2008 1.5 Roadster for sale $56,500 - SOLD

Insert 404 jokes here:

- I have trouble getting the 4th image to load.




Kidding aside, do you have a close-up picture of the "small scratch on rear bumper".

andybm3 said:

Here it is

View attachment 45131

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The tape definitely did not work out for you haha.

Chris Naps said:

The tape definitely did not work out for you haha.

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I was thinking the same thing, felt like a game show where they really wanted you to win!

For those interested, I noticed this car is being auctioned (no reserve) on ebay right now.
Tesla Roadster Alcantara | eBay

jeremyz said:

For those interested, I noticed this car is being auctioned (no reserve) on ebay right now.
Tesla Roadster Alcantara | eBay

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Listed as ended early, I assume due to be sold outside of eBay.

Hi there . I have a question . I have a 1.5 and was considering installing a amplifier. did the 400 watt amp affect your range? Also what brand amp did you use. Do you have a photo of the sub?

dna4life said:

Hi there . I have a question . I have a 1.5 and was considering installing a amplifier. did the 400 watt amp affect your range? Also what brand amp did you use. Do you have a photo of the sub?

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Don't even try tying in an amp to the ESS, you're asking for problems. What people and I'm sure he did was have a separate 12 battery to power the amp and this battery needs to be charged up every so often off a separate 110V circuit that has a built in charger or you need to scrap the 110V idea and charge it with a 12V battery tender (motorcycle).

dna4life said:

Hi there . I have a question . I have a 1.5 and was considering installing a amplifier. did the 400 watt amp affect your range? Also what brand amp did you use. Do you have a photo of the sub?

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I can give you a little perspective on this. I have a Miata conversion I did myself. I recently added a 600W amplifier to the car's 12V electrical bus. and measured the current draw out of DCDC converter as well as out of the car's 12V battery with the audio system off, at low volume and at way higher volume than one would actually reasonably use.

My concern wasn't regarding range but on my 12V electrical bus, as the DCDC converter that now powers the 12V electrical bus, is strained. I demonstrated that usign the headlights or the ventilation system's fan was a bigger impact on the 12V bus load than the audio system was, even with music playing way loud.

The bottom line is that a 400W amp is not going to impact your range in any practical way. It is possible that the Roadster's 12V electrical bus (and by this, I specifically mean the DCDC converter that powers the 12V bus) isn't up to the additional load that an amp will cause. There are ways of unobtrusively measuring this. But I suspect there will be no issue. Worst case is that you add the amp and a month or so later you find you have a dead 12V battery.

The other poster's point of adding an additional battery is certainly possible but seems extreme to me.

Further discussion of this is probably out of scope for this thread, but if you want more info you can PM me.

geosynch

EDIT -- Just to be clear, any amp would go on the 12V electrical bus and not on the car's high voltage bus (ESS). I'm not even sure how that would be possible as no car audio amp works with that kind of voltage.

geosynch said:

The other poster's point of adding an additional battery is certainly possible but seems extreme to me.

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Problem is where are you going to tap into 12V system without blowing fuses and throwing faults. I've talked to people who've done that and ran into trouble. I think there's a reason why highly professional aftermarket car installers that I know including Al & Ed's chose the Auxiliary battery route. I don't think its extreme but rather safeguarding the electrical system of the car.

Al And Eds Autosound Tesla Roadster Front Speaker Photo 3

Peace -- I don't own a Roadster and don't know the details of its 12V system. But I do know about 12V systems in general, and also know the Roadster has a 12V battery.

Ergo, it follows you could draw the 100 or so amps that most aftermarket amps require directly from the 12V battery. This is the same as every ICE-mobile in the world, even though said ICE-mobiles don't have an alternator that can sustain the 100 amps. The way this works is those amps may require 100 amps peak output, but the time weighted average isn't nearly that high so the alternator can keep up. The same will apply to the Roadster, although you aren't dealing with an alternator, rather with a DCDC converter that keeps the 12V battery charged. Think of it this way, the battery acts as a reservoir and the DCDC converter (or alternator) acts as the river that keeps it filled. You can draw water out of the reservoir faster than the river fills it, as long as over time you don't completely drain said reservoir and allow the river to fill it back up.

I'm aware that high end car audio systems add a second battery but in the many cases, it is a simple up sell for the shop. I put myself through under-graduate and graduate school working in a high end car audio shop as a salesman. Now I design spacecraft for a living.

So, I don't know the specifics of the Roadster nor of the Al & Ed's installation you referenced. But I do have a solid understanding of the systems involved and am merely offering advice on same. As with anything on the internet, Caveat emptor.

I think we've spun way out of control on this thread -- apologies to the OP. Mod, you can delete any of this if you wish. Peace Out.

geosynch

geosynch said:

Peace -- I don't own a Roadster and don't know the details of its 12V system. But I do know about 12V systems in general, and also know the Roadster has a 12V battery.

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The 1.5 Roadster doesn't have a 12V battery, the 12V system runs directly off a DC/DC converter tied to two sheets of the ESS. This system is known to be flaky, and if the converter fails the battery pack needs to be dropped to replace it. I wouldn't mess with it. Tesla realized it was a poor design and replaced it with a 12V battery for the 2.0 model.

Really? I did not know that! That's an unusual design, but I still wondered before I made the post and found references (via Google) that said the Roadster did have a 12V battery.

So, I take it all back! There is no way in hell I would tie an amp directly to the DCDC converter!

Ok, I'm done here!

geosynch

I think they may have switched to an aux battery because they needed to having things like the headlights and ABS continue to function if the main pack went offline and/or out of power.