Sentry Mode battery usage 7% per day

[kishkaru]

My Sentry Mode uses roughly 7% per day of battery, does this seem right?

I live in an apartment complex, so no home charging, but I want to keep my Sentry Mode always on in case anyone does anything funny near my vehicle. I go to the supercharger once I hit around 20% (since that's when Sentry turns off), and charge up to 90%. I noticed that I need to go to the supercharger roughly once a week. I work from home, so roughly 90%+ of my battery usage is the car just sitting around doing nothing. Yesterday I finished charging to 90% around 2pm, and this morning around 10am, I checked and it was down to 83%. So that's 7% loss in capacity in less than 24 hours!

This means that in 7 days, I'll use 7% * 7 days = ~50% of the battery sitting in just Sentry Mode! I always charge from 20%->90% (70%), so that leaves me just 20% for actual driving for the week. Indeed, I reset one of my trip meters after a 90% charge (in addition to using the "since last charge" meter), and they both usually reports roughly ~20kWh of actual usage in driving in a week (which is ~26% SoC, assuming 75 kWh total usable battery size).

Cabin overheat protection is off, and I'm not connected to any 3rd party data collection apps. I don't have Phone Key set up (I use the Key Fob), and I never check on my car via Tesla app (and I can't anyway, since the vehicle is parked underground and there's no cellphone reception).

If Sentry Mode does indeed use 7% per day, that's 7% * 75 kWh = 5.25 kWh/day * 365 days = 2.555 MWh of energy per year! 2.555 MWh * $0.36/kWh (supercharger rate in CA) = $920/year just to keep Sentry Mode on. That's a huge waste of money, energy, and lots of unnecessary carbon emissions. I think most people might: a) not know about the extremely high energy usage of Sentry Mode, or b) not care since you're always plugged in at home, or c) have excluded Sentry Mode from operating at home. Thoughts/comments?

 

[HelixSpiral]

Sound right. 5.25 kWh / 24 hours = 219W. Everything I've seen says the car draws 200-300W while idling with sentry mode on.

 

[smogne41]

Yep, this is about what I have observed. Roughly a mile per hour of range lost with sentry on. I keep it on when going in somewhere for an hour or so, but if I need to leave the car street parked for the weekend I usually can't.

 

[hcdavis3]

My Sentry Mode uses roughly 7% per day of battery, does this seem right?

I live in an apartment complex, so no home charging, but I want to keep my Sentry Mode always on in case anyone does anything funny near my vehicle. I go to the supercharger once I hit around 20% (since that's when Sentry turns off), and charge up to 90%. I noticed that I need to go to the supercharger roughly once a week. I work from home, so roughly 90%+ of my battery usage is the car just sitting around doing nothing. Yesterday I finished charging to 90% around 2pm, and this morning around 10am, I checked and it was down to 83%. So that's 7% loss in capacity in less than 24 hours!

This means that in 7 days, I'll use 7% * 7 days = ~50% of the battery sitting in just Sentry Mode! I always charge from 20%->90% (70%), so that leaves me just 20% for actual driving for the week. Indeed, I reset one of my trip meters after a 90% charge (in addition to using the "since last charge" meter), and they both usually reports roughly ~20kWh of actual usage in driving in a week (which is ~26% SoC, assuming 75 kWh total usable battery size).

Cabin overheat protection is off, and I'm not connected to any 3rd party data collection apps. I don't have Phone Key set up (I use the Key Fob), and I never check on my car via Tesla app (and I can't anyway, since the vehicle is parked underground and there's no cellphone reception).

If Sentry Mode does indeed use 7% per day, that's 7% * 75 kWh = 5.25 kWh/day * 365 days = 2.555 MWh of energy per year! 2.555 MWh * $0.36/kWh (supercharger rate in CA) = $920/year just to keep Sentry Mode on. That's a huge waste of money, energy, and lots of unnecessary carbon emissions. I think most people might: a) not know about the extremely high energy usage of Sentry Mode, or b) not care since you're always plugged in at home, or c) have excluded Sentry Mode from operating at home. Thoughts/comments?

Indeed that’s about right. Question..do you need it to be on? I bought stickers from Abstract Ocean that sat your being recorded, but I rarely turn on Sentry mode. mig be worth a try.

Sentry Window Decal (pair)

Your Tesla has the worlds best security system, by far! Remind people of this if they get a little too close with our Sentry Mode stickers.

abstractocean.com

 

[hcdavis3]

My Sentry Mode uses roughly 7% per day of battery, does this seem right?

