Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

My car is constantly charging, is this normal?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
upload_2021-2-1_12-24-30.png


Added up all the charging sessions from today and it adds up to about 3.29 kWh. I do have sentry mode on, and have the smart summon enabled I believe, at the moment and it is about 44 degrees outside/inside the car as well since it hasn't been driven. Is this normal for the car to constantly be recharging small amounts due to sentry mode?


Edit to add: I'm not worried about the cost necessarily, this only works out to like $0.50 but just curious if it is normal for the car to continuously recharge. It seems the car doesn't use power from the source to maintain sentry mode but instead uses battery power and then recharges on an hourly basis
 
In addition to the things @jcanoe mentioned, you likely need to look at your teslafi sleep settings, because as mentioned your car is not going to sleep, and over time its the same thing as running sentry mode constantly.

you ask "is that bad?"... thats up to you to decide, but in effect, your car will likely use between 15-30 miles a day of range / battery cycling "just sitting there" vs you allowing it to go to sleep. So, so, 105 to 210 ish "miles of range" being used for absolutely nothing because the car is not going to sleep.

Up to you to decide if 1 extra cycle a week of battery usage (for nothing) is "bad" but most would say "yes".
 
This has been informative. I will try switching sentry off at home and see in the morning if the car looks like it is charging as often.

Sentry mode absolutely keeps the car awake constantly, so should really only be used when needed. Its not just "lost range", but its extra battery usage. Its not a big deal when out at the store for a few hours or something (for example), but 800 miles a month usage (200 a week) of not driving is the equivalent of almost 10,000 miles a year... just sitting there... if your car never sleeps.

So if you drive 10k a year (most people drive somewhere between 10k and 12k a year mileage) you are, in effect, doubling your yearly miles (on the battery).

Sentry mode was never designed by tesla to be used 24 / 7, it was a bolt on due to break in's in San Francisco. They just enabled the car to keep running its cameras, and it needs to be awake to do that.

Note, I am not saying "dont use sentry mode"... thats up to everyone to decide, but I would definitely recommend only using it when you "need" it, and not "because its there.
 
Has anyone checked about how much drain there is or how much the car stays awake if summon is on in the settings (but not sentry mode)?

I assumed the car would stay in sleep mode unless I pulled up the Tesla app and woke the car up to summon it (which I have yet to actually use, but leave on in the background sometimes if rain is forecast and I want to finally risk trying it). But if there’s as much drain for summon on in the background as I’ve seen for sentry mode over a 24 hour period when I leave my car parked at work, it’s not worth leaving on in the background either.
 
Has anyone checked about how much drain there is or how much the car stays awake if summon is on in the settings (but not sentry mode)?

I assumed the car would stay in sleep mode unless I pulled up the Tesla app and woke the car up to summon it (which I have yet to actually use, but leave on in the background sometimes if rain is forecast and I want to finally risk trying it). But if there’s as much drain for summon on in the background as I’ve seen for sentry mode over a 24 hour period when I leave my car parked at work, it’s not worth leaving on in the background either.

On model 3s, if I remember correctly, it was like 1/2 a mile an hour or so? Thats from memory... but it was enough to make me turn off summon standby (which is what I think you are talking about). I dont use summon though, even though I have the full FSD package.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: bryanbruin
Kinda strange, I thought Sentry, climate, etc pulled from wall power rather than battery if the car is hooked up to trickle power. This appears to be the case with climate, as I can leave it on for hours with no battery discharge/charge according to TeslaFi... dunno why it would differ with Sentry
 
I just upload a new movie on my channel measuring SENTRY MODE consupmption but also share some interesting findings. On my 2021 M3, the car is also warming up battery while awake. This is somethign I definitelly did not know and I think is interesting to share:

Check this video:
 
  • Informative
Reactions: angus[Y]oung
I just noticed mine doing this. Sentry mode is on but only when I'm away from home. So in my case Sentry shouldn't be keeping the car awake. It's like 45F outside and the car is parked in a garage. Cabin temp is 65 F. When I look in the app sentry is off.

Anything else I can check? It just started doing this last night.
 
I just noticed mine doing this. Sentry mode is on but only when I'm away from home. So in my case Sentry shouldn't be keeping the car awake. It's like 45F outside and the car is parked in a garage. Cabin temp is 65 F. When I look in the app sentry is off.

Anything else I can check? It just started doing this last night.
Is the Tesla plugged in? It could be due to cell balancing. I would let the vehjcle complete whatever routine is running. As stated every time you open the Tesla app that will wake up the car. From the Tesla screen in the vehicle, go to the Charging screen. If plugged in what does the display show? I.e., 2A and 240V, not charging but also not asleep.