# Resting Battery Drain



## uvrower (Jan 23, 2020)

I am considering a Model Y and the parking garage does not have any outlets near where it will be parked. Car will be used on weekends and I envision sometimes not using the car for two weeks. What level of battery drain can I expect? I know if varies if sentry mode is on or not and how often I 'peek' at status, but this might be a key issue for me if it is significant. Much appreciated.

Chip


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## potatoee (Aug 26, 2018)

The general rule of thumb is 1% per day. Personally, I don't use that ROT often especially if Sentry Model is involved. In my experience, I lose about 8kWh per day with Sentry Mode enabled (lots of variability). If the car is "sleeping" I see very little loss when the car is asleep in my garage. "Peeking" via your app does wake your car up and use more power until it goes to sleep again. I don't have a comparison between "merely awake" and Sentry Mode but I'm sure that others know.

Judging by your use case, seems like you need to decide if you want to park the car with Sentry Mode enabled for security purposes. If that's the case you could be looking at losses that may argue for maintaining your charge via 120VAC which will be more than sufficient but also have the disadvantage of leaving your charger and any extension cords lying around unsecured.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

If the car is permitted to sleep, under 1% per day.

If it remains awake, I think it's about 3% per day?


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## uvrower (Jan 23, 2020)

Much appreciated. Thanks!!


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## serpico007 (Mar 1, 2020)

Good to know. I didn’t plug in yesterday and noticed I was losing a few kms this morning.


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## serpico007 (Mar 1, 2020)

Sorry but how do you put the car to sleep? I have a buzzing sound that has been happening all day today. The sound is between the front wheels around the dash.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

serpico007 said:


> Sorry but how do you put the car to sleep?


You turn off all the features that would keep the car awake, then you leave the car alone. I think after ~30 minutes or so, the car will go to sleep. Hopefully somebody can correct me on how long you need to wait. @JWardell ?


garsh said:


> There's a whole list of things to prevent battery drain.
> 
> Turn off smart summon standby
> Turn off sentry mode
> ...


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

@garsh, You use that list so much you so tattoo it upside-down on your belly as a quick reference tool.


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## serpico007 (Mar 1, 2020)

Wow that’s a crazy list. Buzzing still happening all day. Been parked in the garage for almost two days.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

garsh said:


> You turn off all the features that would keep the car awake, then you leave the car alone. I think after ~30 minutes or so, the car will go to sleep. Hopefully somebody can correct me on how long you need to wait. @JWardell ?


It will sleep in 5-10 minutes if there's no reason to stay awake. That's why Teslafi is set by default to stop polling for 15min.
Sentry mode keeps it permanently awake, as does Summon Standby. It will wake up to cool down the cabin. It will wake up whenever you open the app.
Other 3rd party apps besides Teslafi wake it up every half hour.

In other words, normally if you turn off Sentry when at home, it will lose almost no power. 
Staying awake for any of those functions through will burn ~10% a day.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

FRC said:


> @garsh, You use that list so much you so tattoo it upside-down on your belly as a quick reference tool.


I have that post bookmarked for these occasions, because it comes up so often.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

serpico007 said:


> Sorry but how do you put the car to sleep? I have a buzzing sound that has been happening all day today. The sound is between the front wheels around the dash.


Tesla's make lots of funny sounds. It is a mystery exactly what they are and when the mother ship has it cycling through something. I generally wouldn't be worried about noises coming from it. As a funny aside, I heard of someone's dog who slept in the garage being totally scared of his Tesla because of the noises.

Regarding sleeping and drain while parked, I find Teslafi to be an invaluable third party tool to understand what is going on. It is well worth a free trial, and I gladly pay $50/year for each of my cars to have the data it provides. (The best thing is the history and energy use data of all my drives. It gives me a lifetime map of everywhere the car has been.) I would also note that my 2017 Model X and 2018 Model 3 have very different "sleeping" behaviors. The Model X is my problem child, bizarrely staying awake for long periods sometimes. I've never figured it out.

Finally, in addition to @garsh's list, the model S and X have an "always connected" radial button somewhere in the menus. I believe strongly in unclicking that. If it is selected, the drain losses will be high.

and disclaimer: Tesla changes little things all the time. So I can't confirm validity of anything I just wrote for 2020 model S.


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## Perscitus (Feb 23, 2017)

OP - your use case sounds a lot like mine for the past two years.
No issues whatsoever.

