Max wattage of the rear cigarette plug?

[metafor]

I'm planning on road-warrioring in the Y and was wondering what the maximum wattage output was of the rear cigarette lighter. I was planning on getting an inverter and plugging in my laptop plus phone chargers/mobile hotspot, etc.

That would likely require ~100W at peak charge. Anyone know the specs on the Y?

 

[frankvb]

Can't recall exactly but believe it is in the manual. At least 12A.

 

[Pilot1226]

"12V Power Socket Your Model Y has a power socket located in the center console's rear compartment. The power socket is suitable for accessories requiring up to 12A continuous draw (16A peak). NOTE: Power is available whenever the vehicle is considered "awake". The vehicle may be awake for many reasons. For example, when using features such as Summon, or when features such as Cabin Overheat Protection, Keep Climate On, Dog Mode, Sentry Mode, etc. are enabled. The vehicle is also awake whenever the 12V battery is being charged or is in use, during HV charging, when the vehicle is communicating with the mobile app, etc. Leaving an accessory plugged in does not deplete the 12V battery. WARNING: The power socket and an accessory’s connector can become hot. WARNING: To prevent excessive interference with the vehicle’s electronics, Tesla recommends that you do not plug any non-Tesla accessories, including power inverters, into the 12V power socket. However, if you do use a non-Tesla accessory and notice any malfunctions or unexpected behavior, such as indicator lights, alert messages, or excessive heat from the accessory, unplug the accessory from the 12V power socket immediately. CAUTION: Do not attempt to jump start Model Y using the 12V power socket. Doing so can result in damage."

This sounds like it pulls power from the actual high voltage battery and not the 12V battery, correct?

I would love to have an option for a true 120V inverter in the back powered by the HV battery in the event of a power failure. I suppose I will connect a 120V inverter into the 12V outlet and use that to at least power up the cell phones or maybe even an extension cord to put an LED light on.

 

[DaveORD]

Doubt that this cigarette adapter outlet connects to main battery, that would require a DC to DC converter to convert the 360V (?) from the main battery down to 12V for this outlet. Added cost, highly unlikely. Its probably just wired into standard 12V accessory system and driven off the 12V battery instead. Then the car will monitor the 12V battery and use its main battery to charge the 12V battery as needed.

 

[alexcue]

Doubt that this cigarette adapter outlet connects to main battery, that would require a DC to DC converter to convert the 360V (?) from the main battery down to 12V for this outlet. Added cost, highly unlikely. Its probably just wired into standard 12V accessory system and driven off the 12V battery instead. Then the car will monitor the 12V battery and use its main battery to charge the 12V battery as needed.

That's interesting, someone just posted in another thread that the 12V battery had died and there was the message on the screen about it. Seems he has a Laser shifter connected directly to the battery. This brings up two things, If connecting directly bypasses the BMS. If it doesn't then why didn't the Main Battery charge up the 12V Battery??? (according to the manual...)

 

[webbah]

If it's the same as the Model 3 (sounds like it) you can pull roughly 120 watts. I have a 100 watt mini inverter that I use for things like quick charging a Macbook Pro, etc.

 

[DaveORD]

That's interesting, someone just posted in another thread that the 12V battery had died and there was the message on the screen about it. Seems he has a Laser shifter connected directly to the battery. This brings up two things, If connecting directly bypasses the BMS. If it doesn't then why didn't the Main Battery charge up the 12V Battery??? (according to the manual...)

The main battery is only going to charge the 12V battery if the car is expecting to do it. The 12V battery is there to drive the normal 12V automotive stuff and provide 12V to occupants, along with USB. Using a 12V battery is easier than putting in extra high voltage connections to main battery and then having to DC-DC down convert to get correct voltage, and dealing with those inefficiencies having that always run. Easier to run off a separate battery and charge that battery as needed.

The car knows about power usage from the 12V battery because that is switched, the car turns that on when it is awake. There will be small draw for the computer/sensors/etc. when the car is asleep, but it also knows that and can factor that into its calculations. If you bypass that 12V accessory bus and connect directly to the 12V battery, then the car would not know about that usage. So if you are bypassing the car's 12V systems, the car might not see that extra 12V draw and therefore not bother to check or charge the 12V, it might assume that nothing measured = nothing to do. All depends on how they wrote that software. Are you going to continuously check how much gas is in your ICE if you are not driving it, and you are the only driver? No, not unless you smell a gas leak or suspect somebody is siphoning your gas. The car might be treating the 12V battery in a similar fashion. I have no idea, just thinking how it could be coded.

Also remember, 12V lead acid batteries do not like to be deeply discharged, not the normal lead acids typically found in cars. That can cause permanent damage and force a battery replacement. Some people who are now working from home and not driving their cars much, are having battery issues and having to replace them because they drain without the normal daily driving. That happened to my ICE car, I've been working from home since mid-March, grocery store is less than 1 mile away, everything is shut down so not much driving is done to keep the battery charged. I had to replace that 12V battery, and now I put it on a charger once a week to top it off. So if they went directly to 12V battery and drained that battery too low, no different than an ICE car in that regard.

