Lost 6 miles of range to vampire drain in 12 hours - is this normal??

[SoCalGuy]

Here in SoCal it’s been rainy but overnight temperatures still in the 50s. From 8pm last night to 8am this morning, my battery has lost 6 miles of range in the garage! No big WiFi downloads. What gives?

It also takes a good 30 seconds for the app to connect with the car.

When I first got the car, it would lose about 1-1.5 miles per day in the garage in 60 degree weather. And the app would connect in maybe 8-10 seconds. Is this all software related?

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Silicon Desert]

On rare occasions I have noticed this occur on my MX over one night, but then see it jump back up a couple miles over the next 24 hours or just sit at the same mileage for another day, so I don't look at it on a night to night basis. Over the period of several days, mine averages out to about 2 miles a day.

On a side note, I always wonder who first came up with the term of "Vampire drain". We all know it is not like some vampire sneaks into the garage at night and sucks out electrons from the veins (wires) of the car As you and I know, it is energy actually being used to run the electronics and possibly heaters at times. To me, it is just idle drain

 

[ewoodrick]

Your choice:

a) your car is going to crap and you need to sell is asap

b) just enjoy the car and stop worrying about it on a daily basis.

Honestly, one day does not make a trend.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Your choice:

a) your car is going to crap and you need to sell is asap

b) just enjoy the car and stop worrying about it on a daily basis.

Honestly, one day does not make a trend.

Speaking of trend, over the last 6 weeks as I was traveling, my car lost an average of 3.88 miles per day in the garage with strong WiFi signal.

Have been back a couple of days and recharged car to 90% and last night I noticed a big drop of 6 miles after having driven it prob 50-60 miles that day.

 

[Oldschool496]

Turn off sending data to Tesla. After v9 was installed in my car, I turned that on or it was set to on by the update. I was going through 9-12 miles per day in mild weather not cabin cooling happening or heating the battery certainly here in South FL. I turned it off lately and back to normal drain of 2-3 miles per day normal if I'm not driving or cabin cooling either.

 

[Watts_Up]

Here in SoCal it’s been rainy but overnight temperatures still in the 50s.
From 8pm last night to 8am this morning, my battery has lost 6 miles of range in the garage! No big WiFi downloads. What gives?
It also takes a good 30 seconds for the app to connect with the car.
When I first got the car, it would lose about 1-1.5 miles per day in the garage in 60 degree weather.
And the app would connect in maybe 8-10 seconds. Is this all software related?
Anyone else experience this?

Which update version do you have?

I have 2019.5.4 and I noticed that the 12 V plug (under the arm rest) stays on for a very long time after the car get locked.

It seems to me that there is some change since I get the new update:
- In general, after walking away from the car (I have Bluetooth proximity detection on with my smartphone),
and after about 10 second I can ear the horn beeping and the mirrors folding down.
- Then after about 1 minute, I was able to hear a kind of short 'Dong' that I assume
is the noise made by the high voltage disconnect relay (I think located under the back seat)
- I think that after that the 12 V plug was disconnected
- When I came back to the car and hold the door handle, the the same 'Dong' noise and the 12 V get activated again.

Since I got the last release, I don't hear the 'Dong' sound and the 12 V stays on for a long time.
I put a digital volt meter plugged into the 12 V plug, so I can check if the voltage from outside of the car.
When I came back to my car after quite a while, I noticed that the 12 V sometime is still on, and sometime off.

If the 12 V is off, then when pressing on the handle then I can hear the typical 'Dong' noise.
Also the voltage that I can measure then go from 0 V to about 12.5 V,
then after about 10 second the voltage jump to about 14.5 V showing that the 12 V battery get charged.

I'am still investigating on this issue, for example I have a dash cam connected to the 12 V plug.
Right now, I try to see if keeping the dash cam connected or unplugged has an effect on the 12 V staying on.

I just wanted to share this concern with you, while I didn't yet established any final diagnostic.

 

[Matt L]

Here in SoCal it’s been rainy but overnight temperatures still in the 50s. From 8pm last night to 8am this morning, my battery has lost 6 miles of range in the garage! No big WiFi downloads. What gives?

It also takes a good 30 seconds for the app to connect with the car.