I have 2 HPWCs mated to 100amp circuit breakers and 1 generic Level 2 charger a few floors down in my garage, which I had installed with Tesla a year or two before taking delivery of the car - allowed all the S and X, Prius Bolt and now Taycan and eTron owners to use them.

I use them from time to time. Same with superchargers and L2s scattered throughout the region I drive in.

I typically park the car at or near 50% SoC and let it sit for 1-2 weeks at a time. Come back to it with minimal loss (maybe 2-3% per week, unless exceptionally cold).

As others have said, if you leave it unplugged, fine, just try to keep the SoC below 80% when leaving it for extended period of time (goldie-lock zone is 40-60%).

Realize different things that @garsh and others mentioned - such as ambient temp, use of sentry, cabin overheat, dog/camp mode, any plugged in accesories, traffic enabled in maps, audio left on streaming instead of FM/AM craptastic radio (if you have data), stock 12v running low, main packs needing some heat on cold nights - all will parasitically eat away at your SoC a bit.

Limit these and enjoy.


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## serpico007 (Mar 1, 2020)

Thanks for all the replies. As a new owner, I think all these new sounds and tech is overwhelming at first. I’m sure it will be fine as I get familiar and get support from other users.


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## serpico007 (Mar 1, 2020)

Just unplugged the charger since I’m going out for a grocery run and the buzzing just stopped. Silence!


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## Theoa (Jul 16, 2019)

You all seem to be lucky guys!
My Model S from 2015 is losing 3-7% of battery power per day in "normal" circumstances, i mean temperatures not very high or very low.
In high or low temperatures it could run into 10% per day.... This is because the car will cool/heat the batteries.
When you hear those noises, it is most likely the heating or cooling that is working...


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

Theoa said:


> You all seem to be lucky guys!
> My Model S from 2015 is losing 3-7% of battery power per day in "normal" circumstances, i mean temperatures not very high or very low.
> In high or low temperatures it could run into 10% per day.... This is because the car will cool/heat the batteries.
> When you hear those noises, it is most likely the heating or cooling that is working...


I have a 2017 model X, also with a battery heater, but on average losses are well within 1%/day drain stated by Tesla.

Do you have "always connected" checked in the menu options? My 2017 Model X has gone through spurts of high losses, some of them still a mystery, but many of them explained by that box being checked (which the service center seems to use, sometimes doesn't set it back, and it would take me awhile to debug). Unchecking the box delays the car's startup by a few seconds when it is time to drive, but no other drawbacks that I know of.

While there are definitely some things that the car occasionally cycles through when it is stationary, I am not aware of the car continually cooling/heating the battery when not in use. I would be concerned by that magnitude of loss if it is the norm for your car, and if you can't find the reason for the losses (some third party apps are problematic), I would be contacting Tesla. It is way outside their spec in the owner's manual.


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## RickO2018 (Mar 13, 2018)

After about 2 year of ownership, I have now begun to notice greater battery drain. Could some of the recent software upgrades be leading to greater battery use? I am now on V40.8, and only recently noticed the higher battery drain. Yesterday I was charged to 218 miles (~75%); drove 3 miles home where car sat overnight with Sentry and COH protection on. This morning, the battery is at 187 miles! That is a 31 mile decrease, or about 13% less miles. Could Sentry and Cabin Overheat Protection draining that much? With cooler temperatures, I don't think COH is kicking in. 

Anyone else experiencing new batter drain at this level?


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

RickO2018 said:


> After about 2 year of ownership, I have now begun to notice greater battery drain. Could some of the recent software upgrades be leading to greater battery use? I am now on V40.8, and only recently noticed the higher battery drain. Yesterday I was charged to 218 miles (~75%); drove 3 miles home where car sat overnight with Sentry and COH protection on. This morning, the battery is at 187 miles! That is a 31 mile decrease, or about 13% less miles. Could Sentry and Cabin Overheat Protection draining that much? With cooler temperatures, I don't think COH is kicking in.
> 
> Anyone else experiencing new batter drain at this level?


I would note that you said you drove 3 miles home. Those short drives tend to use a good number of rated miles, so I would guess that accounts for about 5 of your missing 31 miles. I think sentry mode typically uses about 1 mph.

I haven't had any increased drain while sitting unused. My model 3 drain has stayed minimal for a long time. In the very rare times that there is a drop, I no longer view it as needless phantom drain, but it seems like the car had some administrative tasks to tend to, and the energy use is just a bye product of that.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

This 32 day battery drain experiment is informative:


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