I live in an apartment complex, so no home charging, but I want to keep my Sentry Mode always on in case anyone does anything funny near my vehicle. I go to the supercharger once I hit around 20% (since that's when Sentry turns off), and charge up to 90%. I noticed that I need to go to the supercharger roughly once a week. I work from home, so roughly 90%+ of my battery usage is the car just sitting around doing nothing. Yesterday I finished charging to 90% around 2pm, and this morning around 10am, I checked and it was down to 83%. So that's 7% loss in capacity in less than 24 hours!

This means that in 7 days, I'll use 7% * 7 days = ~50% of the battery sitting in just Sentry Mode! I always charge from 20%->90% (70%), so that leaves me just 20% for actual driving for the week. Indeed, I reset one of my trip meters after a 90% charge (in addition to using the "since last charge" meter), and they both usually reports roughly ~20kWh of actual usage in driving in a week (which is ~26% SoC, assuming 75 kWh total usable battery size).

Cabin overheat protection is off, and I'm not connected to any 3rd party data collection apps. I don't have Phone Key set up (I use the Key Fob), and I never check on my car via Tesla app (and I can't anyway, since the vehicle is parked underground and there's no cellphone reception).

If Sentry Mode does indeed use 7% per day, that's 7% * 75 kWh = 5.25 kWh/day * 365 days = 2.555 MWh of energy per year! 2.555 MWh * $0.36/kWh (supercharger rate in CA) = $920/year just to keep Sentry Mode on. That's a huge waste of money, energy, and lots of unnecessary carbon emissions. I think most people might: a) not know about the extremely high energy usage of Sentry Mode, or b) not care since you're always plugged in at home, or c) have excluded Sentry Mode from operating at home. Thoughts/comments?

Indeed that’s about right. Question..do you need it to be on? I bought stickers from Abstract Ocean that say your being recorded, but I rarely turn on Sentry mode. might be worth a try.

Sentry Window Decal (pair)

Your Tesla has the worlds best security system, by far! Remind people of this if they get a little too close with our Sentry Mode stickers.

abstractocean.com

 

[kishkaru]

Yes, I need to always leave Sentry Mode turned on. As mentioned in my initial post, I don't trust anyone in my apartment complex. I live downtown, so there's always suspicious characters walking around. Cars get broken into and packages are stolen (from inside mailboxes!). They even break into our parking garage, and usually luxury cars (especially Teslas) are targeted, as they're known to keep high-value items in the cars.

Some of these thieves are organized crime, and are well aware of Teslas and Sentry Mode; they just don't care. Stickers won't stop them.

 

[hcdavis3]

Yes, I need to always leave Sentry Mode turned on. As mentioned in my initial post, I don't trust anyone in my apartment complex. I live downtown, so there's always suspicious characters walking around. Cars get broken into and packages are stolen (from inside mailboxes!). They even break into our parking garage, and usually luxury cars (especially Teslas) are targeted, as they're known to keep high-value items in the cars. Some of these thieves are organized crime, and are well aware of Teslas and Sentry Mode; they just don't care.

Sorry for your neighbors. I’m very lucky. All of my neighbors are awesome. Try the suggested stickers. If they serve as a deterrent great. If not I totally agree, keep sentry mode on. Unfortunately you may have to take a hit on your battery. Like they say, you can’t choose your neighbors. Good luck.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Yes, I need to always leave Sentry Mode turned on. As mentioned in my initial post, I don't trust anyone in my apartment complex. I live downtown, so there's always suspicious characters walking around. Cars get broken into and packages are stolen (from inside mailboxes!). They even break into our parking garage, and usually luxury cars (especially Teslas) are targeted, as they're known to keep high-value items in the cars.

Some of these thieves are organized crime, and are well aware of Teslas and Sentry Mode; they just don't care. Stickers won't stop them.

I would say invest in an aftermarket front and rear dash cam. You'll get far better resolution and you won't have to keep your entire car powered up just to record the off event that happens.

 

[dmicah]

Yes, I need to always leave Sentry Mode turned on. As mentioned in my initial post, I don't trust anyone in my apartment complex. I live downtown, so there's always suspicious characters walking around. Cars get broken into and packages are stolen (from inside mailboxes!). They even break into our parking garage, and usually luxury cars (especially Teslas) are targeted, as they're known to keep high-value items in the cars.

Some of these thieves are organized crime, and are well aware of Teslas and Sentry Mode; they just don't care. Stickers won't stop them.

I guess the question then becomes "what security goals can you accomplish for $920 or less that remove the need for sentry mode?" Like: is there more secure parking available at that price nearby? Probably not in the Bay. Not sure what else you can do.

