Pros and Cons of MCU 2 Upgrade?

[bareyb]

Hey Teslas! Was wondering what the Pros and Cons of MCU 2 are? So far what I've seen is:

Pros:
Snappier more responsive Screens. More in car Entertainment options.

Cons:
Cannot log in to YouTube once you get it

I am told there are quite a few other Cons. But I haven't been able to find them. So I put it to the forum. Are there any other Pros or Cons I should know about?

 

[ucmndd]

There are at least three threads discussing MCU2 visible on the first page of the Model S subforum as we speak. This topic has been flogged endlessly - you should dig in and start reading.

Alternatively, I will distill it down for you:

Pros: MCU2 is better in every objective and subjective way.

Cons: It costs money.

 

[GHammer]

I dont have any issue logging into YouTube. The only slighty negative thing ive noticed is a dark backup camera at night.

 

[bareyb]

Pros: MCU2 is better in every objective and subjective way.

Cons: It costs money.

I had the impression from other threads I read that there were numerous complaints about the V11 firmware. I read every relevant thread I got with Search and found nothing other than the YT problem, and it sounds like the YT problem has already been addressed. So just wondering if there are other "Cons" I should know about before I pull the Trigger.

 

[SilverGS]

I had the impression from other threads I read that there were numerous complaints about the V11 firmware. I read every relevant thread I got with Search and found nothing other than the YT problem, and it sounds like the YT problem has already been addressed. So just wondering if there are other "Cons" I should know about before I pull the Trigger.

I'm going to repeat what @ucmndd has already said. He summarized it perfectly

Pros: MCU2 is better in every objective and subjective way.

Cons: It costs money

 

[ucmndd]

I had the impression from other threads I read that there were numerous complaints about the V11 firmware. I read every relevant thread I got with Search and found nothing other than the YT problem, and it sounds like the YT problem has already been addressed. So just wondering if there are other "Cons" I should know about before I pull the Trigger.

I wouldn’t associate the UI differences with the MCU hardware.

Yes, v11 is different. Things are in different places. They’re constantly changing. Better or worse is subjective.

I wouldn’t say “MCU is so old it no longer gets software updates or new features” is a “pro”, even if some people don’t like the look/feel of the new features and updates.

I certainly preferred the v10 UI to v11. Significantly so. Would I go back to MCU1 to get v10 back? Not a chance.

 

[PCMc]

Some of the opinions on improvements will depend slightly on vintage of your car.

I have a mid-2016 "refresh fascia" MS90D with AP1. I did the upgrade last December to MCU2. As others have said only downside I experienced is cost.
Also, depending upon your use case, need to add a new digital FM radio tuner to have 'true' radio or XM capability versus just streaming options. Even with the radio upgrade, you lose AM. Some will say that's no big deal, you can get most radio stations via streaming internet sites, but if you do tend to drive in areas that do not have good AT&T cellular coverage then doing the radio upgrade maybe more important (yes there are some rural areas with 'holes' ... one in KY I drive through occasionally). Again that's a highly personal decision case.

One of the big benefits for me is navigation for routing, especially longer drives, is much, much, quicker. That's one of the biggest benefits for me, plus of course not having the periodic MCU1 lock-up/reboots I was starting to see due to eMMC chip age.

I know some more sensitive to the brightness of the back-up camera than others. That's not been a major concern for me personally.

 

[rowdy]

I was initially pretty unhappy with the upgrade due to long delays finding the LTE signal when jumping in the car. This meant no connectivity for the first few minutes of a drive. The issue has been fixed in later firmwares and I think the MCU2 upgrade is pretty much perfect in 2022.16.

I think the last remaining cons are losing AM radio (and FM too if you don't get the FM upgrade). Vampire drain is also higher with MCU2 in my pre-refresh MS. I lose 2% a day with MCU2 whereas it was slightly under 1% with MCU1. Just something to consider if your car spends time away from a charger (mine would spend weeks at the airport).

 

[dbldwn02]

Cons: It costs money.

Yup and the price isn't getting any better. Worse actually. $250 more this week than last week.

You should have done the upgrade already.

Only reason I haven't is because I refuse to pay for hardware that's required for full self driving. But I'm crusty in that way. Also, MCU1 hasn't pissed me off too much.

 

[PCMc]

Vampire drain is also higher with MCU2 in my pre-refresh MS. I lose 2% a day with MCU2 whereas it was slightly under 1% with MCU1. Just something to consider if your car spends time away from a charger (mine would spend weeks at the airport).

