Tesla High Voltage Battery Pack Information

Tools of the Trade

The Basics

These are just some of the things you will need in order to remove the HV battery from a Model S/X. There are dozens of other basic tools you will need to complete all the work ahead that are beyond the scope of a list. These are just the 'big' things you will need to have/buy/borrow to get started.

ScanMyTesla

This app has become the standard for DIYers to read the CAN bus data related to the HV Battery. It is very helpful to read what is happening inside the HV battery before you remove it from the car. If you just know your car has a 'battery error', don't remove the battery until you use SMT to get more data. To use it, you will need

- An OBDII Diagnostic cable for your year. Read the product description. 2012-2015 cars take one cable and 2015-2020 cars take a slightly different variant. This cable plugs into the car under the MCU and allows you to plug in a Bluetooth OBDII Reader. Search 'Scan My Tesla Cable' on Amazon and you will see several options with clear descriptions on what model years each cable covers.
- An OBD Bluetooth Adapter. Do a little research. Some models say they will work with Apple or Android but read the reviews and get something reported to work with your phone.
- The scan my T3SLA App. It is a few bucks (one time purchase) and the developer Amund is a good guy - one of us, a hobbyist and tinkerer. Available in iOS and Android

Tesla Jack Pads

These are pretty much mandatory for every Tesla owner. Do a search on Amazon and click around for the cheapest option. These are just chunks of rubber and they all work the same. They should be less than $15 for a set of 4 in a nice case. Keep them in the trunk when you are done because you never know when you will be at a tire shop that won't lift a Tesla because they don't have them or worse, will try to lift it without the jack pads and then hurt the battery...

Ramps and Jack Stands

The basic process is described in more detail Here on pack dropping page, but you need to get the car up in the air safely. I used two ramps (backwards) under the front tires and two heavy jackstands under the rear subframe. Safety is the #1 priority so make sure the car is very stable and level. You can use jackstands on the front subframe instead of ramps but that requires the extra steps of removing the front undertray.

Floor Jacks - 4 of them!

Sure, a 2 post lift would make things easier but most of us don't have garages that will accommodate them. Fortunately, we all have a floor jack and hopefully enough friends to borrow some and get a total of 4. The 1.5 Ton variants are pretty marginal in terms of how high they can go so I recommend the 'big' 3 ton versions.

You will be using these to lift the car up in the air to place the ramps and the jackstands and then later to lower the battery onto the furniture dollies. You could probably get the car in the air with 1 or 2 jacks but you definitely need 4 to lower and raise the battery.

Furniture Dollies - 4 of them!

These are cheap at Harbor Freight or similar. The small ones have a 1,000 pound capacity and you will be placing one under each corner of the battery so you can roll it out from under the car. You will be happier with 4 small ones vs 2 large ones, I promise...

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

When you take the lid off the pack and start touching metal things that contain DEADLY voltages, PLEASE make sure you are wearing the correct PPE and following all of the Safety Guidelines discussed on the Home page. Most of the work happens with the modules out of the car and the individual 24V modules are safe to handle with basic shop gloves. 16 of those in series is definitely NOT safe. If you skipped it, please review the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Tools by Professor Kelly at Weber Auto on YouTube

DIY Pressure Tester

You will need a pressure tester to Pressure Test the pack. Most of these parts are from the plumbing section at Home Depot and the small ball valves are found near the air compressors at the same store. The ControlAir regulator is the only somewhat expensive thing. There is also a small array that fits onto the end to convert this to allow you to test the Coolant System. I'm sorry I can't supply a precise parts list without building another but these pictures should be enough to get you pointed the right direction.

I may rebuild this version to take the pressure gauge off the regulator and put it after the ball valve on the pack side.

My regulator 'bleeds' as it regulates so it is hard to watch the pressure accurately in this configuration.

This does an excellent job of regulating the shop air compressor's 100psi down to almost nothing.

Having ball valves to isolate the inlet, regulator and outlet are helpful. Yes, that is a 2nd, small regulator from Home Depot that is junk...

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