Things you may not have discovered about your Model S?!

[SUN-day Driver]

Thanks for posting this thread, JoshG. While waiting for my delivery I was planning to search through the individual threads where I've seen some of these thing mentioned and make a cheat sheet, but now here it all is in one place. This saves me a lot of time!

 

[bob_p]

A few notes on using the Bluetooth audio.

Audiobooks from Audible.com can be played in the Model S by starting the Audible player on the Bluetooth device, and then selecting the device from the console as the audio source. This resumes playing from the last position, and will automatically stop playing for phone calls or when the car stops. While you can put an MP3 audio book on a USB device, the car's software currently doesn't have "bookmark" support to resume at the last position played.

Voicemail (at least on my Galaxy S3) can be heard through the car by selecting the phone's Bluetooth as the audio device and then select playing the voicemail on the phone.

 

[JoshG]

Audiobooks from Audible.com can be played in the Model S by starting the Audible player on the Bluetooth device, and then selecting the device from the console as the audio source. This resumes playing from the last position, and will automatically stop playing for phone calls or when the car stops.

Voicemail (at least on my Galaxy S3) can be heard through the car by selecting the phone's Bluetooth as the audio device and then select playing the voicemail on the phone.

1) Yes, any audio app (including the default "Music"/ipod app on the iPhone) on a smartphone can be played via bluetooth, and most will pause and resume as you said.

2) Did you know that you don't need to do this via the console? It can also all be done via the steering wheel buttons: Spin right scroll wheel until right-side screen says "Media Source", click it, then pick your smartphone from the list of inputs (again with the right scroll wheel). Then click LEFT scroll wheel button which will start (or unpause) that audio device if it supports that function. Works fine for audio books. i've gotten pretty fast at this multi-click maneuver without even looking at the screens.

What bothers me, however, is that you need to do this EVERY TIME you get in the car. The car should remember the last audio source selected and keep it selected at next startup. It's a lot of clicking every time you get in your car just to get the audio to resume where it was.

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Thanks for posting this thread, JoshG. While waiting for my delivery I was planning to search through the individual threads where I've seen some of these thing mentioned and make a cheat sheet, but now here it all is in one place. This saves me a lot of time!

No thanks necessary - I've learned a ton from this thread too! glad it's helping out others also.

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

Here is a tip to clean the touchscreen without need to shut it down (reboot it). Take a cloth that you might use to clean your eye glasses or smartphone or iPad type device. Fold the cloth so you have at least 4 layers of cloth stacked on top of each other. Then wipe away! If the cloth is thick enough, it eliminates the conductivity of your fingers and the touchscreen controls don't get activated.

If you try it and it doesn't work, the cloth might not be thick enough, or part of your finger may be slipping off the cloth and just slightly touching the screen and activating the controls beneath it. Fold the cloth over itself some more or get a cleaning cloth that is a bit thicker and wider to start with.

 

[Robert.Boston]

If you try it and it doesn't work, the cloth might not be thick enough, or part of your finger may be slipping off the cloth and just slightly touching the screen and activating the controls beneath it. Fold the cloth over itself some more or get a cleaning cloth that is a bit thicker to start with.

Good advice. If you're in the colder parts of the country, keep your gloves on while you clean your screen.

 

[bob_p]

If you're interested in the score for professional or college sports, you can bring up ESPN in the browser and monitor the progress of the game using "Gamecast" - fits pretty well in half of the display.

It can be a little tricky to get the Gamecast window open - requires zooming in on the score bar, and hitting "skip ad" in the Gamecast window.

 

[Beavis]

I use the Targus CleanVu pads. They work better than the cloth cleaners and come in black and red so they match my interior.

 

[vfx]

I use the Targus CleanVu pads. They work better than the cloth cleaners and come in black and red so they match my interior.

That's really big! Where do you store it with no cubbies?

 

[Beavis]

That's really big! Where do you store it with no cubbies?

They are small so it goes in the cubby under the screen.

 

[brijam]

I have a couple I haven't seen:

In Nav on the 17" if you scroll away from your current geolocated location on the map to look at another part of the map, touching the icon in the upper right of the nav window restores the map to centering on your current location.

This may be in the manual but I forgot it until my DS told me. You can adjust the maximum height that the trunk lid opens to automatically by moving the open trunk to the height you want and holding the red trunk close button for three seconds until you hear a beep.

 

[brijam]

Tap the Park button to extend the door handles.

 

[efusco]

Tap the Park button to extend the door handles.

even when it's already in park? If so, cool, that's a good one I need all the time.

 

[Trnsl8r]

The mobile app can open the pano roof to vent - this I knew.

But once I parked with the roof wide open and walked away, later and farther away realizing that I needed to close it. I could do that with the app as well.

 

[goaliemanshark]

Yeah pushing park will always extend the handles. It's a great feature!

 

[Tempus]

Yeah pushing park will always extend the handles. It's a great feature!

Reminds me of my first day with the car. I pulled up in my driveway to let my wife in the passenger side, and i couldnt figure out how to get the door handles to extend to let her in. Eventually i just leaned over and hit the interior handle on her door. Made for a good laugh later.

 

[slindell]

Reminds me of my first day with the car. I pulled up in my driveway to let my wife in the passenger side, and i couldnt figure out how to get the door handles to extend to let her in. Eventually i just leaned over and hit the interior handle on her door. Made for a good laugh later.

You could also open by unlocking the door on the center screen

 

[CanuckS#69]

even when it's already in park? If so, cool, that's a good one I need all the time.

I'm on 4.2 (.42) and hitting the park button on the stalk while in park doesn't extend the handles for me. Putting it in park to begin with does, however.

 

[eelton]

Mine is the same. It would be a nice feature to add, though. For now, the best way to extend the handles--as slindell pointed out--is to go to the controls page and hit "unlock."

I'm on 4.2 (.42) and hitting the park button on the stalk while in park doesn't extend the handles for me. Putting it in park to begin with does, however.

 

[Lloyd]

The little fan at the bottom of the display lights up the fan blades according to the 1-4 strength of the automatic setting. The photo below shows the fan automatic on setting 2.

 

[GreenMonster]

I used to carry in my vehicle a portable air pump that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket when needed. It eliminates the need for having to go to a gas station to put air in my tires. I've had it for many years and have used it on several of my previous (non-electric) vehicles with no problems. I discovered, by accident, that if you plug the pump into the cigarette lighter socket (aka "power socket") of the Model S, it will immediately blow the 15A fuse. (I also own a Roadster and the same thing happened with that vehicle.) One would assume that a power socket in any modern car has enough power and a properly rated fuse to power any automotive accessory that can be plugged into it; especially on a high-tech car like this. Apparently I was wrong in that assumption. So my portable air pump is now useless.

Moral: don't plug a portable air pump into your Tesla power socket.