Urgent Request - Need a mobile charger in Seattle/Seatac/Tacoma area for a few days

[aslam]

I'm in a bit of a bind here... and I'm hoping someone in the Seattle/Seatac/Tacoma-area can help me out.

The Situation: A bit more than a week ago I parked my MS 100D at the Park N' Jet 2 long-term lot close to Seatac airport with about a 25% charge still remaining. Yesterday I checked my app and it seems like my vehicle is phantom draining at a much faster pace than I had expected. Unfortunately I didn't bring my mobile charger with me and so now I'm in a situation were I won't even have enough battery power to get to a Supercharger when I arrive back on the 14th of May.

The Ask: I'm hoping some good samaritan in the local Tesla community might be able to loan me a mobile charger for a few days and would be willing to drop it off to the Park N' Jet Lot 2 that is close to Seatac. I've spoken to the staff at that lot and they say that if someone brings the Tesla mobile charger, they are willing to give a wall outlet for it to be plugged into. You might need to instruct the staff there on how to plug it into the wall outlet but I'm happy to co-ordinate that effort remotely. Of course, I would be happy to drop off the mobile charger off to you once I arrive back on the 14th or you could pick it up anytime before. I just need the battery to get up to a place where I can make it to the Issaquah Supercharger which is about 23 miles away.

If you are able to help me, please PM me and we can co-ordinate. If you know of someone in the Tesla community around Seattle/Seatac/Tacoma, please tag them to share the post and get the word out.

Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide!

 

[N8DGR8]

Unfortunately my mobile charger is my primary charger. Have you called Tesla to see if they can slow the Phantom drain? Or if they can provide a spare mobile charger? I would offer to drive it to the charger near work (Tukwila train station), but I’m very reluctant to drive some one else’s Tesla.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

If anyone commutes from Ballard Bridge/Queen Anne area down to Seatac (or vice versa) I would be happy to loan out my charger, I almost never use it. But I don't have any planned trips down to Seatac soon.

Or maybe an Uber courier?

 

[aslam]

@N8DGR8: Thanks for the suggestion. I've already spoken to Tesla Roadside Assistance and they have told me there's nothing they can do about the rate of Phantom Drain. They have said that I should book a service appointment and if it is determined that the rate of phantom drain is higher than normal, then they would reimburse me any tow truck fees I might incur but in the meanwhile, they have no solution.

Your suggestion regarding asking the Seattle service centre for help is a good one. I've sent off an e-mail to them in hopes of some help. We'll see what they do/if they can do anything to help me.

As for having you drive my car to the charger at Tukwila train station, I'm sure you would do fine, however I don't know if the lot would release the car to you. Nonetheless, I might take you up on that offer if the Seattle Service Centre comes back as a dead end because at at this point the car is showing 32KM of range remaining. It had 45KM yesterday.

 

[aslam]

@im.thatoneguy: Thanks for the offer of the use of your mobile charger. That's half the battle won... Is there anyone who might be able ferry it and help the guys at the lot plug it in?

In the meanwhile, I'll look into the Uber Courier idea. It's a good one. I've never used that however so I'll have to look into how to book it. I just checked the Uber app and I can't see how to schedule a pickup. I also did a quick Google search for Uber Courier, but that didn't turn up anything useful. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[N8DGR8]

I'm on Mercer Island and bike commute through South Bellevue, Renton, South Center, Tukwila. Riding over to the airport during lunch is not a big deal. Kids activities tomorrow preclude me from going North of I-90.

What exactly do you have turned on? Always on connection? Sentry? Did you give an app access to the Tesla and it is constantly pinging the car, (if so change your Tesla Password)?

 

[im.thatoneguy]

What exactly do you have turned on? Always on connection? Sentry? Did you give an app access to the Tesla and it is constantly pinging the car, (if so change your Tesla Password)?

I'm not certain that changing the password would help. Tesla may not invalidate tokens on a password change.

 

[MikeBur]

I'm not certain that changing the password would help. Tesla may not invalidate tokens on a password change.

Tokens do invalidate on password change.

As luck would have it, I have both a spare v1 mobile charger and am going to the airport tomorrow to fly out. I just checked and it has 120v adapter on it, so we are good to go.

I just PM’d you my mobile number. Please text me the address of that lot and contact name of who to hand this to. If time permits and they have you MS close to outlet, I’ll set it up for them.

I’ll be at airport like around 10:30am. My only ask is to either drop it off, or ship it back to me.

 

[aslam]

@MikeBur: Thank you so much! I have responded to your PM and sent you a text. Here’s hoping this all goes off smoothly.

 

[N8DGR8]

Also note that the Issaquah supercharge is usually a circus at from 8 AM - 8 PM 7 days a week. Lynwood is a much better option if you can make it. Last time I was there, I only got 27kw @ 50% SOC.

 

[MikeBur]

Also note that the Issaquah supercharge is usually a circus at from 8 AM - 8 PM 7 days a week. Lynwood is a much better option if you can make it. Last time I was there, I only got 27kw @ 50% SOC.

11pm last night there were 2 available chargers...! Way oversubscribed for an urban charger

 

[Robotpedlr]

There is a lodge near the airport that has a Tesla destination charger I believe. It’s only a couple miles from SeaTac. It’s a very nice resort, so I am sure they would help you out and let you use the charger without being a guest in your situation. small tip for the valet cant hurt.

