Why should the battery be plugged in when not in use?

[kevin99]

Haha, got a surprise call from Tesla that my MS is ready almost one week sooner than scheduled! (hmm is that a good thing or bad thing in term of their production or order volume? I am a investor too.). I am picking it up tomorrow Tuesday.

I read the contract "
Please remember to plug it in when not in use, and make sure
that the power source is providing adequate power to the vehicle. Please consult your Owners Manual for
detailed charging instructions. Please also note that an extension cord should never be used to charge your
Vehicle."

A few questions here. I didn't have the time to search previously asked questions:

1. Why should the battery "be plugged in when not in use?" My intuition is to exhaust the whole battery as much as possible, then charge it full. This way you can reduce the number of charging cycle?

2. My commute is about 30 miles. I am thinking charging it once a week, or at most twice at week. yeah i am lazy. How would that decrease battery life?

3. Why "an extension cord should never be used to charge your Vehicle."? I was thinking doing a Y splitter from my dryer outlet. But I don't need to since I found two more outlet not used. Excuse my ignorance.

4. My dryer outlet is this type: NEMA 10-30. Will it "provide adequate power to the vehicle"? Will the newer type NEMA 14-50 improve the battery life, other than obviously has faster charging time?

---Add---

5. If the charging cord is still connected but I forgot and go ahead drive the car, will I be able to drive or the system is smart enough to stop me?

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6. Can you play youtube on tesla?

I tried it garage but the 3G is so slow the page does not load.

7. Is there a recycle vent setting? the one that circulate the air inside the cabinet in case foul smell outside?

8. No pocket/storage on the door?
I love the simplicity. But it won't hurt if there is extra storage space.

9 No visor glove?

10 No storage under the center elbow support (for lack of right words)?

---Add---
11. Does voice command works? like "play slacker Bee Gee".

12. Is there a button to close all windows and roof at once?

13. Does anyone feel the door opening/closing is not as sturdy as a luxury care should be? I think it is because the glass has no reinforcement metal at the top edge and gives a flaky feel?

14. Does gmail work in the navigator? I tried a few sites like gmail.com, cnn.com, cbs.com, none of them open up. I don't think it is slow network. If there is a limitation on certain sites won't show, what is that limitation?


---Add---

15. Can you sync the destination you visited with Google account? e.g., from browser Google maps, I can click a place I searched to desktop and go?

16. Can you save the destination to favorites with a name like "home" (like what you did with Google maps), so you can do voice command like "Navigate to home?"


Thanks!

 

[dsm363]

Haha, got a surprise call from Tesla that my MS is ready almost one week sooner than scheduled! (hmm is that a good thing or bad thing in term of their production or order volume? I am a investor too.). I am picking it up tomorrow Tuesday.

I read the contract "
Please remember to plug it in when not in use, and make sure
that the power source is providing adequate power to the vehicle. Please consult your Owners Manual for
detailed charging instructions. Please also note that an extension cord should never be used to charge your
Vehicle."

A few questions here. I didn't have the time to search previously asked questions:

1. Why should the battery "be plugged in when not in use?" My intuition is to exhaust the whole battery as much as possible, then charge it full. This way you can reduce the number of charging cycle?

2. My commute is about 30 miles. I am thinking charging it once a week, or at most twice at week. yeah i am lazy. How would that decrease battery life?

3. Why "an extension cord should never be used to charge your Vehicle."? I was thinking doing a Y splitter from my dryer outlet. But I don't need to since I found two more outlet not used. Excuse my ignorance.

4. My dryer outlet is this type: NEMA 10-30. Will it "provide adequate power to the vehicle"? Will the newer type NEMA 14-50 improve the battery life, other than obviously has faster charging time?

Thanks!

Congrats.

1) Tesla likely says that to get people in the habit of plugging the car in and charging each night. That gives you the max range (% you decided to charge to at least) at the start of every day. Also minimizes chance pack will run to zero if you have to go on an unexpected trip and hadn't charged all week. The pack also probably balances after a mostly full (or maybe max charge) so that is worth doing now and then.

2) I'd say plug it in each night. Maybe set the charge to 60 or 70% (percentage markers not shown on the screen but the center tick mark is 50%).

3) Mainly because people usually buy very cheap extension cords that can't handle the power I believe but I'll leave that to someone else.

4) That would be fine for your driving. NEMA 14-50 wouldn't do anything to improve battery life but would charge faster as you pointed out.

 

[capt601]

I believe "exhausting" your battery and then charging is not the best way as that is a full cycle, whereas keeping it "topped" off to a standard charge is not considered a cycle.

You will find charge each night is best and easiest. Nice to come out in morning to a full tank. And than you will not have to worry about having enough charge to get somewhere if you are waiting til it gets low to charge.

 

[Puyallup Bill]

4. My dryer outlet is this type: NEMA 10-30. Will it "provide adequate power to the vehicle"? Will the newer type NEMA 14-50 improve the battery life, other than obviously has faster charging time?

To use that outlet, you will need a 10-30 adapter for use with the supplied UMC cable. The 10-30 adapter does not normally come with the car - the 14-50 adapter does come with the car.

Just changing the 10-30 outlet to 14-50 does not increase the power. If it is now a 30 Amp circuit and you want a 50 Amp circuit, then the wire and breaker must be upgraded for 50 Amp service.

Get the $45.00 Tesla 10-30 adapter. With your planned use, it will be fine. I do not suggest trying to change the delivered adapters - keep the 14-50, it will be handy for road trips. But I do suggest trying to get the 10-30 delivered with the car, avoiding Tesla's outlandish shiiping costs from their on line store.

