Tent Camping in a Model S

[xhawk101]

Wow one would hope for a more elegant solution lol

 

[mspohr]

Here's something I've done recently with tent camping. I fashioned a contraption of Lexan and dryer hose to get the cold air from the rear seat vents to safely pass outside the car and into our tent. This was a recent visit to Galveston State Park in Galveston, TX. Getting the car to say on with the AC blowing AND charging is a bit of a trick:

1. Car is in Park
2. Plug the car in
3. Close all four front vents and open the rear two (for this experiment)
4. Make the car stay on overnight WHILE plugged in and charging:
a. The car will stay on if it detects something on the touchscreen (like a finger) so I hung a smooth piece of metal from a lanyard onto the touchscreen in an innocuous location on the screen.
b. To give it capacitance, I connected that piece of metal to the outer, ground part of a USB cable which was plugged into the center console.
c. Put a key in the center console, just under the cubby
d. Set your charge rate low enough to where the battery will be charging all night. Once the charging stops, the AC will turn off in 30 minutes.
e. Open the driver's side window all the way.
f. With the driver's side door closed partly but not shut, put the top half of your body into the car and press down firmly on the middle of the seat bottom so it detects you.
g. While pushing down, close the door all the way. If you're successful, the car will still be on and the doors are closed.
h. Reach into the open driver's side window with your right hand and click all the way up on the driver's door window switch where it does auto up. Remember to remove your hand and arm right away, but the window will gently reverse direction if your arm or hand gets in the way of it closing.
i. After that, open the Tesla app on your smartphone (which hopefully isn't inside the now closed car) and lock the car.

Should I also stand on my left leg and stick my tongue out while waving my right hand in the air?

 

[spottyq]

I thought they were two ways to activate the 'camping mode' :
- If charging : put a heavy item in the driver's seat (so that the car thinks the drivers is still on the seat.)
- If not charging : put car in neutral, set the parking brake(/emergency brake) via the central touchscreen.

 

[Tree95]

Big Sur earlier this week

 

[Chris TX]

I thought they were two ways to activate the 'camping mode' :
- If charging : put a heavy item in the driver's seat (so that the car thinks the drivers is still on the seat.)
- If not charging : put car in neutral, set the parking brake(/emergency brake) via the central touchscreen.

Yes, but I didn't have anything heavy to sit in the seat.

- - - Updated - - -

Wow one would hope for a more elegant solution lol

When it's uncomfortably hot at night in a tent, you do what you have to do. It was a fun experiment, nonetheless.

 

[green1]

I thought they were two ways to activate the 'camping mode' :
- If charging : put a heavy item in the driver's seat (so that the car thinks the drivers is still on the seat.)

Only works for 30 minutes.

- If not charging : put car in neutral, set the parking brake(/emergency brake) via the central touchscreen.

the "if not charging" part is the real killer there, combined with the forced DRL if in Canada.

I like the touchscreen and slow charging option, may be worth trying, I figure one of those capacitive sylus things should do the trick.

 

[mknox]

the "if not charging" part is the real killer there, combined with the forced DRL if in Canada.

I get that they can't disable DRLs in Canada due to regulations, but what they could do is simply have them activated only when the car is in D or R. I used to own a car that did exactly that. The DRLs wouldn't come on until you put the car in D although once on, they wouldn't go off when you put the car back in P. You had to stop and re-start the car to get them off again. Wish Tesla would do something like this.

 

[green1]

I get that they can't disable DRLs in Canada due to regulations, but what they could do is simply have them activated only when the car is in D or R. I used to own a car that did exactly that. The DRLs wouldn't come on until you put the car in D although once on, they wouldn't go off when you put the car back in P. You had to stop and re-start the car to get them off again. Wish Tesla would do something like this.

Their current compromise on DRL being only when you're not in P is acceptable, for every situation except "camping mode", which is a bit of a hack anyway. My preferred option would be to simply offer an official camping mode (or I think they earlier called it a "keep the dogs alive" mode) and not bother messing any more with the DRL.

 

[anxman]

Big Sur earlier this week

How are you getting to/from Big Sur with enough charge?

 

[xhawk101]

Yes, but I didn't have anything heavy to sit in the seat.

- - - Updated - - -



When it's uncomfortably hot at night in a tent, you do what you have to do. It was a fun experiment, nonetheless.

Sorry I was referring to the complex gymnastics of enabling camping mode on the tesla....I totally appreciate and would do the same if I were you as far as the situation.....not meant to refer to your choice in hotel at all....sorry for the confusion. I was using elegance in a different way!

 

[andrewket]

I know this is a while ago, but I just played with this some. Unfortunately it doesn't work for this purpose.
While this works for the vehicle in park, you also can't keep the climate control going more than 30 minutes in that way. The trick to getting the climate control to stay on is to be in neutral, but with the parking brake engaged from the controls screen. Unfortunately in that mode, the DRLs won't turn off the way you suggested. I think I'm going to have to wire myself an override switch for those DRLs! (Of course this still doesn't solve the can't charge and sleep at the same time problem)

Buy the Remote S smartphone app. It has a camping mode function. It sends the HVAC on command every 30 minutes. This way you can charge and keep the HVAC on all night.

 

[green1]

Buy the Remote S smartphone app. It has a camping mode function. It sends the HVAC on command every 30 minutes. This way you can charge and keep the HVAC on all night.

My Android can't run Remote S, nor should I have to go to an aftermarket kludge for this one ideally.

 

[Tree95]

How are you getting to/from Big Sur with enough charge?

With the month old supercharger in Seaside, it's a breeze.