kind of crazy, isn't it?
>>> Over that period, it used 1.24 kWh
Which probably cost you a bit more than a dime based on a $0.09 / kwh rate in Lousiville.
>>> As for Overheat Protection, I'm still not clear on what problem it's trying to solve
- Getting into a car that's been sitting in the sun and is 160 degrees inside. Unpleasant and a bit painful.
- Every year here in Phoenix (and a lot more across the US), there are children who die because they were sleeping in the back seat and a distracted parent forgot about them and left them there. 100F gives them a whole lot better chance of surviving than 160F.
- Long term (like 10 years), the interior will be in better shape - fewer plastic bits will crack or break, seats will be more supple, etc.
IMHO, it's a worthy feature for a classy car.
I know; it's kind of crazy, isn't it?
>>> Over that period, it used 1.24 kWh
Which probably cost you a bit more than a dime based on a $0.09 / kwh rate in Lousiville.
>>> As for Overheat Protection, I'm still not clear on what problem it's trying to solve
- Getting into a car that's been sitting in the sun and is 160 degrees inside. Unpleasant and a bit painful.
- Every year here in Phoenix (and a lot more across the US), there are children who die because they were sleeping in the back seat and a distracted parent forgot about them and left them there. 100F gives them a whole lot better chance of surviving than 160F.
- Long term (like 10 years), the interior will be in better shape - fewer plastic bits will crack or break, seats will be more supple, etc.
IMHO, it's a worthy feature for a classy car.
I would think that you probably have it on the full setting, which uses air conditioning if the energy usage was that high. I would probably go with the lesser one that uses fan only just to not let heat build up inside as much.
It was promoted very directly after another one of those nationally reported incidents of a child getting left inside a hot car and was touted as an automated compensation in case someone ever did that. But for my practical purposes, that's not very good for the survival lifetime of electronics in a car to get baked at those kinds of high temperatures. I routinely saw about 140 to 145 degrees in my car in the summer here in Idaho before that feature came along, and I would like to keep that down to just barely over 100 degrees to try to postpone early failures of some of that stuff.
jrweiss98020
Tessa's Tesla
Along those lines... the car is smart enough to see when to turn on the windshield wipers, why not have an option to auto-close the windows. Yes, I know... what if there's someone reaching or out at the very moment the car closes the windows...
I've been experimenting with this. On a hot day (90 deg) I can lose 4-5% over the course of a 9 hour workday with the Cabin Mode Protection fully on. But it does keep the temp below 105. I then switched to On but with AC Off, and checked the temp. By noon, it was already 135 deg in the car, so that didn't seem to be working very well. I've since turned it back to fully on. My commute is 56 miles round trip, so 4-5% on the hottest day is not significant to me, but keeping the interior components cool I believe has long term benefits.
Candleflame
Active Member
i know owners in the middleeast usually have it off due to excessive drain. most important thing is windscreen sunshade and IR/UV rejecting tint.
The car does auto close windows when you leave the car...
Also putting the car to VENT is stupid because the car closes the VENTS when you turn off the climate I think, so it doesn't matter if the VENTS are open when it's raining.
LOL, imagine if the car just dies if the VENTS happen to be open and it starts raining... people come up with the craziest ideas.
