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Questions on my, new to me 2011 Tesla Roadster || Signature 250 Support (153) || Utah

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Hi everyone!

I just picked up a 2011 Signature 250 Sport, with the R80 upgrade. (Originally from Switzerland)
Total miles just shy of 40K
Miles since R80 just shy of 5K
CAC reads 198, I just changed to performance and am fully charging to see if this changes.

Right off the bat I know I need to crack the PEM and check the insulation, likely do for a rebuild.

The suspension is also tired, and I'm looking at having it rebuilt with Gruber.

Attached are a couple of diagnostic screens I'd like you guys to peek at and let me know if there's anything "telling".

Additional questions:
  1. Is there a harness adapter required to replace the head unit? (This one is a EU model and doesn't work here... I'd like to get a nice floating unit)
  2. TPMS does not work on the vehicle... Replace the wheel sensors? Other module?
  3. Best practice for charging R80? (Standard, Range, Performance) I understand it's new tech (I changed my charge rate to 24A since I don't need fast charging)
  4. Other advice for a newb
Thanks all!!
I love this car!!

Cheers!

Richie
 

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Congrats, I would recommend to speak to Carl. TPMS sensors are a small thing your locally service center should be able to do, and I’m not sure about the CAC on an R80 but that seems pretty good. Did you import it or was it already here?
 
Thanks!

Carl?
I'll have the local center check out the TPMS... fingers crossed they still work on Roadsters.

The original owner imported it from Switzerland to Utah in 2013 maybe 2014... R80 was installed at the Utah Service Center in 2018.
 
Congrats!
I'd love to see some pics the car when it's ready.
I have heard of some people splicing the original head unit wiring to get a newer aftermarket unit to work.
I wanted to try a cleaner way of doing it, so ordered this harness cable plug to fit into the car's harness for the single DIN JVC unit: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32256972812.html
The idea is that this would splice to your newer head unit's harness and make it easier to swap in and out.
I have test fitted the harness plug and it mates perfectly with good conductivity, to the car's factory wiring.
I have yet to wiring it into my newer head unit harness, so I can't say for certain if it will work, but I feel it will make it a lot cleaner and easier to revert to stock if needed.
 
Congrats!
I'd love to see some pics the car when it's ready.
I have heard of some people splicing the original head unit wiring to get a newer aftermarket unit to work.
I wanted to try a cleaner way of doing it, so ordered this harness cable plug to fit into the car's harness for the single DIN JVC unit: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32256972812.html
The idea is that this would splice to your newer head unit's harness and make it easier to swap in and out.
I have test fitted the harness plug and it mates perfectly with good conductivity, to the car's factory wiring.
I have yet to wiring it into my newer head unit harness, so I can't say for certain if it will work, but I feel it will make it a lot cleaner and easier to revert to stock if needed.
Thanks!! I'm sure I'll do something similar...
 
Congratulations on your purchase - looking forward to seeing pictures!

I installed a Pioneer unit (7600 NEX) with a floating 9” screen. It can be adjusted so it doesn’t block any of the vents or controls in a 2008 Roadster. I think I had to do some splicing of the harness, but nothing crazy. I also added a backup camera at the same time (mounted just below the rear license plate) which helps with backing into unfamiliar parking spots.

I love using car play, especially Google maps and Pandora, on the touch screen but I’m personally not sure about the floating screen look anymore so I’m considering going back to a single DIN unit (I finally found one with CarPlay and a flush mounted screen and a decent stock look - I’ll post more here if I go that route)
 
I love using car play, especially Google maps and Pandora, on the touch screen but I’m personally not sure about the floating screen look anymore so I’m considering going back to a single DIN unit (I finally found one with CarPlay and a flush mounted screen and a decent stock look - I’ll post more here if I go that route)

Since we’re sharing, here’s the double-DIN unit I had Carl do:

Double-DIN Dash Replacement by Carl Medlock
 
A 198 CAC on a 3-4 year old 3.0 battery is much too high. If it's inline with other cars of that age (mileage matters little) it should be around 180. The normal way you see this is that if the car hasn't been driven much, and hasn't been driven to low state of charge in particular, then the CAC algorithm doesn't run/doesn't have data and so it just doesn't update. My guess is that when you actually drive the car you'll see a giant drop. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the car except that it hasn't been driven.

The other thing to watch out for is that with a CAC that's higher than the battery's actual capacity is that you have less charge in the battery than the car is reporting. This will manifest itself as a sudden drop in ideal miles available when you've run down to, say 30% or less state of charge. Be prepared for this or you might find yourself stranded!

Once it happens (maybe a few times given the magnitude of the error) the car will get the correct CAC and it won't be a big problem.

Figure that if you start with some number of ideal miles that you really have 15% less than the car says it does and you should be relatively safe from a bad outcome.
 
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A 198 CAC on a 3-4 year old 3.0 battery is much too high. If it's inline with other cars of that age (mileage matters little) it should be around 180. The normal way you see this is that if the car hasn't been driven much, and hasn't been driven to low state of charge in particular, then the CAC algorithm doesn't run/doesn't have data and so it just doesn't update. My guess is that when you actually drive the car you'll see a giant drop. This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the car except that it hasn't been driven.

