"Last seen"

[cpf01]

When I open the Tesla app, it shows "Last seen" as 5 minutes ago, 10 minutes ago, etc. Never more than 20 minutes ago. 24 hours a day.

The only app I'm aware of that may be communicating with my 2017 S 75D is "SmartCharge New York" where you get a small rebate for charging off peak.

Is there a way to determine what app is causing the high levels of "Last seen"?

Thank you.

 

[DerbyDave]

It has been observed that "Last Seen" is any contact with the car, from third party apps, to Tesla itself. It is definitely not the last time your Tesla App contacted the car. I also feel like many other stats in the APP, that the app is not very good with numbers and making sure they are consistently displayed. Just another quirk with Tesla.

 

[PCMc]

It has been observed that "Last Seen" is any contact with the car, from third party apps, to Tesla itself. It is definitely not the last time your Tesla App contacted the car. I also feel like many other stats in the APP, that the app is not very good with numbers and making sure they are consistently displayed. Just another quirk with Tesla.

I actually disagree that it’s any contact with the car. There are ways to ping the car that will not wake up the car. I have been running my own logger program, and ping in a way that if that doesn’t wake up the car and force a response. Some of the smarter apps will do this. My logger checks every 3-5 minutes, but I’ve seen at times when I open the Tesla app on my phone that it will say my car was last seen several hours ago. Those are periods when my car has been sitting unused, my logger program passively watching, without doing forced wakes. Now if the car does wake up or any reason, like periodically recharging the 12V battery, then I find I can line up the “Last Seen” time to these times when the car came aware and actually responds with data versus I get a REST response of 408.

I actually have elected to not participate in my electric companies rebate program for charging of peak, simply because of the need to use one of these type of apps like the OP references with SmartCharge. My issue with my utilities program is the fact they monitor all my GPS data for charging location all the time. There are clearly other ways, like directly watching the power pulled by my home to confirm I’m charging off-peak. They clearly have the ability to do that, as they already provide me a monthly usage break-down my categories, including one that is EV charging. It seems clear they are selling all my charging data to a third party via this app, and not just monitoring their own information to confirm I’m charging off-peak.

 

[DerbyDave]

Absolutely true, but I don't know if the last seen is the last wake up of the car, or the last contact.

 

[PCMc]

But I think whenever the car is awake, it seems like it's in contact with Tesla servers, provided of course it has a cellular connection. One of these which comes first, the chicken or the egg type of games of semantics.

 

[cpf01]

Thank you. So is there anyway to determine what app is connecting? I believe I may have apps from many years ago still connecting. I guess I shouldn't care when I'm plugged in, but while on battery power it appears to never go to sleep.

 

[PCMc]

Thank you. So is there anyway to determine what app is connecting? I believe I may have apps from many years ago still connecting. I guess I shouldn't care when I'm plugged in, but while on battery power it appears to never go to sleep.

Now, you already indicated you are using the "SmartCharge New York" app, so I think it is highly likely you already know the answer of what's pinging your car and causing it to stay awake. Beyond that, I'm not sure of a direct way to tell what is connecting, but one way to stop any old apps from connecting is to reset your Tesla account password. That will immediate cause any stored security tokens which they are using to be invalid, and break their access. Now, I expect unless you go in and reset your access for SmartCharge New York, it will also get shut out.

What you could do it reset the password, monitor for a couple days, and then reset up your account access for SmartCharge New York. But my hypothesis is you'll see it revert back to your car showing as frequently being connected/awake. If I'm correct, then the question is whether the savings on your electric rates is sufficient to offset your increased use. But ultimately that would be your choice.

 

[cpf01]

Now, you already indicated you are using the "SmartCharge New York" app, so I think it is highly likely you already know the answer of what's pinging your car and causing it to stay awake. Beyond that, I'm not sure of a direct way to tell what is connecting, but one way to stop any old apps from connecting is to reset your Tesla account password. That will immediate cause any stored security tokens which they are using to be invalid, and break their access. Now, I expect unless you go in and reset your access for SmartCharge New York, it will also get shut out.

What you could do it reset the password, monitor for a couple days, and then reset up your account access for SmartCharge New York. But my hypothesis is you'll see it revert back to your car showing as frequently being connected/awake. If I'm correct, then the question is whether the savings on your electric rates is sufficient to offset your increased use. But ultimately that would be your choice.

Thanks for the detailed information. I don't know why SmartCharge would need to check my car every 5 minutes 24 hrs a day so I thought I might have some legacy apps floating around. SmartCharge pays me about $30/mo 8 months a year and about $60/mon during the summer months.

Changing passwords is a good idea. Thank you.