Vampire Drain - normal losses ?

[msnow]

Here is a scenario. I come home at 9pm and plug in my X. The charging screen starts at 0A and immediately ramps up to about 5 - 7Amps and stays that way for the length of time I sat in the car. If I turn down the climate control, it hovers around 5A. If I turn up the climate control, it goes to about 8A. It continues to draw power as long as I sit in the car.

I assume that once I leave, it continues to draw less than 5A to run the onboard systems. At 1am, it begins to charge and draws the full 48A.

Got it. I suspect after you leave the car and your AC turns off it goes to 0A until charging starts. You should be able to check it from the app.

 

[BertL]

Got it. I suspect after you leave the car and your AC turns off it goes to 0A until charging starts. You should be able to check it from the app.

Right. MS (and MX I suppose) will draw power from the wall when plugged-in to run things like HVAC. It's designed that way. I can watch my HPWC turn on as soon as I plug in when my door is open (and HVAC, Infotainment, etc are running), and the HPWC turns off soon after I close the door on my MS and HVAC/Infotainment shuts down.

 

[hiroshiy]

Just my 2 cents to reduce vampire drain.

Turn energy saving on. This will allow your car to sleep. Sleep is not idle.
Keep connected can be off to ensure minimum vampire drain but it can be on.
Now this is important. Do not use API calling apps at all, including Tesla Android /iPhone app during sleep. TeslaFi seems to be better handling sleeps and try not to wake the car up.
Reduce the load to 12V battery while sleep. Especially disconnect 12V appliances like dashcams, radar detectors, DC-DC converters etc as much as possible. If you use 12V while sleep, since Model S's 12V battery is small, it will be drained and signal the car to wake up and turn on the car's DC-DC converter to top up 12V. While this occurs, the car is in idle and consume significantly more power than sleep.

Hope this helps. It seems TeslaFi has a way to see if the car is in sleep or not, and that API seems to work WITHOUT asking the car. So once TeslaFi notices the car went into sleep, it would keep the car sleeping for many hours, until 12V gets lower than threshold. With TeslaFi, you can tell how many hours the car was sleeping and idling, from when to when, every day so you can trouble shoot vampire drain issues.

 

[vandacca]

Got it. I suspect after you leave the car and your AC turns off it goes to 0A until charging starts. You should be able to check it from the app.

The app is very limited on what it reports. It simply reports that the vehicle is charging or not charging. As a side-note, I would love to be able to change the scheduled charging time from the app - this is on my wish list. At the moment it's only possible from the main screen.

The Tesla main screen (Charging) shows (on the left) the charging status (e.g. 0A, #miles gained) and on the right it reports the connection status and how much it's drawing in real-time. Its here that I see a very small draw during non-charging times.

I can't say what happens when I leave the vehicle, since the screen turns off. My vehicle is currently being serviced, but when I get it back, I plan to:

1.) Calculate how many kwh is lost per hour and figure out what the amp draw would be.
2.) Determine if there is any vampire drain while the vehicle is asleep and plugged in
3.) Determine the vampire drain while the vehicle is asleep and not plugged in
4.) Try to keep the vehicle "awake" and determine the vampire drain while plugged in. Maybe leaving the key in the car or leaving a door open might keep it "awake".

 

[msnow]

The app is very limited on what it reports. It simply reports that the vehicle is charging or not charging. As a side-note, I would love to be able to change the scheduled charging time from the app - this is on my wish list. At the moment it's only possible from the main screen.

The Tesla main screen (Charging) shows (on the left) the charging status (e.g. 0A, #miles gained) and on the right it reports the connection status and how much it's drawing in real-time. Its here that I see a very small draw during non-charging times.

I can't say what happens when I leave the vehicle, since the screen turns off. My vehicle is currently being serviced, but when I get it back, I plan to:

1.) Calculate how many kwh is lost per hour and figure out what the amp draw would be.
2.) Determine if there is any vampire drain while the vehicle is asleep and plugged in
3.) Determine the vampire drain while the vehicle is asleep and not plugged in
4.) Try to keep the vehicle "awake" and determine the vampire drain while plugged in. Maybe leaving the key in the car or leaving a door open might keep it "awake".

You might also get the Remote S app for iOS. It's much deeper in the info you get and what you can do. You can't change the schedule on it though. Here's a screenshot of mine plugged in showing 0 Amp draw.