Drive-in problems (and solution)

[eelton]

To add further info, in case this helps anyone...


I went to a drive-in last night (Cascade Drive-In, West Chicago IL). The Tesla worked out great. A few notes:

• Putting the car in neutral with the parking brake on works fine to keep the lights off (even when a door is opened) and audio system running. There seems to have been a software change along the way--it used to take two selections to accomplish this--really the same button twice with a pause between--but now one push puts the car in neutral and sets the brake. In other words, you can't have it in neutral without the parking brake being on.

• You do need to bring a towel to put over the instrument panel and center LCD screen--even set to 0%, they put out a fair amount of light.

• I had some concerns about 12V battery issues with the radio playing for 5 hours, but it was fine.

• The climate control stayed on the entire five hours (I didn't get out of the driver's seat, though). It didn't have to do much--it was an unusually cool July evening, in the low 60s, and I had the climate control set at 69. Still, it was nice to have air circulating, and no window fogging. The towel over the dash blocked at least one of the vents--maybe two separate towels would work better.

• I lost only 12 miles of range during the five hours. I'm sure that would have been more if it had been colder or hotter, requiring more heat or AC. Still, that's not bad at all.

 

[ebwb]

Wow, this is really fascinating. How do passengers in the back seat see the movie? If it's not an EV, do people leave their engines idling to use their accessories and HVAC?

 

[brianman]

In other words, you can't have it in neutral without the parking brake being on.

I'm confused by this phrasing. How do you properly flatbed the vehicle then?

 

[eelton]

You're correct that what I wrote is not entirely true. Having just tested this, this is the behavior:

If you push the touchscreen button while in drive, you end up in neutral with the brake on.

If you push the touchscreen button while in park, you end up in neutral with the brake off.


So, if you need to flatbed the car, do the latter.

I'm confused by this phrasing. How do you properly flatbed the vehicle then?

- - - Updated - - -

I've had back seat passengers (not in the Tesla, though) who could see, although not as well as in the front.

I don't know that people with ICE cars leave them idling the whole time, but it's common to hear people fire them up intermittently when their windows fog. Annoyingly, many of them have their headlights turn on in the process.

I had an experience with an old car and weak battery that, after starting a few times during the movie to clear the windshield, wouldn't start at the end (the theater offers free jump starts, since that's apparently not all that uncommon). That car (an Audi) also turned off the radio after 30 minutes when the car was off, so I had to periodically turn it back on. I didn't have that problem with the Tesla.

Wow, this is really fascinating. How do passengers in the back seat see the movie? If it's not an EV, do people leave their engines idling to use their accessories and HVAC?

 

[mknox]

Putting the car in neutral with the parking brake on works fine...

As far as I know, the Model S does not have a parking pawl like a typical ICE automatic would have, so essentially Neutral with Parking brake is Park in the Model S. (When you select "Park", you can hear the electric brake set).

 

[andrewket]

My family and I went to Bengie's drive-in theater last night. Following the step-by-step instructions on this thread was very helpful. Thank you to those that have contributed!

I have a few additional pieces of info to pass along. It seems as if the other contributors sat in the seats with the car facing towards the screen while watching their movies. Prior to having the Tesla we would take our mini-van, and face the back of the van towards the screen. We would keep the hatch open and use blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, etc., in the back of the van in addition to chairs that we would bring and sit just outside the rear of the car. We did the same with the Tesla, but there were two gotchas:

The first is that Bengie's has a rule that the hatch cannot open past the top of the roof line. Despite the Tesla being much lower to the ground than all of the SUVs and minivans that were there, the staff insisted that we had to adhere to the same rule. With the rear hatch at the roof line of the car, you cannot see out the back. Fortunately, we were able to find a spot towards one of the sides of the screen that did not have any cars behind us, and there nobody cared how high our hatch door was open (we left it almost all the way open.) Keep this in mind if watch movies this way. You may want to arrive towards the early side to secure a similar parking space.

The second gotcha was that the rear hatch has a small light that is intended to illuminate the trunk area. We all know these lights are inadequate for that purpose, but it is bright enough to be annoying when watching a movie. It can easily be covered up with some paper or cardboard if you bring some tape. Unfortunately we didn't have any. Instead I was able to take off the plastic trim around the light and form a piece of thick paper to stick in the hole near the light and wrap around to cover it. I probably could have taken out the bulb, but I didn't have anything to use to pry the lens out.

Lastly, there are no speakers in the way back. Turning the stereo up to ~9-10 allowed us to hear in the way back (3rd row area), as well as the individuals sitting in the folding chairs just outside the car, but it was too loud for anyone sitting in the middle of the car (we folded down the 2nd row to make the rear larger.) Next time we will likely still bring a portable stereo and keep the car's volume at a more reasonable level.

We started the trip with ~250 rated miles. We drove ~65 miles there, watched 2 movies with the radio on loud the entire time, and returned home with 100 rated miles remaining. We lost 3 rated miles while parked. I was also driving ~83mph on the way home because it was 1:30am and had no traffic on I-95.

Except for the hatch issue, the Model S is a great drive-in car. You don't need to worry about killing the battery by keeping the radio/accessories on the entire time. Plus if you need to leave early it's ultra quiet and won't disturb anyone.

Andrew

 

[neroden]

Also, my headlights don't come on when the door is opened, even when the car is in park. Is there any other reason to do the neutral and parking brake thing?

Answering belatedly: the only reason for doing that is to keep the lights off (headlights, DRLs, brake lights, the lot).

 

[gvands]

Tesla at the drive-in movies

In about 4-5 weeks I will recieve my Tesla, finally.
A couple of weeks after delivery, our vacation will start and we're planning on
taking her to the drive-in movies.
Does the radio stay on for 2 hours when in park? I read somewhere that the screen goes
dark after a while and you have to touch it to restart.
We opted for the hifi upgrade, is the surround sound setting able of
converting the sound of the movie into "virtual" surround?
(we have to select a certain fm station to hear the movie)
Thanks

 

[Andyw2100]

In about 4-5 weeks I will recieve my Tesla, finally.
A couple of weeks after delivery, our vacation will start and we're planning on
taking her to the drive-in movies.
Does the radio stay on for 2 hours when in park? I read somewhere that the screen goes
dark after a while and you have to touch it to restart.
We opted for the hifi upgrade, is the surround sound setting able of
converting the sound of the movie into "virtual" surround?
(we have to select a certain fm station to hear the movie)
Thanks

I'm surprised no one has answered you yet. I'll give it a shot.

I don't believe you will get anything like "virtual surround sound" out of the car's stereo system.

I do believe that with people in the car, the stereo should remain on, though. And I don't think you'll even need to leave the car in park, but could turn it off if you wanted to, and have it in the same state as when you first enter the car, before actually starting the car, with the radio playing.

Good luck.

 

[brucet999]

I'm surprised no one has answered you yet. I'll give it a shot.

I'm surprised that OP found someplace that still has a drive-in movie.

 

[Scotty]

I would advise putting the car in camper mode. Otherwise, it will power down, even when you're in the car.

Camper mode: Car in Neutral, and put the e-brake on via the screen. Also keeps HVAC on.

Scotty

 

[Brass Guy]

Bjorn said the DRLs remain on in "camper" mode. I think it is location dependent, I have an on-screen button to control DRLs. Before going to a drive-in movie, make sure you can turn all your exterior lights off; or have some way to cover them over.

 

[Liz G]

An old thread on this describes how. I don't think this has changed any with the upgrades.
Drive-in problems (and solution) - Page 4