Tesla Lost Over 20% Charge Parked for Three Days

[GoneFishing]

I recently took a trip with my MY. I started the trip on a full charge and when I arrived it was down to 64%. More than enough obviously to get home. I then parked it in the hotel parking garage for three days and when I returned to leave the charge was down to 42%, so just parked I lost over 20% in just over 72 hours!!

All of the forums I read say you loose about 1% a day when the MY is parked and not plugged in.

The outside temperature was in the 60s, so it wasn't really cold out. Yes I have Sentry Mode enabled and use ABRP, but seriously. I can't believe that I could loose the amount of power equivalent to moving the vehicle over 80 miles even with that and battery preconditioning, etc. I noticed this one other time I had the car parked in someones driveway for three days. That was a hot week over the Summer, but again that a lot of power just to maintain the battery temperature.

Any ideas on what is draining the battery?

 

[E-curb]

I recently took a trip with my MY. I started the trip on a full charge and when I arrived it was down to 64%. More than enough obviously to get home. I then parked it in the hotel parking garage for three days and when I returned to leave the charge was down to 42%, so just parked I lost over 20% in just over 72 hours!!

All of the forums I read say you loose about 1% a day when the MY is parked and not plugged in.

The outside temperature was in the 60s, so it wasn't really cold out. Yes I have Sentry Mode enabled and use ABRP, but seriously. I can't believe that I could loose the amount of power equivalent to moving the vehicle over 80 miles even with that and battery preconditioning, etc. I noticed this one other time I had the car parked in someones driveway for three days. That was a hot week over the Summer, but again that a lot of power just to maintain the battery temperature.

Any ideas on what is draining the battery?

I'm not sure it matters, but did you have a lot of Sentry events?

As for that hot week over the summer, there is an option to maintain the cabin at 105 F even when parked. If you had that option turned on and parked in the sun, that would suck some juice.

 

[Zoomit]

Sentry Mode is the cause, no question. Most people don’t realize how much computing power is needed to continuously monitor all the video.

Also, when sleeping and unmolested a Tesla uses only about 1% per week.

 

[acatwith12]

You just answered your own question - you turned sentry on, you should expect it to lose that much. Your car is totally normal and nothing's wrong with it

 

[GoneFishing]

E-curb, there were only ten Sentry events, which is far less than I would have expected in a multi-level hotel parking garage.

Zoomit and acatwith12, . The time I really would benefit from Sentry is when it is parked for an extended amount of time in a public parking area. I'll experiment with turning sentry off. If that is it, like you suggest, at least I'll feel comfortable leaving the car parked for a week in a place where I can't plug in. Right now I'm a bit concerned.

 

[Darblish]

Sentry mode on its own uses about 7% a day for me; 20% over 3 days seems about right. The car can’t go to sleep with sentry mode on, and it consumes more power when it’s awake than the 12v battery could handle, so it never disconnects the traction battery like it normally would.

Less-impactful but still worth disabling in long-term parking: cabin overheat protection uses 1-3% a day in the summer (obviously not all year).

 

[E-curb]

Sentry mode on its own uses about 7% a day for me; 20% over 3 days seems about right. The car can’t go to sleep with sentry mode on, and it consumes more power when it’s awake than the 12v battery could handle, so it never disconnects the traction battery like it normally would.

Less-impactful but still worth disabling in long-term parking: cabin overheat protection uses 1-3% a day in the summer (obviously not all year).

7% per day has been my experience too. On average, that's a continuous load and losses of about 200 watts. It is what it is, but that's certainly more than I would have guessed for Sentry mode.

 

[Wolfhausen]

Sentry mode, cabin overheat protection, parasitic loss.

 

[Darblish]

7% per day has been my experience too. On average, that's a continuous load and losses of about 200 watts. It is what it is, but that's certainly more than I would have guessed for Sentry mode.

I wonder how much of that is just that they never planned for a “low power mode” on the vehicles. It seems like if it can’t be done while the car is asleep, it’s just “on.” I wonder if that’s something an update could fix down the road, or if it would be part of an electrical redesign with the new battery cells. Or neither, I suppose, since the alarm still works when sentry mode is off.

 

[mrwug]

I wonder how much of that is just that they never planned for a “low power mode” on the vehicles. It seems like if it can’t be done while the car is asleep, it’s just “on.” I wonder if that’s something an update could fix down the road, or if it would be part of an electrical redesign with the new battery cells. Or neither, I suppose, since the alarm still works when sentry mode is off.