 

[kishkaru]

Yeah, that's the conundrum. An aftermarket dashcam solution could potentially work, but it comes with its own hassles:

1) Need at least 4 cams: 2 front/rear, 1 for each side. Thieves generally break-in via side windows. I have a 2021, so they can't break the front 2 windows (laminated), so need coverage of the rear window area as well. But the side cameras also need to look outwards to catch anyone keying the car. The side cams also need to be mounted correctly so it doesnt interfere with side windows operation, perhaps clip into the headliner?
2) Need to figure out a way to hardwire the 4 cams properly. Teslas don't have a traditional fusebox.
3) The cams need smart software. Each cam (or the system) would need bluetooth and an app that automatically connects with my phone when I get in, and notifies me of any recent suspicious activity. I don't want to have to poll each camera individually and look through the footage every time I get in. I especially don't want to constantly remove the SD cards and manually inspect the footage on a PC. (I don't do a 360 walk of the vehicle each time I get in, so if there's keying or dings on the passenger side, I won't notice it until the next carwash. Maybe this is something I need to start doing regardless of Sentry Mode.)

Phew! Now that $14/week Sentry Mode investment is sounding mighty good right now.

 

[GtiMart]

Sentry will be no good if they steal the car though. Also, if they know just a bit about Teslas, they could remove the USB stick while they steal something in your car and you will have no recording of what happened. It's not a perfect system.

 

[kishkaru]

The USB stick cannot be removed unless they somehow disassemble the glovebox, which will take more time than a simple thief will have the time for.
Not to mention that as of a few updates ago, the most recent Sentry alert is saved to the onboard computer's memory, and there's no way of wiping that easily.

Of course, if the said thief steals the entire car, that's a whole another story. If they're informed enough to hack & steal a Tesla (new FOBs are encrypted bluetooh, not simple RF), then they'll most likely know how to remove the glovebox & wipe the onboard memory. Not to mention pulling the LTE chip so the car can't be tracked.

 

[GtiMart]

2018-2020 are not so lucky, the usb is very accessible. Also, I'm sure the glovebox can be opened quickly (and broken) when you're motivated. Now I thought that only a critical event was stored internally but I might be wrong on that one...

 

[qdeathstar]

Pro tip: blinders on the tesla

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

2018-2020 are not so lucky, the usb is very accessible. Also, I'm sure the glovebox can be opened quickly (and broken) when you're motivated. Now I thought that only a critical event was stored internally but I might be wrong on that one...

That's the reason the last sentry event is now stored to internal storage.

 

[TMYB-C1]

I live in a major city and park in covered garage with charging, but am not plugged in all the time. TeslaFi shows a ~6% battery loss daily with Sentry Mode always on and the car not moved, this is a MY LR AWD delivered on 03/26/2021.

Running Sentry Mode 24/7 makes sense to me as a city dweller in "private" shared space, but I would love to understand how it may take a hit on battery performance and overall maintenance costs over time.

Thing is don't we already know that THEY are watching us through the cameras 24/7, were just allowing it now ?

 

[kishkaru]

Thing is don't we already know that THEY are watching us through the cameras 24/7, were just allowing it now ?

I sure hope not! I only lose about 1% per day when Sentry Mode disabled vs. 7% with it enabled. I do hope all the computers/cameras onboard are shutoff!

Running Sentry Mode 24/7 makes sense to me as a city dweller in "private" shared space, but I would love to understand how it may take a hit on battery performance and overall maintenance costs over time.

But it's already taking a hit on my wallet right now . And the environment, with using 2.555 MWh of energy per year.

My biggest concern is those uneducated people that always leave Sentry Mode on and leave the vehicle plugged in at home/work. It's using all this energy unnecessarily if security is not required in a known location. They might think that the car pulls energy from the wall to run battery conditioning or cabin overheat protection, but in reality it's to keep Sentry Mode running. Even if it applies to only 50% of its customers in the fleet, and they've sold 1M cars capable of Sentry Mode thus far, that's 500k * 2.555 MWh = 1.277 TWh of energy wasted in a year for the fleet!

Tesla should do a better job at educating its customers about the pitfalls of Sentry Mode, especially considering their goal of "accelerating the world to sustainability".

 

[Hbrink]

My biggest concern is those uneducated people that always leave Sentry Mode on and leave the vehicle plugged in at home/work.

I'm one of those uneducated people who leaves Sentry Mode on at home and, indeed, plugged in. As my car is accessible to all people entering the carport (no fence), I don't see the advantage of turning of the protection off a rather expensive car.

 

[zecar]

Sophisticated thieves/vandals have become wary of Teslas since sentry mode. Unsophisticated thieves/vandals are not deterred by an unknown camera system.

The chance that having Sentry mode on will save you money is about zero. Saving money by using the system requires that the thief/vandal be identified, caught and forced to reimburse the car owner for damages.

 

[BobDolesGhost]

Maybe there is a 360 degree camera out there you can mount slightly down from the top brace over the front seats? It would of course be blocked by A/B/C pillars but would give some pretty good coverage all around the car. I don't know that this exists or if it would work for you, but just a random thought