Random car locking noises when at home?

[Z_Lynx]

Anyone hearing locking and unlocking noises when their car is parked at home?

Been doing a weeks worth of work near the car when it's not charging, not recently driven, being completely ignored (not opening doors).

I am hearing what sounds like a quick locking then unlocking noise randomly, perhaps once every half hour or every hour or so.

Phone is likely bluetooth connected (android) but sits unused nearby or in the house.

Had an incident with a Honda Fit a couple months ago where the trunk lock would rapidly lock and unlock for several minutes then quiet down.


Thinking I may be living on hallowed or cursed ground.


jcanoe on a walkaway lock topic talked about this having to do with bluetooth and mentioned several items that might interfere (none were applicable with the nearest neighbor perhaps 150' away). A later post mentioned gps. The lock does not engage at home that I know of unless done purposely but I hear this random sound, as though the car is making sure it can lock and unlock at will.

 

[Silicon Desert]

I am going to guess it is not car locking/unlocking noises. I would suspect it being the contactor to charge the battery. Do you know the difference in the two sounds?

 

[NeverGoingBack]

Or just the car waking up and engaging the HV battery. Kind of a clack-clack sound.

If locking/unlocking, wouldn’t it also be wiggling the mirrors?

 

[todd2fst4u]

There is no sound when locking or unlocking, there is nothing physically moving. I would guess you are hearing the high voltage contractors open and closing as the car charges the 12v battery.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Or just the car waking up and engaging the HV battery. Kind of a clack-clack sound.

If locking/unlocking, wouldn’t it also be wiggling the mirrors?

Not if they have that feature turned off.... like I do.

 

[jjrandorin]

Another vote here for "sound being heard is HV contactors opening and closing, when in proximity to phone key".

 

[Silicon Desert]

There is no sound when locking or unlocking, there is nothing physically moving.

yea, I am talking about the quick horn toot that the car makes when locking or unlocking. I'm trying to understand from the OP whether or not he/she also hears that sound. I'm understanding they are only hearing the contactor from the way they posted.

 

[Icehedgehog88]

It’s just the car talking to you.

 

[Z_Lynx]

I am going to guess it is not car locking/unlocking noises. I would suspect it being the contactor to charge the battery. Do you know the difference in the two sounds?

No, not familiar with the two sounds. Just went out and locked and unlocked my not plugged in car. On only one occasion did I hear the noise I was wondering about.

Guessing you are right on with it being the contractor engaging and disengaging. Just checked the voltage on the 12V standard battery (2020 model) - 14.4V implying it is currently being charged.

By the way, I ran a spare clamp connector from an old trickle battery charger to just below the windshield wipers, so I can check the battery voltage without waking the car. After two years of ownership and not many miles, it looks pretty healthy.



Do you all figure if I had my car plugged in, I wouldn't be hearing these sounds and the 12V battery would instead be directly charged from house current?

 

[Silicon Desert]

Do you all figure if I had my car plugged in, I wouldn't be hearing these sounds and the 12V battery would instead be directly charged from house current?

No, you will still hear those sounds since the 12V battery is charged from the pack. Your wall charger is not connected to the 12V.

 

[Benito1283]

Another vote here for "sound being heard is HV contactors opening and closing, when in proximity to phone key".

Do the contactors really open when in proximity to the phone key, even without opening/waking up the car? If so, why? I'm curious because I work in my garage much of the day and my car is parked 10-20 feet away from where I am for hours. I do sometimes hear the contactors, but it seems to be almost only when it's really hot out and I'm guessing it's running fans to cool the battery or something.

 

[jjrandorin]

Do the contactors really open when in proximity to the phone key, even without opening/waking up the car? If so, why? I'm curious because I work in my garage much of the day and my car is parked 10-20 feet away from where I am for hours. I do sometimes hear the contactors, but it seems to be almost only when it's really hot out and I'm guessing it's running fans to cool the battery or something.

I have no idea because I would only hear it if I was out there, and my phone is usually on my person.

 

[Z_Lynx]

Guessing the presence or absence of the phone is not involved.

Went looking for more info. Supposedly opening the driver's door will also open the contactor. One poster diagnosed a battery being constantly charged because the door opening contactor noise was absent.

When I first got the MCU2 upgrade, my vampire drain was higher than before. I also noticed that my 12v battery was constantly being charged and realized my contactors were never opening. When coming to the car after sitting for hours, opening the door did not result in the normal clackity click noises from the contactors closing. Hence the reason I started this thread. I assumed that it was because the contactors were staying closed all the time and it turned out it WAS the reason hence my increased vampire drain.

Subsequent posts and topics describe voltage loggers, helpful in analysing battery issues. 1# 2#
Ran across another poster who claimed you can learn to distinguish the sound the contactor makes when opening from the sound made when closing.

Since this all has to do with 12V battery life, I'll see what I can learn and pay more attention to my now not-so-mysterious noise.

 

[simpsonhomer]

Tesla app 4.12.0 released on August 28 introduced a bug that causes the car to wake up as much as 40 times per day. Recent app update 4.12.1 didn't fix this problem. Here's a thread with folks in UK/Ireland reporting the same problem we're having here in the U.S.: 2022.20.

Temporary workaround is to force-quit the Tesla app as well as the Tesla widget (do it on all phones associated with the car).

 

[Z_Lynx]

Useful suggestion!

Also ran across a topic in the M3 forum on strange sleep behavior. For a couple people, this was caused by teslafi. My sleep notifications come from TezLab and are much more frequent now than ever before. I do believe TezLab does fully operate in the background and is not the cause of waking behavior.

Just installed the latest FSDb which doesn't have the most recent app features (like saving most recent tire pressure). Current Tesla app appears to be 4.9.1 since standard software is not uptodate.

 

[GtiMart]

TezLab calls the Tesla API to get its data just like TeslaFi. In theory both could be the culprit. In practice I don't believe it's the case. I've had TeslaFi for over 2.5 years and it has not interfered with sleeping... but I configured it properly. Users can caused trouble depending on how they configure the various sleep settings.

In this case I suspect the new mobile app, if you're running on iOS. Android has not received that new app yet.

 

[Z_Lynx]

Another confounding potential issue here in Virginia is an optional new mileage choice taxation program that uses telematics to poll your car. In reading their FAQ, it seems it tries to get real time data. If the car is running, fine. If the car is sleeping, not so fine. I believe the data is transferred via wifi so it may be possible to only leave the wifi active during a drive and while charging and disable it in the car otherwise (especially at night). I don't pay for Tesla connectivity.

I sent an email to Virginia choice, waiting to hear back. If all they really need is daily miles driven, one would think they could simply check mileage at the end of each day and compare with previous mileage.

TezLab never used to send so many sleep notifications (implying something woke the car up).