Is Sentry mode supposed to record every 2 minutes or only when triggered?

[sceptic]

Just got car, went shopping turned on sentry mode, video recorded every 2 minutes with no apparent trigger (once a car drove by behind my car, one it seems appropriately recorded me coming up to car to look in window) this happened over a 15 minute expanse. Most of the time the only thing moving was some shrub leaves in front of car - no one parked near me, no one approached car (except me), etc. The notice said 1 event, but there were lots of videos (every 2 minutes).

Also I noticed that I had turned on sentry for a short while car in garage - there were multiple recordings there with no movement of any kind.

I thought sm took videos when triggered by something, not routinely every 2 minutes - am I missing something?
(also there is a gray area in upper corner of one camera which looks like something on the lens - I'll ask when service comes for my key issue)

 

[Onyx M3]

Just got car, went shopping turned on sentry mode, video recorded every 2 minutes with no apparent trigger (once a car drove by behind my car, one it seems appropriately recorded me coming up to car to look in window) this happened over a 15 minute expanse. Most of the time the only thing moving was some shrub leaves in front of car - no one parked near me, no one approached car (except me), etc. The notice said 1 event, but there were lots of videos (every 2 minutes).

Also I noticed that I had turned on sentry for a short while car in garage - there were multiple recordings there with no movement of any kind.

I thought sm took videos when triggered by something, not routinely every 2 minutes - am I missing something?
(also there is a gray area in upper corner of one camera which looks like something on the lens - I'll ask when service comes for my key issue)

Quick answer = Every 2 minutes.
Source = CA Rocklin service center.

Details

I was informed sentry mode records every 2 minutes; however, it will not save the clips if there is nothing of note detected. The clips that are not saved are overridden, and when something of note occurs the recording is saved. Saved recordings can not be overridden

I have an issue where my Mid Range M3 records AND SAVES every event near my M3.

So I'll have 500+ "saved" events of nothing. That's not even half the night of my 12 hour overnight shift. (Car parked in a county garage no one is supposed to have access too)

I was told to turn off senrty when working however this does not work for me since my previous car was broken into in the county garage over night previously.

I Hope you don't experience this issue.and sorry for all the detail you didn't ask for.

 

[Knightshade]

Not sure why Rocklin told you that, it's not how it's supposed to work.

Sentry when on runs a buffer all the time (like the dashcam does) that overwrites itself over time.

When an alert triggers, Sentry saves the entire last 10 minutes of footage to the saved folder.

That'd be impossible if it was only turning on every few minutes to record.

Model 3 automatically enters the Standby state when you enable Sentry Mode.

In the Standby state, the vehicle’s cameras are constantly monitoring its surroundings.

If the vehicle detects a threat, such as someone leaning on Model 3, Sentry Mode switches to the Alert state. In the Alert state, the touchscreen displays a message indicating that the cameras are recording the event.

For major threats, such as someone breaking a window, Sentry Mode triggers the Alarm state. Note: When in the Alert state, Sentry Mode saves the last ten minutes of video footage prior to the event that triggered the Alert state, provided that a properly configured USB drive is inserted into one of the USB ports

 

[Braindrainer]

How does one view events? Does it require a taking the stick out? Now way to view it in the car?

 

[Knightshade]

How does one view events? Does it require a taking the stick out? Now way to view it in the car?

Car has no way to view em- so you need to pull the stick (or have some other way of transferring the data like some folks use a wireless raspi to upload it and view elsewhere)

 

[sceptic]

Amazing thanks Onyx for the detail, but
1) How do you "save" events (other than on a laptop) to prevent over riding. I had 1 alert, but it didn't show on my phone and when I got back to car no indication of when this happened.
2) I've experienced 1 minute of recording every 2 minutes with no alerts

It would really be nice if Tesla put out some notice of how these things work or are supposed to work

 

[DJVoorhees]

I had a 16GB USB in for TeslaCam, it filled up in 3 days with Sentry on, excluding home and work. And I dont drive the car a heck of a lot.

 

[whatthe2]

Amazing thanks Onyx for the detail, but
1) How do you "save" events (other than on a laptop) to prevent over riding. I had 1 alert, but it didn't show on my phone and when I got back to car no indication of when this happened.
2) I've experienced 1 minute of recording every 2 minutes with no alerts

It would really be nice if Tesla put out some notice of how these things work or are supposed to work

Saved events (Sentry or click icon for dashcam) will be saved until you delete them. Once it’s full it will no longer record.

What SW version are you on? I was having issues of it recording continuously (every minute) a couple builds ago. I had over 1800 events after leaving the car at the airport. Many of them were single minute recordings with no event.

 

[sceptic]

Saved events (Sentry or click icon for dashcam) will be saved until you delete them. Once it’s full it will no longer record.

What SW version are you on? I was having issues of it recording continuously (every minute) a couple builds ago. I had over 1800 events after leaving the car at the airport. Many of them were single minute recordings with no event.