Probably depends on your definition of "low power". 200W is way too much for the 12V system to sustain so the main battery is used. Probably a major undertaking to scale back from "on" to "main battery providing 2-300W" if it's even possible.

 

[MikeR99]

I recently took a trip with my MY. I started the trip on a full charge and when I arrived it was down to 64%. More than enough obviously to get home. I then parked it in the hotel parking garage for three days and when I returned to leave the charge was down to 42%, so just parked I lost over 20% in just over 72 hours!!

All of the forums I read say you loose about 1% a day when the MY is parked and not plugged in.

The outside temperature was in the 60s, so it wasn't really cold out. Yes I have Sentry Mode enabled and use ABRP, but seriously. I can't believe that I could loose the amount of power equivalent to moving the vehicle over 80 miles even with that and battery preconditioning, etc. I noticed this one other time I had the car parked in someones driveway for three days. That was a hot week over the Summer, but again that a lot of power just to maintain the battery temperature.

Any ideas on what is draining the battery?

Mine was losing more than I expected too. Seems I had to turn off auto summon and sentry (I hadn't checked "ignore home"). I still lose about 1-2% per day when not driving.

 

[jjrandorin]

E-curb, there were only ten Sentry events, which is far less than I would have expected in a multi-level hotel parking garage.

Zoomit and acatwith12, . The time I really would benefit from Sentry is when it is parked for an extended amount of time in a public parking area. I'll experiment with turning sentry off. If that is it, like you suggest, at least I'll feel comfortable leaving the car parked for a week in a place where I can't plug in. Right now I'm a bit concerned.

Sentry mode will use between 24 and 48 miles a day (1 - 2 miles per HOUR of having it on) whether you have a lot of events or not. The reports of 1% a day are when the car is sleeping. Sentry mode = car fully awake, so it will drain the above amount.

3 days = 72 hours = between 72 and 144 miles lost. 80 miles is very average for this, and expected, known, etc.

 

[dino007]

Yea sentry is brutal on the battery i tried it on while i was at work and lost like 5% in 8 hours with like 7 events

Legit so far only times i turn it on if its a short time like i go in a place for like an hour like the mall or something or if i stay in a hotel with charging because its plugged in so it doesn’t matter

Otherwise its off and also cabin overheat is off always as well

I don’t lose anything maybe 1% in like 3 days with those off

 

[Trip McNealy]

Just to tack on another scenario as a compromise, one could charge battery to 100% and leave Sentry Mode and Cabin overheat protection off for the duration of a 7-day vacation while the car just sits unplugged and if you get paranoid a day or two out of the week, you could turn Sentry on and then off again using the app remotely and you'll probably come back home to a decent % of battery left, correct? Assuming very little Sentry events (1-3) when turned On..

 

[boulder.dude]

Just to tack on another scenario as a compromise, one could charge battery to 100% and leave Sentry Mode and Cabin overheat protection off for the duration of a 7-day vacation while the car just sits unplugged and if you get paranoid a day or two out of the week, you could turn Sentry on and then off again using the app remotely and you'll probably come back home to a decent % of battery left, correct? Assuming very little Sentry events (1-3) when turned On..

Leaving the battery at >90% SOC for 24hrs? Not worth it.

 

[Bobbo5]

Sentry Mode is the cause, no question. Most people don’t realize how much computing power is needed to continuously monitor all the video.

Also, when sleeping and unmolested a Tesla uses only about 1% per week.

Well that sucks, the Sentry Mode it to protect your car, so you cannot use it when you really need it. Public parking is the place you need that feature the most. Your car can get dented, scratched vandelized to name a few. I hope Tesla is working on this. I have a battery operated door be with sentry mode that records all action at my door. The battery is small and I only need to recharge it once a month.

 

[Empiro]

Cabin overheat shuts itself off after 12 hours, so over the course of several days it doesn't contribute that much. Sentry mode, on the other hand, will stay on and like others have said, it draws 200w+.

The bottom line is that Tesla's processors and sensors aren't really designed for use as a security system, so they take far more power to run compared to a dedicated car security system. Those can run off a lead acid battery (about 1.2 kwh) for weeks on end.

 

[Kairide]

Also, when sleeping and unmolested a Tesla uses only about 1% per week.

For all you guys who constantly check your app, stop molesting your Tesla.