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Sentry Mode catches door dinger and saves me $1000.

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It doesn't take a "minor bump" for Sentry to begin alerting, it watches
with the cameras for motion nearby.

My M3 in Sentry Mode ignores bumps and loud noises that should
trigger the alarm -- way too hard to trigger.

What exactly is "major bump", and how does it detect glass break since
over 110db of screaming third party window alarm inside the car is ignored?
That's nuts. That's how thieves can break that rear window without tripping
the alarm. NFG. And THAT's why I added a third party window alarm. BUT
the car ignores the painfully loud screeching. NFG.

Is it only sensitive to impact? Anyone here who really knows how it's
programmed or wired ?
 
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It doesn't take a "minor bump" for Sentry to begin alerting, it watches
with the cameras for motion nearby.

My M3 in Sentry Mode ignores bumps and loud noises that should
trigger the alarm way too much.

What exactly is "major bump", and how does it detect glass break since
over 110db of screaming third party window alarm inside the car is ignored?

Is it only sensitive to impact? Anyone here who really knows how it's
programmed or wired ?

Tesla has not stated the exact events that trigger the two different action levels of "Alert" and "Alarm". All we know is that those two levels exist, and we have some anecdotal reports from various forum members who said that certain events caused one or the other action level.

Your questions are valid, but they should be directed at Tesla. I doubt anyone here has anything more than speculation or single-datapoint references to share.
 
There appears to be some confusion about how Sentry mode operates. It's like this:

1. In the current firmware version, when Sentry mode is enabled, all 3 currently-enabled cameras (front, left rear-facing repeater, and right rear-facing repeater) are recording ALWAYS. They constantly save their footage to the USB flash drive until the car is unlocked. There is no time limit and no overwrite -- the recordings will continue until the car is unlocked or the drive is full.
This is not accurate. As long as alert mode isn't triggered, the car uses the same rotating buffer as the dashcam, i.e. it does overwrite older files. Only when suspicious motion is detected the car saves 10 minutes or so of video to files that cannot be overwritten.
My M3 in Sentry Mode ignores bumps and loud noises that should
trigger the alarm -- way too hard to trigger.

What exactly is "major bump", and how does it detect glass break since
over 110db of screaming third party window alarm inside the car is ignored?
Nobody outside Tesla knows for sure, but possibly it works similarly to other glass break sensors in that it only reacts to certain frequencies, so it doesn't just depend on the volume of the noise.
 
This is not accurate. As long as alert mode isn't triggered, the car uses the same rotating buffer as the dashcam, i.e. it does overwrite older files. Only when suspicious motion is detected the car saves 10 minutes or so of video to files that cannot be overwritten.

Sentry has filled up my USB drive on multiple occasions requiring me to take it inside and delete saved older footage. That means one of two things:

1. It's recording continuously and not overwriting.
2. It's judgment of what constitutes "suspicious motion" is very sensitive, such that it continuously saves footage that it may not need to.

I cannot verify one or the other without scrubbing through all the footage that's captured and determining whether it's uninterrupted or not, which I have not done.
 
Sentry has filled up my USB drive on multiple occasions requiring me to take it inside and delete saved older footage. That means one of two things:

1. It's recording continuously and not overwriting.
2. It's judgment of what constitutes "suspicious motion" is very sensitive, such that it continuously saves footage that it may not need to.

I cannot verify one or the other without scrubbing through all the footage that's captured and determining whether it's uninterrupted or not, which I have not done.

Its very easy to identify. Clips that are overwritten are stored in the 'recent' folder. If your flash drive is filled with individual folders with unique time stamps, then sentry mode is triggering the proximity alert and saving those clips.
 
Its very easy to identify. Clips that are overwritten are stored in the 'recent' folder. If your flash drive is filled with individual folders with unique time stamps, then sentry mode is triggering the proximity alert and saving those clips.

It was definitely filled with individual folders. There were so many that I believed it was continuous, so it didn't occur to me that all of them could be Alerts. I just thought it was continuously recording.

In that case, that's good that there is overwrite logic in the software. But if it's as sensitive as it appears to be and saves tons of 10-minute blocks of footage, it will still fill your USB drive fairly often and still require you to clean it periodically.
 
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It was definitely filled with individual folders. There were so many that I believed it was continuous, so it didn't occur to me that all of them could be Alerts. I just thought it was continuously recording.

