How do you record and view sentry mode events?

[joyner.cn]

My mother's Model 3 has reported 30-40 sentry mode events every morning. She asked our local service center how to access those recordings. The representative told her to buy and return with a $60 64GB wireless USB drive, and now has cancelled four straight appointments to tell her what to actually do with it. (That's a separate annoyance. I have no idea why a wireless USB would be necessary.)

I've Googled a bit, but it's hard to disentangle the threads about enabling Sentry Mode from the threads about actually recording/accessing the videos.

I've inserted a FAT32-formatted USB drive into the USB slot, and from some of the threads I read it sounded like that would automatically put the videos on the device. So far though, nothing has appeared.

What else do we need to do to save and view videos taken by Sentry Mode?

 

[RayCanuck]

How are you trying to view the video?

1st press the camera icon so red light goes out to safely remove drive
2nd Insert the drive in you computer to view

 

[jjrandorin]

My mother's Model 3 has reported 30-40 sentry mode events every morning. She asked our local service center how to access those recordings. The representative told her to buy and return with a $60 64GB wireless USB drive, and now has cancelled four straight appointments to tell her what to actually do with it. (That's a separate annoyance. I have no idea why a wireless USB would be necessary.)

I've Googled a bit, but it's hard to disentangle the threads about enabling Sentry Mode from the threads about actually recording/accessing the videos.

I've inserted a FAT32-formatted USB drive into the USB slot, and from some of the threads I read it sounded like that would automatically put the videos on the device. So far though, nothing has appeared.

What else do we need to do to save and view videos taken by Sentry Mode?

1. Wireless is not necessary (and adds complexity, especially for a non technical user.
2. You format the USB drive FAT32 (must be formatted fat32, not exfat, or NTFS or any mac format), then put a folder at the ROOT of the drive called TeslaCam.

here is a guide I just googled on the internet that might help you.

How To Set Up The Dashcam In A Tesla Running Firmware v9.0 | CleanTechnica

For viewing them you can take out the usb drive and put it in a computer and play through any application that plays video on your computer. There is also a forum member who has made an excellent application that allows you to view these videos in a way that makes more sense, but this is NOT provided by tesla.

Tesla Sentry Cam Software, Sentry Keeper, Tesla Sentry, Sentry Monitor

 

[joyner.cn]

Thanks! I was formatted to FAT, and I hadn't added that folder, so I tried it.

It didn't quite work though... Although at least now eating knowledge is that the drive is inserted. It gives me a warning message that the drive is improperly formatted, although it's freshly formatted to FAT32. It's only a 1 GB drive, though, which might just be too small? Although I wouldn't think that would prevent it from working altogether.

(It's frustrating that the message saying the drive isn't correctly formatted directs us to make a service appointment, which is exactly what she's done four times only to have them all cancelled.)

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks! I was formatted to FAT, and I hadn't added that folder, so I tried it.

It didn't quite work though... Although at least now eating knowledge is that the drive is inserted. It gives me a warning message that the drive is improperly formatted, although it's freshly formatted to FAT32. It's only a 1 GB drive, though, which might just be too small? Although I wouldn't think that would prevent it from working altogether.

(It's frustrating that the message saying the drive isn't correctly formatted directs us to make a service appointment, which is exactly what she's done four times only to have them all cancelled.)

Thats waaay too small... the minimum size I would recommend would be 32gb, but even that would make it work but would have to be taken out and files deleted every couple of weeks.

The other issue is that many USB drives are too slow, or cant handle the constant writing that the car does, or will not handle the heat in the car.

I virtually guarantee that ANY "1 GB" drive you have will not meet the transfer speeds, or heat, or constant writing. You cant even buy a 1gb drive any longer that I am aware of, at least not from any decent flash memory supplier, so I suppose you are trying to use something you had laying around.

You could at least try this drive. its only $15 and it works ( I have one).

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MUF-...id=1570996776&sprefix=samsung+fit+usb,aps,184

 

[joyner.cn]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be practical for actual use, I just wanted to see if I had it working. It was an old one that was just lying around.

I ordered a similar one from Amazon to try out. Thanks!

 

[hugh_jassol]

I've Googled a bit, but it's hard to disentangle the threads about enabling Sentry Mode from the threads about actually recording/accessing the videos.

P. 63 of the owner's manual. Can be found by google or pulling it up on the car's screen

That tells you how/what/when to use the flash drive

 

[joyner.cn]

Well, I appreciate you editing your post to be less rude than your original one.

I have to admit, I didn't read the manual. I entered this process once my mother had already talked to their service center, recommended a drive, and asked her to come in to the service center to set it up. I assumed that if it was something as simple as "That's covered in the manual", they would have told her that as well. Tesla's design is usually intuitive enough that the manual isn't necessary (as well it shouldn't be).

(I also would have expected that a pointer to the instructions would have been included in the release notes for the update that added Sentry Mode, which I did check.)