Roadster Radio not working and past few days Battery life dropping 5% per day :(

[Raffy.Roma]

They mentioned battery needed to calibrate ? I am not sure why it would ever drop so far down for days but they must be correct as it is now back to 178 on standard and 200 on max range.

Maybe that it was pack battery balancing that your Roadster needed. I read that for latest Roadsters pack battery balancing is done automatically while charging.

 

[Roadster22]

Yes, it turns out that was what it was doing. And according to Tesla many 1.5 owners in the past had the same fears but unlike them I am first learning of them.

 

[lmore]

My Roadster 2.0 is dropping the battery when not being charged (parked).
On average it assumes 50 W per hour, that is > 1 kWh per day, but it can also consume >3 times as much some periods, unfortunately especially when battery is getting low.
Based on the experience from last winter it drops much more when it gets really cold outside.

I seldom charge and use only 240 Volts, either 12 Amp or 16 Amp.

The technician at the local Tesla service center has looked at the logs and say he doesn't understand this. I had this issue for >1 year now.

Any others having similar problems?

Firmware version: 4.6.5

Log file:
Dropbox - 201308111026.tar

Here are some notes from this week, car has only been parked:
Sunday 11.00 , range 254 km, battery 9 degrees
Monday 10.00, range 240 km, battery 8 degrees
Monday 15.00, range 238 km, battery 8 degrees
Tuesday 21.00, range 218 km, battery 8 degrees
The ambient temperature during this period has been around 0-4 degrees

The battery temperature is higher than the ambient temperature, this is typical. I understand that this needs energy to maintain, unless the temperature sensor is broken.

Thanks!

 

[markwj]

My Roadster 2.0 is dropping the battery when not being charged (parked).
On average it assumes 50 W per hour, that is > 1 kWh per day, but it can also consume >3 times as much some periods, unfortunately especially when battery is getting low.
Based on the experience from last winter it drops much more when it gets really cold outside.

I seldom charge and use only 240 Volts, either 12 Amp or 16 Amp.

The technician at the local Tesla service center has looked at the logs and say he doesn't understand this. I had this issue for >1 year now.

Any others having similar problems?

The biggest suspect would be the car failing to go to sleep. If you lock the car, without charging, you should hear the little cooling pump trickling fluid in the rear of the car. After 5 mins, it should stop (as the car goes to sleep). Is that happening on your car?

The Tesla tech can see if the APS 12V is being activated too often (car not sleeping / being awoken) from the logs.

Alternatively, if you have OVMS we can see it also from the car reports.

 

[lmore]

Thanks, yes, it fails go go to sleep, I should have written that. Why does it fail to go to sleep, could it be that the battery is getting bad?
If I remember correctly, this it was a problem with earlier firmware versions that the Roadster consumed energy while being parked, but I thought this was solved.

 

[augkuo]

You probably have a short somewhere - pull fuses (page 9-8 of manual) and do a binary search to see if the problem stays or goes away. If none of those work then it's probably inside the PEM/battery.
Did you also have this problem at 25C? If not then it's most likely the heater keeping the battery warm which you would definitely want so the power loss is normal.

 

[NigelM]

Also check some simple things like the chargeport door being fully closed when the car is not plugged in; I think this also keeps the car awake.

Is there any reason why you don't just keep it plugged in?

 

[lmore]

Thanks for the help, we don't have many days of 25C here so I'm not sure, but I suspect it is the battery heater. I don't want the battery heater to be on like it is now, there is no damage done if the battery has ambient temperature, I don't see any point in it being higher, the colder the better if thinking of battery preservation.
I have had this for >1 year so I have checked that car port is closed.

I don't keep the car plugged in because I don't have access to electricity where I live. I charge at my office.

I want to remove the plug in the trunk to turn the car completely off, is that worse for the battery preservation than keeping it awake?

 

[markwj]

Is the car out of warranty?

This is really a simple problem that a Tesla should be able to find. I would think the radio would be the first thing to check - make sure it is shutting down. The car will wake up / not sleep if too much 12V is drawn from the APS.

 

[dhrivnak]

I lose about .25 KWh/day if I leave the car parked. But I do have a 1.5 and it stays in a relatively warm garage .

 

[thefortunes]

I lose about .25 KWh/day if I leave the car parked. But I do have a 1.5 and it stays in a relatively warm garage .

About the same here for a 2.5 in a relatively warm garage.

 

[lmore]

To me it is opposite, When the temperature decreases, the car uses more energy when parked, especially when it gets very cold.
Does anyone else experience that the Roadster keeps battery several degrees warmer than the ambient temperature (assume ambient temperature around freezing point)?
I disconnected the radio completely to see if that would help, it didn't. The car has no warranty and the local Tesla-service guy looked at the logs said he yet didn't understand what was going on.... I suspect this happened after the last Tesla service where they added the upgraded "winter fans" for the PEM, I cannot remember having this problem before that.

 

[lmore]

I let my Roadster 2.0 sit for a few days here in the cold and the battery dropped from full to less than 50 %...
Worse than that is that I now get the red FAULT lamp and the car cannot be driven (refuses to shift from P-Park). I posted about that here, as I got the same BSM Contactor Failure notification:
BSM Contactor failure - unable to charge... - Page 2
UPDATED: The car started this morning without any error message

UPDATED 2: Tesla service called me regarding a Model S-issue and then I tried to ask about this Roadster battery-issue again. I was told to put the car in STORAGE mode. So I did and let the car stay outside without charging for two days (temperature around freezing point). Very happy with the result, no power seem to have been drawn from the battery, and when I drove it today REGEN was turned off because the battery was too cold.

