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Procedure for exposing the nose cone charging lugs for the 12V battery

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FlasherZ

Sig Model S + Sig Model X + Model 3 Resv
Jun 21, 2012
7,030
1,031
While the ranger was here, he showed me the easiest method for removing the chunk of nosecone to expose the two lugs.

Using a trusty "multi-tool" (a/k/a hotel room key in my case), insert it along the bottom edge between clips and use it to get leverage on the bottom. Pry up slightly to pull out the bottom edge, then using your hand pull out on the bottom until you can pull down and remove the cone piece. You can then see the lugs -- positive covered with a red cap, ground exposed.

See the pictorial -- and yes, I know my car is filthy. I haven't been able to wash it yet.

To re-attach, insert the top edge then snap the bottom in, reversing the steps...

CameraZOOM-20121213160737928.jpg
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CameraZOOM-20121213160808797.jpg
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Stupid question maybe, but why would you need to get to those?

In case the car appears completely dead, you may need to "jumpstart" those terminals. As I understand it, if the 12v battery runs flat for any reason the car will not function even if you have a full charge on the main battery pack. The car has a DC-DC converter and will charge the 12v battery if it senses it running down so in theory you should never have that need.

It is also possible that you could jump-start another vehicle with those posts.
 
Stupid question maybe, but why would you need to get to those?

From page 25 of the Owner's Manual:

"NOTE: When the low-power consumption mode is active, the auxiliary 12V battery is no longer being charged and can completely discharge within
12 hours. In the unlikely event this occurs, you may need to “jump start” or replace the 12V battery before you can charge. In this situation, contact Tesla."



 
Is low power consumption mode when you've driven to 0 on your range and the car goes into the hibernation mode? This must be different than the new 4.0 software setting to turn displays off to save power. Thanks.
 
Is low power consumption mode when you've driven to 0 on your range and the car goes into the hibernation mode? This must be different than the new 4.0 software setting to turn displays off to save power. Thanks.

I believe that is correct, or if you leave your car unplugged too long, it will hibernate to try to prevent total loss of the big battery.

Also from page 25 of the Owner's Manual:

Discharging the Battery to 0% may permanently damage the Battery. To protect against a complete discharge, the Model S enters a low-power consumption mode when the charge level drops to 5%. In this mode, the Battery stops supporting the onboard electronics to slow the discharge rate to approximately 4% per month. Once this low-power consumption mode
is active, it’s important to plug in the Model S within two months to avoid Battery damage.

Italics added.

I am not sure, but 5% is probably about 0 miles on the range gauge. On the Roadster, it stops reporting range at 10%, but the bar graph continues ticking down from there. The Roadster stops cold at about 5%. Yes, it happened to me twice, but never again! It scares the s--- out of you!
 
@Vger - Might want to edit your italics to bold, as ninja italics in a quote aren't very helpful. ;)

Guess if you view the source, at least that preserved the italicized italics, which are now bolded for emphasis. :tongue:

<div class="bbcode_quote_container"></div>

Discharging the Battery to 0% may permanently damage the Battery. To protect against a complete discharge, <i>the Model S enters a low-power consumption mode when the charge level drops to 5%</i>. In this mode, the Battery stops supporting the onboard electronics to slow the discharge rate to approximately 4% per month. Once this low-power consumption mode<br />
is active, it’s important to plug in the Model S within two months to avoid Battery damage.

</div>
 
So I just spent about 15 minutes poking around the nose of my GP car and this is not possible on a GP car. The nose is one solid piece so there's no panel to remove like FlasherZ did. I gently poked around the nose and couldn't see a way to remove it so no guesses here.

I also pulled the shrouds around the frunk and I can see the 12V battery but have no idea how I'd get to the thing.
 
So I just spent about 15 minutes poking around the nose of my GP car and this is not possible on a GP car. The nose is one solid piece so there's no panel to remove like FlasherZ did. I gently poked around the nose and couldn't see a way to remove it so no guesses here.

I also pulled the shrouds around the frunk and I can see the 12V battery but have no idea how I'd get to the thing.

The nose cone has to be removable -- I can't imagine access to what's behind it has to be through bumper removal or from the inside of the frunk. No doubt there's a procedure that's not obvious with a visual inspection. Some prying will have to be done, and the only question is where and how. My guess is that it pries loose from the bottom. I'll find out on Monday when I visit the store/service center in Washington, DC.
 
It looks as if the pictures in the beginning of this thread are from the older Sig (as people are calling it) nosecone, whereas mine has the next iteration. As such, I was planning on using the same or similar method as in the pictures for mine. The tolerances, however, are a bit more precise and I have very little confidence in myself as a nosecone technician.

Hence, I have chickened out as I don't want to be the first person to call a Ranger for a fractured nose piece.

Maybe I will have another look at it later.
 
It looks as if the pictures in the beginning of this thread are from the older Sig (as people are calling it) nosecone, whereas mine has the next iteration. As such, I was planning on using the same or similar method as in the pictures for mine. The tolerances, however, are a bit more precise and I have very little confidence in myself as a nosecone technician.

Hence, I have chickened out as I don't want to be the first person to call a Ranger for a fractured nose piece.

Maybe I will have another look at it later.

Why take the risk? I'm sure there's a trick, but you do risk damage if you don't know it. As I said, I'll try to find out the procedure when I visit the DC service center tomorrow. I'll also be finalizing a separate nose cone order at that time so I'll also find out what the piece costs.
 
Why take the risk? I'm sure there's a trick, but you do risk damage if you don't know it. As I said, I'll try to find out the procedure when I visit the DC service center tomorrow. I'll also be finalizing a separate nose cone order at that time so I'll also find out what the piece costs.

I will await your success. I am sure it is simple, otherwise, it would not be reasonable to put serviceable items behind it. Thank you for asking. A great thank you if you can video someone removing it.