so I’m going on vacation for a week. Should I leave the car plugged in the whole time in my garage or charge to 80% and let it be.
Will be sitting in my garage the whole time.
Will be sitting in my garage the whole time.
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Vacation “rules”
- Thread starter Burrito
- Start date
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
A plugged in Tesla is a happy tesla.
Personally I'd set to 50% and leave plugged in.... night before you're getting back use the app to bump it back to 80 (or whatever your normal limit is)
We have two M3 and only one charger. I have been searching for how to put the second car into some kind of "vacation" mode but can't seem to find the info. does anyone know? Also, it appears Tesla support.com ie chat and email have disappeared. I wish the owners manuel had the ability to search.
eprosenx
Active Member
I would just plug the second car in with the included UMC on a 120v circuit. Maybe even turn down the charge amps a little if I was concerned with other loads on that circuit. That would be sufficient to offset battery drain just sitting there if it needed to (but unlikely in a week that it would ever need to charge).
I think with the UMC or Wall Connector connected but not charging, the car would have a fair amount of isolation from storm surges. I don’t think we have seen any reports of surge damage here in the forums so it might not be the top of my concern list.
Make sure to turn off sentry mode and cabin overheat protection (for max power savings) if it might be hot where you are parked.
Good answer! For some reason I hadn't thought of plugging it into 120v. - I suppose one could also use a surge protector just in case??
Yes, I will turn off sentry mode however I am concerned about how hot it gets where I live-can be 115 degrees- and who knows in the garage. Does anyone know if high heat effects the car or battery?
While we had one HPWC (with the 8' cable too) with two cars, the X used the UMC on 120V 12A. That worked fine for a car that was used sparingly for local driving. After a few months we had a second HPWC installed, though it's pretty much overkill since the X is pretty much just for road trips.
It's always safer to plug in. You never know when you might have to extend your travel. In addition to the 50% preference, the battery will also do a little better with more small charges instead of one large charge. If you set the charge limit to 50% before leaving it may never even charge while you're away, but it can if it has to for some unforeseen reason.
It's always safer to plug in. You never know when you might have to extend your travel. In addition to the 50% preference, the battery will also do a little better with more small charges instead of one large charge. If you set the charge limit to 50% before leaving it may never even charge while you're away, but it can if it has to for some unforeseen reason.
@La Piazza
You can download a pdf of the owner’s manual to a computer, phone, or tablet. Then use the search function in your pdf reader.
I left my M3 unplugged at airport parking for 3 weeks. It only lost 44 miles range while I was gone, with 228 miles remaining on my return. It should be no problem for you to leave one of your M3’s unplugged. I would charge it to 80-90% before I left.
GSP
You can download a pdf of the owner’s manual to a computer, phone, or tablet. Then use the search function in your pdf reader.
I left my M3 unplugged at airport parking for 3 weeks. It only lost 44 miles range while I was gone, with 228 miles remaining on my return. It should be no problem for you to leave one of your M3’s unplugged. I would charge it to 80-90% before I left.
GSP
Oh? I have heard/read lots of battery advice over the years, but don't recall previously hearing the a "battery is happiest at 50%". Do you have a source for that?
There are so many different opinions on this sort of thing, but little if any specific advice from Tesla, except for the guidance to use 90% or more only for trips....
This is the reason the charge level slider goes down to 50%— for long term storage.
Add that to the list of stupid things Tesla people have said. We used to have a thread for that but I can't find it.
Number one, you can't "lower the volts". It is what it is, depending on the outlet you plug into. You can lower the amps but not the volts.
Number two, there's no reason to lower the amps in this situation. Charging at lower amps just means the charging circuitry runs that much longer, and it uses electricity less efficiently. The car is designed to let the charge level drop by 3%, then charge back up to the set point (50%), then it charges again when the level drops by 3% again, etc. Just leave the car plugged in and let the battery management system manage the battery.
The person should have said "lower the amperage", not volts, but their point is correct. The faster your charge lithium batteries, the more dendrite growth you get that could puncture the separator membrane between anode and cathode, which is eventually what kills a cell. Lowering the charge rate is healthier for the battery. I would rather spend $.10 more on electricity than spend $8k on a new battery module 10 years down the road.
eprosenx
Active Member
While this is correct, charging the car at its max rate (either 32a or 48a) at 240v is not in any way “fast” compared to a supercharger. The general consensus is that any speed you can accomplish with the onboard charging circuitry is no risk to the longevity of the battery.
To think you’re going to damage the battery because of charging at 8 kW rather than 4 kW is ridiculous. It’s designed to charge at over 100 kW at superchargers.
