Vampire Drain while Unlocked

[PVEaglesFan]

I am now leaving the car unlocked at home. It seems to me that vampire battery drain is increased. Has anyone else experienced the same thing?

What is the best practice to reduce vampire drain?

Thanks

 

[user212_nr]

1. Switch your battery gauge from miles to percent
2. Make sure to write down what time you left it at what charge (take a photo with your phone is an easy way)
3. Turn off sentry mode, cabin overheat protection
4. Disable smart summon (if you have full FSD)
5. Make sure the HVAC is off when you leave the car

I added the first two because all the vampire drain posts begin with "I think" and people's imagination really contributes the most to vampire drain.

You really should be plugging in "at home", as that is better for the battery.

 

[camalaio]

There is one other thread that was going regarding leaving unlocked at home with the new feature, but in general the above post is correct. Note that you'd need to disable Summon Standby if you have Enhanced AutoPilot as well, not just FSD (so many overlapping things!).

You don't need to switch between percent/miles though. Miles is actually more accurate since it has more digits too. Either number can fluctuate due to temperature or the current estimate of battery capacity.

While the manual says plugging in at home is best, it's slightly more complicated than that and may not be best for you. But it is generally good advice as a habit builder.

 

[NickDeRoo]

So my model 3 is sitting in my garage, and in the course of 3 days, my battery has gone from ~80% to 60% losing 10 miles a day is crazy. This car is costing me more money just to sit here than it would to drive it.

I did all the things suggested, disabled summon standby, disabled sentury mode, made sure my climate was off.

Graph attached from Grafana, i tried to lock my car and will report back in a few days if the drain is less. Super disappointing that unlocked car causes the battery to drain so much.

 

[camalaio]

So my model 3 is sitting in my garage, and in the course of 3 days, my battery has gone from ~80% to 60% losing 10 miles a day is crazy. This car is costing me more money just to sit here than it would to drive it.

I did all the things suggested, disabled summon standby, disabled sentury mode, made sure my climate was off.

Graph attached from Grafana, i tried to lock my car and will report back in a few days if the drain is less. Super disappointing that unlocked car causes the battery to drain so much.

First, note that I agree the standby drain of these cars is ridiculous.

However, your drain is equivalent to about 95W average. The typical for a plugged in Model 3 is about 60W. You're actually not far off, and this could easily happen if you're driving every day in hot weather (car stays awake a bit longer after drives for various functions).

Another additional drain could be whatever is getting that data. Are you running something like TeslaMate? While these try hard to reduce accidentally waking the car, they are not perfect. Keeping it awake even just a few minutes per hour longer could explain the additional 35W or so.

 

[zef2021]

I just upload a new movie on my channel measuring SENTRY MODE (ON/OFF) consumption but also share some interesting findings. On my 2021 M3, the car is also warming up battery while awake. This is something I definitely did not know and I think is interesting to share.

Consumption with SENTRY MODE OFF and car at sleep is only approx.. 290 Wh per 24 hours - not bad I believe!

Check this video: