Keep the radio controls on the Right

[Gauss Guzzler]

It's certainly wise to limit cycles with fossil headlight systems which use tungsten filaments or arcing HID plasma, powered thru mechanical relays and controlled by mechanical contacts on the stalk. But modern lights are LED, powered thru transistors, and controlled by software - hence the easy reliable adaptation to strobe effects for emergency vehicles or "light show" antics. Tesla's lights will eventually fail, but it will most likely be from water or vibration rather than cycle life. They never even state cycle-lifes for LEDs - only hours of use.

As for contactors, yes they are mechanical relays making/breaking a 400V circuit but again, there's a trick to their long life expectancy. Just before the contactors close, a pre-charge circuit slowly ramps the circuit up to 400V at the junction so that they can close with no arcing. Early Teslas used more primitive designs and have been known to fail after a decade or so, but there's really no reason to doubt that modern contactor systems should outlast the car. Besides, the contactors cycle several times a day to top off the aux battery (or to drive) so any occasional wakeups that you trigger are inconsequential.

 

[mtmra70]

Regarding auto headlights, yes it would be nice to have a way to set them default on 100% of the time. I've found that they do not auto active enough in heavy snow or fog. I don't believe the daytime running markers offer much visibility to other drives in those conditions.

Having said that, the Tesla auto brights work FAR better than anything I have otherwise seen. Even compared to my other vehicles where I manually turn on/off the brights, Tesla is able to recognize a car down the road much faster than me and turn off the brights. Works perfect on long dark highways like the Ohio/Penn turnpike.

 

[Kevy Baby]

There's no direct connection between winter weather and the tenths digit being gone from the odometer. I'm just firing off a list of all the things Tesla has done wrong in their UI.

What myself and others are asking is: what do you need tenths of a mile for? Ever?

How do I get an in person meeting with top Tesla engineers?

You are joking about this one, right?

 

[timk225]

What myself and others are asking is: what do you need tenths of a mile for? Ever?


You are joking about this one, right?

Sometimes I am measuring distance from one place to another. And because the TENTHS digit has been on nearly every car since cars had odometers, that's why! Currently the only way to do it is program the GPS to guide me somewhere past where I am going, and watch the miles change. At least the GPS still has its TENTHS digit!

And no, I'm not kidding, they need my outside perspective to see what they can't see. They are too close to the problems and thinking of other things. I'd be happy to have the meeting, even if only a Teams meeting or something.

And I don't want the headlights on automatic because I don't want them on automatic. I can turn my own lights on and off as needed. LED or not, it is still power cycling unnecessarily.

And here's another gripe -- with the trip cards now at bottom left, if I accidentally swipe down on them, they disappear off the bottom of the screen, and the only way to get them back is to reboot the screen or get out of the car and back in. Isn't there another way to make them reappear?

 

[dusty22]

Sometimes I am measuring distance from one place to another. And because the TENTHS digit has been on nearly every car since cars had odometers, that's why! Currently the only way to do it is program the GPS to guide me somewhere past where I am going, and watch the miles change. At least the GPS still has its TENTHS digit!



And here's another gripe -- with the trip cards now at bottom left, if I accidentally swipe down on them, they disappear off the bottom of the screen, and the only way to get them back is to reboot the screen or get out of the car and back in. Isn't there another way to make them reappear?

If you go into the energy app it gives you the TENTHS during a drive.

If you lose the trip card, just tap the little symbol with the music note that is just underneath the trip card area.

 

[heavyD]

Not worried when they automatically come on when driving. If I was driving a car without auto headlights, I would turn them on manually in such situations for increased safety.

What I don't need is for lights to come on in my lighted garage during daylight hours and then turn themselves off as soon as the front of the car clears the edge of a garage door. Alternately, when returning home, in bright sunshine, the car is facing the garage entrance and it turns the lights on even if the interior light of the garage is on; I don't like unnecessary cycling of things that may shorten component life. Now, if you can show me that the lights will be unaffected by on and off ( unnecessary situations only ) cycling, you will put my mind at ease and I will stop fretting over it. I might also add that I avoid waking the car unnecessarily to keep the contactors from closing and opening. You can also put my mind at ease on that issue too if you prefer to do so. I am willing to learn as much as I can about these cars and am not distressed in the least when someone with knowledge corrects some notion I have developed. All I ask for are some facts, figures and sources if available.

These cars don't come with halogen or HID lights. They are LED lights. Longevity is unaffected by on/off cycling so people can stop worrying about that as these components will last longer than anyone will own these cars as power cycling on/off is a big nothing burger. Turning off your lights manually on a Tesla is silly and unnecessary. I am so tired of people driving around at night with only their daytime running lights because they feel the unnecessary need to turn off their headlights. Default Auto headlights is automakers way of saving people from themselves.

 

[dusty22]

These cars don't come with halogen or HID lights. They are LED lights. Longevity is unaffected by on/off cycling so people can stop worrying about that as these components will last longer than anyone will own these cars as power cycling on/off is a big nothing burger. Turning off your lights manually on a Tesla is silly and unnecessary. I am so tired of people driving around at night with only their daytime running lights because they feel the unnecessary need to turn off their headlights. Default Auto headlights is automakers way of saving people from themselves.

Well, that makes me feel better. I learn something new every day,

Thanks

 

[Lindenwood]

I wish I was better at the internet because there are a thousand “first world problems” memes that would fit here……..

