Dash cam or sentry mode not working

[LKHERO]

Hey guys! New owner here. I have the Tesla P3 and I can't see to get my USB dashcam or sentry mode working. I watched a ton of videos and verified multiple times that I'm setting it up correctly: formatting with fat32, TeslaCam folder, tried both a Scandisk 32gb (two of them) and Samsung 64gb one. Both USB 3.1 compatible. When I plug in the USB and the car is parked, sentry mode days it's on and the eye is red. However, when extracting the USBs and then examining the contents in the TeslaCam folder, nothing is in there. When driving, I also don't see the dashcam icon at all, not alone the X or red recording indicating that it's working. I tried both front USB ports. I'm using the v9.0 2019.16.3.2 firmware.

Any help or advice? I've scoured the internet looking for a solution and nothing seems to work.

 

[LKHERO]

OK, just wanted to let you guys know that I found the fix and got the dashcam to show. I still need to confirm whether or not the entire thing works, but you guys won't believe this.

I noticed some vids of people using their macs to format the USB, using MS-DOS FAT, and then creating the TeslaCam folder.

I've tried reformatting and testing the USB on Win10 all this time using Fat32. Is this an OS-specific issue? Hmm..

 

[indyshrink]

OK, just wanted to let you guys know that I found the fix and got the dashcam to show. I still need to confirm whether or not the entire thing works, but you guys won't believe this.

I noticed some vids of people using their macs to format the USB, using MS-DOS FAT, and then creating the TeslaCam folder.

I've tried reformatting and testing the USB on Win10 all this time using Fat32. Is this an OS-specific issue? Hmm..

 

[indyshrink]

I have been struggling with this for months. Also completely unable to get the dash cam feature to work. I was working previously, but after the update to allow access to multiple cameras, it has never worked again. I do see the sentry mode icon and get reports, but never see the icon for the dash cam recordings. I am a Mac user and was told that there should not be a problem using a Mac to format the flash drive. I will try doing this from a windows machine to see if this works. Thanks for your post.

 

[Baxter]

Windows 10 format utility doesn't let you format USB drives larger than 32GB to the FAT32 file system, you need to either use the disk utility from the Command Prompt or use a third-party tool to format the USBdrive to the FAT32 file system. Or use a Mac for drives larger than 32Gb.

 

[lapolonyc]

Same issue here. I got a third party software to format the SD card. Works once or twice and after that dashcam icon stays gray. Gave up after 3 weeks... tired to dealing with it.

 

[SMAlset]

OK, just wanted to let you guys know that I found the fix and got the dashcam to show. I still need to confirm whether or not the entire thing works, but you guys won't believe this.

I noticed some vids of people using their macs to format the USB, using MS-DOS FAT, and then creating the TeslaCam folder.

I've tried reformatting and testing the USB on Win10 all this time using Fat32. Is this an OS-specific issue? Hmm..

It’s been widely mentioned in the forum that users of Windows need to use a third party utility to format Fat32. So yes, it is a Windows specific issue.

 

[SMAlset]

Same issue here. I got a third party software to format the SD card. Works once or twice and after that dashcam icon stays gray. Gave up after 3 weeks... tired to dealing with it.

Is this a flash drive/SD card that has been in use for a while? Reason I ask is because flash drives will be destroying available cells as they write (not sure proper term) as the flash process is a destructive one. A cell can be written to a few times depending on the manufacturer specs. As the cells become unusable the capacity shrinks until the material can’t be written to any longer. In a small flash drive or card this happens sooner rather than later. TeslaCam continually writes to a one-hour buffer, and over writes it when the hour of recording has been reached. Every time Sentry saves an event, it uses up space too that doesn’t get overwritten.

From what I understand in reading about flash media there are also cheap maybe black marketed? flash drives that do not have the capacity to write to what the label says they do. So possibly people could run into that issue if they suddenly seem to run out of space.

I’m sorry to see people post having trouble setting up and using their TeslaCam/Sentry mode in their car. It’s been pretty reliable in general for me and something that I think adds value. I’m a Mac user and happy to try to answer specific questions if need be @indyshrink . PM me.