UPDATED 3: Unfortunately STORAGE mode did not solve the problem, so now I open the trunk and spend the one minute needed to remove the power plug to completely shutdown the car when I leave it for more than one day. Wish there was a more simple way of doing this...

 

[lmore]

Here is an update and possible cause.

Problem: When the car is not connected to the charger, the cooling pump never stops running and the car always consumes around 200 Watts when the car is sitting. The main battery temperature is 5-10 degrees higher than the ambient temperature. Below is a picture of the main battery temperature and voltage.

Picture shows that Tmin=13C and Tmax=14C. Ambient temperature is around 0C.

When I pull fuse 27 (HVAC), the sound from the cooling pump disappears and I let the car sit for several hours. What happens then is that the maxiumum temperature of the battery pack is still high, but not the minimum temperature as you can see below.

Picture shows that Tmin=3C and Tmax=12C. Ambient temperature is around 0C.
Picture also shows that Tmax=12C is at brick #41, while brick #3 is only 3C. What is going on with brick #41, why is the temperature so high compared to brick #3?

I remember reading somewhere on this forum that a user had a similar problem with the main battery pack, there were some fuses(?) that had to be fixed inside the battery pack. Unfortunately I cannot find this post.

When I pull the ESS's orange service disconnect, the battery is not drained (the car does not consume 200 Watts anymore). The main battery temperature is the same as the ambient temperature, not higher anymore. So what I do now is to pull the service disconnect when I leave the car unplugged for a longer period. Wish there was a simpler way.

If anyone opened the main battery pack, please let me know. I will rather organize fixing this myself than paying Tesla an insane amount of money to replace the battery pack. We fixed a PEM before, the components needed to fix it cost $30, but it took many hours...

 

[spaceballs]

... the cooling pump never stops running and the car always consumes around 200 Watts when the car is sitting. The main battery temperature is 5-10 degrees higher than the ambient temperature. Below is a picture of the main battery temperature and voltage.

I would take car to Tesla service center to figure out what is preventing the car from sleeping.. that is the core problem.

...
Picture shows that Tmin=13C and Tmax=14C. Ambient temperature is around 0C.

When I pull fuse 27 (HVAC), the sound from the cooling pump disappears and I let the car sit for several hours. What happens then is that the maxiumum temperature of the battery pack is still high, but not the minimum temperature as you can see below.
View attachment 64175
Picture shows that Tmin=3C and Tmax=12C. Ambient temperature is around 0C.
Picture also shows that Tmax=12C is at brick #41, while brick #3 is only 3C. What is going on with brick #41, why is the temperature so high compared to brick #3...

You said you left it sit for several hours, the ESS is very big and has very large thermal mass... i.e. sheets in the middle of the ESS will have higher temp then the ones on the outside of the ESS enclosure. I would wait 2 days with ESS service disconnect out then plug back in to verify that all temp sensors in each sheet in the ESS is reporting back the proper temps.

 

[lmore]

I would take car to Tesla service center to figure out what is preventing the car from sleeping.. that is the core problem.

I have asked them to look at and see if they can fix this on every service the car has been at (at least three annual services), but they have not. They said they looked at log files etc. but could not find anything. I tried emailing service center in Trondheim again about a month ago with more specific info, no reply. I guess they are busy replacing Model S drive units, "Tesla is flying in 300 replacement drive units per week for Model S" was the main media topic here in Norway yesterday.

You said you left it sit for several hours, the ESS is very big and has very large thermal mass... i.e. sheets in the middle of the ESS will have higher temp then the ones on the outside of the ESS enclosure. I would wait 2 days with ESS service disconnect out then plug back in to verify that all temp sensors in each sheet in the ESS is reporting back the proper temps.

I am 99 % sure that I waited long enough, but you have a good point and I can try what you suggest. Note: When the ESS service disconnect was out, the temperature dropped to the ambient temperature for all bricks. The picture with the odd temperature (brick #41 high) was taken after the HVAC fuse was pulled.

 

[spaceballs]

... but could not find anything. ...

There is no need to look at logs, just have the car sit idle (non charging) for in their service center (40f-80f temps) for 1 day if the coolant pump is still going then something visibly wrong. Actually first I would ask to talk to the roadster technician to ask what steps they would need to figure out how to dig into an roadster not sleeping case like you have. If they can't give a good answer, I would start calling other service centers until you find a technician that know what their doing. Once you find them, have them email their process to your local service center with the instructions.

... I am 99 % sure that I waited long enough, but you have a good point and I can try what you suggest. Note: When the ESS service disconnect was out, the temperature dropped to the ambient temperature for all bricks. The picture with the odd temperature (brick #41 high) was taken after the HVAC fuse was pulled.

Oh wait you have the cooling pump always circulating, hum temps should somewhat even then between all sheets. maybe you have an sensor or BMB reporting the wrong voltage (or cooling line is clogged in that sheet). In either case 12C shouldn't cause the cooler or heater to kick in.. though the temp sensor that is reporting the 3C temp might cause the heater to kick in.

Oh when was you 12v battery last replaced?