Vendor S3XY Buttons - Regenerative braking

[dimitar.ns]

I would like to share more info about the Regen braking and its functionality with the S3XY Buttons.
If you have any specific questions let me know, I would be happy to answer!

Here's a list of a few scenarios when changing the Regen Braking with a S3XY Button can be quite useful:

• Heavy winter/slippery conditions - avoid slipping in case of rapid Regen applied by the car. Usually, Tesla reduces Regen or enters Snow mode but only after it detects a problem that might be too late.
• Low on battery and just want to coast without constantly switching between acceleration and regen
• Not a fan of one-pedal driving - if you just want the control in your hands (feet)
• Motion-sickness of your passengers when regen kicks in - a lot of customers send us feedback that this helped their passengers have more comfortable trips
• Just want to get the rust out of your brake discs - remove the regen and make a drive using the brakes only.

Which use case is your favorite and do you have other ideas?

Also, another helpful tip - place the "Regen Braking" S3XY Button behind the wheel.

 

[Ts91]

Do you have to activate it on each startup, or does it remember the last setting?

 

[dimitar.ns]

Do you have to activate it on each startup, or does it remember the last setting?

It should be activated on each startup. The setting is returned to Default after sleep cycle of the car.

So far we didn’t implement persistent Regen change because there might be incompatibility issues with a new Tesla SW and our Regen implementation (this happened with 2022.36 for example). It will be bad if the Commander automatically changes something and after a SW update of the car things don’t work as you expect without any action from you or there are errors popping on the screen.
If you press a button and afterwards things don’t work as expected it’s more likely for you to notice the incompatibility and turn off the button you activated, so you have more control.

However, a lot of people are asking for persistent Regen change and we think to add something like that in order to satisfy everyone. At least it will be persistent until we detect a SW update. In this case you will have to press a button or re-activate the Regen change from a Smart Action after every SW update of the car.
Would you use it in this case?

 

[Ts91]

It should be activated on each startup. The setting is returned to Default after sleep cycle of the car.

So far we didn’t implement persistent Regen change because there might be incompatibility issues with a new Tesla SW and our Regen implementation (this happened with 2022.36 for example). It will be bad if the Commander automatically changes something and after a SW update of the car things don’t work as you expect without any action from you or there are errors popping on the screen.
If you press a button and afterwards things don’t work as expected it’s more likely for you to notice the incompatibility and turn off the button you activated, so you have more control.

However, a lot of people are asking for persistent Regen change and we think to add something like that in order to satisfy everyone. At least it will be persistent until we detect a SW update. In this case you will have to press a button or re-activate the Regen change from a Smart Action after every SW update of the car.
Would you use it in this case?

Thanks!

Have you considered including some stickers for the buttons? (Eg. Rain wipers, fan speed increase/decrease)

 

[dimitar.ns]

Have you considered including some stickers for the buttons?

Yes, we have some stickers already. We will probably add it as an Add-On to an order on our website since shipping these only would be quite a challenge.

 

[TPerth]

I've just tried the button for the main reason I got it and that is to toggle Regen on/off. So I set a button to set regen to 0% and a double click to 100%. This technically works but is so slow and seems like it is cycling through the 4 regen options (0-100%) as it can take >8 seconds to fully be back to 100%. What I'm looking for is to be able to turn it on and off intantly, similar to when you go into neutral (holding the right stalk up for 2 seconds) while driving.
This would make hypermiling nice any easy.
Or plan B how about a command to go toggle Drive/Neutral.

 

[TimothyHW3]

@dimitar.ns Can you please explain how the battery preheating works? Can we also disable it via this button or just enable it, is it a toggle? I am more interested in disabling the preheating, no interest in turning it on. My uses cases - A) when navigating to Supercharger B) at the Supercharger, I want in both cases to prevent the car from preheating.

Also, Autopilot Always On button, what does this do? Is it working when changing lanes and getting back to Autopilot after lange change without clicking the button? Is there a way to disable the gong afterwards?