 

[richkae]

1. This is the exact wrong thing to do. Shallow charging/discharging is much better than deep charging/discharging.
2. Impossible to quantify. Somewhere between zero and some.
3. If you did that and ever ran the dryer and charged the car at the same time, the best thing that could happen is the breaker tripping.
4. No

 

[kevin99]

Get the $45.00 Tesla 10-30 adapter. With your planned use, it will be fine. I do not suggest trying to change the delivered adapters - keep the 14-50, it will be handy for road trips. But I do suggest trying to get the 10-30 delivered with the car, avoiding Tesla's outlandish shiiping costs from their on line store.

Too late to call to arrange. Just bite the bullet and paid the $10 shipping
Thanks all!

 

[yobigd20]

Agreed with the 'better to do shallow charging then deep cycle charging'.

One more important reason: because when you're plugged in and it's really cold out it will use the wall power instead of battery power to run the cooling/warming system on the battery packs. Ditto for preheat/cooling your car. better to use wall power than battery power because it will mean less cycles over time (thus extends battery life).

 

[Frankrb]

I've been wondering about 10-30 vs 14-50 charging.

I have both in my garage, and usually can simply use the 10-30 and be topped off in the morning or be close.

I have an intuitive feeling that if I can us the 10-30 for my top offs, that is better for the battery life than using the 14-50 ( lower charge rate /voltage/amps) BUT I cannot find anything that says my intuition is correct.

Comments?

 

[Puyallup Bill]

I've been wondering about 10-30 vs 14-50 charging.

I have both in my garage, and usually can simply use the 10-30 and be topped off in the morning or be close.

I have an intuitive feeling that if I can us the 10-30 for my top offs, that is better for the battery life than using the 14-50 ( lower charge rate /voltage/amps) BUT I cannot find anything that says my intuition is correct.

Comments?

Unscientific comment.

Since Tesla advocates using their HPWC to charge at 80 Amps, and Roadsters regularly charge at 70 Amps, I think the the difference between 14-50 (40 Amps) and 10-30 (24 Amps) is insignificant as far as battery life is concerned. Note that I did not mention the SuperChargers that charge at a very much higher rate.

If I had a choice between 24 Amps and 40 Amps, I would select 40 Amps as it is probably a more efficient use of the kWhs.

 

[jammerdjc]

Too late to call to arrange. Just bite the bullet and paid the $10 shipping
Thanks all!

I will put odds that you can get it when you pick up your car. Call your delivery specialist to verify, but I understand there is a store at the factory for accessories.

 

[kevin99]

Added the fifth question:

5. If the charging cord is still connected but I forgot and go ahead drive the car, will I be able to drive or the system is smart enough to stop me?

 

[Denarius]

It won't let you.

 

[Frankrb]

I've been wondering about 10-30 vs 14-50 charging.

I have both in my garage, and usually can simply use the 10-30 and be topped off in the morning or be close.

I have an intuitive feeling that if I can us the 10-30 for my top offs, that is better for the battery life than using the 14-50 ( lower charge rate /voltage/amps) BUT I cannot find anything that says my intuition is correct.

Comments?

CORRECTION! I meant 5-15(120v, 12a) NOT 10-30(240v, 30a) vs 14-50(240, 40a)

 

[Iz]

CORRECTION! I meant 5-15(120v, 12a) NOT 10-30(240v, 30a) vs 14-50(240, 40a)

Big difference. A 5-15 (120v, 12a) charges quite slow compared to 10-30 (240v, 30a). Charging on 120v translates to ~ 3.5 mph of charge. I have been charging in this manner at home since taking delivery in March. It is a slow charge and has no benefits to the battery and I have the 60 kWh. A 5-20 will charge slightly faster. 14-50 will charge at ~ 25 mph.

 

[kevin99]

Got my MS, and a factory tour today!

One weird thing happened after I drive to work: I parked in a downtown garage. The spot is so tight that I can't get out from my driver side. I manage to get out from the passenger side. However I can't turn off the car! The screen stays on no matter whether I did it inside the car, or used the remote outside.

Frustrated, and also concerned I might break something, I call the road side assistance, they couldn't figure out either. When debugging, I check whether all doors are close by open the driver side door and close it. Now the car is turn off!

The car is too smart by trying to figure out whether the driver is actually out, however obviously didn't consider this driver-side-too-tight scenario!

 

[stevezzzz]

Ha, that's a new one on me, Kevin, and a 'use case' the software designers apparently failed to consider. ;-)

 

[montgom626]

CORRECTION! I meant 5-15(120v, 12a) NOT 10-30(240v, 30a) vs 14-50(240, 40a)

I charge only using 120V. It is slower, but works fine for me. I drive 40 miles per day. There is no advantage to 120V versus 14-50 in terms of battery life.

 

[William13]

@Kevin99,
I get out on the passenger side about once a week to avoid door dings. This has not happened to me. I expect either the driver's seat sensor or the driver's door sensor was stuck due to newness.

 

[kevin99]

@Kevin99,
I get out on the passenger side about once a week to avoid door dings. This has not happened to me. I expect either the driver's seat sensor or the driver's door sensor was stuck due to newness.

Could it be different software version? Mine is the latest 4.5.

I found a screw in the trunk. Anyone know where it should go? Notice It has the unusual hex? head

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Could it be different software version? Mine is the latest 4.5.

I found a screw in the trunk. Anyone know where it should go? Notice It has the unusual hex? head

You should be able to go to the Control screen for E-Brake and Power Off, and turn the car off from there, then exit the passenger side.

Your picture isn't showing for me, but a screw in the trunk with a hex (probably Torx) head is most likely for the license plate.