What to shut off to preserve battery

[Mr-T]

I have a M3 LR AWD. I am going to be going to Rio to visit my wife’s family for Christmas and would need to leave the car at the airport for 3 weeks. I see lots of comments about battery drain, parasitic loads, etc. I know to shut off Sentry mode, but beyond this, I still see 12-15 miles/day loss. The environment will be an airport parking garage, temps averaging 25 to 45 F. What else can I shutdown and how?

 

[hugh_jassol]

You should not be seeing anywhere near that loss. If you have FSD or EAP, make sure you turn off Summon standby. That keeps the car awake all the time.

As long as the car sleeps, you should only see about 1%/day loss (~3 mi/day).

 

[Mr-T]

You should not be seeing anywhere near that loss. If you have FSD or EAP, make sure you turn off Summon standby. That keeps the car awake all the time.

As long as the car sleeps, you should only see about 1%/day loss (~3 mi/day).

I do not have FSD or EAP., therefore, no Summon. I have climate Off. What else could be going on?

 

[Sophias_dad]

I do not have FSD or EAP., therefore, no Summon. I have climate Off. What else could be going on?

As a datapoint, I was away for a week recently and lost a bit less than a mile per day.

Try pulling the usb drive out, if any. (I actually didn't do this, but Sentry was auto-off'd because it was home in my unheated garage(35-50f)

Shut down any apps that might be keeping the car from sleeping.

 

[SilverSp33d3r]

I do not have FSD or EAP., therefore, no Summon. I have climate Off. What else could be going on?

Don’t check the app. That wakes the car

 

[hugh_jassol]

I do not have FSD or EAP., therefore, no Summon. I have climate Off. What else could be going on?

Do you have TeslaFi? Or Stats?

 

[toolman335]

Unplug everything that is in a USB drive. Make sure climate and sentry are off. Though if a charger is nearby for when you return I'd consider Sentry(but that's just me),
That's about everything that could eat battery life.

 

[Bimmerville]

Find the electric car chargers at your airport and plug in. Looks like Pittsburg has 5 in long-term parking.

 

[Mr-T]

As a datapoint, I was away for a week recently and lost a bit less than a mile per day.

Try pulling the usb drive out, if any. (I actually didn't do this, but Sentry was auto-off'd because it was home in my unheated garage(35-50f)

Shut down any apps that might be keeping the car from sleeping.

Ok, I just pulled out the USB and will see what happens.

 

[Mr-T]

Find the electric car chargers at your airport and plug in. Looks like Pittsburg has 5 in long-term parking.

I’ll check but I live in Ohio, Dayton and I would be surprised if the had chargers there.

 

[Mr-T]

Find the electric car chargers at your airport and plug in. Looks like Pittsburg has 5 in long-term parking.

You must be near Pittsburgh, PA. We had

Do you have TeslaFi? Or Stats?

No, I don’t. Perhaps I should get them?

 

[hugh_jassol]

No, I don’t. Perhaps I should get them?

I was checking because if you did, that could be a source of drain. Anything that polls the car's API will wake it up (just like when you open the app). It sounds like for some reason your car is snot sleeping. AFAIK, things that will do that:

- Sentry Mode
- Keep Climate On
- Cabin Overheat Protection
- Dog Mode
- Summon Standby Mode
- Software that "polls" the car for status (TeslaFi, Stats, etc.)
- Opening the app frequently (when you open the app it wakes the car)

If all of those are turned off, then you shouldn't be losing more than a mile or two a day.

(I'd be surprised if it's something in the USB port as the car cuts power to them when it sleeps.)

 

[Mr-T]

I downloaded Stat, but have made a point to not open it, or the Tesla app during the day to not wake-up the car. I pulled the USB drive anyway. With:
Sentry Mode OFF
Climate OFF
Cabin Overheat DISABLED
Dog Mode OFF
No Summon (AP only)
Stats;Tesla App used once or twice,
Temperature between 26 - 33 F across the interval

This morning, the phantom drain showed .54 mi/hr over a 4 hour idle period. That´s almost 13 mi/day, Something isn´t right.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I downloaded Stat, but have made a point to not open it, or the Tesla app during the day to not wake-up the car. I pulled the USB drive anyway. With:
Sentry Mode OFF
Climate OFF
Cabin Overheat DISABLED
Dog Mode OFF
No Summon (AP only)
Stats;Tesla App used once or twice,
Temperature between 26 - 33 F across the interval

This morning, the phantom drain showed .54 mi/hr over a 4 hour idle period. That´s almost 13 mi/day, Something isn´t right.

It probably doesn't apply to you because you don't have autopilot, but the most recent minor update turned summon et. al. back on and I burned 10 miles in 4 hours, with sentry off. Hopefully it gets better now that I have turned off summon. I'm sure a few of those lost miles were temporary, because the battery got cold, as well.

 

[user212_nr]

I have a M3 LR AWD. I am going to be going to Rio to visit my wife’s family for Christmas and would need to leave the car at the airport for 3 weeks. I see lots of comments about battery drain, parasitic loads, etc. I know to shut off Sentry mode, but beyond this, I still see 12-15 miles/day loss. The environment will be an airport parking garage, temps averaging 25 to 45 F. What else can I shutdown and how?

I would not risk it. 3 weeks is a long time What if you calculate something wrong and then the car is bricked while your are in Rio - will you fly back to take care of it, or beg someone to help you...?

Just take a taxi and leave your car in yours or someone else's garage w/ power. If you have the energy, you can also rent it.

 

[Big Earl]

I downloaded Stat, but have made a point to not open it, or the Tesla app during the day to not wake-up the car. I pulled the USB drive anyway. With:
Sentry Mode OFF
Climate OFF
Cabin Overheat DISABLED
Dog Mode OFF
No Summon (AP only)
Stats;Tesla App used once or twice,
Temperature between 26 - 33 F across the interval

This morning, the phantom drain showed .54 mi/hr over a 4 hour idle period. That´s almost 13 mi/day, Something isn´t right.

Four hours isn’t a long enough test for the car to go into deep sleep. Phantom drain should decrease significantly after the first day.

Here is a chart of my phantom drain compared to the fleet of vehicles using Stats. Note that I rarely use Sentry mode, which improves standby consumption.

 

[p-f-g]

This morning, the phantom drain showed .54 mi/hr over a 4 hour idle period.

As said, 4 hours is not enough, the car was awake during most of it, especially if wifi if present as discussed here.

Here is a graph showing the behaviour of my car during 12 days :
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/teslafi-logs-show-pattern-of-32-hrs-of-“sleep”-and-2-5-hrs-“awake”-over-2-wk-period.172219/

 

[Mr-T]

I would not risk it. 3 weeks is a long time What if you calculate something wrong and then the car is bricked while your are in Rio - will you fly back to take care of it, or beg someone to help you...?

Just take a taxi and leave your car in yours or someone else's garage w/ power. If you have the energy, you can also rent it.

 

[Mr-T]

I live in a Rural area, so no taxi. I have a friend That will take me. He has a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. It’s has the Tesla Electric drive tech in it. He loves it!

 

[Mr-T]

Four hours isn’t a long enough test for the car to go into deep sleep. Phantom drain should decrease significantly after the first day.

Here is a chart of my phantom drain compared to the fleet of vehicles using Stats. Note that I rarely use Sentry mode, which improves standby consumption.

View attachment 477503

I foliando that out. I am on another (much shorter) trip and left it at the airport. The drain after 2 days is .13 mi/hr. Problem solved. I thank you all for your help!