 

[AC Traction]

These cars don't come with halogen or HID lights. They are LED lights. Longevity is unaffected by on/off cycling so people can stop worrying about that as these components will last longer than anyone will own these cars as power cycling on/off is a big nothing burger. Turning off your lights manually on a Tesla is silly and unnecessary. I am so tired of people driving around at night with only their daytime running lights because they feel the unnecessary need to turn off their headlights. Default Auto headlights is automakers way of saving people from themselves.

Not to mention, LED's are commonly dimmed by pulse width modulation, which effectively switches the LED's on and off hundreds or thousands of times per second to fool your brain into the perception of dimming.

What I really want them to integrate is auto headlights while wipers are active, or at least make it an option. Oftentimes I find myself having to manually turn on my lights here in the PNW where we have many gray drizzly days in the winter. It's a situation where visibility is low and you need headlights, but it's not dark enough for the lights to come on automatically. Then the car complains I left the lights on after I park. My 2015 Jeep has had this lights-with-wipers function since new.

 

[beachsideev]

The headlights don't come on with the wipers? It is a law in a lot of states.

I never noticed to be honest.

 

[E90alex]

Not to mention, LED's are commonly dimmed by pulse width modulation, which effectively switches the LED's on and off hundreds or thousands of times per second to fool your brain into the perception of dimming.

What I really want them to integrate is auto headlights while wipers are active, or at least make it an option. Oftentimes I find myself having to manually turn on my lights here in the PNW where we have many gray drizzly days in the winter. It's a situation where visibility is low and you need headlights, but it's not dark enough for the lights to come on automatically. Then the car complains I left the lights on after I park. My 2015 Jeep has had this lights-with-wipers function since new.

Came to say this about PWM.

But also yes the headlights don’t come on soon enough in the rain. I don’t understand why setting the headlights to ON makes them stay on permanently even when the car is off?? Truly baffling programming by Tesla. Cars have add auto off headlights for decades so you can leave the switch on and turn the car off.

 

[Tesly2000]

I don't get it. Why would you commonly need to turn off the auto headlights?

For efficiency like the flushed door handles and ugly wheel covers.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

I don’t understand why setting the headlights to ON makes them stay on permanently even when the car is off?? Truly baffling programming by Tesla.

Mine seem to work sensibly. If I force them on, drive, and then park, it will remind me that they're on in case I intend to sit there for a while, but they still turn off automatically when I exit. Whereas if I don't drive, I just reach in and turn on the lights to set up a tent or something, they'll stay on "permanently" even after I close/open/lock/unlock the doors.

 

[Kevy Baby]

What I really want them to integrate is auto headlights while wipers are active, or at least make it an option.

I've been thinking about this a little and realized it is not as simple as I initially thought.

It isn't a simple correlation of "whenever the wipers are on, the lights come on." For example, one may keep their wipers on "auto" all the time, but obviously, they aren't running all the time. Until the recent rash of false wipes (bright day, clear weather, clean windshield), I mostly left my wipers on auto. But if I do that, how would the car know when to turn the lights on and when to not (focusing strictly on the wiper-to-light connection)?

I've come up with a couple of possible solutions, which since I don't know anything about the technical side, I assume would be super easy to program.

Just my ruminations on the topic.

 

[E90alex]

I've been thinking about this a little and realized it is not as simple as I initially thought.

It isn't a simple correlation of "whenever the wipers are on, the lights come on." For example, one may keep their wipers on "auto" all the time, but obviously, they aren't running all the time. Until the recent rash of false wipes (bright day, clear weather, clean windshield), I mostly left my wipers on auto. But if I do that, how would the car know when to turn the lights on and when to not (focusing strictly on the wiper-to-light connection)?

I've come up with a couple of possible solutions, which since I don't know anything about the technical side, I assume would be super easy to program.

Just my ruminations on the topic.

Other automakers have already figured this out for over a decade with auto wipers. It’s not that complicated.

Usually it’s some combination of how heavy the rain sensor thinks the rain is and/or # of wipes within a certain time frame that will trigger the headlights.

 

[beachsideev]

I've been thinking about this a little and realized it is not as simple as I initially thought.

But it is that simple. If the wipers are on, turn the headlights on.

The real problem is the auto wiper logic.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Other automakers have already figured this out for over a decade with auto wipers. It’s not that complicated.

How many of those auto makers have a vision-only Autopilot system?

Not defending the (crappy) Auto Wipers - Just want to be realistic

 

[E90alex]

How many of those auto makers have a vision-only Autopilot system?

Not defending the (crappy) Auto Wipers - Just want to be realistic

Why does that matter?

The method of how the car detects rain should be irrelevant to the software logic sequence of activating the wipers or headlights.

If rain is detected -> turn on wipers.
If wipers wipe >5x in 30 seconds -> turn on headlights.
If wipers stop for 2 minutes -> turn off headlights.

But yes Teslas method of “detecting” rain via camera is not as good as a dedicated rain sensor.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Why does that matter?

For that answer, you have to talk to the Tesla engineers who decided to tie AP with the wipers.

Also, anything you don't have to do yourself is easy

 

[heavyD]

For that answer, you have to talk to the Tesla engineers who decided to tie AP with the wipers.

Also, anything you don't have to do yourself is easy

I have a feeling that the engineers likely wanted the tried and true rain sensors but were ordered by Musk to make it work with vision. Just when he removed radar sensors and saddled his engineers with the impossible task of making FSD work with vision alone. Followed by the removal of ultrasonic sensors, etc. The reason all these features are half baked is due to cost cutting measures to raise profits.