Close Call (4% charge remaining) and Lesson Learned

[Canuck]

Strange indeed. I live in the same general area as the OP, and I have parked in the sun a lot in my 2+ years of owning my car (including in the southern Okanagan where it has got into the 100F+ on occasion or 40C+) and I've never heard anything turn on in my car to cool the batteries.

 

[Tamar]

I see several posts about this, none with a clear resolution. We've just noticed that twice today our 85D has turned on the air conditioning itself while sitting in the garage. Both times when we checked the app it said it was "smart preconditioning". 800-service said that smart preconditioning is cabin conditioning, not the fan to protect the battery. It's only in the 80s here in MN anyway, and the car is in the garage, not out in the sun.

We don't have a regular schedule on Sundays, and we picked up the car 1 year ago today, so the car's had plenty of time to learn that. I'm gonna go out an disable the smart preconditioning and wait for local support on Tuesday, but if anyone else has insight or has had this issue and had it resolved, please share.

 

[f-stop]

The other day I had a business trip in Vancouver, BC, and I drove up in my P85D from Woodinville, WA (near Seattle).

[...snip...]

Yes, I could have hit a non-SC to get a splash charge, but none of them were on my direct path back to the SC, and they all looked a bit dubious on PlugShare.

10% loss in 4hrs sounds odd...

Anyhow not sure in which area of town those "dubious"-looking (?) chargers you saw on Plugshare, but if you are anywhere near downtown Vancouver, or west of Main St there are a LOT of good level 2 chargers, all free to charge, some with pay parking but a handful of choice spots also with free 2 or 3 hour parking. Also a couple good 80A HPWC - also free, 4hr. Something to consider on your next trip if you're In need of a top-up. PM me if you want specific location recommendations if your not familiar with the areas or don't trust the Plugshare listings

 

[Boatguy]

My experience is closer to Woland's than that of many of you. I frequently go out to my car in the parking lot at the end of the day and find a puddle underneath from the A/C or have employees report to me that the car is running. No "smart" preconditioning and no manual activation of the A/C. It does it inside my garage as well, but it needs to be more like 85 or so for that to happen.

HVAC in my car comes on about a minute after I open the door. It's annoying when it's in the garage and I get into the car to inspect something (like a s/w update) and the HVAC starts running. This is without turning the car "On" by stepping on the brake. Even more annoying is that if it's plugged in, it starts drawing about 4a from the HPWC even though it's set to charge only at night after 2am.

More on point, last week I lost 5RM while my car was sitting for 4hrs in the sun when the ambient was about 85F. I returned to the car and it was very hot, though I don't know exactly how hot. That's nowhere near 10%, but based on the comments here, there should not have been any active battery cooling and there is no other good explanation for why that power was consumed.

 

[Boatguy]

I was monitoring my consumption on a trip yesterday/today and observed a vampire loss of 9RM between 11am yesterday and 9am today. The car sat out in the sun yesterday afternoon in the low 80's and the HVAC was of course off. This loss is far higher than the 2-3RM I usually see overnight parked in my garage.

I've read all the arguments about why this could not be battery cooling, but something is eating up power when the car is parked.

There must be owners who's car are sitting out in the sun during the day in SoCal, AZ, TX, etc. which are all very warm now. Anyone observe higher than expected vampire loss?

 

[Redmiata98]

Please quantify "higher than expected" loss.

 

[Boatguy]

Please quantify "higher than expected" loss.

Higher than the loss they experience when not parked in direct sun.

 

[hiroshiy]

10% on 85 is 7.65kWh. If you lose that in 4 hours, the power was 1.9kW average, which is very high. Like medium power AC all the time. Not sure why.

 

[Bill D]

Recently, both of our Teslas were parked in the garage, not charging and with pre-conditioning turned off. I backed both cars out and parked them in the driveway because I was doing some work in the garage.

After parked 20 minutes in the sun (mid 90's), I heard both car's cabin circulating fans turn on (not the AC and not battery cooling). It was the cabin air circulating fan which can be heard outside the car near the passenger-side windshield wiper pulling in outside air. It stopped running in each car when a door was opened.

This is something I haven't noticed before. It might cause unexpected battery drain.