came across this today Coming home to water-damaged car [Pictures] - baltimoresun.com apparently some major flooding at BWI yesterday. one guy had his MS in the long term parking lot that was flooded. likely destroyed this guy's car. he had to have it towed. the one pic shows a pool of water inside the car. that *really* sucks. I'm guessing the battery pack wouldn't live up to being submerged in water like that.
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LuckyLuke
Model S P90DL
GoBlue88
Member
I'd guess it's generally bad. I remember one defibrillator project I worked on that sat on a detachable charger, so the defib's contact points were on the bottom. They showed it to a paramedic who asked "So, what happens when you set it down in puddle from the rain?" Ooops....
Then again, oil and water with a 12v to spark it is pretty bad too...
GoBlue88
Member
nice catch. the article/link/photogallery(whatever you want to call it), it very misleading then since it's titled 'water damaged MS' and 4 of the photos are clearly from an MS while the last one is not. not that it makes a difference though because the MS still didn't work.
The battery is designed with various circuitry inside it that prevents discharge of any kind unless it is receiving proper signals from outside. This is one reason why a separate little battery (outside) supplies the control circuitry. So basically, a Model S won't do this. I don't know what the bad effect would be, I'm just glad it can't happen!
Electric700
Active Member
Isn't the large battery sealed? So theoretically, there would be no issue save for cleaning up wet carpet and letting the car dry out?
The li-ion battery has an advanced liquid cooling/heating system that is closed off from the outside environment.
The li-ion battery has an advanced liquid cooling/heating system that is closed off from the outside environment.
I agree - I can see where the 12v would die underwater and make the whole car not work, but would think rest is waterproof. Isn't even motor and inverter liquid cooled.
Thinking more, can see where the electronics in rest of car, like behind dash could be messed up before 12v battery had chance to die.
To answer my own reply - found this pic (from post by nir in this forum), which shows the battery and looks sealed, but the bid terminals appear outside the case (large silver tab with hole -far left on pic), so water would be able to have them short out
I don't believe the DC-DC converter is waterproof. That would be the other major damage besides the items you mentioned. Also there are water sensors that will shut things down when triggered.
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
Tesla packs are sealed, and they have a whole bunch of sensors in them. If it senses sudden deceleration (as in an accident), internal pressure change (as in case is punctured - it's airtight), sudden electrical surge (as in a short), etc it will disconnect the packs and all external terminals, cables etc are safe. It seems to me there was a couple more sensors, but I forgot what they were.
There is energy in there, so if you puncture the case with metal objects, well, you don't want to be touching those. But if the car is just submerged, there is no danger.
artsci
Sponsor
Better yet, park on an upper level and avoid the lowest level at all costs.
Unfortunately, the chargers in the daily lot at BWI are on the lowest level. Don't know if that was flooded
I would have been very pissed at the Parking Authority for BWI (parking is privatized there). Who designs major public parking spaces or buildings without proper drainage?
EarlyAdopter
Active Member
We have 14+ years of hybrid cars on the road with high voltage batteries and no incidents of this ever occurring.
That's because electricity doesn't work that way. Even if the battery terminals were active (which they won't be without the 12V line present) any current that came out of the positive terminal would go through the water and directly back into the negative terminal through the shortest path possible - the water directly between the terminals. The only way it could energize the pool would be if the positive terminal was submerged, exposed, and energized and the negative terminal was not. A highly unlikely situation.
Also, water, particularly fresh rainwater (essentially distilled water) is not a good conductor of electricity. So any energizing of the pool would only be a very short distance from the battery terminals.
Good article on the subject:
New Vehicle Technology Awareness for Public Safety Divers
