Significant battery vampire drainage in storage

[cybercricket]

Folks,

I've seen the discussions previously that in storage CT shouldn't drain more than ~1% per day with Sentry disabled. I've had mine unplugged for the last couple of days and noticed a substantially higher drain. For example in the last 12 hours it lost 5%, and in the last 2 days it lost some 16-17%. Sentry is of course disabled, the weather has been moderate (well above freezing). Climate control is not enabled. I also don't pull up the app more than once a day. What could be happening ?

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[Crissa]

The starting state of charge, how often you polled it, what network access it had - all these things will change how much charge it's consuming.

Not just Sentry and battery management.

If you're playing with the app, it's going to wake up and do things for you. Sounds like it was prepping itself for a drive or did drive.

Why are you checking it every day?

-Crissa

 

[cybercricket]

The starting state of charge, how often you polled it, what network access it had - all these things will change how much charge it's consuming.

Not just Sentry and battery management.

If you're playing with the app, it's going to wake up and do things for you. Sounds like it was prepping itself for a drive or did drive.

Why are you checking it every day?

-Crissa

Since this is a practical concern and not a theological debate, would be nice if you actually read what I posted (like the fact I already mentioned app use), skip the irrelevant bits (starting SoC, since the question is about relative drainage), and say something that I don't already know Thank you.

 

[clarkjohnson188]

I don't have a solution for you, but I wish Tesla would add a long term park option in all cars that could be used at airports that will automatically optimize sentry mode, hvac, etc to provide the least vampire drain.

Looking forward to the other answers as all I've ever heard is what you already tried of don't leave sentry mode on and not checking the app often

 

[Crissa]

Since this is a practical concern and not a theological debate, would be nice if you actually read what I posted (like the fact I already mentioned app use), skip the irrelevant bits (starting SoC, since the question is about relative drainage), and say something that I don't already know Thank you.

I did. You're touching (waking) the truck every day. The truck is responding, but it's unclear what it's doing because we don't know what settings you may or may not have touched.

You say it wasn't freezing (which would be irrelevant) but available charge could be less because of cold soaking even at temperatures above freezing.

To be perfectly clear, we don't have enough information - and probably can't - to tell you why your truck is reporting as it is doing.

Only to say, "well, that doesn't sound like others' experience unless something turned on."

-Crissa

 

[mark555055c]

Sounds normal. In cold weather you will lose more energy while sitting. I don't have exact numbers, but i want to say i lost about 8-10% in 24 hours when i left in unplugged last week in 35 deg temps.

 

[cybercricket]

Sounds normal. In cold weather you will loose more energy while sitting. I don't have exact numbers, but i want to say i lost about 10% in 24 hours when i left in unplugged last week in 35 deg temps.

Why exactly is that normal ? There is no harm for battery to get cold, the only issue with the cold battery is that it won't release all stored energy until it warms up, but that's a different story relating to range.

Also to provide the weather datapoint - temps in my area have been in the range of low 40's at night and high 40's during the day.

 

[mark555055c]

Why exactly is that normal ? There is no harm for battery to get cold, the only issue with the cold battery is that it won't release all stored energy until it warms up, but that's a different story relating to range.

Also to provide the weather datapoint - temps in my area have been in the range of low 40's at night and high 40's during the day.

I could be wrong, but i was under the impression even above freezing, at 40f ambient, the pack will still do some thermal management at rest.

Also, I could be an edge case at 8-10% in 24 hours as i am always tinkering with my CT. 99.999% of the time my CT is plugged in, so i typically do not care about any type of drain.

 

[eswimm]

You don't lose energy in the cold, but more energy becomes inaccessible the colder the battery gets. If you "lose" 10% range to cold, you should get that 10% back if the battery warms naturally.

One of the apps that tracks you telemetry will help understand better what it's doing (properly configured to not wake the vehicle). I use TeslaMate, how much you sleep vs. wake is going to be directly connected to how much drain you're getting. It should be able to sleep for days now, just a couple updates ago it wouldn't sleep for more than 6h.

 

[cybercricket]

I could be wrong, but i was under the impression even above freezing, at 40f ambient, the pack will still do some thermal management at rest.

Also, I could be an edge case at 8-10% in 24 hours as i am always tinkering with my CT.

Well, that may be the case, and then control over this should be exposed to the end user. It makes no sense to use massive amount of energy to keep the battery warm for vehicles that are rarely operated. Note that this is different from keeping the battery cool in hot climates - excessive heat does degrade the cells even in storage.

 

[cybercricket]

You don't lose energy in the cold, but more energy becomes inaccessible the colder the battery gets. If you "lose" 10% range to cold, you should get that 10% back if the battery warms naturally.

One of the apps that tracks you telemetry will help understand better what it's doing (properly configured to not wake the vehicle). I use TeslaMate, how much you sleep vs. wake is going to be directly connected to how much drain you're getting. It should be able to sleep for days now, just a couple updates ago it wouldn't sleep for more than 6h.

You would be correct if say I charge the vehicle to 80% on day 0, then on day 1 it's at 69%, then on day 2 it's at 68%. Basically 10% "lost" to cold, then 1% discharge per day for "reasons". In reality it went like this :

Park with 77% on day 0. 69% on Day 1. 59% on Day 2.

 

[WormtownKris]

Why exactly is that normal ? There is no harm for battery to get cold, the only issue with the cold battery is that it won't release all stored energy until it warms up, but that's a different story relating to range.

And at that moment of time, with the cold truck and cold battery, the CT estimates that you have that much battery and range available to you. Put it in your buddy's 75-degree garage overnight and some of that range will likely come back.

 

[eswimm]

You would be correct if say I charge the vehicle to 80% on day 0, then on day 1 it's at 69%, then on day 2 it's at 68%. Basically 10% "lost" to cold, then 1% discharge per day for "reasons". In reality it went like this :

Park with 77% on day 0. 69% on Day 1. 59% on Day 2.

That's not normal. At worst you should be 77% on Day 0, 69% (+7% blue) on Day 1 and 59% (+ 16% blue) on Day 2.

In the last 3.6 days, I've lost 1.99 kWh or about 1.6% SOC.

There's no thermal management that I'm aware of when asleep. The cold doesn't hurt the battery, it's not going to waste energy heating it unless you try and charge.

 

[cybercricket]

I just went to drive it. 53% SOC (!!!!!) Temp outside is 49F. No indication of battery being cold. 10mi round trip, parked with 51%. I guess will check in 24 hours again and see what it does.

 

[cybercricket]

That's not normal. At worst you should be 77% on Day 0, 69% (+7% blue) on Day 1 and 59% (+ 16% blue) on Day 2.

In the last 3.6 days, I've lost 1.99 kWh or about 1.6% SOC.

There's no thermal management that I'm aware of when asleep. The cold doesn't hurt the battery, it's not going to waste energy heating it unless you try and charge.

The only way that would make sense is if the battery had so much thermal capacity that it took TWO days to cool down to its lowest possible temp.

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