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MCU Retrofit
- Thread starter Turtleboy1969
- Start date
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- Tags
- Model S Model X Tesla Inc.
Now CEO Elon Musk says that they are able to upgrade the hardware, but owners might want to wait since a new software update could make the difference.
Retrofit is possible
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
Sounds like this update is mainly for the old hardware. I already paid $500 to upgrade from 3G to 4G.
I hope the new software is good enough so that I am not tempted to buy more hardware again.
I hope the new software is good enough so that I am not tempted to buy more hardware again.
Jeff Hudson
Lovin the Tesla Life
gork
Member
This is great news all around. I am actually most excited that they have acknowledged that their UI is terrible enough that they will let people upgrade, and I'm delighted for both options.
The new MCU is really forcing them to face their poor UI performance. "Old" or not the Tegra 3 was no slouch when it was released: a quad core ARM CPU and a midrange 2012 GPU. Furthermore it runs a single purpose application that was designed specifically for it at the time it was released. It was slow then; all of you early adopters were saints to put up with something so laggy! I had an in-dash touchscreen PC in my 2003 M3 running on a Via C7 that I assure you could run a basic menu system with zero lag. Something as powerful as a Tegra 3 would have been a dream!
The new MCU is really forcing them to face their poor UI performance. "Old" or not the Tegra 3 was no slouch when it was released: a quad core ARM CPU and a midrange 2012 GPU. Furthermore it runs a single purpose application that was designed specifically for it at the time it was released. It was slow then; all of you early adopters were saints to put up with something so laggy! I had an in-dash touchscreen PC in my 2003 M3 running on a Via C7 that I assure you could run a basic menu system with zero lag. Something as powerful as a Tegra 3 would have been a dream!
hill
high fiber member
I remember a while back - I almost $h1p'ed myself when i read how much the MCU cost - out of warranty;
MCU fails for the second time
wonder if the cost has come down any ... if not - maybe yours truly will be keeping an eye open down the road for a new MCU recently involved in being salvaged.
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MCU fails for the second time
wonder if the cost has come down any ... if not - maybe yours truly will be keeping an eye open down the road for a new MCU recently involved in being salvaged.
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tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
I'll take the software please...I remember a while back - I almost $h1p'ed myself when i read how much the MCU cost - out of warranty;
MCU fails for the second time
wonder if the cost has come down any ... if not - maybe yours truly will be keeping an eye open down the road for a new MCU recently involved in being salvaged.
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I suspect employees are still being told internally that retrofits are not possible. I think we just witnessed another on the fly decision from Elon, without him checking on the feasibility. Tomorrow, someone in engineering is going to get the assignment to figure it out. The wiring harnesses are different. It will require work.
He didn’t really say an upgrade path is coming. He didn’t mention retrofit either. He only said you can upgrade the hardware. What he tweeted is open to interpretation. I’ll believe it when I see it. However he did say the software to improve MCU1 is coming. When? Soon, in EM time.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
This weekend, I thought.
I wonder what the delta cost would be if the old MCU broke under warranty and one opted for the new MCU - maybe nothing?
gork
Member
This is still conjecture, but it is looking to me like the retrofit would need to be Mirrors (new antennas) + IC + MCU (including the screens) + a special retrofit harness. Maybe the IC screen can stay, but the word is the new MCU runs both displays and the center screen is different than the old one. The good news if they do it is that regardless of the cost they will at least produce the wiring harness and support the conversion in some way.
JesseIan
Member
Excuse the ignorance, but doesn't the MCU have the 3G/LTE built in, so if you have 3G this "free upgrade" if you chose the replace route, would get you LTE? Or are they separate
Odenator
Member
I'm hoping that a MCU retrofit will also allow an upgrade to the older rear camera. I tried to upgrade just the camera in my 2015 Model S and was told that it was impossible because of incompatible hardware.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
Could be. On the other hand, you might have to upgrade the whole car. At this point I'm happy with my P85D from June 2015. I don't think the improvements since then have been significant enough to tempt me to go for a new one. Only the 3G to 4G upgrade was at the right price for me to do that swap out.
They say that because they don't support it, but other people have said that you can put the new version of the rear camera in and it works just fine. (I think you can even get one on Amazon for ~$40.)
