Alternative to Sentry Mode?

[upkerry14]

I've been looking at alternatives to Sentry Mode since I understand it's quite a drain on the battery. Has anyone installed such a system? There are a lot of them on the market but some have fees attached when viewing/downloading footage etc.... and some don't. Just curious.

 

[Joshan]

mine seems to average about 1 mile per hour, not sure I would call that a large drain. But to answer your question, no experience with another system as I have thus far been pretty satisfied with Sentry. Definitely worth the purchase price! (when I got my car it did not exist yet, so was free OTA update)

 

[Knightshade]

Sentry uses like 1 mile of range an hour- that's not what I'd call large

 

[timp123]

1mi/hr equates to ~230 watts or so? I agree that's pretty inefficient to record from 4 cameras. A typical dashcam uses <5 watts. It would have been nice if Tesla had thought that through and included some low-power cores on HW3 to run Sentry without draining the battery so much.

That said, Sentry is so well implemented, and with the only downside being the battery drain, I can't imagine it would be worth it to replace with a DIY camera setup.

 

[upkerry14]

thanks for the input.

 

[SMAlset]

You can buy and have installed a Blackview dashcam for example but since Model 3 is designed differently than the Model S where you could have the power connector hardwired in without affecting the 9v battery (our Model S has this set up), that’s not the case on the Model 3. After a while people were reporting battery issues and at first Tesla out of goodwill replaced their batteries but stopped after it became clear it was an aftermarket dashcam causing the issue.

You can buy a stand alone auxillary battery pack for the Blackvue and some owners here have done that to get 4K video.

Keep in mind that the dashcams are up to two-channel, front and rear. To get more coverage owners have installed two sets of these cameras to give side coverage. Again needing a power solution.

The TeslaCam (Sentry is the parking mode on it) gives you not only front and rear coverage but also lower side coverage outside your car. I’m pointing that out because it’s that lower outside camera view that has caught many people keying or opening a door into their car in the act of them doing it. A traditional dashcam with camera view from inside the car cannot capture the actual act as it happens, leaving a question when did your damage to the side actually happen and was it really that person you say it was.

TeslaCam with Sentry might not be perfect but I think we’re lucky that Tesla had their engineers figure out a way to give us this protection and have kept making improvements to it. It will likely never be everyone’s ideal dashcam but it’s proven it’s worth to many.

 

[SMAlset]

I’ll also add that our 4K 2-channel Blackvue cost around $500-600 with battery pack and some level of video storage. Granted we don’t get 4K video but for the coverage, flexible and somewhat customizable settings, ease of use and variable storage capacity, it’s a pretty good value as it’s standard with all the cars now (not sure about SR but think it’s standard on SR+ with front powered/data USB ports). Only thing you need to decide on is type of USB device and storage capacity you’ll use.

For those with a limited budget, having car protection like this for really no cost is I think a big thing.

 

[ElectricIAC]

I've been looking at alternatives to Sentry Mode since I understand it's quite a drain on the battery. Has anyone installed such a system? There are a lot of them on the market but some have fees attached when viewing/downloading footage etc.... and some don't. Just curious.

An armed guard with a body cam standing by your car at all times would do the trick.

 

[puckpurnell]

You've got to have A L O T of range anxiety to worry about Sentry Mode draining your battery. Chill.

 

[SMAlset]

@upkerry14 is soon going to be a new Tesla and first time EV owner (Model 3P I think) so understandably has questions. Also he lives in the SF Bay area where let’s face it car break ins and vandalism are still very high.

 

[BluestarE3]

An armed guard with a body cam standing by your car at all times would do the trick.

Or a Trunk Monkey: