V10 - Increased Vampire Drain

[DB-Cooper]

So I travel a lot, so I have a very consistent charging routine which gives me a good ability to track vampire drain.

Effectively, my airport parking lot has ChargePoint units installed. Unfortunately, there are four cars parked for every ChargePoint station, meaning 4 cars share 2 plugs. Since Teslas don’t lock the J1772, the staff routinely monitors the usage and unplugs my car after charging is complete (to 90%).

I don’t use Sentry mode when I park there because the stalls are huge and protected by poles and generally other EV drivers are courteous. Also, the drain with Sentry mode on is fairly significant. Given I typically charge when I arrive, I get unplugged within 12-24 hours and then my car sits.

For the last year, on V9, I’d routinely charge to 90% and even after two days unplugged, I’d arrive to a car that’s at 89%. However, since V10, my last two trips, I’ve been seeing huge losses. I was unplugged about 14 hours ago at 90%, and right now, I’m at 87% (first time I checked). I’ll update this post with more milestones, and I will only check the app every 6-8 hours:

Sentry off, cabin overheat off:
10/22/2019 - 808pm - Plugout = 90%
10/23/2019 - 955am = 87%

I did some monitoring at home last weekend with lower battery levels, and I didn’t see as drastic of changes, but I didn’t do very scientific testing, so it’s possible this is amplified at higher levels. I’ll do more testing and update this weekend. Other differences are my chareport is still open, not sure if maybe it’s keeping batteries warm because of that where as at home it wouldn’t be open. My home has Sentry blocked entirely, but the airport does not, I manually disable it shortly after parking via the app. Regardless, I didn’t have this problem before V10 (2019.32.12.2), and I park for multiple days at least 2-3 times per month.

Anyone else seeing similar things?

 

[DB-Cooper]

I should’ve added, last week I was unplugged for about 48 hours, and I think my car was at 79% or something.

I did just find this post: V10 Vampire drain warning: check Summon “Standby Mode” setting in car

I have EAP so it’s very likely this is the difference. Everything is consistent with the timing and comparisons to drain leaving Sentry on. I don’t think I can disable that remotely, but will check. I definitely didn’t enable that and haven’t even played with Smart Summon, so perhaps as that author suggested, this defaults to on in V10.

 

[ewoodrick]

Stop checking and let your car stay asleep. Since there isn't anything that you can do, checking only reduces range.
There may be a little difference with V10, but not that much.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

There may be a little difference with V10, but not that much.

Except for the small issue of Smart Summon Standby Mode. Which is a huge problem.


Literally, checking (constantly!) with the app makes nearly zero difference in this case.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Stop checking and let your car stay asleep. Since there isn't anything that you can do, checking only reduces range.
There may be a little difference with V10, but not that much.

Please re-read my post where I outlined that I’m doing this now for research and said I would only check the app every 6-8 hours. While that does chew up battery, it’s hardly any compared to what it’s already draining. If the Summon idle feature is to blame, which seems likely, then the car itself is actually never sleeping. The extra LTE packets and GET requests in that case are so trivial it wouldn’t even matter.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

If the Summon idle feature is to blame, which seems likely, then the car itself is actually never sleeping. The extra LTE packets and GET requests in that case are so trivial it wouldn’t even matter.

That is correct. You can check out other responses from him, and they are all basically the same - I agree with the sentiment to "not worry about the car," in general, but unfortunately this means that actual real (and easily solved) problems are glossed over.

