I've just noticed a sudden increase in vampire drain. Today I drove 17 miles and my battery dropped by 34. From the time I arrived at the office until I left for lunch, the battery dropped by 5 miles. Same thing from when I returned from lunch until I left for home - another 5 mile drop. Anybody have the same experience or have any thoughts for me? I've never noticed this before. Thanks!
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Sudden Increase Vampire Drain
- Thread starter RichieTheC
- Start date
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- Model S
jeffro01
Active Member
jeffro01
Active Member
When is the last time you had the 12v battery serviced? I had the same issue and everyone here told me it was my 12v battery. Sure enough, I took it to Tesla and they said I had a bunch of low voltage codes and that the main pack kept going into support mode which is what they call it when it charges the 12v battery.
garygid
Member
You should call the Tesla Roadside Service number, they should be able to read any codes.
If you call using your phone number registered with your car, they will have the info
before you tell them about the problem, without you having to identify yourself, or
your car in any way. It appears that your registered phone number is recognized by
their answering computer, it contacts your car, and has the important information
already on the screen for the human who gets assigned your call. Very slick indeed.
Also, the registered number is the one that they use by default to call you back
when checking up on you. I had my home number registered, and (sitting in
my car at a SpC) I did not get their return call. So, realizing how it works, I
registered my cell number instead ... and later, at a roadside "emergency",
I found out just how nicely their system works ... ring, ring, ... we see you are
parked, and see nothing wrong with the car ... How can we help you?
My car "lost power" on the freeway, and I managed to coast to the side
and get safely parked, but then could not get it to move. New-Driver error,
I had accidently shifted into Neutral when a rain started. The problem was
so common that they added a warning message for the situation in the
next software update. Splendid help.
If you call using your phone number registered with your car, they will have the info
before you tell them about the problem, without you having to identify yourself, or
your car in any way. It appears that your registered phone number is recognized by
their answering computer, it contacts your car, and has the important information
already on the screen for the human who gets assigned your call. Very slick indeed.
Also, the registered number is the one that they use by default to call you back
when checking up on you. I had my home number registered, and (sitting in
my car at a SpC) I did not get their return call. So, realizing how it works, I
registered my cell number instead ... and later, at a roadside "emergency",
I found out just how nicely their system works ... ring, ring, ... we see you are
parked, and see nothing wrong with the car ... How can we help you?
My car "lost power" on the freeway, and I managed to coast to the side
and get safely parked, but then could not get it to move. New-Driver error,
I had accidently shifted into Neutral when a rain started. The problem was
so common that they added a warning message for the situation in the
next software update. Splendid help.
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I had the same thing happen when the latest firmware was installed. My car sits a lot in the garage and prior to the install of the latest firmware, it would lose 9 miles over 2-1/2 to 3 days of sitting. When the newest firmware was installed, I immediately started losing 9 miles in less than 24 hours. I called Tesla but nothing showed up in the logs. They told me they will check further when the car is in for its annual service later in March. I also told them that when the latest firmware was installed I received an error message that the maps had not been installed and the nav no longer worked.
Tesla told me to try rebooting the screen. I did that and the nav error message went away and the nav started working again. However the car still lost 9 miles in less than a 24 hour period of time. I kept rebooting the screen, and after the 4th or fifth reboot, the car seems to be back to losing 9 miles every 2-1/2 to 3 days. So maybe try rebooting several times to see if it helps.
Tesla told me to try rebooting the screen. I did that and the nav error message went away and the nav started working again. However the car still lost 9 miles in less than a 24 hour period of time. I kept rebooting the screen, and after the 4th or fifth reboot, the car seems to be back to losing 9 miles every 2-1/2 to 3 days. So maybe try rebooting several times to see if it helps.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
Do you have "Smart Preconditioning" turned on? Or perhaps did you turn on climate control to manually precondition your car before you went to lunch?
ArtInCT
Always Learning
As another data point I am away from my new S. it is in the always connected mode and attached to shore power but not charging.
I am seeing a bit more than 2 miles of vampire drain per day for the last 3 days. When I left it was at 150 and now is at 143. I suspect this normal for always connected mode and my average interior temp inside the car is about 45 degrees.
I am seeing a bit more than 2 miles of vampire drain per day for the last 3 days. When I left it was at 150 and now is at 143. I suspect this normal for always connected mode and my average interior temp inside the car is about 45 degrees.
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Fanatic1
Member
Here's some new and, I think, interesting info. Today was an entirely different story. Similar itinerary, drove to work, to lunch, back to work then home. 16 miles in total. Used 19 miles of battery. Only 2 miles of vampire drain, 1 mile in the morning and 1 mile in the afternoon. So, you may ask, what was different about the two days? My answer is....today was sunny, yesterday it rained a lot! Makes me wonder if rain sensing features were maybe working overtime while the car was off? Very strange.
