Many hours of pumps sounds? even after 2018.28.1 firmware update (Not knowing whats up it driving me

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Before the 2018.28.1 firmware I was seeing 8-10 miles/day loss, after I am seeing 4-5 miles/day loss. My M3 has been sitting in my garage for over a week not plugged in waiting for a protective cover that was not installed at the factory (it has not been driven). The garage temperature in the morning is 65-70F when I close the garage doors for the day and no more than 80F when I open the doors up the next morning to cool down the garage. The traction battery could not be temp soaked at more than 80 probably no more than 75F. After I upgraded the firmware, the indicated available mileage did not reduce for nearly a full day (I have been checking it once or twice a day). However, after the first day back to what appears to be 4-5 miles a day. After considerable reading on several Tesla forums and Google, I thought I understood when the traction battery required passive/activate cooling and how the car charged the 12V battery (the two main things that would use traction battery charge while parked?). In order to try to nail down exactly what is going on I connected a Smart battery tender to the 12V AGM battery set for AGM charging mode. Verified this smart charger backs off when/if the HV contactors close and the car is charging the 12V battery via its DC-to-DC converter; likewise, verified that the charger is maintaining the 12V battery voltage at around 14.8 volts. It was my hope that all power being consumed by the parked car would be 12V power and not require any HV battery power or contactor closures (I was wrong). I am monitoring the tender power use via a Kill-O-Watt meter. I hear what sounds like pump(s) running at least three times a day and they run for at least an hour probably closer to three hours per time. When this pump is running, my battery tender has backed off (not trying to charge the 12V battery) and the HV contactors ARE engaged (ie.. I open the car door and do not hear the HV contactor engage). The only thing I can think of that would require power from the traction battery is active cooling from the AC which requires high voltage. So my main question is what is requiring power from the traction battery when the traction battery is at or below 80F? I know the car is going use power while parked but around 1KW/day seems high if the battery is within a 70-80F temp range.

Thanks for hopefully letting me sleep better tonight and for any enlightenment regarding the above!!

Mozart

What is a traction battery?

Bighorn

@byrned
The main battery.

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Pure speculation, maybe the software is not as smart as it could be. If the software defaults to enable the HV contactor and top off the 12V battery say four times a day, that might explain what I am seeing. I would hope the software would monitor the state of charge ie.. voltage of the 12V battery and ONLY top it off if the voltage was below some lower threshold? Also, the cooling pumps might be required to run anytime the HV contactor is enabled?

wade.wilson

Went from 21.9 to 28.1. I noticed that daily battery usage went up, probably due to phantom drain.

Hopefully latest 28.x fixed the issue.

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

During all of my testing described in the original post I had the front frunk open and the car unlocked. When I closed the frunk, it woke
up ;the car engaged the contactor and turned on pump(s) (or at least they sound like cooling pumps). It appeared the pump(s) were going to run for an extended time. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to lock the car with the Black NFC card. After locking the car, the car seemed to go to sleep after about 20 seconds. Maybe the pumps running has something to do with the frunk being open and/or the car not being locked????

Tesla2018

I noticed that if I am charging my car and dont have it locked, the screen stays lit and shows the charging status. So Im wondering if locking the car tells it to go to sleep?
Also there is a slide switch that says something about allowing remote access or wifi? Does this cause phantom drain if this is turned on since the xar may be searching for a signal or broadcasting one?

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

I have not heard a peep out of my M3 since closing the frunk lid and locking the car. I will wake it tomorrow and report back. I am thinking it could actually be the frunk being open that cause the problem. My parked mileage loss was very low right after the 28.1 firmware update but went up after I open the frunk a day later (and left it open). Since the frunk light went off after a few minutes, I did not give it another thought. Locking the car might have also had an effect. I have messed with turning remote access off and decided that will not reduce vampire loss. With remote access in the off mode, the remote phone app will still wake the car (ie.. the I hear the contactors close). The phone app reports back that remote access is not allowed so it still has network access to the car you just can't do anything. I have read that bad sensors have caused Tesla cars to use more parked juice. Only the Tesla programmers know for sure what will keep the car from going into the deepest sleep possible. Maybe they will tell us? (Good luck with that!!!!) Maybe I should start a forum thread where owners could report things that keep there M3 from going into a deep slumber? Of course, the programmers could make a change or a bug could also effect things in the future.

Thanks Very Much to the thread posters!
Regards, Ron

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

One more point , I still do not know why the pumps had to run for hours a day even with the M3 not in a deep sleep???

larryh_61552

One possible reason for the pumps is that the HV dc to 12V dc converter is active and perhaps needs to be cooled. Certainly makes no sense for the main pack to need recirculation.

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Update: With the car locked and the frunk closed, my vampire drain was about 2.5 miles/day over the past two days. I can live with that.

hokiegir1

Yes, if the frunk is open, the car is "running," so that would cause greater than normal drain. Same if a door or the trunk was open (not unlocked -- open, just to be clear).

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Thought I was starting to get a handle on daily vampire usage. After waking the car up this morning at 5AM, checking on miles used over the past two days and locking the car afterward, the same sound I was hearing for hours before has returned. The pump or whatever it is has been on for four hours at this point. I would not think it would take that long to top off the 12V battery? The mystery sound parked usage saga continues. Can anyone confirm they are hearing the same thing?

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Pump ran for six hours lost five miles of range from 5AM to 11AM. Tesla ranger showed up to install missing cover under the car; however, could not install it because the protective plate it attaches to is also missing. He pushed firmware version 2018.28.3 while he was here; however, that did not seem to fix the problem. Pump has been running for the last three hours after the firmware update. While the car was jacked up we verified that the noise was indeed a pump, you could feel the fluid flowing through the line. The ranger checked the traction battery temp while he was on the service call it was 24.5C or 76F. Can't see any reason why a cooling pump would need to run for that length of time???? Looks like this pump running could consume 15-20 miles of range per day which could be as much as 5KWH/day or 150KWH/month. That is 600+ miles that could be used for driving!!!! My wifes plugin Pacifica Hybrid has been sitting next to the M3 in the same mid 70F degree garage for the past 11 days and it has lost ZERO miles. Neither vehicle has been plugged in or driven. NEED to get this rectified, at this rate it will cost me over 20 dollars/month in electricity for a parked car.

If ANYONE is seeing similar issues, PLEASE reply to this post. At least I won't feel like a Lone Ranger.

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Just checked the car after pulling the trigger on my previous post and the pump has stopped. Ran for only four hours this time instead of six hours this morning. I need to put in for an official service call and point them to this forum thread.

Ron.Olsberg_98061442

Just thought of why no one else is reporting this pump running issue. My M3 is missing a very large protective cover under the front of the car. This cover mounts directly below the pump that is running four many hours per day. I am pretty sure it would be very hard to hear the running pump if this cover was installed. When I have my garage door open and there is outside noise, I have to put my ear against the drivers side front fender to hear the pump running. Most owners including me would normally be driving the car a least every few days, which would mask this vampire power usage. I have not driven the car for the past 12 days because I do not what to take the chance of something damaging the exposed traction battery cooling lines and high voltage wires.

ebmcs03

Initial thought now is that there’s a temp sensor off somewhere causing the pump to run.

I haven’t paid attention to my car sounds probably like you said. Can’t hear the pump running. But when parked my car loses about 4.5 miles a day on average over the course of a week. (I drive my car every other week)

40milecommuter

I've just started to hear a pump sound on my M3. Started this week. Never heard it before. Drivers side under frunk. Seeing loss of miles.