 

[Scott Hovercar]

The initial level of the Model 3 security system is Sentry mode, its main feature being the automatic video recording of someone passing in close proximity of the vehicle. The problem I have had for the three month's I since buying my Model 3 is understanding how it works. After dozens of hours of study and research, I finally understand the architecture. Sentry mode does not record, it SAVES. What does it save? The last 10 minutes of DashCam, the same as when you invoke a "SAVE" manually by touching the DashCam icon on the top of the main screen. My problem has been attempting to capture Sentry video while DashCam was OFF. The manual does not specify that DashCam must be active for Sentry video to be saved. Actually, there is no "Sentry" video - it's ALL DashCam video. When Sentry mode is triggered, it waits for one minute while DashCam is presumably capturing the activity around the vehicle, then invokes a DashCam video SAVE. If you were to look for a Sentry mode incident, you would find it in the SAVED folder of DashCam videos labeled as the time and date one minute AFTER the trigger occurred. So, while a Sentry incident can be triggered without DashCam being active, no video will be saved unless DashCam is ON.

 

[lapolonyc]

Is this a flash drive/SD card that has been in use for a while? Reason I ask is because flash drives will be destroying available cells as they write (not sure proper term) as the flash process is a destructive one. A cell can be written to a few times depending on the manufacturer specs. As the cells become unusable the capacity shrinks until the material can’t be written to any longer. In a small flash drive or card this happens sooner rather than later. TeslaCam continually writes to a one-hour buffer, and over writes it when the hour of recording has been reached. Every time Sentry saves an event, it uses up space too that doesn’t get overwritten.

From what I understand in reading about flash media there are also cheap maybe black marketed? flash drives that do not have the capacity to write to what the label says they do. So possibly people could run into that issue if they suddenly seem to run out of space.

I’m sorry to see people post having trouble setting up and using their TeslaCam/Sentry mode in their car. It’s been pretty reliable in general for me and something that I think adds value. I’m a Mac user and happy to try to answer specific questions if need be @indyshrink . PM me.

Yeah, brand new SD card from reputable manufacturer. I do have to say the adapter is not from a well known brand to me. I will try another adapter and report back on the situation.

 

[SMAlset]

The initial level of the Model 3 security system is Sentry mode, its main feature being the automatic video recording of someone passing in close proximity of the vehicle. The problem I have had for the three month's I since buying my Model 3 is understanding how it works. After dozens of hours of study and research, I finally understand the architecture. Sentry mode does not record, it SAVES. What does it save? The last 10 minutes of DashCam, the same as when you invoke a "SAVE" manually by touching the DashCam icon on the top of the main screen. My problem has been attempting to capture Sentry video while DashCam was OFF. The manual does not specify that DashCam must be active for Sentry video to be saved. Actually, there is no "Sentry" video - it's ALL DashCam video. When Sentry mode is triggered, it waits for one minute while DashCam is presumably capturing the activity around the vehicle, then invokes a DashCam video SAVE. If you were to look for a Sentry mode incident, you would find it in the SAVED folder of DashCam videos labeled as the time and date one minute AFTER the trigger occurred. So, while a Sentry incident can be triggered without DashCam being active, no video will be saved unless DashCam is ON.

Yes sounds like you get it. I actually thought the manual does a decent job telling how it works. It’s also been discussed in numerous threads since last year when TeslaCam became available, side repeater cameras were added, and then it was upgraded with Sentry Mode features.

Sentry is a Mode, essentially a security system — alarm, flashing red eye warning screen, flashing headlights, loud music, intended to discourage evil doers. Without the dashcam on, the cameras are not recording. Cars without HW2.5 or later can still deploy Sentry Mode now even though they don’t have TeslaCam ability.

 

[seriousken]

Hey... I was having this exact problem, I think. Drive formatted on a Mac, plugged it in, both dashcam and sentry worked initially. Then I took the drive out to look at videos, and deleted a bunch. Put it back, and then sentry was still working but dashcam said it couldn't read the drive.

So given others seem to have been having an issue when it was formatted with a Mac, I followed a hunch. MacOS will leave a few hidden folders at the root of your drive when you make changes. Specifically, it leaves a folder called ".Trashes" which represents, you guessed it, the trash can. I removed that hidden folder using a terminal window and voila, now it works in the car again. (I also removed *everything* from inside the TeslaCam directory; not sure if that helped or hurt or did nothing.)

Worth a shot.

 

[lapolonyc]

Ok, I got a new adapter and it's working like a charm for the past 2 days. Got this to work with my Pixel. www.amazon.com/Reader-Adapter-Micro-UHS-I-Cards/dp/B07L63Z54G

 

[lapolonyc]

Yeah, brand new SD card from reputable manufacturer. I do have to say the adapter is not from a well known brand to me. I will try another adapter and report back on the situation.

New USB adapter solved the issue.