 

[gcmak]

Honestly, disabling smart summon standby wasn't enough in my car from looking at the drain history on the Stats app. I have needed to turn off Summon entirely in the car for the drain to reduce back to under 1 mile/hr. since I use Sentry. With Sentry and Summon enabled, i was consistently draining 1.4 mi/hr. I understand with V10 sentry drains more with needing to run and record an additional camera stream so the days of 0.5 mi/hr sentry drain are likely gone. At work where I have no sentry/no summon, the car does not drain for 8 hours during my shift and in fact, it makes that battery engagement noise (clunk/pop) when I get into the car at the end of my shift so I know that with all the things off, my car isn't draining.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Update:
10/22/2019 - 808pm - Plugout = 90%
10/23/2019 - 955am = 87%
10/23/2019 - 800pm = 84%

Losing about 1% every 4 hours.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Honestly, disabling smart summon standby wasn't enough in my car from looking at the drain history on the Stats app. I have needed to turn off Summon entirely in the car for the drain to reduce back to under 1 mile/hr. since I use Sentry. With Sentry and Summon enabled, i was consistently draining 1.4 mi/hr. I understand with V10 sentry drains more with needing to run and record an additional camera stream so the days of 0.5 mi/hr sentry drain are likely gone. At work where I have no sentry/no summon, the car does not drain for 8 hours during my shift and in fact, it makes that battery engagement noise (clunk/pop) when I get into the car at the end of my shift so I know that with all the things off, my car isn't draining.

Thanks for the detailed post. In my case Sentry is disabled, but yes the extra feeds makes sense. I don’t use Summon. Given it can’t reliably even reverse out of my super basic garage stall makes it a gimmick anyways. I’ll try the standby feature and do some testing and outright disable it and do additional testing so maybe we can figure out if there’s more going on.

 

[drtimhill]

I should’ve added, last week I was unplugged for about 48 hours, and I think my car was at 79% or something.

I did just find this post: V10 Vampire drain warning: check Summon “Standby Mode” setting in car

I have EAP so it’s very likely this is the difference. Everything is consistent with the timing and comparisons to drain leaving Sentry on. I don’t think I can disable that remotely, but will check. I definitely didn’t enable that and haven’t even played with Smart Summon, so perhaps as that author suggested, this defaults to on in V10.

Yes, do check Standby Mode from Smart Summon. It seems to be on by default after V10 upgrade (bad choice, Tesla), and will result in about the same vampire drain as Sentry Mode.

is Standby Mode draining your battery?

I've already suggested to Tesla they provide a way to control Standby Mode from the phone app .. I encourage others to ask Tesla for this also .. the more who do, the more likely we are to get this.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

On a local FB page someone ran into a problem where they parked their car at a typical parking space at an Airport thinking they'd have plenty of range to drive home when they got back within a week.

But, then they checked back 80 hours after they left and were shocked by how much it was using.

The FB usergroup helped her out by pointing out the likely culprit that Standby Mode within the Summon setting was on.

So she had someone who worked at the parking lot change the setting in her car.

After the setting was changed she didn't have any issues with it.

So yeah the Standyby Mode is really doing a number on people. The problem is it defaults to off when you're parked at home or at work so you never notice it even being on. But, then you park elsewhere and suddenly there is this massive vampire drain.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Yes, do check Standby Mode from Smart Summon. It seems to be on by default after V10 upgrade (bad choice, Tesla), and will result in about the same vampire drain as Sentry Mode.

is Standby Mode draining your battery?

I've already suggested to Tesla they provide a way to control Standby Mode from the phone app .. I encourage others to ask Tesla for this also .. the more who do, the more likely we are to get this.

I think the best fix it just to get rid of it.

If someone really wants their car to stay in standby then simply use sentry mode.

Sentry mode does the same thing.

The biggest power draw is likely heating the cameras, and Standby mode likely does this because smart summon uses the cameras. So to work the cameras have to be heated.

If the cameras are being heated a person might as well use sentry mode to at least get some useful function out of it.

 

[drtimhill]

I think the best fix it just to get rid of it.

If someone really wants their car to stay in standby then simply use sentry mode.

Sentry mode does the same thing.

The biggest power draw is likely heating the cameras, and Standby mode likely does this because smart summon uses the cameras. So to work the cameras have to be heated.

If the cameras are being heated a person might as well use sentry mode to at least get some useful function out of it.

