Live data from Hacker News

Normal Operating Sounds

tesla.com

171–180 of 273 posts

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#171

If I was the engineering team, I would be trying to eliminate all these noises. Every single one of these could be engineered away. For example the pops and bangs at a supercharger is the metal shield deforming when heated. Instead, it should have circular ridges stamped into it around the fixing points to let it expand against the springiness of the steel. The clunk noise from brakes could be engineered away by usin…

> Every single one of these could be engineered away.

You clearly didn't read half of the article. 50% of these are purposeful chimes.

Also, why? What is the value of making a compressor or fan more quiet on the 3? It would be much better to lower the cost. Worry about the sound on the higher end vehicles but let the 3 be low cost.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual heating systems can be better than 100% efficient, while crypto mining or cinebench or whatever is <100%

How can anything be <100% if producing heat is the goal? Where would the rest of the energy be going?

Using a cryptominer or GP computer at full tilt for the purpose of making heat is less than 100% efficient, because some of the input power gets used on computing.

A pure resistive heater is also less than 100% efficient, but it's very very close.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#173
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fan is triggered by a relay, triggered by the ECU, which uses coolant sensors (the thermostat sensor that is iirc not always the mechanical thermostat) to adjust when to cool the radiator. That temp is much higher than the ambient air will ever get, so if the fan comes on after the car is turned off then either it was just about at the temp that would have turned on the fan, or something could be slowly going wro…

Car engines heat up when you park, because the air cooling and circulation of the coolant keeps it cooler while driving. It seems completely within the common laws of physics that when you are at not so uncommon temperatures, the coolant closer to the engine heats up well above standard operating temperatures once the car is off, and then convection currents bring enough of this overheated coolant to the sensor to tr…

If it goes on for 15 minutes or more, it could be one of seven different problems: https://mindofmechanic.com/fan-still-running-when-car-is-off...

Cars are like people. Sometimes a quirk is normal, and sometimes it means your bottom end is gonna fall out. Gotta get regular checkups and hope you catch it in time.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#174

If I was the engineering team, I would be trying to eliminate all these noises. Every single one of these could be engineered away. For example the pops and bangs at a supercharger is the metal shield deforming when heated. Instead, it should have circular ridges stamped into it around the fixing points to let it expand against the springiness of the steel. The clunk noise from brakes could be engineered away by usin…

The sounds are not that intrusive...While others have pointed out the costs involved in solving them, the real question is "will muting each and every sound sell more cars?". Of course from an engineering point of view the other question is "are these sounds indicative of something that will fail prematurely?". The complexity of adding some sort of muting may introduce other modes of failure. Sometimes the best solut…

Tesla struggles with poor build quality and a lot of owners don't expect that, especially if they only listen to Elon Musk. Fixing the sounds won't sell more Teslas but a higher quality car would have already addressed them.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can anything be <100% if producing heat is the goal? Where would the rest of the energy be going?

Using a cryptominer or GP computer at full tilt for the purpose of making heat is less than 100% efficient, because some of the input power gets used on computing. A pure resistive heater is also less than 100% efficient, but it's very very close.

Where does the energy "used on computing" go? The power consumption of a CPU is dissipated as heat.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure what they mean about crypto miners or computers (mentioning cinebench), basically all the energy going in should be turned into heat so that should be near enough to 100% efficient. Where else would the energy be going? Sure, there will be a bit of RF power (Wi-Fi and some EMI) and depending on the device, a bit of light (LED indicators, monitor backlight) but that should be tiny compared to the energy t…

Won't light heat things up by bouncing around anyway?

Yeah as long as it doesn't escape your room, the photons will end up slightly warming _something_ when they get absorbed.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#178
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you have delayed the first release to tackle these sounds? If so, any day not shipping products is a day closer to going bankrupt. If you "fix" these sounds in v2, then you'll still need to explain them in the manual for v1 owners. Ultimately it's not really a bug. People aren't used to cars being so quiet so some minor new sounds suddenly stand out.

Sound design is an important part for many other manufacturers. There are literally people who's job it is to make sure that things like the "thump" of a closing door sounds good and on-brand. Though to be fair it's kind of an outgrowth of legacy car manufacturers who need to sell tiny bits of progress to stay relevant.

You mean when you physically close a car door they might shape the internal sound dynamics in either the frame or inside the door or adding some surface layer to the door itself?
Post reply on HN