Model X: Help! Returned from Vacation, can't get in.

[tresjoliej]

I returned from 3 week vacation and can't get in to my Model X. Neither key fob works. Both were stored in the house far from the car and the car is only 9 months old. Tried holding the fob down below the driver's side x-wing door; nothing. Even if the problem is the 12v battery under the front hood, I can't unlock the hood! I don't think it's the fob batteries. They were working fine prior to leaving. App says car still has 25 miles. It says it was last updated on June 20 and won't update; says "vehicle connection error" and it won't let me unlock it from the app. HELP

 

[boaterva]

You can unlock the hood/frunk using the emergency access, but that is only useful if you think the 12VDC battery is dead. I'd call the hotline and see if they can remotely access the car or tell you the status. Or have you figured it out overnight?

For opening the frunk:

 

[Brandon332]

@tresjoliej your car died. Tesla's lose a few miles of range each day. It appears that you last checked the app on June 20th when it had 25 miles left. During these past couple weeks, the car died, and could have taken the 12v with it. Now when you're trying to reconnect to update the app again, it's unable to connect. I'd get it charged asap to avoid long term battery damage.

 

[mongo]

I returned from 3 week vacation and can't get in to my Model X. Neither key fob works. Both were stored in the house far from the car and the car is only 9 months old. Tried holding the fob down below the driver's side x-wing door; nothing. Even if the problem is the 12v battery under the front hood, I can't unlock the hood! I don't think it's the fob batteries. They were working fine prior to leaving. App says car still has 25 miles. It says it was last updated on June 20 and won't update; says "vehicle connection error" and it won't let me unlock it from the app. HELP

if it was not connected to the charger for those 3 weeks, and the trip started around June 20th when the car was at 25 miles, it could have vampire drained down to the point where the pack shut off (anti-brick mode) followed by the 12V battery became depleted.
If so, charging the 12V battery should renable the vehicle and allow you to get the vehcile pack charged.

 

[tresjoliej]

if it was not connected to the charger for those 3 weeks, and the trip started around June 20th when the car was at 25 miles, it could have vampire drained down to the point where the pack shut off (anti-brick mode) followed by the 12V battery became depleted.
If so, charging the 12V battery should renable the vehicle and allow you to get the vehcile pack charged.

thank you all for your replies. How do I charge the 12V battery?

 

[gabeincal]

thank you all for your replies. How do I charge the 12V battery?

Just like you would any other 12V car battery: with a car battery charger!

 

[mongo]

thank you all for your replies. How do I charge the 12V battery?

The X manual say to call Tesla in this situation. If you are not familiar with the jump/ recharge process, that might be the best route. I'm guessing the rangers have jump packs to get the 12V battery to the point it can enable charging. Is the vehicle able to be connected to the wall charger where it is currently located? If not, they will need to get it into tow mode to move it to a charger (or use a heavy extension cord to start the charge process).

 

[TexasEV]

What part of
A connected Model S is a happy Model S
do people not understand?

 

[gaswalla]

Note to all the new Tesla owners - keep the vehicle plugged in if not driving it for an extended period of time. And for best practice, keep it plugged in all the time. Tesla used to hand out a card: 'a plugged in car is a happy car '.

 

[Tam]

thank you all for your replies. How do I charge the 12V battery?

After you figured out on how to lift up your front trunk lid, you can now lift up the plastic cover under the windshield & wipers.

You would apply positive charger clip to the positive post on the driver side.

And negative charger clip to the ground post on the passenger side.

 

[Mine GO BOOM]

I came back from a vacation knowing my car's 12V battery died half way through (it had 200+ miles and left unplugged) because it wouldn't respond to the mobile app while I was out. When got back, keyfob failed. Called Tesla, they sent out a guy to pop the hood with me, and hook up a charger to it. While that got it turned on, we got it into tow mode, but it wouldn't charge the battery and as soon as you removed the 12V charger, the car immediately turned off, and it wouldn't re-enable the main battery pack, even though it showed 200+ miles on it.

Once it got to the service center, the reason became very clear. An animal decided my car was tasty and ate a wire, thankfully only a low power line. This is the picture taken by the service center and forwarded to my insurance company.

 

[deonb]

I returned from 3 week vacation and can't get in to my Model X. Neither key fob works. Both were stored in the house far from the car and the car is only 9 months old. Tried holding the fob down below the driver's side x-wing door; nothing.

If this is anything like my Model S - if you don't use the car for 48 hours (or maybe 72), you can't just hold the keyfob next to it - you have to actually press the unlock button.

 

[tresjoliej]

Thanks for all of your help. Got the frunk open thanks to you all. Tried to charge the 12V by jumping it but it did not work. Tesla said I needed to contact AAA and ask for a Charge Pack which I did. All good now.

 

[Tam]

...3 week vacation......car still has 25 miles...

Unplugged for 3 weeks is fine as long as you park with hundreds of miles on the battery gauge.

Bjørn Nyland left his car in cold winter in Norway for 27 days and had no problem because he left with about 217 miles on the battery gauge.

Otherwise:

1) plug in
2) If you can't, buy a 12V solar panel and hook to your OBD-II outlet under the dashboard on the driver side to trickle charger your 12V battery.

 

[BLKMDL3]

Call 877-79-TESLA and they will assist you

 

[Nerdy_Engineer]

Unplugged for 3 weeks is fine as long as you park with hundreds of miles on the battery gauge.

Bjørn Nyland left his car in cold winter in Norway for 27 days and had no problem because he left with about 217 miles on the battery gauge.

Otherwise:

1) plug in
2) If you can't, buy a 12V solar panel and hook to your OBD-II outlet under the dashboard on the driver side to trickle charger your 12V battery.

It depends on your car settings and how much you open the app to check on the status of the car. The Model X can lose anywhere from 2 miles to 10 miles per day. If you turn off Always Connected, and turn on Power Save Mode, then you should only lose about 2 miles/day.