Thanks I'm on 2019.15.103
So it's saved by hitting the camera - but does it save everything (like cam apparently has 30 (3 for each minute) saved clips for a 10 minute save) and I have to look through all the clips to try to find the alert (since I didn't get it reported on my phone I don't know what time the alert happened).

 

[whatthe2]

Thanks I'm on 2019.15.103
So it's saved by hitting the camera - but does it save everything (like cam apparently has 30 (3 for each minute) saved clips for a 10 minute save) and I have to look through all the clips to try to find the alert (since I didn't get it reported on my phone I don't know what time the alert happened).

See if you can get them to push you an update. Go into Schedule Service and request Software Update.

Dashcam is saved by hitting the icon. Sentry automatically saves event so nothing to do. If you have 10 min worth of clips (for Sentry) go to the last full minute of recording in that folder. Typically that is the trigger.

You won’t get an alert on your phone unless the car alarm goes off.

 

[TMThree]

I'm pretty sure it keeps a rolling buffer of one hour on disk and overwrites as time continues. If an event occurs, it saves the last 10 minutes leading up to the event in a new folder.

 

[whatthe2]

I'm pretty sure it keeps a rolling buffer of one hour on disk and overwrites as time continues. If an event occurs, it saves the last 10 minutes leading up to the event in a new folder.

Yes, it’s always recording, and Sentry will (should only) save the event and the prior 10 minutes. But as the OP experienced, as well as myself, sometimes it records numerous one or two minute clips that have no events. It seems to be fixed for me in the latest version.

 

[sceptic]

See if you can get them to push you an update. Go into Schedule Service and request Software Update.

Dashcam is saved by hitting the icon. Sentry automatically saves event so nothing to do. If you have 10 min worth of clips (for Sentry) go to the last full minute of recording in that folder. Typically that is the trigger.

You won’t get an alert on your phone unless the car alarm goes off.

Thanks so much. I can't do the schedule service thing now b/c I have an existing date and you can't add an issue (I tried) you can only cancel the apt. - and then I presume put both issues in but get a later apt.

I'm pretty sure it keeps a rolling buffer of one hour on disk and overwrites as time continues. If an event occurs, it saves the last 10 minutes leading up to the event in a new folder.

So if an event occurs it will automatically save it - any idea what the new folder is called? Right now I have 2 folders "recent clips" and "saved clips" ( I presume created when I saved something from the cameras to see how it worked) Would the event trigger a new folder or just add to the saved clips already there?)

 

[whatthe2]

Thanks so much. I can't do the schedule service thing now b/c I have an existing date and you can't add an issue (I tried) you can only cancel the apt. - and then I presume put both issues in but get a later apt.



So if an event occurs it will automatically save it - any idea what the new folder is called? Right now I have 2 folders "recent clips" and "saved clips" ( I presume created when I saved something from the cameras to see how it worked) Would the event trigger a new folder or just add to the saved clips already there?)

When you save, or a Sentry event automatically saves, it will show a new folder under Saved Clips. The folder name will then be the date and time in UTC that it was created. The file names in that folder should be the real date/time in your time zone.

Recent Clips is just the most recent dashcam clips that Tesla automaticallu saves, and over rights (unless you click the icon, which will then copy them to Saved).

 

[GarZ.MYP]

what I don't like is if something happens that you want to record and you click to download the last 10 minutes, there will be about 1 second missing between each 1 minute clip.

a car next to me rear ended someone, unfortunately the impact was lost in between clips.

 

[Fresnel]

Do yourself a favor and get an app so you can view the videos easier on a device. Apps will show all for cameras on the screen at once. So its easier to view and delete.

 

[GarZ.MYP]

Do yourself a favor and get an app so you can view the videos easier on a device. Apps will show all for cameras on the screen at once. So its easier to view and delete.

Im using TeslaCam/Sentry Reviewer and purchased the premium upgrade on a Note 10 Plus. I was told that the missing video between clips is something Tesla needs to fix. the App works great. unfortunately the impact happened between clips.

 

[Fresnel]

Im using TeslaCam/Sentry Reviewer and purchased the premium upgrade on a Note 10 Plus. I was told that the missing video between clips is something Tesla needs to fix. the App works great. unfortunately the impact happened between clips.

Oh sorry, I wasn't saying that to you but to the OP

yeah that missing time in the middle really needs to be fixed

 

[St☰v☰]

...unfortunately the impact happened between clips.

Ok that situation begs the question, what would you be if you were joined to another object, by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis?

 

[Kevy Baby]

what I don't like is if something happens that you want to record and you click to download the last 10 minutes, there will be about 1 second missing between each 1 minute clip.

a car next to me rear ended someone, unfortunately the impact was lost in between clips.

But couldn't you capture the necessary info (license plate #, prove direction of travel and rate, etc.) with what IS available?