I do not see vampire drain having increased. If anything, I've seen mine go down. I spend up to 12-15 weeks at a time away from my car as I'm on international assignment. I'm seeing on my mid-2016 MS90D that I will lose around 2% every 3 days, so less than 1 percent a day. I typically will charge the car to 80%, let it drop down to about 51-52% before triggering it remotely to recharge. For my last full cycle, mid-March to end of April, that drop of just under 30% took 47 days. That's actually slightly better than what I saw with MCU1. There is some differences in how the processor 'sleeps' so I had to tweak the logging program I've written to get best results. Not sure what's different in @rowdy situation, but for me parasitic or vampire drain is not an issue,

 

[rowdy]

I remember seeing a post by wk057 detailing the problem being a lack of standby power in the earlier cars (cars pre Q2-2015).

MCU2 was designed with the standby supply in mind and thus doesn't have the same hardware abilities for power saving. For example, the modem, gateway, and CPU are able to be powered directly from the standby supply in the pack. In an older S, this has to happen from the normal 12V system without hardware for any intermediate modes. Based on my understanding of the hardware, a retrofit capability wasn't planned so no need for hardware capable of significant power saving was required. The savings of not requiring closed contactors and DCDC enabled outweighed any potential benefit by an order of magnitude.

Then when these units are in older no-standby supply cars they're wasteful since they use more power AND the contactors need to be on and cycle.

MCU1 was designed without the standby supply in mind, so was designed to not require continuous power for a lot of functions along with hardware controls to keep portions in lower power modes.

Despite the excessive vampire drain with MCU2 I still consider the upgrade worth it. It's just something to be aware of and plan around.

 

[Stayfly2407]

Another thing I’ve noticed was using the site retrogames.cc this allows you to play hundreds of games from classic consoles. However when I had Mcu 1, it was too sluggish to play any game and unplayable. Once I got mcu2 installed I can play anything now. Much faster processor, I have a 2014 btw

 

[bareyb]

Mine just got delayed for the 3rd time. They’re having trouble getting the parts.

 

[Stayfly2407]

Mine just got delayed for the 3rd time. They’re having trouble getting the parts.

Yea mine got delayed too 3 times after that it was on schedule.

 

[bselby01]

I was initially pretty unhappy with the upgrade due to long delays finding the LTE signal when jumping in the car. This meant no connectivity for the first few minutes of a drive. The issue has been fixed in later firmwares and I think the MCU2 upgrade is pretty much perfect in 2022.16.

I think the last remaining cons are losing AM radio (and FM too if you don't get the FM upgrade). Vampire drain is also higher with MCU2 in my pre-refresh MS. I lose 2% a day with MCU2 whereas it was slightly under 1% with MCU1. Just something to consider if your car spends time away from a charger (mine would spend weeks at the airport).

I've noticed lots of other Teslas have a feature on the map to "add stops" when you are routing. My 2013 Model S still has the MCU1 and I would really like that feature. Was that something you gained when upgrading to MCU2?

 

[GHammer]

I've noticed lots of other Teslas have a feature on the map to "add stops" when you are routing. My 2013 Model S still has the MCU1 and I would really like that feature. Was that something you gained when upgrading to MCU2?

Yes, MCU2 is required for multi-stop routing.

 

[vcor]

Another major feature is the retrofit upgrades of both the instrument cluster and main display. Most older LCD screens are going to start to leak which shows bubbles on the displays. It is not a functional issue but doesn't look great. Depending on how old your MCU1 is, the new displays are also higher resolution and have better contrast. I think the MCU2 retrofit is well worth it. I also didn't bother with the radio update, but it can be installed at a later date if needed.

 

[Boeingpilot]

I cnc

I was initially pretty unhappy with the upgrade due to long delays finding the LTE signal when jumping in the car. This meant no connectivity for the first few minutes of a drive. The issue has been fixed in later firmwares and I think the MCU2 upgrade is pretty much perfect in 2022.16.

I think the last remaining cons are losing AM radio (and FM too if you don't get the FM upgrade). Vampire drain is also higher with MCU2 in my pre-refresh MS. I lose 2% a day with MCU2 whereas it was slightly under 1% with MCU1. Just something to consider if your car spends time away from a charger (mine would spend weeks at the airport).

I do not see vampire drain having increased. If anything, I've seen mine go down. I spend up to 12-15 weeks at a time away from my car as I'm on international assignment. I'm seeing on my mid-2016 MS90D that I will lose around 2% every 3 days, so less than 1 percent a day. I typically will charge the car to 80%, let it drop down to about 51-52% before triggering it remotely to recharge. For my last full cycle, mid-March to end of April, that drop of just under 30% took 47 days. That's actually slightly better than what I saw with MCU1. There is some differences in how the processor 'sleeps' so I had to tweak the logging program I've written to get best results. Not sure what's different in @rowdy situation, but for me parasitic or vampire drain is not an issue,

on a pre facelift car vampire drain is increased. However, it’s such an improvement overall I’d do it again