The other thing to watch out for is that with a CAC that's higher than the battery's actual capacity is that you have less charge in the battery than the car is reporting. This will manifest itself as a sudden drop in ideal miles available when you've run down to, say 30% or less state of charge. Be prepared for this or you might find yourself stranded!

Once it happens (maybe a few times given the magnitude of the error) the car will get the correct CAC and it won't be a big problem.

Figure that if you start with some number of ideal miles that you really have 15% less than the car says it does and you should be relatively safe from a bad outcome.
Thanks!
The car has definitely been sitting, probably been a couple of years since it was drained any significant amount.

It has less than 5,000 miles on the R80/3.0 battery pack. Not sure how much time affects it versus use... (though I recognize it's been on a charger that full time)

I'll keep an eye on it, and definitely keep my range in mind. 👍
 
It has less than 5,000 miles on the R80/3.0 battery pack. Not sure how much time affects it versus use... (though I recognize it's been on a charger that full time)

It's nearly all time and no mileage. Look at the graphs I posted over in the 3.0 longevity thread and you'll see that (nearly) all the cars are in a bunch on the CAC-vs time graph, and they're spread way out on the CAC-vs-mileage one. The exceptions are cars like yours that haven't been driven, and experience says that they'll drop to about where they should be as soon as they're driven.

And I'm only talking about cars that are properly plugged in here, of course. If you leave a car unplugged long enough it will brick, regardless of anything else.
 
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RE: How was this registered in the US???
Original Owner brought it over when he relocated in 2013... He said he didn't have any issues bringing it over... Certainly sounds like times have changed.


RE: CAC
Thanks! I checked out that thread and saw the graphs... Great work!

I'll contribute my logs when it makes sense...

What is best practice with plugging them in? I currently have a Model 3, and now the Roadster, but only one receptacle. 😬
 
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What is best practice with plugging them in? I currently have a Model 3, and now the Roadster, but only one receptacle. 😬
I’m in the same boat. I have a Model 3P and the Roadster, and currently they share one HPWC (The new Tesla wall charger for model S and up). I use Henry Sharp’s CAN SR adapter to charge the Roadster from the wall charger.

I alternate which I plug in so that I keep them both close to fully charged, eg when my wife comes home in the afternoon she plugs in the 3 and then in the evening I switch it over to the roadster so that they are both charged in the morning. Or when I come back from a drive in the Roadster on the weekend I plug it in right away (which also helps cooling the battery)

I bought an original Roadster wall charger (HPC) on eBay a while back, and one day I’ll get around to it and install it so each car gets its own charger :)
 
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I’m in the same boat. I have a Model 3P and the Roadster, and currently they share one HPWC (The new Tesla wall charger for model S and up). I use Henry Sharp’s CAN SR adapter to charge the Roadster from the wall charger.

I alternate which I plug in so that I keep them both close to fully charged, eg when my wife comes home in the afternoon she plugs in the 3 and then in the evening I switch it over to the roadster so that they are both charged in the morning. Or when I come back from a drive in the Roadster on the weekend I plug it in right away (which also helps cooling the battery)

I bought an original Roadster wall charger (HPC) on eBay a while back, and one day I’ll get around to it and install it so each car gets its own charger :)
I have a destination wall charger for my Model 3 and repurposed the Portable charge cable that came with my Model 3 to supply my Roadster. All you need is an extra 220 volt 12 or 20 amp circuit feeding a 15-50Amp Oven receptacle to plug the Mobile connector in to. Assuming you have Henry's awesome Can Sr. it's an ideal setup for feeding two Teslas separately. Be sure to dial the Roadster charge rate down to whatever your 220V circuit will deliver.
 
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@TEG / @DeedWest - any records of how many more have made their way to the U.S.?
From what little I know on that - not many. Very few.

You have to be a little careful to discount all the early SFZRE VINs in EPs/VPs/Founders' and early Sig100s which were showing as made in Europe but most were always intended to end up in USA.

There are also some later SFZRE VINs made for Japan and at least some of those got "gray market" imported to USA so those "sort of count", but they were never meant for sale in Europe.

Given that prices have been lower in Europe, it would seem almost worth it for Carl to be buying up bricked and wrecked Euro-Roadsters to use as parts mules to fix ones needing parts in USA.
 
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From what little I know on that - not many. Very few.

You have to be a little careful to discount all the early SFZRE VINs in EPs/VPs/Founders' and early Sig100s which were showing as made in Europe but most were always intended to end up in USA.

There are also some later SFZRE VINs made for Japan and at least some of those got "gray market" imported to USA so those "sort of count", but they were never meant for sale in Europe.

Given that prices have been lower in Europe, it would seem almost worth it for Carl to be buying up bricked and wrecked Euro-Roadsters to use as parts mules to fix ones needing parts in USA.

I was going to bring a parts car with a car I am shipping from europe now, but got busy and ran out of time. Container prices are out to lunch! Also Euro roadsters are appreciating fast.

I know when you move you can import a personal vehicle, but thought the intent was for that to be temporary only. I guess after it passes the border agents once it’s in and they forget about it. Wouldn’t want to take it in and out of country via sale, that could flag it. I imported a roadster, and the shipper would not ship it if all the documents didn’t check out before it was loaded in the container.
 
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