Well I found my M3 LR was using 0.236% of battery per hour vampire drain. Assuming an 80 KWHr battery, that comes to a power draw of 188W, which is about right for the MCU and cameras w/o any heating.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Well I found my M3 LR was using 0.236% of battery per hour vampire drain. Assuming an 80 KWHr battery, that comes to a power draw of 188W, which is about right for the MCU and cameras w/o any heating.

Have you compared it to Sentry Mode?

The MCU likely goes into a very low power mode.

The Autopilot computer also likely gets clocked down to a fairly low power mode.

What doesn't get turned off is the Cameras.

188W sounds a bit high without heating.

Heating should be pretty easy to test on a cold day with a Thermal camera. I'll probably test it one of these days,

 

[DB-Cooper]

On a local FB page someone ran into a problem where they parked their car at a typical parking space at an Airport thinking they'd have plenty of range to drive home when they got back within a week.

But, then they checked back 80 hours after they left and were shocked by how much it was using.

The FB usergroup helped her out by pointing out the likely culprit that Standby Mode within the Summon setting was on.

So she had someone who worked at the parking lot change the setting in her car.

After the setting was changed she didn't have any issues with it.

So yeah the Standyby Mode is really doing a number on people. The problem is it defaults to off when you're parked at home or at work so you never notice it even being on. But, then you park elsewhere and suddenly there is this massive vampire drain.

That explains why my testing last week at home couldn’t reproduce it. I figured I have a fluke at the airport last week, but clearly I’m seeing the same issue. I’m looking forward to disabling and testing again. However, next week I’m not traveling, but the week after I am for a full 5 days. It’ll be a good validation.

 

[drtimhill]

Have you compared it to Sentry Mode?

The MCU likely goes into a very low power mode.

The Autopilot computer also likely gets clocked down to a fairly low power mode.

What doesn't get turned off is the Cameras.

188W sounds a bit high without heating.

Heating should be pretty easy to test on a cold day with a Thermal camera. I'll probably test it one of these days,

No not compared it to Sentry Mode but I imagine its similar. The camera power draw will be MUCH smaller than the MCU, a few watts for each I would guess. My measurements were made in Seattle when mean temperatures was about 55F, I dont see any reason why the cameras would need heating (or indeed know it they even have this). Remember 188W is the total power draw, including radios, 12V battery topping up etc.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Update:
10/22/2019 - 808pm - Plugout = 90%
10/23/2019 - 955am = 87%
10/23/2019 - 800pm = 84%
10/24/2019 - 921am = 82%

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Update:
10/22/2019 - 808pm - Plugout = 90%
10/23/2019 - 955am = 87%
10/23/2019 - 800pm = 84%
10/24/2019 - 921am = 82%

Losing track here...did you actually end up turning off Smart Summon Standby Mode?

 

[whatthe2]

On a local FB page someone ran into a problem where they parked their car at a typical parking space at an Airport thinking they'd have plenty of range to drive home when they got back within a week.

But, then they checked back 80 hours after they left and were shocked by how much it was using.

The FB usergroup helped her out by pointing out the likely culprit that Standby Mode within the Summon setting was on.

So she had someone who worked at the parking lot change the setting in her car.

After the setting was changed she didn't have any issues with it.

So yeah the Standyby Mode is really doing a number on people. The problem is it defaults to off when you're parked at home or at work so you never notice it even being on. But, then you park elsewhere and suddenly there is this massive vampire drain.

My car has been at DEN since Monday morning and it's lost ~80 miles in range, so just over 1mph loss. This is with Sentry Mode on and Summon Standby on. Before Summon Standby I was averaging about 1mph, so not much change for me. However, I do get a ton of Sentry events at the airport (I've had over 5,000 in a week before), so my guess is that Summon Standby isn't affecting me much since Sentry was already recording a good amount of time before the update anyway.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Losing track here...did you actually end up turning off Smart Summon Standby Mode?

No. I’m still 1,500 miles away and it can’t be disabled remotely. I’ll get back home in about 13 hours. Will report the final draw, may have to update testing next time I’m at the airport the week after next.