-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Free app for viewing TeslaCam and Sentry videos on your Android device
- Thread starter snailboat
- Start date
-
- Tags
- android sentry mode teslacam
@snailboat Would it be possible for the app to access videos from a network drive? I am working on a smart USB drive project that will allow me to upload videos to a share drive when it is connected to my home network and create a wireless network when I am on the road.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Whoster69
Member
Does it support USB sticks with wifi, so you don't have to unplug them from the car?
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Connect-Wireless-Stick/dp/B00ZCFYF2W?th=1
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Connect-Wireless-Stick/dp/B00ZCFYF2W?th=1
buddhra
Member
Check the details on that stick. You DO have to unplug it from the car to connect to it with WiFi.
It's arguably the best option for Apple right now since it works with the only decent TeslaCam app for iOS, but it doesn't use high endurance memory and it won't last long as a dashcam. It may fail you when you need it most.
iOS 13 is coming with better support for external drives, so I recommend you wait for now. For Android, here's what I'm using with great success.
Whoster69
Member
I remember reading that there is a WiFi usb stick that you don't have to remove, but you do have to flip a switch to turn on WiFi. So you will still have to open the center console to reach for it.
Whoster69
Member
DCEV
Member
Love the software! Thanks so much for making it. I paid for the unlocked version immediately.
I'm having a very strange problem using it with my Galaxy Note 8 though. When I initially plug in the TeslaCam USB drive, everything works great but after a few minutes of accessing the videos it just stops using the drive. This is the adapter I bought to connect the US drive to my phone:
https://amzn.to/2RsRHx3
Is this the right type of adapter to use?
I've enclosed a couple of screenshots showing the problem. After a short time accessing the files, the Android App becomes unable to use the USB drive with the "Could not find a TeslaCam folder on the attached drive." error message.
However, the drive is still connected as you can see on the subsequent screenshot.
And this is a quality Samsung 128GB USB drive that is just a couple of months old. When I try to access the videos using ES File Explorer Pro, I have no issues accessing the videos.
I do find it a bit strange to see the Android message "Charging connected device via USB" but I see this when I connect other drives as well, and there is no issue with data access.
I'm having a very strange problem using it with my Galaxy Note 8 though. When I initially plug in the TeslaCam USB drive, everything works great but after a few minutes of accessing the videos it just stops using the drive. This is the adapter I bought to connect the US drive to my phone:
https://amzn.to/2RsRHx3
Is this the right type of adapter to use?
I've enclosed a couple of screenshots showing the problem. After a short time accessing the files, the Android App becomes unable to use the USB drive with the "Could not find a TeslaCam folder on the attached drive." error message.
However, the drive is still connected as you can see on the subsequent screenshot.
And this is a quality Samsung 128GB USB drive that is just a couple of months old. When I try to access the videos using ES File Explorer Pro, I have no issues accessing the videos.
I do find it a bit strange to see the Android message "Charging connected device via USB" but I see this when I connect other drives as well, and there is no issue with data access.
Attachments
Yeah, that adapter should work. Definitely a weird issue that I haven't had reported to me before. Seeing that "charging" message is strange, but my Pixel 3a says the same thing if I actually go to the USB settings while my adapter is plugged in - it just doesn't show it as a notification.
I am exploring an alternative way of accessing the files on the drive (probably the same way that the file explorer accesses them) so I may have a fix coming soon as long as that coding goes smoothly.
I am exploring an alternative way of accessing the files on the drive (probably the same way that the file explorer accesses them) so I may have a fix coming soon as long as that coding goes smoothly.
DCEV
Member
Thanks for the quick response. I will email you a few additional screenshots and some more information separately. There definitely seems to be an issue with accessing the files on the USB drive by your application when other Android applications can see the USB drive without issue. Once it did not detect the USB drive at all and the only way I was able to get it to work was to first open your Android app and then insert the US drive and trying to access it.
If it makes a difference, my Note 8 already has a 250Gb SD Card that I use for my music library so the USB drive plugged in is in addition to that. I wonder if your app only reads the first external drive it finds and looks for the TeslaCam partition on that drive?
The "charging" machine seems to be innocuous and just how Android works, as even what that message is being displayed, ES File Explorer Pro had no issues with reading the video.
Another strange issue I have is when I long press a video that the app is playing, it shows the error message that the file was not found so the application seems to have issues accessing the USB drives' data-stream.
You've created a great app though and I'm very appreciative of your time in developing this. I've looked at several solutions and yours is really the best and the cleanest. Just need to get the data access to be reliable...
I bought a USB-A to USB C adaptor to be able to pull my usb stick out of the tesla and plug it into my pixel 3 so I can view with TeslaCam/Sentry reviewer. It sounded perfect and is a great idea which I don't mind paying for. But when I insert the usb stick into my phone (with the adaptor) and didn't recognize it and wanted me to reformat. The stick was originally formatted on a mac, but I was able to view recordings on my mac. Do I need to format the usb stick with a windows machine? Maybe this is a limitation of android and/or pixel 3?
The Pixel 3 came with a free OTG adapter so you really don't have to buy another one. But the one you bought should work too. You formatted it FAT32 right and it was working on the car?
Yes- it is working in the car. I just realized though that there are 6 pages in this thread and I only read the 1st page before posting. It sounds like I should try formatting the card from the phone and create the TeslaCam folder and try again.
True- I should have just used the supplied OTG adapter. Didn't even think about that
Last edited:
Has anyone successfully used this on a Galaxy S10? When I plug in the card using the otg adaptor, I see the USB charging notification, but the app does not see the card. The My Files app does not see it either. I feel like I am missing a setting in the OS to enable external drives or something.
Also, add me to the list that purchased OTG cables after totally forgetting the adaptor came with the phone.
Thanks for the help!
Also, add me to the list that purchased OTG cables after totally forgetting the adaptor came with the phone.
Thanks for the help!
I had one S10 user report that he couldn't get the "Select USB Drive" method to work, but when he used the "Select Folder" button he was able to find the TeslaCam folder and work from there. Have you tried both methods?
Also, don't want to give you the old tech-support runaround, but have you tried using your other adapter or other USB drives?
One more tactic to try as a last-ditch effort would be to install a 3rd party file manager and see if it can access the drive. If so, it might have functionality to expose the files on the OTG storage to other apps (ie the Teslacam app).
If none of that works, there is still hope since I am working on a different method for reading the USB storage that will be more direct with less reliance on the system's high-level storage access framework. Should be faster and should (hopefully) get around the device-specific OTG issues like this, but it might not be released for a week or two (or it might turn out to be too unreliable and get canned).
Also, don't want to give you the old tech-support runaround, but have you tried using your other adapter or other USB drives?
One more tactic to try as a last-ditch effort would be to install a 3rd party file manager and see if it can access the drive. If so, it might have functionality to expose the files on the OTG storage to other apps (ie the Teslacam app).
If none of that works, there is still hope since I am working on a different method for reading the USB storage that will be more direct with less reliance on the system's high-level storage access framework. Should be faster and should (hopefully) get around the device-specific OTG issues like this, but it might not be released for a week or two (or it might turn out to be too unreliable and get canned).
Similar threads
- Sticky
- Article
