I would love to be in touch with someone who is qualified to install whatever it would take to keep me up and running during these times, especially for the Roadster to stay safely charged. Does anyone know where I can go to get the best solutions?
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I would love to be in touch with someone who is qualified to install whatever it would take to keep me up and running during these times, especially for the Roadster to stay safely charged. Does anyone know where I can go to get the best solutions?
NigelM
Recovering Member
Try RegionSolar (ask for Andrew Tanner) or Brilliant Harvest (ask for Bill Johnson) as both are qualified installers also for Tesla Powerwall I believe. Both have long been fans of EV's and great supporters of #NDEW in this area; if they don't reach as far as Naples I'm certain they'll give you recommendations as both have been involved in state-wide solar initiatives.
P.S. Tell them Nigel sent you!
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Thank you for the information!
Oh I'm glad you two met, even if just virtually. GT, Nigel was the person I was going to introduce you to, had he lived just a tiny bit closer. He's a good guy to know.
Oh I'm glad you two met, even if just virtually. GT, Nigel was the person I was going to introduce you to, had he lived just a tiny bit closer. He's a good guy to know.
Thanks, Bonnie! I need all the good advice I can get. I'm getting panicky now since the Roadster has been without power in a hot garage since Irma hit. I am flying back there Saturday to see if I can hook up a generator since we are not getting power back for about 10 days, according to Florida Power and Light.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
It's going to be fine, honest. You left it with a standard charge. And even though it's been hot, that's still plenty of battery power.Thanks, Bonnie! I need all the good advice I can get. I'm getting panicky now since the Roadster has been without power in a hot garage since Irma hit. I am flying back there Saturday to see if I can hook up a generator since we are not getting power back for about 10 days, according to Florida Power and Light.
I can't speak to it personally, but I know some people have had limited success with charging from a generator, due to fluctuating power. Anyone here that can speak to that?
NigelM
Recovering Member
I've made it work before, trick is to dial down the "current" setting and let it charge slowly using the standard 110v cable. Caveat, I have a 30kw full house generator that is reasonably smooth.
@GT10 If you left your Roadster with a full standard charge 10 days ago, she'll be just fine. BTW, if @hcsharp is still making his CAN SR it's well worth the investment given the prevalence of Tesla destination chargers in SWFL. Lastly, FPL has been brilliant at running a military efficiency level operation to get people back online; we were originally told 10 days and they got us back up after 3 days.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
For the uneducated, could someone briefly mention why one would be concerned about a Roadster being unplugged in heat for so long? I've left my Model S unplugged for a month at a time without zero concern (though in less heat than Southern Florida). I even left my S unplugged in Miami for two weeks in December with zero concern. But alas, a Roadster and a Model S are different vehicles, so I'm would appreciate the learning. Thanks!
Racerx22b
@unplggdd on Instagram
For Florida your best bet is a natural gas powered on demand generator. If you don't have gas service at your home you'll need to bury a tank in your yard. You can size the system specific to what you want to power in the event of an outage or just have it run the entire house. It all depends on your budget. For an average size house with a buried tank you are probably in the $15-20k territory for an entire house backup system installed.
If you have a NEMA 14/50 outlet for charging your car you can use that to back feed your house from a portable gasoline powered generator. I STRONGLY recommend the Honda EU7000is model. It is made for RV use so it is quiet and it is EFI so no worries with carburetor issues. I have the old version (EU6500is) and it's been powering my house since 9am Sunday. I have 3500 sq/ft and 2 AC units. This unit (when properly wired) can run one of my AC units with no problem along with any lights, ceiling fens, home theater, wifi routers, etc... that I want. If I need any other 240v powered item to run I have to only do one at a time. Small hassle for having AC in the house and running everything else.
Just make sure you turn off the main disconnect if using your Tesla outlet to power your house so you don't back feed the grid.