 

[Pilot1226]

Interesting.

 

[2020]

That's interesting, someone just posted in another thread that the 12V battery had died and there was the message on the screen about it. Seems he has a Laser shifter connected directly to the battery. This brings up two things, If connecting directly bypasses the BMS. If it doesn't then why didn't the Main Battery charge up the 12V Battery??? (according to the manual...)

That be me. I had a new battery installed. I now have tapped the 12v power from the cigarette socket to power the laser shifters. So far, so good.

 

[acarney]

If it's the same as the Model 3 (sounds like it) you can pull roughly 120 watts. I have a 100 watt mini inverter that I use for things like quick charging a Macbook Pro, etc.

Sounds like ~144 watts with a peak of 192 watts. That’s a pretty power outlet!

 

[Pilot1226]

Yeah, that's kind of what I was going for. Ideally, though, something like the 1500W inverter found on the RAV4 Prime XSE would be best... That would allow you to tap into the HV battery pack and allow you to keep something like a refrigerator cold. I suppose with some creative wiring, also keep a steam-based or gas-based heat source going in the winter time as well... my steam boiler needs a tiny bit of electricity to control the damper and amount of natural gas but aside from that is driven by steam/gas.

144 watts is better than nothing, that would at least let me charge up all the phones and keep a handful of LED lights on. Hopefully, the car wouldn't "sleep" and would keep using the HV battery to replenish the 12V.

 

[DaveORD]

There is always camp mode. That should keep it awake...

 

[webbah]

There is always camp mode. That should keep it awake...

Instead of all that fuss and to let the car sleep I just tapped into the 12v directly for the devices I installed in the car. BlackVue dashcams and a Teltonika RUT850 Automotive Wifi/LTE Router. These only pull 5 watts each so the car can still go to sleep. I use the 12v socket in the console only when I'm in the car for short term needs. I haven't done it yet, but I also intend to wire up a 12V socket in the trunk so I can connect it to a Dometic fridge for camping. The key is to tap into the continuous 12V sources, of which the center console socket is not.

 

[webbah]

This is a pretty detailed blog post from 2019. The main thing that has changed is prior to v10 Tesla software the 12v socket in the console stayed on. Post v10 this changed so when the car sleeps it turns the console 12v socket off.

Going EV - Life with an Electric Car: Tesla Model 3 - 12 Volt Power Socket "Circuit Breaker" Auto-Reset

I realize this is for Model 3 so not sure what the deal is with the Model Y rear socket as the Model 3 doesn't have one.

 

[frankvb]

Model Y console and rear 12V outlets both go off when the car sleeps. At least they did with the software version of 2 months ago.

 

[megabyte]

Doubt that this cigarette adapter outlet connects to main battery, that would require a DC to DC converter to convert the 360V (?) from the main battery down to 12V for this outlet. Added cost, highly unlikely. Its probably just wired into standard 12V accessory system and driven off the 12V battery instead. Then the car will monitor the 12V battery and use its main battery to charge the 12V battery as needed.

There is a DC - DC converter from the HV battery to 12v at somewhere near 200A draw. It is needed to charge the 12v battery, should be the first thought. It is exposed, to run to VC Right, and I expect VC Left also (though haven't pulled apart the dash to confirm the cable runs from one to the other) underneath the rear seats, passenger side. Inefficient to charge the frunk 12v battery, from that DC - DC converter, then draw off that battery. Much more efficient (and battery saving) to just power 12v devices off that HV DC-DC converter when the HV battery has the contactors close. The 12v battery is just there to let you into the car, power the electronics that need to be awake or woken when the HV battery is disconnected when not driving, charging, using Sentry, etc, blah, etc, and to power the electronics that check the HV battery before it is connected to the rest of the car.

 

[JohnB007]

I plan to camp quite a bit. So I plan to carry Jackery 1.5kw Li battery, which can be charged via 12v. It also provides up to 1.5kw power when needed. Hope this works for my use case.

 

[whisperingshad]

That's interesting, someone just posted in another thread that the 12V battery had died and there was the message on the screen about it. Seems he has a Laser shifter connected directly to the battery. This brings up two things, If connecting directly bypasses the BMS. If it doesn't then why didn't the Main Battery charge up the 12V Battery??? (according to the manual...)

DO NOT CONNECT ANYTHING DIRECTLY TO THE 12V Battery...Tesla will blame ANY 12v battery issues on it and will make you buy a new one. I had to route my underbody lights to the cig lighter. It's hit and miss on when it happens, but if you are unlucky enough like i was you will learn the hard way.

 

[Togg]

Manual now says:

"NOTE: For vehicles manufactured after approximately
November 2021, power inverters plugged into the low
voltage power socket must support 16V DC input to
function."

At a higher voltage, some things will draw more current than expected.