 

[dimitar.ns]

I set a button to set regen to 0% and a double click to 100%.

You can do this with just 1 button for 0% as it works as a Toggle. The first press goes to 0% and the second press returns to default 100%.

This technically works but is so slow and seems like it is cycling through the 4 regen options (0-100%) as it can take >8 seconds to fully be back to 100%.

Unfortunately, the slow update is not caused by the buttons but by the Drive Unit itself and we don't cycle through the 4 regen options.
Tesla implemented a gradual switch between different Regen modes and we cannot overcome this limitation for now.
If you have an old car with this setting on the Main Screen you can test it and see it yourself - even in this case the change between Low and Standard takes around 5 secs.

Or plan B how about a command to go toggle Drive/Neutral.

I believe you have to press the brake pedal to switch back to Drive but I have to check. We can do something like this but it's not ideal and there might be some other issues with this approach.

Can you please explain how the battery preheating works?

Currently, we have an issue with the Battery preconditioning with some cars and some specific modifications. We are still evaluating how to overcome the issues but next week we will release an improvement to this, so if it's not working currently, make sure to test it next week and let us know if it's working now.
Basically, we send the same signal to the car which is sent from the MCU that the battery should be preheated because the destination is a supercharger. There is nothing special to this. We don't control the temperatures and the heating itself, all this is done by the BMS inside the car and should be the same as when navigating to an SC.

Can we also disable it via this button or just enable it, is it a toggle?

Currently no, it's not a toggle but only SET to On. Maybe we can try to make such a button in future updates.

Also, Autopilot Always On button, what does this do? Is it working when changing lanes and getting back to Autopilot after lange change without clicking the button? Is there a way to disable the gong afterwards?

It's like pressing the stalk twice with each button press. It doesn't automatically activate the AP but makes it easier to switch lanes as you have to press only this button once you are done with the maneuver. Currently, there is no way to control the chimes from the buttons. Hopefully, with new Tesla updates, there will be some more options.

 

[TimothyHW3]

It's like pressing the stalk twice with each button press. It doesn't automatically activate the AP but makes it easier to switch lanes as you have to press only this button once you are done with the maneuver.

Hm, I don't really get it. I had this with the very old update? The thing is that when you switch lanes the AP turns off and the old AP turn on/off button will engage it as it was automatically off...

So I don't see the benefit of this button as I could do it with the old too?

 

[TPerth]

@dimitar.ns
I believe you have to press the brake pedal to switch back to Drive but I have to check. We can do something like this but it's not ideal and there might be some other issues with this approach.

Thanks for the replies. You don't have to press the brake pedal to toggle between Neutral and Drive. You will want to put your foot on the accelerator a little otherwise you will get the full force of the regen when going from Neutral to Drive.

 

[Georgesb2]

You can do this with just 1 button for 0% as it works as a Toggle. The first press goes to 0% and the second press returns to default 100%.


Unfortunately, the slow update is not caused by the buttons but by the Drive Unit itself and we don't cycle through the 4 regen options.
Tesla implemented a gradual switch between different Regen modes and we cannot overcome this limitation for now.
If you have an old car with this setting on the Main Screen you can test it and see it yourself - even in this case the change between Low and Standard takes around 5 secs.


I believe you have to press the brake pedal to switch back to Drive but I have to check. We can do something like this but it's not ideal and there might be some other issues with this approach.


Currently, we have an issue with the Battery preconditioning with some cars and some specific modifications. We are still evaluating how to overcome the issues but next week we will release an improvement to this, so if it's not working currently, make sure to test it next week and let us know if it's working now.
Basically, we send the same signal to the car which is sent from the MCU that the battery should be preheated because the destination is a supercharger. There is nothing special to this. We don't control the temperatures and the heating itself, all this is done by the BMS inside the car and should be the same as when navigating to an SC.


Currently no, it's not a toggle but only SET to On. Maybe we can try to make such a button in future updates.