If you have a NEMA 14/50 outlet for charging your car you can use that to back feed your house from a portable gasoline powered generator. I STRONGLY recommend the Honda EU7000is model. It is made for RV use so it is quiet and it is EFI so no worries with carburetor issues. I have the old version (EU6500is) and it's been powering my house since 9am Sunday. I have 3500 sq/ft and 2 AC units. This unit (when properly wired) can run one of my AC units with no problem along with any lights, ceiling fens, home theater, wifi routers, etc... that I want. If I need any other 240v powered item to run I have to only do one at a time. Small hassle for having AC in the house and running everything else.
Just make sure you turn off the main disconnect if using your Tesla outlet to power your house so you don't back feed the grid.
If you want to power your house from a generator, you really need to have a proper transfer switch installed. Simply flipping off the main breakers isn't sufficient because these are known to fail. Rare, yes, but it's not worth risking the life of the folks trying to restore power.
NigelM
Recovering Member
In simple terms:
The Roadster is less efficient in cooling itself
There's essentially only one system that operates the AC for the car and the battery coolant (horrible when driving in FL and you sit at a traffic light for a long time, the car's AC diverts to the battery pack and the cabin heats up fast)
Battery pack is a rectangular cube in the body of the car so heat dissipation is not as effective as the flat pack in Model S/X
Need to top up battery coolant from time to time
Lack of self-protection features Vs the Model S (It's possible, but very rare, to actually 'brick' a Roadster)
That said, if the car started at full charge, a few weeks isn't an issue at all.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
Thanks Nigel! I've actually experienced the quoted part in a Model S. That was a horrible experience and sadly, Engineering declined my suggestion to the service team -- if you need to divert cabin ac to the drivetrain/battery, put up an alert on the 17" or instrument cluster so the occupants know! We were freaking out and calling roadside and service stations like crazy until one of them saw remotely that the car was diverting the cooling to the drivetrain. A 15 minute stop let the car cool down enough so we could stop sweating inside the car.
Rotarypower
Member
Interesting graph... Source?
I'm wondering what ambient conditions they are assuming for this. Starting from 50% charge (standard fully charged is 83-ish, so the OP started significantly higher than the chart), drawing to zero in, what, 20 days? That's something like 5 miles of range lost per day. I get less than 2 miles / day of drain on my 2.0, sitting in a garage that's warm but not hot enough to trip the A/C into action. Given the temp at which the battery would need active cooling, unless the car is out in the sun, the thermal mass of the battery pack is large enough that it probably wouldn't need cooling at all. (Consider the 24hr average temp; it's not likely to be all that high.) So, I wouldn't be panicked about needing to charge a car that's in a sheltered area and starting out with a full standard charge for at least a month or so.
supersnoop
Tesla Roadster #334
Because, if the Roadster battery is run down to empty, it's a brick that cannot be recovered. It was originally a $40,000 repair. The S has some safety mechanisms built in to ensure it can always be charged.
Rotarypower
Member
@gregd Yes this is from a Tesla training manual. But, I agree, the SOC decay rate for a readily drivable roadster seems excessive, certainly not what I saw when I had my car shipped from California to North Carolina. I think the best takeaway from this chart that most of us might not have understood or been aware of, is if you simply disable the APS system from the VDS (this takes maybe 30 secs. to do) then you increase the stasis life of the ESS by 6x+, where you are talking months instead of days before ending up with a bricked battery.
spaceballs
Member
dhrivnak
Active Member
I have had my Roadster 1.5 and the vampire drain is about one mile a day. So one should be good for almost 6 months before bricking is an issue. While heat is not good the AC does not run with 110v. And even then sitting is likely fine as I think the thermal limits are above 100F.
That said I have succeeded in charging off of my Sunny Boy with secure power. And as long as you were not low to begin with and they restore power even by October you will be fine.
smorgasbord
Active Member
See this TMC post with video:
Hack-charging on a generator
I have the later version of that Honda generator (EU7000is), which has somewhat more surge capacity, but best of all is fuel injected, which means that it's far more tolerant of old gasoline and more resistant to the corrosion that ethanol causes. Anyway, it's an "inverter generator" which means the power it produces is quite clean (true sine wave). I also have battery UPS's, which are notoriously picky about the power fed to them, and they don't complain about getting fed power from the Honda.
