Camera Efficiency

[Sparkeur]

For the second (very rainy) day in a row, FSD on navigate has cut out two or three times over the course of a motorway journey because of blocked pillar cameras - at inopportune moments such as auto lane change. Yesterday, I received the camera blocked message just as I was about to set off from home so I got out to clean the pillar camera only to find there was condensation behind the glass. All instances resolve themselves in varying amounts of time but it does make FSD in the rain a bit hit and miss. As there is no wiper on the rear window, I have to make use of the rear camera from time to time. However, this is almost continuously blocked/restricted in the wet but presumably not critical to the car operation as there are never any messages.
Does anyone else have these issues or do I just have the wrong sort of rain?

 

[Dilly]

Every car I’ve owned with a rear camera, has always got fogged up during rain. It’s also compounded by road dirt too.
My wife’s Outlander has cameras under each doo mirror. They stay clean as of course does the front one.
Not had condensation in the pillar cameras. Yet...

 

[Neilman]

I had a problem a few wet nights ago wanting to reverse into my driveway but the rear camera was unusable because of previous road spray. The high back window makes reversing without the camera unsafe. Had to park forwards and not plug in to recharge until I could turn the car round next day.
I miss a rear screen wiper as well.

 

[M3noob]

During a dreadful rainy motorway journey in France, I got the side camera blocked notice a number of times along with the "unable to navigate" message.

When the rain went away (or rather we out ran the rain) all returned to "normal". No condensation on the pillar cams noted.

Rear cam gets a finger wipe every time I pass it. No idea how any car can keep spray off (aside from locating the cam inside the rear window (which, as noted, has its own problems).

A rear screen wiper would be lovely.

 

[Sparkeur]

During a dreadful rainy motorway journey in France, I got the side camera blocked notice a number of times along with the "unable to navigate" message.

I wonder if that's just coincidence or it really is French autoroutes

My journey is on the A10 near Saintes every day.

I also rub a finger over the rear view camera en passant but it's not dirt or smearing like on our Disco, it's water droplets hanging on the surface so I'm going to try some RainX and see what happens.

 

[Artiste]

In bad weather or with low sunsets I frequently get the message that one or multiple cameras are blocked or blinded. I don’t see how FSD (which I don’t have) can work under these circumstances.

 

[Jason71]

For the second (very rainy) day in a row, FSD on navigate has cut out two or three times over the course of a motorway journey because of blocked pillar cameras - at inopportune moments such as auto lane change. Yesterday, I received the camera blocked message just as I was about to set off from home so I got out to clean the pillar camera only to find there was condensation behind the glass. All instances resolve themselves in varying amounts of time but it does make FSD in the rain a bit hit and miss. As there is no wiper on the rear window, I have to make use of the rear camera from time to time. However, this is almost continuously blocked/restricted in the wet but presumably not critical to the car operation as there are never any messages.
Does anyone else have these issues or do I just have the wrong sort of rain?

isn't the pillar camera not sealed to the inside of the car and is supposed to be cleared by the HVAC? I think I read that somewhere. So if you "need" to use FSD straightway from cold I guess plenty of preheat might help?

 

[Sparkeur]

isn't the pillar camera not sealed to the inside of the car and is supposed to be cleared by the HVAC? I think I read that somewhere. So if you "need" to use FSD straightway from cold I guess plenty of preheat might help?

I certainly didn't know that. Although, to clarify, I'm not using FSD straightaway, the message appeared as soon as I selected 'Drive'

It is pouring here at the moment so I decided to apply RainX to the pillar cams. I'll be using the car again on the autoroute in a couple of hours so will see if there's any difference.

 

[Plagued]

isn't the pillar camera not sealed to the inside of the car and is supposed to be cleared by the HVAC? I think I read that somewhere. So if you "need" to use FSD straightway from cold I guess plenty of preheat might help?

The side camera modules on early models has a gortex patch over it, that the SC pulls off if you complain about condensation, not sure if newer cars have a different system.
Elon did mention that for FSD some form of water repellant would probably be needed for the cameras.
I have an issue that not only does my door pillar fog up, but I get repeated side camera blocked messages when there's nothing visibly there. Unfortunately the dashcam doesn't record from those cameras, so I can't see what it thinks is blocking it.

 

[Neilio]

I had a problem a few wet nights ago wanting to reverse into my driveway but the rear camera was unusable because of previous road spray. The high back window makes reversing without the camera unsafe. Had to park forwards and not plug in to recharge until I could turn the car round next day.
I miss a rear screen wiper as well.

To be fair i can't think of a single saloon car that has a rear wiper. The problem the model 3 has is it's a saloon shaped like a hatchback and, aside form the Prosche panamera where it's a pricey option, I can't think of a single hatchback that doesn't have a wiper. So it's car type rather than something missing on Teslas part.

I know this is going OT but would it kill Tesa to house the rear camera in a little cubby that retracts when not in use? Mercs and Audis do that with no problem, meaning it doesn't get road dirt.

Back on topic, has anyone had their side cameras give up and FSD quit simply because they are on a dark country lane? it happened to me once, again in France, and I was surprised it did.

 

[Sparkeur]

Back on topic, has anyone had their side cameras give up and FSD quit simply because they are on a dark country lane? it happened to me once, again in France, and I was surprised it did.

In the non-side marked roads around me, FSD won't even activate. I presumed it was the same everywhere but maybe it's just here in France.

 

[Jason71]

To be fair i can't think of a single saloon car that has a rear wiper. The problem the model 3 has is it's a saloon shaped like a hatchback and, aside form the Prosche panamera where it's a pricey option, I can't think of a single hatchback that doesn't have a wiper. So it's car type rather than something missing on Teslas part.

I know this is going OT but would it kill Tesa to house the rear camera in a little cubby that retracts when not in use? Mercs and Audis do that with no problem, meaning it doesn't get road dirt.

Back on topic, has anyone had their side cameras give up and FSD quit simply because they are on a dark country lane? it happened to me once, again in France, and I was surprised it did.

saloons never have rear wipers because there is nowhere to put the wiper / motor. And in the case of the M3 I guess it would be bad for aero dynamics as well.

 

[Daverh]

Nissan have a feature that washes the rear camera to avoid some of these issues

 

[OneTinyFish]

I've found the side pillar cameras get blinded very easily when driving up the mountain. I guess it's just the way it is - I don't think there will be a software update to resolve this. They need ND filters

 

[GRiLLA]

Anyone found any usable options with high;y hydrophobic coatings or stickers for cameras? I saw a video showing that Honda-E's side cameras always remain clear. I tried looking but only found things that were very poorly reviewed by customers on Amazon.

 

[Sparkeur]

Anyone found any usable options with high;y hydrophobic coatings or stickers for cameras?

Well, this was before RainX application just on the camera teardrop

And this was after.

The camera didn't cut out as it did this morning but whether that was to do with the product or not, I don't know - nor do I know if it will last long.

 

[Neilio]

saloons never have rear wipers because there is nowhere to put the wiper / motor. And in the case of the M3 I guess it would be bad for aero dynamics as well.

I did wonder that about aero too.

I'm going to rainex the car tomorrow as well. Never considered doing the cameras too but I will now