It's like pressing the stalk twice with each button press. It doesn't automatically activate the AP but makes it easier to switch lanes as you have to press only this button once you are done with the maneuver. Currently, there is no way to control the chimes from the buttons. Hopefully, with new Tesla updates, there will be some more options.

How do you let us know when the update to resolve battery preconditioning comes out?
Thanks,
George

 

[dimitar.ns]

How do you let us know when the update to resolve battery preconditioning comes out?
Thanks,
George

It will be released tomorrow as Beta version and later this week as an official.
We are working for app Notifications in order to get notified for all updates and important news or critical updates. This will be released in December. Hope to have more people subscribed for the in-app notifications!

 

[BillN]

It will be released tomorrow as Beta version and later this week as an official.
We are working for app Notifications in order to get notified for all updates and important news or critical updates. This will be released in December. Hope to have more people subscribed for the in-app notifications!

I would love app notifications to (optionally) notify me when I’ve pressed a button and what has been changed.

I don’t use the S3XY app dashboard display (sorry!…I’m normally having Apple Maps or Teslogic dashboard on my my phone mounted on the steering wheel column) so when I use a button to change wiper speed or toggle chill mode etc the only way I currently have of knowing what state it’s in is by observing what the car does.

I’d find it really useful and beneficial to have an app notification come through when I change something via a button.

 

[Georgesb2]

It will be released tomorrow as Beta version and later this week as an official.
We are working for app Notifications in order to get notified for all updates and important news or critical updates. This will be released in December. Hope to have more people subscribed for the in-app notifications!

Please update with a comment here when you release the Beta and official versions. I couldn't find any update today....

 

[JimShaw]

Will a button turn on/off the emergency lights?

Also, has the Commander or button hardware been updated so that newer versions are preferred?

 

[VBXATL]

Does the regen adjustment work with the refreshed Model X/S?

 

[dimitar.ns]

I’d find it really useful and beneficial to have an app notification come through when I change something via a button.

We will look into this, we have it on our roadmap!

Please update with a comment here when you release the Beta and official versions. I couldn't find any update today....

We just released the official v2.11.2 with fixes for Preconditioning, headlights, AutoHigh beam and a lot of other features and fixes.

Will a button turn on/off the emergency lights?

Also, has the Commander or button hardware been updated so that newer versions are preferred?

Yes, you can control the Hazard lights.
Recently we didn't update the Commander or the buttons so it doesn't matter. There was a limited old HW in November last year but it's long over.

Does the regen adjustment work with the refreshed Model X/S?

Yes! You can change it even if it's not present on the Tesla Main Screen.

Off-road assist is also coming to all vehicles soon which could be used as Snow Mode! Stay Tuned!

 

[Svedman]

Off-road assist is also coming to all vehicles soon which could be used as Snow Mode! Stay Tuned!

I’m really looking forward to off-road assist!

 

[TimothyHW3]

Off-road assist is also coming to all vehicles soon which could be used as Snow Mode! Stay Tuned!

If you bring this before this winter you are a god sent! Model 3/Y is undrivable on tiny windy roads with a lot of snow, slush and ice, especially in Scandinavian countries, where they don't care about cleaning the roads a lot.

Do you have an ETA when it will arrive? And maybe explain how it will work - can we just force the car to go into 50/50 mode and use both motors? Or even adjust wether we want 70% back 30% front?

 

[dimitar.ns]

Do you have an ETA when it will arrive? And maybe explain how it will work - can we just force the car to go into 50/50 mode and use both motors? Or even adjust wether we want 70% back 30% front?

We will release it in 1-2 weeks. Need to polish some other features for the Holiday Update

Basically, the button will just activate Off-Road assist. This is switching the front/rear motor to 50/50 for both acceleration and regeneration up to 90 km/h. It's exactly the same as Off-Road in Model Y and the bonus is that will be working also for Model 3.
Slip Mode will be also included in this release together with Presenting Doors (Beta) and Very Short Honk.