I've observed something similar where I've seen my vampire drain almost double since a January update. I'm unable to charge every night (condo complex with limited charge options) and previously I would lose 1-2 mi per night. Now I'm seeing 3-4 mi per night (and as high as 5 mi in a 24 hr period). I discussed with Tesla Service during a recent inspection and they seemed unconcerned - attributing it to cold external temps. Now that Spring is approaching with moderate temps in my area, I'll continue to monitor to see if the increased drain continues. I've tried to eliminate some of the more likely culprits (e.g. always connected settings) but haven't seen an improvement.
mach.89
Member
I have almost and identical situation to yours. I live in an apartment complex and charge at work, tho my work schedule is not typical 5 days a week, so my car can sit a few days at home not charging. I've been keeping very very detailed logs of charging and vampire loss for the past month and I've seen an average of 7.76 miles of vampire loss per 24 hours, which also equates to (for a 85kWh) 2.87% loss per 24 hours (or 0.12% loss per hour).
Here's some quick notes before anyone asks:
•"Always Connected" set to Off
•"Energy Savings" set to On
•I don't use smart preconditioning.
•Car parked every night in an underground garage, temperature typically 65-75°F
•Strive to keep my battery between 40-80%
I've also noticed that when it's plugged in and not charging, the vampire loss is about the same. Anyone else think this is a little high? I feel like vampire loss was less when I took delivery in November 2015 and the first couple months.
while parked at the airport for a few days my loss was about 7 miles per day.
always connected on, range mode off, preconditioning off.
the moral is when parked at a place like the airport for a few days, be certain to have a lot of extra miles loaded so you won't be caught short upon your return.
always connected on, range mode off, preconditioning off.
the moral is when parked at a place like the airport for a few days, be certain to have a lot of extra miles loaded so you won't be caught short upon your return.
I wonder if Tesla enabled the map generation with a new firmware update... however, it would only really explain increased drain with AP2 hardware though, so it's probably not the case here... something to think about though.
Essentially, mapping is one of the unmentioned pillars of FSD that Tesla never talk about. I would imagine they're going with Nvidia's solution, which is part of the capabilities of Driveworks/DrivePX2...
Instead of sending out loads of specially equipped 3D lidar style mapping vehicles, they crowd source HD maps from 'harvesters' - any vehicle with a camera. They start with pretty decent resolution 2D maps (most likely from HERE maps), then refine or build HD maps, using motion and localisation data collected from the cameras.
End-to-end HD Mapping for Self-Driving Cars | NVIDIA
Obviously, you can't send back raw video to the data centres, so it actually crunches and pre-processes a LOT of information on the harvester itself - in Tesla's case, the DrivePX - before uploading the relevant information in a very compressed form to the data center. It really only does this intensive pre-processing when it's not actively driving - for obvious reasons. So, in Tesla's case, I would imagine that whilst the car isn't moving, it's crunching data it's collected from your recent trips. It may also explain how the car can seemingly get a bit 'better' on AP even without FW revisions - the HD map tiles it pulls down every 10km have been generated, or are more accurate.
tl;dr - your car is creating HD maps whilst you're not driving it.
Essentially, mapping is one of the unmentioned pillars of FSD that Tesla never talk about. I would imagine they're going with Nvidia's solution, which is part of the capabilities of Driveworks/DrivePX2...
Instead of sending out loads of specially equipped 3D lidar style mapping vehicles, they crowd source HD maps from 'harvesters' - any vehicle with a camera. They start with pretty decent resolution 2D maps (most likely from HERE maps), then refine or build HD maps, using motion and localisation data collected from the cameras.
End-to-end HD Mapping for Self-Driving Cars | NVIDIA
Obviously, you can't send back raw video to the data centres, so it actually crunches and pre-processes a LOT of information on the harvester itself - in Tesla's case, the DrivePX - before uploading the relevant information in a very compressed form to the data center. It really only does this intensive pre-processing when it's not actively driving - for obvious reasons. So, in Tesla's case, I would imagine that whilst the car isn't moving, it's crunching data it's collected from your recent trips. It may also explain how the car can seemingly get a bit 'better' on AP even without FW revisions - the HD map tiles it pulls down every 10km have been generated, or are more accurate.
tl;dr - your car is creating HD maps whilst you're not driving it.
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Well well well, this morning I'm greeted with a "12V battery needs service" message. So my drain may simply be trying to keep the 12V battery alive.
It's strange that these batteries last so little (I took ownership in Dec 2014).
Time to call service. I hope it's covered by the warranty.
gabeincal
Active Member
Careful with energy saver (assuming we mean Range Mode). Wisdom says you shouldn't have it on all the time.
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