New battery advice 2008 Roadster

[erericic]

My roadster only charged to 76 miles in standard mode today. It is time for a new battery. I am going to give the local Tesla a call soon. Does anyone have advice for me regarding my choices for refurbished battery? Or does such a thing as a new battery exist? Or should I call other companies such as Gruber? Any other options?
Before I bought the car the dealership in Virginia diagnosed that one of the bricks in the battery was bad and that it read 3.8 volts instead of 4 volts.

Thank you,
Eric

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Erericic,

You owe it to yourself to call Gruber... I think they have a refurb. battery...
They will also help to further diagnose your current battery.
They can learn much from your log files...
With a bad brick, it may only need a new sheet. They have sheets too.

Just another data point to help with your search...

Shawn

 

[gregd]

The local SC manager said they've got a salvage Roadster in the back, waiting for a new/repaired/refurbished/whatever battery. It could be a year before it gets one.

That said, he had not heard the rumor about the new 3.x pack.

That said, we haven't heard much about it recently, either.

 

[im4uttx]

Definitely check with @petergrub to see what they can help you with....

 

[ICON]

I feel your pain

 

[markwj]

Gruber is your best bet. He can do sheet level fixes, which are a lot cheaper than a whole new pack. There are cases where Tesla has also done this in the USA (including a warranty on the refurbished pack), but not much has been heard of that program recently. The rumoured 3.x program is also very quiet.

 

[DeedWest]

Could you post a photo of your VDS? Also, what is your CAC reading at the moment?

 

[erericic]

Thank you for all the responses. I will post picture of VDS and download log file for CAC tonight.
Gruber has my vacuum pump for repair right now... so I will be talking to him about the battery options soon.

 

[erericic]

Could you post a photo of your VDS? Also, what is your CAC reading at the moment?

DeedWest,
What screen should I take picture of on VDS? Right after charging? Or just the screen after I start the car?

 

[X.l.r.8]

I think what is being asked is if the range is estimated or ideal. If your car has been sitting idle and the car powered up to test things the estimated drops significantly lower. While they worked in my hvac they obviously had the heater and AC running for hours but not driving the car anywhere. I picked it up fully charged showing less than 30km while the ideal was 274km. As you have been playing with the car and not driving it’s worth noting if you are looking at estimated you could be seeing a false value. Where as the CAC would not change, nor would the ideal distance.

 

[erericic]

CAC is 149. I have been driving it everyday.

 

[erericic]

Oh and that was the ideal range in standard mode. When I charged it in range mode today the ideal value was 119 miles.

 

[markwj]

CAC is 149. I have been driving it everyday.

Min/Max 39%/87% is indicative of one or more bad bricks/sheets. If you can grab the logs, you can see the details for each brick, but this is going to have to go to someone to do a battery repair / replacement.

 

[X.l.r.8]

It goes to show CAC alone does not provide you with all the information needed. Hopefully it’s one sheet that will be manageable to repair. Especially as you are already in contact with Gruber.

 

[erericic]

Thanks I will talk to him about it after he finishes with my vacuum pump. I only got 101 miles (ideal) in range mode tonight. A couple of weeks ago I was getting that much in standard mode.
Appreciate all of your input.

 

[spaceballs]

CAC is 149. I have been driving it everyday.View attachment 444827

Charge to full, let it sit and make sure it's keeps balancing and keep a log tracking of Bricks Max/Min SOC after each charge, hope balancing can keep up with the weak brick(s).

 

[markwj]

Thanks I will talk to him about it after he finishes with my vacuum pump. I only got 101 miles (ideal) in range mode tonight. A couple of weeks ago I was getting that much in standard mode.
Appreciate all of your input.

Most likely, it will continue to deteriorate every time you drive/charge, and the min/max spread will increase.

A simplistic explanation is:

• Think of the "min" as controlling your driving range (that lowest brick can't go lower than 0%, so you are currently at around 39% of original full range mode capability).
• Then "max" controls your charging capability (that highest brick can't go higher than 100% in range mode).
• Standard mode introduces extra limits (the 87% max you are seeing is roughly a full charge in standard mode).

 

[erericic]

I received this today from Tesla service center:

"Reaching out to you in regards to your roadster battery request. Unfortunately, Tesla is not producing Roadster batteries at this time. So there is no available option for new or refurbished purchasing at the moment. The only info available in regards to the batteries is that production may start at the end of this year or beginning of next year.

Please send me the full VIN number of your roadster and I will keep you in a list in order to contact you once more information becomes available. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us should you have any other questions."

Not very helpful, I hope Gruber can help me out because today's range mode charge shows ideal range at 77 miles.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[gregd]

I received this today from Tesla service center:

"Reaching out to you in regards to your roadster battery request. Unfortunately, Tesla is not producing Roadster batteries at this time. So there is no available option for new or refurbished purchasing at the moment. The only info available in regards to the batteries is that production may start at the end of this year or beginning of next year.

Please send me the full VIN number of your roadster and I will keep you in a list in order to contact you once more information becomes available. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us should you have any other questions."

Not very helpful, I hope Gruber can help me out because today's range mode charge shows ideal range at 77 miles.

Thanks,
Eric

So, is this a confirmation of the new 3.x battery rumor?

 

[erericic]

I asked and this is the response:

"We cannot confirm that at this time. No information available in full detail."