pdx_m3s
Active Member
For a car as smart as a Tesla, you’d think the cameras would recognize the condensation build up and activate the camera heaters.
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Condensation between windshield and front facing cameras
- Thread starter Beardley
- Start date
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
Yeah you’d think. I’ve seen zero compelling evidence of any camera heater except for the front camera system, though. Even that one posted picture in the snow could easily be just camera-use-generated heat.
And I’ve seen no evidence of late showing how to even make the front camera system defogger work. And Tesla has been quiet on the matter.
pdx_m3s
Active Member
Hopefully, with as many Model 3s on the road as there are now, they will get enough complaints to get this fixed. Tesla is very much a squeaky wheels gets the grease operation.
HyperionMark
Member
That's why I'm in California
.But even with our milder winter temps here in the Bay Area, as owners here we do still encounter frozen door handles and windows frozen to the seals that won't go down and frozen charge ports. And battery drain from the cold. When it happened to me I was actually kind of surprised thinking gee I'm not back east any longer and don't live in the northern ranges, left cold weather behind. This was on 2/6/19 and there actually was snow on our local ranges and being on the valley floor the cold air just sits trapped with no wind. Had been cold like this for a few days and the air was very moist. So not really rubbing it in how nice the weather is here but more alerting unsupecting fellow Bay Area new owners that they too should know what to do with a frozen car. I grew up back east when we really did have feet of snow and ice but many who have lived in warmer parts might find how the cold can affect the frameless windows and EV charging. I'm also happy to provide my fellow really cold weather Tesla owners some laughs at my expense
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WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
Why doesn't the car de-fog this? Seriously... how do you get the front camera system defogger to do its job?!
HyperionMark
Member
I noticed the other day when my side view mirrors were totally covered with ice/snow that I had to turn on the rear defroster to get them to heat up. Is it possible its the same with the camera defogger?
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
malventano
Member
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
I must have missed that. Very nice. How do you get it to heat? Just front defrost? Does it not do it automatically if it senses fogging?
CharleyBC
Active Member
I randomly walked by someone’s Model 3 parked in a driveway, facing the street a couple days ago. The entire car was covered in dew, except the front camera cluster, which was nice and clear. My guess was Sentry Mode turns on the little defroster if needed to do its job.
HyperionMark
Member
May have been coincidental, but the other day when it was very cold the front camera became blinded. I turned on the rear defroster and within 5 minutes that error message went away.
I just had this happen to me last weekend. We haven't had much snow this winter so I can't say whether the defrosters in front of the cameras are working while the car is off. I do know that last year when it snowed and I was just walking by without preheating, the cameras were all cleared. Just seems weird that this just started to happen.
malventano
Member
Sentry mode keeps the camera module active, which warms the area above the camera. Not as much as the defroster does, but it is enough to evaporate dew / prevent light frost from forming. I've seen it clear above the camera but not far enough down the windshield to clear the camera's line of sight, so the defroster is still needed.
ceejay44
Member
I've been getting kicked out of adaptive CC lately, and I checked and indeed foggy glass at front cameras. I'll try the HI heating from app and rear defrost to see if helps, but annoying to see this is still a problem in Nov 2020. I don't recall having this problem last winter.
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
Though there were heating elements around the windshield cameras? Those should have cleared it up, if not then I wonder if it failed.
pdx_m3s
Active Member
The front-camera heating element is not exactly smart. It very often fails to kick on when the glass is fogging up. I think it is tied to HVAC setting.
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