Always leave the car connected to charger if possible?

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mluisbrown
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Post by mluisbrown »

Tesla recommends owners who have a home charger to always leave the car connected to the charger as much as possible. Partly so that certain features like "Sentry mode" don't drain the battery and also so that pre-heating the car is done with current from the charger and not using the battery to save range.

I have a home charger and wonder if I should leave my born always plugged in? I have it set to charge to 80% immediately, however I don't know if it will try and maintain that charge or if it just charges to 80% and then that's it, no matter how long you leave it. Does anyone know?

Sorry if this question has been asked before, the search function in this forum isn't great πŸ˜•
2023 Born 58kWh, Glacial White, 19" Typhoon Copper, Skyline, Blue Dinamica electric seats, Cargo, Privacy, Pilot M+, Tech M
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CupraV3
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Post by CupraV3 »

Not sure of the correct answer to this question, however personally I only plug it in when I get down to around 20%. I don't need to commute every day so I don't need to charge that regularly.
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daern
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Post by daern »

Doesn't really matter for my car as the charger is switched off apart from between 2am and 6am (when the leccy is 10p/kWh), so leaving it plugged in doesn't really achieve much during the day. I prefer to use the charger for scheduling as it's more reliable than the car, and means that when out and about I know that I can just plug the car in to charge it without faffing about. I do have an alert that fires after 15 minutes upon returning home if the battery is less than 50% and I've not plugged it in - I have forgotten once or twice in the past!

Also, if you're doing a journey that is significantly within the range of the battery, and have cheap overnight charging, why would you want any pre-heating done using expensive daytime rate electricity? I'd much rather it was done using the 10p electricity that I put in overnight, apart from the very rare occasions where I'm doing a marginal-range journey.

Sounds like a "flaky Tesla" solution to me ;-)
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mluisbrown
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Post by mluisbrown »

One reason I was asking was because I had plugged the car in yesterday afternoon at about 60% and I have it set to always charge immediately to 80%, and then unlock the cable. Later that evening I saw the cable was unlocked (no light, white or green) in the charge port, but this morning when I got to the car, the charge port light was green, and I couldn't disconnect the cable, which made me wonder whether it "trickle" charges every so often to maintain the level you set.

It also seems unlocking the car is not sufficient for it to disconnect the cable if it's charging. I have to go into e-Manager, ask it to charge more than 80% and then tap "Stop charging" for it to disconnect, which is a bit of a PITA.
2023 Born 58kWh, Glacial White, 19" Typhoon Copper, Skyline, Blue Dinamica electric seats, Cargo, Privacy, Pilot M+, Tech M
2003 Audi A3 8L 1.9TDi PD 130 with 360,000kms.
daern
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Post by daern »

mluisbrown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:04 pm It also seems unlocking the car is not sufficient for it to disconnect the cable if it's charging. I have to go into e-Manager, ask it to charge more than 80% and then tap "Stop charging" for it to disconnect, which is a bit of a PITA.
I have to admit that I've never had this at a public charger. Have you tried unlocking twice with the remote?
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Daveion
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Post by Daveion »

mluisbrown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:12 pm Tesla recommends owners who have a home charger to always leave the car connected to the charger as much as possible. Partly so that certain features like "Sentry mode" don't drain the battery and also so that pre-heating the car is done with current from the charger and not using the battery to save range.

I have a home charger and wonder if I should leave my born always plugged in? I have it set to charge to 80% immediately, however I don't know if it will try and maintain that charge or if it just charges to 80% and then that's it, no matter how long you leave it. Does anyone know?

Sorry if this question has been asked before, the search function in this forum isn't great πŸ˜•
Can't say I recall this particular question raised.
Pre heating is always via the battery. If you are plugged in the charger will try to maintain the battery charge setting providing the charger is available for immediate charge.
On mine if I am plugged in at 80% ( as set) and pre- heat, the battery level initially drops to 78% or 79% but once the heating starts to settle down, 5 mins or so, the battery comes back to 80%.
If your home charger is around 7kW and pre-heating takes maybe 1kW-2kW or so after an initial ramp up the balance is recharging the battery pack.
I often leave my car plugged in for 3-4 days without usage but have never observed it charging In-between times. Once its at 80% it seems to hold that without loss for at least 4 days.
When I have left the car at an airport for 2 weeks I have seen a 1%-2% reduction from memory.
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daern
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Post by daern »

Daveion wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:56 pm When I have left the car at an airport for 2 weeks I have seen a 1%-2% reduction from memory.
Just had a quick look back - mine dropped from 79% to 78% in 7 days parked at Manchester Airport, so this sounds broadly in alignment.
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Post by Deleted User 490 »

daern wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:50 pm
mluisbrown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 2:04 pm It also seems unlocking the car is not sufficient for it to disconnect the cable if it's charging. I have to go into e-Manager, ask it to charge more than 80% and then tap "Stop charging" for it to disconnect, which is a bit of a PITA.
I have to admit that I've never had this at a public charger. Have you tried unlocking twice with the remote?
The unlocking twice always disconnects, charging or not. At a public charger, Ive always just used the charger's functions to end the session.

As for leaving it connected, I'd say it will just maintain the level you have set (e.g. 80%) or when at 100%. Ive seen this status in the app when the car is still connected, but the cabin heating is on. As others have said, the vampire drain is minuscule so I've never thought of leaving it connected for that reason.
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mluisbrown
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Post by mluisbrown »

Thanks all πŸ™

Regarding the disconnecting issue, I've only had it on my home charger, not on any public charger.
2023 Born 58kWh, Glacial White, 19" Typhoon Copper, Skyline, Blue Dinamica electric seats, Cargo, Privacy, Pilot M+, Tech M
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RAMchamp
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Post by RAMchamp »

Missing clock icon on charging routine:
Does anyone know how to a) Make routine charging automatic and b) get the clock icon to appear when selecting routine?
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