myEV by MyCarma: electric vehicle logger & app

Interesting. They're a local company and I let them poke with my car in order for them to be able to support Tesla. The OBD II port in the Tesla doesn't have any of the standard messages they were looking for, but their engineer seemed to find what he needed on the proprietary connector under the center cubby box. They spent about a day with wires running every which way all connected to a laptop. We did some tests while charging and driving too. They said they'd give me a free logger for my help, but I haven't decided if I want something plugged into the Tesla connector for fear of voiding my warranty or something. We do have one of their loggers on our company Volt, and you can get some really useful information from it.

That is a very cool adapter and looks like a great way to bring the community together to help eachother. I'm curious if something like this would void the warranty as well.

JVB, thanks for sharing what we're up to! And Mike, thanks again for helping us out! And I'm really glad to hear the Volt data is coming in handy - we'll be rolling in our SOH algorithm into FleetCarma and I'll ensure Eric adds it to your Volt report.

We've been digging further into the potential warranty concerns. We'd previously received advice about warranties with our fleet loggers - and were directed to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (FTC details here), which basically says that a manufacturer has to demonstrate that the component caused the damage to consider voiding the warranty for that specific part. Given that our device isn't modifying anything and is completely passive on the Model S (we actually pull power from the transceiver so that it only has enough power to listen) I can't see how a manufacturer could claim that it would impact the vehicle. I've also spent some quality time with the Tesla MVPA and the Warranty Document and everything seems to line up with the Magnuson-Moss structure.

The caveat for us Mike is that MMWA is an American law. I have been digging through the 2002 Consumer Protection Act and the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act and I haven't found a direct equivalent (or anything contradictory). I will keep you posted! In the US it seems clear to me that the device shouldn't cause any warranty headaches for anyone. I hope this much-too-long response helps!!

mstevens said:

I will keep you posted! In the US it seems clear to me that the device shouldn't cause any warranty headaches for anyone. I hope this much-too-long response helps!!

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Nobody's actually said anything and maybe it is just me being paranoid, but I do know that Tesla can "see" a lot more of what's going on in the car than I ever would have imagined. For example, I was having trouble with my charge cable. I would plug it in to the port and nothing would happen. I called Tesla's support line and they said "yes, we can see that you tried to plug the cable in 13 times over the last 10 minutes" or something like that. I thought this was pretty amazing given that the cable didn't even connect. No lights came on and it didn't begin to charge. If they can "see" that, they can probably "see" something plugged in to the data port. The OBD II port was kinda designed for this type of thing, but Tesla seems to have put an OBD II in "just for show" and utilized their hidden proprietary connector for data. I'm 100% sure that your passive device is perfectly safe. You guys know what you are doing. I just worry that Tesla will know it's there and wonder what they might do with that information.

I wonder if it's worth reaching out to Tesla, explaining what you guys do and getting some sort of confirmation from them that utilizing the data port for these purposes is okay? I recall when I signed my purchase agreement reading that Tesla has opted out of the Canadian motor vehicle warranty arbitration processes, so they're not like other vehicle makers in that regard.

I went ahead and contributed. Good luck with the campaign mstevens!

I donated too. This thing is funded, just unlocking extras at this point. Can't think of a vehicle that could benefit more than Model S.

efusco said:

This thing is funded, just unlocking extras at this point.

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Its not funded yet -- currently shows $4.5k of $25k... 32 days to go...

I'd like to fund this, but I'm a little confused that there doesn't seem to be early-bird pricing for Model S owners. If I'm reading the tiers correctly, everyone else can get a $40 discount by funding at the "Viking" level ($119) now instead of the "Aviator" level ($159). But Model S owners only have the "Astronaut" ($169) option. I can't imagine the special Model S harness is $50.

tnawara said:

I'd like to fund this, but I'm a little confused that there doesn't seem to be early-bird pricing for Model S owners. If I'm reading the tiers correctly, everyone else can get a $40 discount by funding at the "Viking" level ($119) now instead of the "Aviator" level ($159). But Model S owners only have the "Astronaut" ($169) option. I can't imagine the special Model S harness is $50.

