Post is confusing. If the battery is swollen and you removed it (there is a procedure for proper removal) I would not reinstall or put on any type of charger. The replacement battery as you have can be a 51R (manual only limitation is at least 33ah). Most 51 R's exceed that. Also DiehardEV makes a replacement battery for the Model 3 a B34L it's an AGM but more expensive. The correct replacement procedure is in the online service manual. Also youtube video's. It involves disconnecting main batteries using under rear seat plug.Hello allnew member/first post:
I thought Iād jump in here as my 2019 3 (LR) just popped the warning about the 12v at the 67,000 mark. Battery itself is swollen on each side, similar to the batteries talked about here. I bought a Costco 51R as I wait for a scheduled Tesla appointment (hectic as itās Christmas).
I also uninstalled the Oem battery and put it on my tender for an hour, that has made the warning go away (for now).
I read the first 8 pages of this thread, and it seems like this is as much as one can do.
Car has been excellent going into year 3-4.
Cheers
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"Proactive" 12v battery replacement - good idea or overkill?
- Thread starter joebruin77
- Start date
Hello, I did the removal process as indicated/instructed by a Tesla technician, his instructions equaled the various YouTube videos. I pulled the actual battery because I wanted to inspect it thoroughly. Since I had the battery out, and since it already popped the warning, and since I have scheduled an appointment with Tesla, and since I had in hand an acceptable 51R (irregardless of amp/hour) for backup I saw no reason not to put the old battery in an actual tender and see what it did. After the battery was tended to (70 min.), I re-installed the Oem, the Tesla warning notifications are gone/cleared and the car was driven for over an hour today with no pop up warnings. I may have bought some time, maybe not, but Iām one day closer to my Tesla appointment without the warning, so Iāll take it. Also, no one local has any AGM batteries in stock, so no joy there. Iāve been running AGM batteries in my various cars since 1995, so I know their benefits. Cheers
Obvioulsy, Iāll return the Costco battery.
afty
Member
I got the warning at 44 months. The car gave me a warning that āVehicle will consume more energy while idle,ā which I took to mean it wouldnāt go to sleep and risk stranding me. Tesla Mobile Service replaced my 12V battery free of charge.
Driving the car makes no difference to how the car manages the battery, and it's pretty common for it to take many charge/discharge cycles to detect a battery failing, which can take days or weeks.
The irony is that if you just leave it alone with the error up, it will protect the car against a 12V failure. But now that you've cleared the error, it might not.
Greetings, time will tell. If, and that seems to be the ringer, IF it can get me until the service center appointment, the time was worth the effort for me. It seems no two alerts have the same timeframe. 20 minutes of time was with my effort to see the battery physically. And yes, disconnecting the battery is an old school / classic way to clear codes in ICE vehicles, and even heavy equipment 
cheers
cheers
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Presumably you have a way to pop the frunk if it unexpectedly fails however (see section about opening hood with no power)?Greetings, time will tell. If, and that seems to be the ringer, IF it can get me until the service center appointment, the time was worth the effort for me. It seems no two alerts have the same timeframe. 20 minutes of time was with my effort to see the battery physically. And yes, disconnecting the battery is an old school / classic way to clear codes in ICE vehicles, and even heavy equipment
Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla
Note battery tenders might not be able to do this because many of them do polarity detection and do not output voltage unless it detects a battery connected in the right polarity. Some people hide a 12V A23 battery in their tow eye cover to prepare for this situation.
Yes I do! Learned the trick here as well
. My particular battery tender does indeed recognize polarities, and adjusts thankfully. Plus, I have the Costco battery should that fail at home. I wish I had time to actually run it till it actually dies, but again, every car seems to be on itās on schedule. Just to see the time frame; Christmas isnāt the best time to do a test like this though
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
My point about battery tender is that because of the polarity detection, it might not be able to pop the frunk, because there is no voltage on the two wires under the two hook cover. I remember reading people running into this problem. Most actual jump starters (instead of a tender) however either don't check or they have a mode that puts out a voltage even if nothing is connected to them, so they are able to pop the frunk.Yes I do! Learned the trick here as well
But if you are keeping the Costco battery in your home, then at least you can use that battery to pop the frunk in the worse case.
I wish I had time to actually run it till it actually dies, but again, every car seems to be on itās on schedule. Just to see the time frame; Christmas isnāt the best time to do a test like this though
ā”ļøELECTROMANā”ļø
Village Idiot
I don't mean to brag, but my battery just had it's 6th birthday. Any idea what the record is? I don't want to pre-emptively replace my battery if I'm close to breaking the world record.
android04
Active Member
This means your car was one of the first ones made for regular customers, so there might be a good chance you have the record. Mine was made in March 2018 and I'm still on my original 12v battery as well, over 98,300 miles later. So you definitely beat mine
.Just want to point out that you and I (and all cars made before around April 2018) have a different revision of the 12v battery. We have revision -A, everybody else has revision -B.
RayK
Active Member
According to his signature line, I think he's talking about a Model S.This means your car was one of the first ones made for regular customers, so there might be a good chance you have the record. Mine was made in March 2018 and I'm still on my original 12v battery as well, over 98,300 miles later. So you definitely beat mine
I also āchickened out.ā When my Model S was 5.5 years old, I bought a battery tester that applies a 100 A load and reads the voltage. It indicated my 12 V was right at the edge of useability. I did not want to rely on the car software warning me, or my wife, on some cold dark winter night. I scheduled Tesla mobile service to replace it. Very fast, convenient, professional service at a very reasonable price. Since the orginal OEM battery model was no longer stocked by Tesla, the tech updated the car software to match the similar, but newer, battery that he installed.
For my Model 3, I planned to check it at 4.75 years since that would be just before winter. However I got a warning message when the battery was āonlyā 4.5 years old. Again Tesla replaced the 12 V for an even lower price than I paid for the Model S.
I looked at the third party Lithium 12 V options, but decided it would be more reliable, and less expensive, to stick with replacing the OEM lead-acid batteries every 4 years or so.
GSP
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android04
Active Member
I didn't see his signature on a mobile device, and figured he had a Model 3 since he posted on this thread. I guess I hold the record now (unless someone else with a Model 3 older than Match 2018 posts they they still have the original 12v)!
ā”ļøELECTROMANā”ļø
Village Idiot
Oh sorry didnāt see that it was a Model 3 specific thread. Do they not use the same 12V battery?
They do not. The S/X use AGM and the 3/Y uses FLA. Of course, talking about older cars and not the newer ones with the lithium based batteries.
PianoAl
Active Member
Sure! But then when you get the 12V warning the replacement won't be free... So are you a lucky one that got an excellent 12v battery or an unlucky one who is one of the few who will have to pay for the 1st 12V replacement?I didn't see his signature on a mobile device, and figured he had a Model 3 since he posted on this thread. I guess I hold the record now (unless someone else with a Model 3 older than Match 2018 posts they they still have the original 12v)!
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