Just wondering, having read posts of guys leaving their Tesla's for lengthy periods and returning to flat batteries, whether I will be able to leave it on our wall charger for 3-6 weeks if we're away on holidays?
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What about holidays?
- Thread starter Power Hungry
- Start date
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[Zombie]
Member
Yes, the big battery will keep the small 16V battery topped up as needed, so it won't go flat.
And you could safely leave the car unplugged for those 6 weeks if you had to (eg airport secure parking) because you'll lose less than 1% per day from the big battery. So long as you've turned off sentry, and don't keep waking the car by checking on it remotely.
Any of the "returning to flat batteries" stories you read are either really old Teslas, they've left sentry on (which will turn off at 20% anyway) or someone spreading FUD.
Zoltrix77
Member
Just our interest, do you mean trickle charging the 12/16v battery or trickle charging the car itself? Also, did you just find a random power point in the long term car park?
Good point and I'm sure people will leave their vehicle at long term parking but I was referring to the Tesla wall charger in our garage.
In the terminal carparks there is 240v outlets scattered around near some carspots... I just plug into that and left the car for a few weeks
A failing 12v battery will use around 3-5% per day, so they may not be spreading FUD But rather have a fault in the small battery or even the BMU that switches it off
You will be fine if you cannot plug it in. When tesla’s came from fremont the unplugged time exceeded 6 weeks. Plug it in if you can, but if not just turn off as much as possible
There's no problem leaving it connected to the wall charger. The BMS will keep the battery topped up as necessary if you do that.
You can leave it plugged in forever at the recommended max charge limit (80-100% depending on the battery chemistry). The owners manual will say this... ABC (Always Be Charging).
Leaving it unplugged, like at the airport, you can do for a very long time as long as you turn off all the features that cause your car to be awake. I contend you will only lose around 1% a *week* if you do it right. I really wish there was a "Long Term Parking Mode" kinda like "Car Wash Mode" that ticks all the right boxes. Here is my own personal notes for long term parking...
Charge up before you leave, if you are traveling 10+ miles to the airport or something charge to 95-100%
Turn off Summon
Turn off Sentry Mode
Turn off Scheduled Departure
Turn off Cabin Overheat Protection (this is only enabled for first 12 hours so OK to forget or leave on)
Don’t check it a lot from the app (each check uses a bit of battery)
Be aware of third party apps that might keep your car alive (Ex. TeslaFi is fine as long as you haven't changed the default TeslaFi Sleep Modes)
Leaving it unplugged, like at the airport, you can do for a very long time as long as you turn off all the features that cause your car to be awake. I contend you will only lose around 1% a *week* if you do it right. I really wish there was a "Long Term Parking Mode" kinda like "Car Wash Mode" that ticks all the right boxes. Here is my own personal notes for long term parking...
Charge up before you leave, if you are traveling 10+ miles to the airport or something charge to 95-100%
Turn off Summon
Turn off Sentry Mode
Turn off Scheduled Departure
Turn off Cabin Overheat Protection (this is only enabled for first 12 hours so OK to forget or leave on)
Don’t check it a lot from the app (each check uses a bit of battery)
Be aware of third party apps that might keep your car alive (Ex. TeslaFi is fine as long as you haven't changed the default TeslaFi Sleep Modes)
1% per week? Never seen that happen before. 1% per day is closer to my experience
Plug it in, but reduce the charging goal down to 50%. There are plenty of parking stations with GPOs in the parking lots. Just call ahead and ask permission to use one. You certainly don't need to leave it connected to a real charger, but a GPO will be fine.
Or leave the car at home and uber it into the airport.
And please consider reading the instruction manual.
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Or leave the car at home and uber it into the airport.
And please consider reading the instruction manual.
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Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla
Learn about your vehicle’s battery and battery best practices.
www.tesla.com
About the High Voltage Battery
Model 3 has one of the most sophisticated battery systems in the world. The most important way to preserve the high voltage Battery is to LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE PLUGGED IN when you are not using it. This is particularly important if you are not planning to drive Model 3 for several weeks.On that basis the battery recieves some damage during shipping to the final desination, and the further the destination the worse the damage. Leaving the car plugged in hides or disguises the significant phantom battery drain that tesla’s can experience. I suspect this is more the reason tesla ask us to always plug in
I had a written-off car sitting at Pickles for months that I still had access to in the app, and I used to check it occaisionally - it certainly wasn't losing anything like 1% a day.
Chuq
Well-Known Member
I would guess that "transport mode" also de-activates a few things to minimise phantom drain.
My guess is different battery types have different drain. I’m sure you can read your app correctly, and I’m reasonably sure I have as well.
M1tch
2021 M3P with EAP
I left my M3P last year for 7 weeks while deployed overseas. Lost barely any battery range in that time. I didn’t keep checking on it in the app and just left it 
In the 19months I have owned the car, phantom drain has improved appreciably. The car used to wake up and connect to the internet at least daily but now the time span is longer.
I am on
If I leave my car unlocked in the garage and do not access it with the App, with Sentry off, it loses between 1 and 2% SOC per week. When I bought the car, it was about 1% per day.
I have the OBD Dongle permanently connected.
I am on
If I leave my car unlocked in the garage and do not access it with the App, with Sentry off, it loses between 1 and 2% SOC per week. When I bought the car, it was about 1% per day.
I have the OBD Dongle permanently connected.
Just to reawaken this thread as we head towards holidays, does anybody know how frequently the iPhone widget checks in with the Tesla and whether that should also be turned off? I was thinking it maybe just uses the predetermined check ins from Tesla and it would make no difference to drain, but maybe not. Maybe it's like opening the app every 10 minutes or something? I have searched, but it's not clear and I feel it's fairly up to date and not just a match to last time I used the app.
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