loud buzzing while supercharging, then white smoke in the cabin?

[yobigd20]

Well that is interesting. The OP installed an unfused subwoofer below the dash of his Model S (which was where he said the "white smoke" came from) and powered it from the 12v socket. Seems to me that his "smoke" could be related to that...and maybe the "buzzing" noise he described was coming from the jury-rigged subwoofer.

---------------------------------
Originally Posted by mudfud

I just installed a small enclosed woofer from sound ordinance. It's not super powerful, but it's enough bass increase for me.

The unit fits in the corner pocket. I'll probably strap it into the corner so it doesn't bounce around.

Power is from 12v auxiliary. The crutchfield techs think I should run a fused power line from the battery. I am waiting to see if I really do blow the 10 amp fuse that's in the lighter plug.

Signal is from the front speakers. Woofer had a high input as well as a line input. Speaker wires on the right were a different color than teslatap's. Mine were grey/grey-black. The plug that is in teslatap's pictures is not plugged into anything in my car (late September 2014 production w new sensors).

Good boost of bass. Adjustable w knob that runs to center console.

As a point of reference, any time I charge my phone via 12v auxiliary there is a buzzing sound. I don't get the buzzing sound if I charge via USB port. Only get it via the 12V. It drove me nuts trying to figure out where that sound was coming from until I realized that it was coming and going every time I hooked up my phone and removed it.

Also I've never heard of pulling power for audio amps via 12v auxiliary. All the installs I've done and I've seen by others always fuse directly to the battery.

 

[dsm363]

Sounds like there is more to the story than was originally let on.

 

[bonnie]

Also I've never heard of pulling power for audio amps via 12v auxiliary. All the installs I've done and I've seen by others always fuse directly to the battery.

Which is exactly what the OP said was recommended (but not done):

Power is from 12v auxiliary. The crutchfield techs think I should run a fused power line from the battery. I am waiting to see if I really do blow the 10 amp fuse that's in the lighter plug.

 

[Modelxvin1365]

Sounds like there is more to the story than was originally let on.

Yeah definitely seems so, especially when he relied on the "Crutch-field technicians" for advice was his first mistake.....

 

[mudfud]

Bonnie and others

the sub is in the back corner, not under the dash as someone said. It has a 15 amp fuse.

the power to the woofer is fused at 10 amps through the 15 amp auxiliary port

speaker wires connect in either kick panel.

stereo was off at time of smoke, it still works fine, and no fuses blew

a 2nd mod is a wire connected to each side yellow flasher, the rear brake bar and the left tail light - for trailer lights. These four wires are protected by a commercial isolation circuit that pulls its own power for trailer lights. This 12 v power is the same as the woofer and can only be used when not "woofing". This was not powered when supercharge smoke occurred.

anyone who has done car stereo knows that all this wiring is on the 12 v side, and I double fused in series. i know better than to go anywhere near the high powered side. I have rebuilt 3 EVs.

To be complete, other mods are a decal on the rear bumper that says "all electric", I attached my license plate with suction cups and J hooks, I have a cell repeater plugged into the auxiliary with an antenna on the roof, I plug my iPhone into 5v auxiliary. I have an eco hitch attached. I was not pulling a trailer at the time of smoke.

I specifically did NOT run a power wire to the fuse box as Crutchfield recommended and others have done. I did not want to exceed 10 amps to the woofer.

I measured 3 amps draw by the woofer to be sure I was not close to limit. The repeater is rated at 1 amp. My iPhone is less than 1
amp.


No. This was not outside smoke.

No. This was not steam. It was electrical burn smell.

And Tesla did imply that my wiring could somehow be involved. They suggested no more changes.

Any other questions?

 

[bonnie]

Bonnie and others

the sub is in the back corner, not under the dash as someone said. It has a 15 amp fuse.

the power to the woofer is fused at 10 amps through the 15 amp auxiliary port

speaker wires connect in either kick panel.

stereo was off at time of smoke, it still works fine, and no fuses blew

a 2nd mod is a wire connected to each side yellow flasher, the rear brake bar and the left tail light - for trailer lights. These four wires are protected by a commercial isolation circuit that pulls its own power for trailer lights. This 12 v power is the same as the woofer and can only be used when not "woofing". This was not powered when supercharge smoke occurred.

anyone who has done car stereo knows that all this wiring is on the 12 v side, and I double fused in series. i know better than to go anywhere near the high powered side. I have rebuilt 3 EVs.

