Dashcam - need to delete files?

[Berridge]

Is it necessary to keep track of the files on the USB drive and delete them when the drive is full?
Does the dashcam software not just overwrite the oldest when the drive becomes full?
I realise this is just beta software, but I wish there were some instructions somewhere that specified things like:
1. You must have a minimum 32Gb drive otherwise the software will trash a 16Gb drive and you have to throw it away.
2. When the drive fills up, the recording just stops, but you get no warning message.

Today my Model S just stopped in the middle of the road and refused to pass a parked car. Then when I pressed the accelerator it slammed on the brakes part way past the car. I though this would be interesting to post, when I discovered the dashcam had filled the drive and was no longer recording.

I love driving this car but it sure has some strange software bugs.

 

[tomot]

Today my Model S just stopped in the middle of the road and refused to pass a parked car. Then when I pressed the accelerator it slammed on the brakes part way past the car.
.

also known to lift leg and pee on hydrant ?

 

[Berridge]

Hi. Can someone help me with this!
What are the rules for use of the USB drive?
Is it really necessary to delete the recordings every so often, or is there some setting that I am missing?

I would be very grateful if someone could help me with this.

TIA.

 

[jdw]

Yes, it is necessary to delete the saved files from time to time. How often will depend upon how many saved clips there are as well as how large the drive is.

For dashcam use "Thumb" drives are not ideal - although cheap, they are slow, unreliable and not meant for the data rate or heat involved in dashcam usage. There are high endurance micro SDXC cards designed for dash cam duty cycles and USB 3 adapters for them. For example:

UGREEN SD Card Reader USB 3.0 Super Speed Card Reader Adapter
Samsung PRO Endurance Micro SDXC Card with Adapter

Size matters ... for reliability, mostly. A larger card will both hold more video and last longer as SD cards have a limited number of write cycles - bigger card, fewer write cycles relative to the size. Using something like the above will also result in better playback speed on your computer.

Speaking of computers, Windows is unable to format FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB, so you will need a third party utility or a Mac to format the larger cards for TeslaCam use.

 

[jdw]

The slamming on the brakes part, assuming you didn't somehow have AP on, was likely the "Obstacle Aware Acceleration" kicking in. It prevents hard acceleration at low speed if it thinks you are going to hit something. There were a number of "unintended acceleration" incidents where Joe Boatfoot managed to drive the Tesla through his garage wall while "braking".

 

[Berridge]

Thank you jdw for your reply. I guess that I assumed that the software worked like most camera recording systems, where the oldest recordings get overwritten by the latest when the drive fills up.
I am going to have to remember once a week to take the USB drive out of the car and delete the files and put it back.
Today was another example of wanting to see something that had been recorded, only to find that the drive had filled up a couple of days ago.
As someone who has spent his life in the software industry I find the Tesla software poorly tested and user unfriendly. I own and maintain quite a bit of equipment like UPSs, Process Coolers and air conditioning systems and I find the same is universally true. The software is written by engineers who have no idea of what makes an easy to use user interface.
I love my Model S, which I have had for nearly two years now, and put up with the frustrations of the software because whenever I have looked at other electric vehicles their software is even worse.

Regarding the slamming on the brakes, what seemed strange was that I was on a clear road with no traffic in either direction and was about three quarters past passing a parked car. There was absolutely no chance of hitting anything even if I had wanted to. The parked car was along side of me. That is why I would have loved to have captured it on the dashcam and posted it for everyone to see.

As a result of so many "false positives" with the Tesla stopping or pausing as it approaches parked cars, I find that unlike my very old Audi which I sold after buying the Tesla, I really can't use cruise control for fear of a following car rear ending me when my Tesla "pauses".

 

[Skipdd]

Thank you jdw for your reply. I guess that I assumed that the software worked like most camera recording systems, where the oldest recordings get overwritten by the latest when the drive fills up.
I am going to have to remember once a week to take the USB drive out of the car and delete the files and put it back.
Today was another example of wanting to see something that had been recorded, only to find that the drive had filled up a couple of days ago.

You can use larger thumb drives. Mine is 128G, a Samsung - don’t remember model, but it was recommended by someone else in a different thread as it handles heat, dust, moisture well. I have to erase (reformat) the drive about every 6 weeks. Still better than not having anything, which is where I was before.

 

[jdw]

I guess that I assumed that the software worked like most camera recording systems, where the oldest recordings get overwritten by the latest when the drive fills up.

To be clear, there are two folders ...One folder contains the last hour of driving and the files in that folder are overwritten like any other dashcam. The other folder, "SavedClips" contains .... saved clips, and that is the one that needs to be emptied from time to time. Clips are saved two ways, firstly automatically from Sentry events and secondly, when you press the TeslaCam button at the top of the MCU, the last 10 minutes are saved to this folder.

So the DashCam part works like any other dashcam, except for saving only the last hour, while Sentry & Saved Clips allows you to save security and selected events for later review.

 

[Berridge]

Ah! Thank you. That explains it. Whenever I park in the street I get dozens of Sentry events from pedestrians walking along the footpath. They are what fill my 32Gb drive.
So I need to take it out and delete the Saved files most times after parking in the street.
Now I understand what has been happening.

 

[Boatguy]

I have Sentry set to be inactive for Work, Home and Favorites. But it keeps recording Sentry events at my Favorites anyway. That in turn keeps filling up the storage.

 

[tomot]

I have Sentry set to be inactive for Work, Home and Favorites. But it keeps recording Sentry events at my Favorites anyway. That in turn keeps filling up the storage.

Yes! I filled up 128gb SSD in no time. Now what we need is quick way to delete all that stuff, without taking out the SSD.

 

[Neppaaja]

I have Sentry set to be inactive for Work, Home and Favorites. But it keeps recording Sentry events at my Favorites anyway. That in turn keeps filling up the storage.

I had the same issue at Home and the reason was that my garage was apparently a bit too far away from the actual street address location. I got around that by saving my garage's gps coordinates as my Home location.

 

[Neppaaja]

Yes! I filled up 128gb SSD in no time. Now what we need is quick way to delete all that stuff, without taking out the SSD.

Maybe not guite that guick & simple method but I've deleted files from dashcam memory stick using Android mobile phone (Huawei P20 Pro). I connect the stick to the phone with USB-C / USB-A female cable and use the stock Files app.

 

[tomot]

I connect the stick to the phone with USB-C / USB-A female cable and use the stock Files app.

Yes that's what I do as well. Would be better if a delete function were integrated into the USB on screen menu