When I first got the car, it would lose about 1-1.5 miles per day in the garage in 60 degree weather. And the app would connect in maybe 8-10 seconds. Is this all software related?

Anyone else experience this?

Did you search at all on this topic? It’s been widely discussed.

I’m has been sitting in my garage for the last few weeks, it’s lost 18 miles. There are too many variables to know what’s going on.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Did you search at all on this topic? It’s been widely discussed.

I’m has been sitting in my garage for the last few weeks, it’s lost 18 miles. There are too many variables to know what’s going on.

The main thing for me is that for the first two software updates since I got my car 6 months ago, I was only losing pretty modest miles (0.5-1.5) per day. And then I only started to pay attention when I left my car for the last few weeks, and notice nearly a 6 week average of 4 miles per day! So I’m not sure which software update outbof the last 2-3 made the vampire drain worse. It really is annoying.

As an aside, Tesla should definitely make a “long term storage” mode to reduce the number of times it wakes up to communicate with the mothership. My other two electric cars lose maybe 1-2 miles of range PER MONTH.

 

[DanH]

Here in SoCal it’s been rainy but overnight temperatures still in the 50s. From 8pm last night to 8am this morning, my battery has lost 6 miles of range in the garage! No big WiFi downloads. What gives?

It also takes a good 30 seconds for the app to connect with the car.

When I first got the car, it would lose about 1-1.5 miles per day in the garage in 60 degree weather. And the app would connect in maybe 8-10 seconds. Is this all software related?

Anyone else experience this?

I was obsessed with this issue. Then, I decided to switch to % mode and I don’t care anymore. As long as my electric bill is a lot less than what I would pay for gas is all that matter.

 

[Oldschool496]

I was obsessed with this issue. Then, I decided to switch to % mode and I don’t care anymore. As long as my electric bill is a lot less than what I would pay for gas is all that matter.

It also takes a good 30 seconds for the app to connect with the car.

Your a member since 2012, you must be ultra familiar with all of this, I assume.

Connecting to the car repeatedly through the app takes a lot of energy, your waking the car up from moderate sleep every time you do that. That one act uses way more then any vampire drain when the car sleeps in your garage perhaps and your sleeping at night.

Yes, obsessing over these issues is a waste of time. In all examples of vampire drain, its a non issue.

All travel is done in the at the most ever 4/5 of the entire battery. The cost of this vampire drain is not an issue either, when you put it into the big picture. Turn off reporting to Tesla though if you can, that seems to use a lot of energy when the car is at rest.

Drive it,
Enjoy it,
Plug it in,
Maintain it,

It should give you years of enjoyment. If there is a real problem with your car, believe me it will show up and you'll know it. If anything ever happens it'll be sudden event, save your worry for that moment like a flat tire or dead 12V. It may never happen.

Relax is all I can say.

 

[Watts_Up]

The main thing for me is that for the first two software updates since I got my car 6 months ago,
I was only losing pretty modest miles (0.5-1.5) per day.

And then I only started to pay attention when I left my car for the last few weeks,
and notice nearly a 6 week average of 4 miles per day!

So I’m not sure which software update out bof the last 2-3 made the vampire drain worse.It really is annoying.

As an aside, Tesla should definitely make a “long term storage” mode to reduce the number of times it wakes up to communicate with the mothership. My other two electric cars lose maybe 1-2 miles of range PER MONTH.

By the way, did you try if having the Sentry or Alarm On or Off has any effect?

 

[Eldanon]

I lose about 10-12 miles per night. The car is in the garage with a fairly strong Wi-Fi signal. I remember months ago it'd be about 3-4 miles but in the last 2-3 months I expect about 10 mile loss per night.

Up until last week I've never had a chance to leave the car untouched for more than 12 hours. Last week I left town for 4 days and left the car at a different garage with no wifi signal. Lo and behold, in 4 days (I intentionally didn't touch the app even once) it only lost 8 miles.

So my guess is it's not getting to deep sleep with Wifi at home for some reason. I keep meaning to turn off wifi and test it but keep forgetting to do that. Maybe today.

 

[SoCalGuy]

I’ll try turning the send data to Tesla option off

 

[StellarRat]

Sounds normal to me.