To be complete, other mods are a decal on the rear bumper that says "all electric", I attached my license plate with suction cups and J hooks, I have a cell repeater plugged into the auxiliary with an antenna on the roof, I plug my iPhone into 5v auxiliary. I have an eco hitch attached. I was not pulling a trailer at the time of smoke.

I specifically did NOT run a power wire to the fuse box as Crutchfield recommended and others have done. I did not want to exceed 10 amps to the woofer.

I measured 3 amps draw by the woofer to be sure I was not close to limit. The repeater is rated at 1 amp. My iPhone is less than 1
amp.


No. This was not outside smoke.

No. This was not steam. It was electrical burn smell.

And Tesla did imply that my wiring could somehow be involved. They suggested no more changes.

Any other questions?

Nope, no other questions.

 

[ecarfan]

Thanks for the additional information, which for reasons I do not understand you did not include in your original post that started this thread in which you asked for help diagnosing a problem with your car.

It sounds like Tesla correctly identified the source of your problem; your own wiring modifications, which are extensive. Good luck...

 

[bonnie]

Mudfud, there is no way anyone here on the forum can tell if your wiring caused the problem or not. We have no pictures, etc., and cannot tell if you routed wires correctly and met basic standards with the work. We don't even know the full extent of the wiring.

But surely you understand that the fact you left out this key information from your original post, makes it all look suspect. Why would you leave that information out? If you're mad at Tesla because they blamed your wiring, okay .. say so and show us pics. But to accuse them of poor service without sharing the information about your own wiring seems completely unfair to the folks at the service center (and unfair to folks here on the forum who were trying to help, without knowing all the facts).

 

[bluenation]

some of you guys are amazing hypocrites. and really really defensive.

We're all jumping to an awful lot of conclusions here. You don't know that Tesla didn't treat this seriously. You also don't know the cause ... I'm still curious about any modifications to the car.

Let's have the all the facts before passing judgment.

Mudfud, there is no way anyone here on the forum can tell if your wiring caused the problem or not. We have no pictures, etc., and cannot tell if you routed wires correctly and met basic standards with the work. We don't even know the full extent of the wiring.

But surely you understand that the fact you left out this key information from your original post, makes it all look suspect. Why would you leave that information out? If you're mad at Tesla because they blamed your wiring, okay .. say so and show us pics. But to accuse them of poor service without sharing the information about your own wiring seems completely unfair to the folks at the service center (and unfair to folks here on the forum who were trying to help, without knowing all the facts).

the guy had a very negative experience, u/k what caused it. yet the first instinct is to put the detective on his motivations.

lets calm down and be adults.

 

[bonnie]

some of you guys are amazing hypocrites. and really really defensive.

the guy had a very negative experience, u/k what caused it. yet the first instinct is to put the detective on his motivations.

lets calm down and be adults.

Whoa. "Amazing hypocrites"? Because we wanted the facts?

Looks like someone needs to calm down, true enough.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Bonnie and others

the sub is in the back corner, not under the dash as someone said. It has a 15 amp fuse.

the power to the woofer is fused at 10 amps through the 15 amp auxiliary port

speaker wires connect in either kick panel.

stereo was off at time of smoke, it still works fine, and no fuses blew

a 2nd mod is a wire connected to each side yellow flasher, the rear brake bar and the left tail light - for trailer lights. These four wires are protected by a commercial isolation circuit that pulls its own power for trailer lights. This 12 v power is the same as the woofer and can only be used when not "woofing". This was not powered when supercharge smoke occurred.

anyone who has done car stereo knows that all this wiring is on the 12 v side, and I double fused in series. i know better than to go anywhere near the high powered side. I have rebuilt 3 EVs.

To be complete, other mods are a decal on the rear bumper that says "all electric", I attached my license plate with suction cups and J hooks, I have a cell repeater plugged into the auxiliary with an antenna on the roof, I plug my iPhone into 5v auxiliary. I have an eco hitch attached. I was not pulling a trailer at the time of smoke.

I specifically did NOT run a power wire to the fuse box as Crutchfield recommended and others have done. I did not want to exceed 10 amps to the woofer.

I measured 3 amps draw by the woofer to be sure I was not close to limit. The repeater is rated at 1 amp. My iPhone is less than 1
amp.


No. This was not outside smoke.

No. This was not steam. It was electrical burn smell.