Cedarbrook Lodge

18525 36th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98188

 

[aslam]

A big thank you to the folks on this thread who gave their support. Thanks to @MikeBur my MS is now plugged into the wall outlet and is charging at 5KM/hr. Mike went above and beyond even staying around and helping the lot people troubleshoot an outlet that kept tripping the GFCI on the circuit. As of my last check, the SOC was up from a low of 22KM of range and is back up to 35KM and climbing slowly. If this holds, I will have a safe amount to get to a supercharger and maybe even all the way home. But it couldn't have happened without all of your support so I want to thank all of you for helping.

@im.thatoneguy: Thank you for offering to loan me your spare mobile charger. That was very kind of you.

@N8DGR8: Thank you for offering to ride over on your bike to ferry the charger and help get it setup. Also, thanks for the advice on changing the password as well as on the Issaquah supercharger. I think now that it looks like I'll have a bit of power on the battery, I will target the Lynwood supercharger instead, as per your suggestion.

@Robotpedlr: Thank you for the suggestion regarding the lodge and their destination charger. That would have been a good backup option.

BTW, Mike noted that I had the Cabin Overheat protection turned on. He suspected that this was probably the cause of the higher than normal phantom drain. I had turned Sentry Mode off because I knew that it would drain the battery more quickly but I forgot about the Cabin Overheat Protection. This was the first time I had left the car at a long term parking lot unplugged and so that's a lesson learnt for me, and hopefully one that someone else might learnt preventatively if they read this thread.

Once again, thank you to all of you for your help. It looks like the crisis has been averted. And I have to say that this community is awesome. I really appreciate the camaraderie and mutual support. I hope that we're able to keep this sense of community even as the number of Tesla owners grows significantly. If you are ever at a supercharger and see a Blue MS 100D with BC plates that read "A V 80R", please come and say "Hi". I would be glad to connect with you and chat about all things Tesla, aviation or barbershop signing. And if any of you are ever in a similar situation where I can help, please let me know and I will do whatever I can to pay it forward.

You folks are awesome!!

 

[aslam]

Also, if someone is able to edit the title of the thread to add the word "SOLVED--" to the beginning of the subject line, please do so. I have been searching for a way to do that but I can't find it or maybe I just don't have permission to do that.

 

[SMAlset]

Hi @aslam . So great to hear your car is charging. Super nice of everyone and @MikeBur in particular for coming to his rescue. As I was reading through the thread I was thinking either cabin overheat (which we have on all the time on our cars) or some app that keeps checking in on the car. Glad you guys were able to figure it out and no trip to the SvC needed.

BTW @aslam I'm pretty sure I remember reading an early thread of yours when you were looking to buy a Tesla and maybe wondering what battery to choose. If so, another reason to have gone with the 100D but see that can still sometimes not be enough! Your situation here was a good lesson for people who don't frequently need to park their cars away from home and will give them something to think about when they do need to.

As for editing the title, I think you need to click on Report in the first post and leave a message for the moderator there.

 

[PLUS EV]

As noted earlier, it's important to remember that superchargers are not the only charging options. There are lots of different places in the Seattle metro where you could gain enough miles to get you on your way.

Also, if you have enough range, you may want to go to Arlington or Burlington instead of Lynnwood. The Lynnwood supercharger is urban and therefore limited to 72kW. None of them are significant diversions from I-5.

 

[MikeBur]

A big thank you to the folks on this thread who gave their support. Thanks to @MikeBur my MS is now plugged into the wall outlet and is charging at 5KM/hr. Mike went above and beyond even staying around and helping the lot people troubleshoot an outlet that kept tripping the GFCI on the circuit. As of my last check, the SOC was up from a low of 22KM of range and is back up to 35KM and climbing slowly. If this holds, I will have a safe amount to get to a supercharger and maybe even all the way home. But it couldn't have happened without all of your support so I want to thank all of you for helping.

@im.thatoneguy: Thank you for offering to loan me your spare mobile charger. That was very kind of you.

@N8DGR8: Thank you for offering to ride over on your bike to ferry the charger and help get it setup. Also, thanks for the advice on changing the password as well as on the Issaquah supercharger. I think now that it looks like I'll have a bit of power on the battery, I will target the Lynwood supercharger instead, as per your suggestion.

@Robotpedlr: Thank you for the suggestion regarding the lodge and their destination charger. That would have been a good backup option.

BTW, Mike noted that I had the Cabin Overheat protection turned on. He suspected that this was probably the cause of the higher than normal phantom drain. I had turned Sentry Mode off because I knew that it would drain the battery more quickly but I forgot about the Cabin Overheat Protection. This was the first time I had left the car at a long term parking lot unplugged and so that's a lesson learnt for me, and hopefully one that someone else might learnt preventatively if they read this thread.

Once again, thank you to all of you for your help. It looks like the crisis has been averted. And I have to say that this community is awesome. I really appreciate the camaraderie and mutual support. I hope that we're able to keep this sense of community even as the number of Tesla owners grows significantly. If you are ever at a supercharger and see a Blue MS 100D with BC plates that read "A V 80R", please come and say "Hi". I would be glad to connect with you and chat about all things Tesla, aviation or barbershop signing. And if any of you are ever in a similar situation where I can help, please let me know and I will do whatever I can to pay it forward.

You folks are awesome!!

Happy to help, and most here do everything they can to help each other. Cabin overheat was more than likely the issue, open air lot and the recent heat wave in Seattle area is something that most likely wouldn’t consider these days. It was a good 50+ (C) in the car and something you can’t disable remotely afaict.

Hope it’s still charging. I’m also remote now ;/)