In that case, that's good that there is overwrite logic in the software. But if it's as sensitive as it appears to be and saves tons of 10-minute blocks of footage, it will still fill your USB drive fairly often and still require you to clean it periodically.

Agreed, there is definitely room for improvement. If you use sentry in a high traffic area that triggers alert, it will require a lot of upkeep until the software is improved. I still say that its worth it if it manages to resolve issues like this OP and others have experienced!
 
This is not accurate. As long as alert mode isn't triggered, the car uses the same rotating buffer as the dashcam, i.e. it does overwrite older files. Only when suspicious motion is detected the car saves 10 minutes or so of video to files that cannot be overwritten.
Nobody outside Tesla knows for sure, but possibly it works similarly to other glass break sensors in that it only reacts to certain frequencies, so it doesn't just depend on the volume of the noise.

I've done some testing over the last few days and Sentry Mode DIDN'T overwrite the previous footage. It constantly recorded and posted files in 1 minute increments into the SAVED files folder. I also didn't press the dashcam icon to save the files. Sentry Mode did that automatically. I didn't have it on long enough to fill up my 32gb USB drive. However, it wouldn't make sense for Tesla to overwrite Sentry mode files simply because it runs out of drive space. What if the incident happened in the early footage and not the later footage?

In fact, a few days ago prior to my recent testing, my USB drive did fill up and I saw the "X" displays on the dashcam icon. I had been using sentry mode very frequently over the past week.This leads me to believe that Sentry Mode WON'T overwrite any previous footage. If it would, then my HD shouldn't ever fill up unless I manually saved all the files.
 
I've done some testing over the last few days and Sentry Mode DIDN'T overwrite the previous footage. It constantly recorded and posted files in 1 minute increments into the SAVED files folder. I also didn't press the dashcam icon to save the files. Sentry Mode did that automatically. I didn't have it on long enough to fill up my 32gb USB drive. However, it wouldn't make sense for Tesla to overwrite Sentry mode files simply because it runs out of drive space. What if the incident happened in the early footage and not the later footage?

In fact, a few days ago prior to my recent testing, my USB drive did fill up and I saw the "X" displays on the dashcam icon. I had been using sentry mode very frequently over the past week.This leads me to believe that Sentry Mode WON'T overwrite any previous footage. If it would, then my HD shouldn't ever fill up unless I manually saved all the files.
It's not constantly recording, just when it detects motion. I've gone through all of my Sentry Mode recordings and all of them have a visible trigger event. I also have time gaps where files weren't saved. Once it detects motion it saves the clips to the Saved folder and won't overwrite those.
 
I've done some testing over the last few days and Sentry Mode DIDN'T overwrite the previous footage. It constantly recorded and posted files in 1 minute increments into the SAVED files folder.
As explained above, the videos will only go into that folder if alert mode has been triggered based on motion detected via the cameras. If you park the car in a busy location that may of course happen frequently.
In fact, a few days ago prior to my recent testing, my USB drive did fill up and I saw the "X" displays on the dashcam icon.
I'd recommend to get a bigger drive than 32GB if you want to use Sentry on a regular basis. Every alert incident consumes about 1GB, so assuming Sentry saves about 10 minutes per incident, the drive could in the worst case (constant motion around the car) fill up in about 5 hours of running Sentry.
 
Its very easy to identify. Clips that are overwritten are stored in the 'recent' folder. If your flash drive is filled with individual folders with unique time stamps, then sentry mode is triggering the proximity alert and saving those clips.

In my experience, Sentry mode is constantly recording the entire time from 3 cameras and saving the files to the SavedClips folder in 1 minute increments. Each file is about 27-29 MB. Sentry Mode didn't require an "alert" to record. I purposely turned it on in my garage and left it alone for about 45 minutes. I've then watched footage while it's on where it's just recording my garage walls and nothing happens. No activity on any camera. While on, it's also caught cars driving by my house about 75 feet from my parked M3.

This is probably 1 reason Tesla doesn't allow you to automatically turn it on every-time you park your car. I'm sure many people's USB drives would fill very quickly. Hopefully someone or Tesla will come up with a way to easily offload these files without removing the USB drive.

Since I plan to use Sentry Mode every time I park my car, I'm now looking into purchasing two 512GB or 1TB USB drives.
 