And Tesla did imply that my wiring could somehow be involved. They suggested no more changes.

Any other questions?

It sounds like you've made a lot of electrical modifications to your car. You have no way of knowing whether the supercharging actually had anything to do with the smoke. Something you did to the car may have caused the smoke, coincidentally at the same time you were supercharging and heard a buzzing noise. That buzzing noise, by the way, was most likely the AC compressor and fans coming on to cool the battery. If that's what happened, that's normal. Tesla telling you to stop the modifications is quite telling, in my opinion. I'm sorry you've experienced these issues, but blaming Tesla at this point for not taking it seriously is premature.

 

[mudfud]

The reason I did not post the stereo wiring is because it's not relevant, and b/c I knew that people would try to blame that.

I am at Fremont now and they could not reproduce the issue. (Nor did they find a problem with my wiring.)

But the fans did not activate on supercharging.

They did run the fans up front that cool the AC compressor and did not see anything.

At this point, all I can do is plan to not leave anything of value in the car when I supercharge, and if I am there next time, I will let the smoke keep going until something melts or ignites. This will make it easier for them to find the problem.

I will post again when I find what the problem is.

 

[Johan]

Good luck! Keep us posted. And pump that base!

Also BTW since this happened during supercharging I don't see why they would/should open up the on-board charger(s) since they are not active during direct DC charging.

 

[ra-san]

I think people are pretty quick to be what can be easily viewed as judgmental, for or against basically anything. Of course I'm rushing to judgement on people rushing to judgement, so whatever. Sometimes I get really discouraged by communications in general, and the Internet in particular.

To the OP, since I didn't see the smoke, hear the reaction of Tesla, etc., about all I can say is that if I saw any real amount of any color smoke, and smelled it, I'd be wanting to keep digging till I had a cause, wherever it may be. I'd either be digging myself, or asking Tesla to, fully expecting to pay Tesla if it ended up being my issue and expecting them to fully cover it if it is their issue. If they determined it was a transient break-in type thing, that's fine but I'd want to know and understand it at a level where I'd feel comfortable again.

Smoke bad. Must understand source before I'd be ok with the car again. Wouldn't really expect anything here to help with that. I think it'll take digging through wires, components, and lots of labor… but I'd make sure it was done.

 

[dsm363]

The reason I did not post the stereo wiring is because it's not relevant, and b/c I knew that people would try to blame that.

I am at Fremont now and they could not reproduce the issue. (Nor did they find a problem with my wiring.)

But the fans did not activate on supercharging.

They did run the fans up front that cool the AC compressor and did not see anything.

At this point, all I can do is plan to not leave anything of value in the car when I supercharge, and if I am there next time, I will let the smoke keep going until something melts or ignites. This will make it easier for them to find the problem.

I will post again when I find what the problem is.

Or maybe take a video of it next time so you can show Tesla?

 

[bonnie]

I think people are pretty quick to be what can be easily viewed as judgmental, for or against basically anything. Of course I'm rushing to judgement on people rushing to judgement, so whatever. Sometimes I get really discouraged by communications in general, and the Internet in particular.

Hah. Always the dilemma ... how to complain about something you view as judgmental, without being judgmental.

 

[jerry33]

Hah. Always the dilemma ... how to complain about something you view as judgmental, without being judgmental.

Right. Judgmental is the way humans work. The problem with judgmental on the internet is that there are only the typed words, not the vocal inflection or body language. This often means things come across more negative than they are meant to be.

 

[ecarfan]

some of you guys are amazing hypocrites. and really really defensive.
the guy had a very negative experience, u/k what caused it. yet the first instinct is to put the detective on his motivations.
lets calm down and be adults.

I see no "hypocrisy" and no defensiveness. I see adults calmly asking for the fullest possible set of facts from the OP, facts which were not initially provided, including no photos and an incomplete description of the multiple modifications made to the car.

No one is rushing to judgement, just suggesting possible explanations for the problem. Of course only the OP and Tesla have actually examined the vehicle. Everyone else is speculating.

 

[towman26]

wow two hours, Tesla would have been on the phone with us every 10 minutes. We do the towing from Indian River County to Broward County in Florida & if we are not on scene in one hour we are in trouble, But since I own a Tesla I take care of our Tesla owners quick LOL

 

[NigelM]

Or maybe take a video of it next time so you can show Tesla?

The OP did already:

I did send them video of the smoke already, but you can't tell where it's coming from since I did not let it continue.