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I sponsored at the Viking level. They confirmed via email that Viking includes the Model S adapter if needed. Apparently they can't edit the descriptions and realized after publishing that they forgot to add it. They also said that early Austronaut sponsors (while Viking is still avail) will get an extra gift to compensate (I'm guessing a shirt...).

Thanks, ZBB

tnawara said:

I can't imagine the special Model S harness is $50.

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Other vehicles can utilize the relatively standard OBD II port, but Tesla utilizes a proprietary connector. Further, these guys had to do a lot of testing and experimentation to map out the Model S's data on this connector.

tnawara said:

I'd like to fund this, but I'm a little confused that there doesn't seem to be early-bird pricing for Model S owners. If I'm reading the tiers correctly, everyone else can get a $40 discount by funding at the "Viking" level ($119) now instead of the "Aviator" level ($159). But Model S owners only have the "Astronaut" ($169) option. I can't imagine the special Model S harness is $50.

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ZBB said:

I sponsored at the Viking level. They confirmed via email that Viking includes the Model S adapter if needed. Apparently they can't edit the descriptions and realized after publishing that they forgot to add it. They also said that early Austronaut sponsors (while Viking is still avail) will get an extra gift to compensate (I'm guessing a shirt...).

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mknox said:

Other vehicles can utilize the relatively standard OBD II port, but Tesla utilizes a proprietary connector. Further, these guys had to do a lot of testing and experimentation to map out the Model S's data on this connector.

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Hey guys, Sunny here, also from MyCarma.

My apologies on the Model S early-bird pricing confusion. The harness definitely isn't an additional $50.
We forgot to include the perk when we first launched the campaign, and weren't able to modify it afterwards. We just got it sorted out though, and it should be up now.
It's labeled as the Pioneer, and is $129 for the logger, app, window sticker, AND Model S harness (30 quantity). Here's the link again: myEV by MyCarma: electric vehicle logger app | Indiegogo.
For anyone who already purchased the full-priced perk, we'll compensate you with one of the t-shirts that we have up there & make extra sure that we take care of you.

Thanks ZBB for the help in clarifying this! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

- Sunny

There's now a Pioneer level which is the Model S equivalent of Viking. The Model S harness looks like it commands a $10 premium.

Hey guys, I'm also from MyCarma.

I tried to reply to this topic yesterday, but got a pending moderation notification (possibly because I included a link), so I'll give this another shot.

The Model S harness definitely isn't $50. As ZBB kindly mentioned (thanks!), we originally screwed up and forgot to include the Model S early-bird perk. We tried to add it afterwards, but weren't able to modify it for whatever reason. We managed to get it sorted out yesterday though, and should have an early-bird perk up there now called Pioneer (thank you Nhallwood for pointing it out). $129 for the logger, app, window sticker, AND Model S harness. For anyone who already purchased the full-priced Model S perk, we'll add in one of the Outfitters t-shirts, and make extra sure we take care of ya.

Let me know if you have any other questions/comments/suggestions or criticism.


Thanks!
Sunny

AnOutsider said:

Sorry about that, I approved your other post. I generally have bad outcomes with IGG projects (vs KS), but I'll give this one a go. Nice concentrated effort here!

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No problem at all. Thanks for the support!

A few questions:

Where is the OBD port in my Model S? Is it visible with the logger plugged in?
Should I leave the logger plugged in when I get the Model S serviced?

jkliu47 said:

A few questions:

Where is the OBD port in my Model S? Is it visible with the logger plugged in?
Should I leave the logger plugged in when I get the Model S serviced?

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1.) You can get a better idea of where it's located in this thread (first picture): Does the Model S have an OBD-II connector?
2.) Shouldn't really matter one way or another. If a technician needs to temporarily remove the logger, they are able to easily do so.