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It doesn't take a "minor bump" for Sentry to begin alerting, it watches
with the cameras for motion nearby.

My M3 in Sentry Mode ignores bumps and loud noises that should
trigger the alarm -- way too hard to trigger.

What exactly is "major bump", and how does it detect glass break since
over 110db of screaming third party window alarm inside the car is ignored?
That's nuts. That's how thieves can break that rear window without tripping
the alarm. NFG. And THAT's why I added a third party window alarm. BUT
the car ignores the painfully loud screeching. NFG.

Is it only sensitive to impact? Anyone here who really knows how it's
programmed or wired ?

If you are wondering what a major bump is... check out the video in my sig.. that is a major bump
 
As explained above, the videos will only go into that folder if alert mode has been triggered based on motion detected via the cameras. If you park the car in a busy location that may of course happen frequently.
I'd recommend to get a bigger drive than 32GB if you want to use Sentry on a regular basis. Every alert incident consumes about 1GB, so assuming Sentry saves about 10 minutes per incident, the drive could in the worst case (constant motion around the car) fill up in about 5 hours of running Sentry.

Please state what you define as an "alert" incident and evidence supporting that each consumes about 1GB.
Based on this info, I'm going to retest this theory by parking my car in my garage, leaving the garage lights on, not go into the garage, and see what happens.
 
In my experience, Sentry mode is constantly recording the entire time from 3 cameras and saving the files to the SavedClips folder in 1 minute increments. Each file is about 27-29 MB. Sentry Mode didn't require an "alert" to record. I purposely turned it on in my garage and left it alone for about 45 minutes. I've then watched footage while it's on where it's just recording my garage walls and nothing happens. No activity on any camera. While on, it's also caught cars driving by my house about 75 feet from my parked M3.

This is probably 1 reason Tesla doesn't allow you to automatically turn it on every-time you park your car. I'm sure many people's USB drives would fill very quickly. Hopefully someone or Tesla will come up with a way to easily offload these files without removing the USB drive.

Since I plan to use Sentry Mode every time I park my car, I'm now looking into purchasing two 512GB or 1TB USB drives.

It is constantly recording those clips into the 'recen't folder. It only moves it into a timestamped saved folder if Sentry is triggered by motion.
 
I don't understand the logic behind backing into parking spots to get the front camera to (maybe) record license plates of cars parking next to you as they pull in.
1. This would require said cars have front license plates installed if pulling in, or that they back in themselves
2. Even if I just pull in normally to park, wouldn't my rear-facing side repeater cams record the front license plate of any car pulling in next to mine? Or are you saying the angle is too narrow?
 
Tesla has not stated the exact events that trigger the two different action levels of "Alert" and "Alarm". All we know is that those two levels exist, and we have some anecdotal reports from various forum members who said that certain events caused one or the other action level.

Your questions are valid, but they should be directed at Tesla. I doubt anyone here has anything more than speculation or single-datapoint references to share.

Where & How would I go about asking Tesla?

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable then front line CS personnel?

And my experience at Service Centers is that they are struggling with
bare bones information.

I posted to "Request Help" on my account. Is that effective? Waiting.
 
Where & How would I go about asking Tesla?

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable then front line CS personnel?

And my experience at Service Centers is that they are struggling with
bare bones information.

I posted to "Request Help" on my account. Is that effective? Waiting.
Sentry Mode and Alarm are very different. I’ve had hundreds of Sentry Mode Events recorded and zero alarms. Sentry Mode records the event (someone near your car, or another event close to your car) and then also saves the prior 10 min of recordings.
 
Came back to my car and couldn't believe someone nailed my door! Was super excited when I found the clips showing the vehicle parking next to me(front camera caught this and recorded lic plate) then the culprit exiting her car and damaging mine. Repair estimate $1004.00 and my collision deductible $1000.00. Local police tracked down driver and now her insurance is covering damage...not me!

I hope you are not serious about acting on the $1,004 repair estimate, as the body shop is trying to get lucky by pushing for a paint respray job.

Door dings can be easily and completely removed with paintless dent repair (PDR) for $50-100 per body panel. Doors are the easiest to work on.

Other than cost savings, PDR preserved original paintwork, so the paint on all your doors will match, and age at the same rate. It's very easy to tell which body panels were repainted a few years after the respray, and your used car value will be dinged accordingly.

a
 
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