Sentry Mode is Useless...

[johnmodely]

So pissed right now...I live in the NYC and park my car overnight at a city charger when I need to charge it, and found this the next morning:

Of course car alarm did not go off and sentry mode caught none of it. Seriously fed up with Teslas gimmick software meant to fool people into thinking it adds great value to your car.

I have HUNDREDS of sentry clips in my drive of random people walking by the car all day in the city (literally 100 vids a day which make it impossible to even find anything useful), and it does not catch the one time someone backs in an destroys the front end. How the hell is the algorithm biased towards people and not pick up a whole car backing into it...

 

[EVRider-FL]

Was your battery less than 20% when you charged your car? Sentry Mode is disabled when you go below 20%.

 

[UncleCreepy]

Was your battery less than 20% when you charged your car? Sentry Mode is disabled when you go below 20%.

Even while charging? That doesn't make much sense to me as the car wouldn't be sleeping anyway. Not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious.

 

[Kimmi]

Always was, always will be!

 

[JulienW]

Even while charging? That doesn't make much sense to me as the car wouldn't be sleeping anyway. Not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious.

Yes, seems a little odd but below 20% and no Sentry Mode, even when AC charging. I have never tied it (or more likely don't remember ) on SCing but I bet it is the same.

 

[shahryaran]

Did you check all fragmented videos?

 

[rlsd]

How the car was parked? Head in? Tail in? Parallel?
I am trying to figure out how the car was scratched.

 

[Ackman999]

So pissed right now...I live in the NYC and park my car overnight at a city charger when I need to charge it, and found this the next morning:

View attachment 980174

Of course car alarm did not go off and sentry mode caught none of it. Seriously fed up with Teslas gimmick software meant to fool people into thinking it adds great value to your car.

I have HUNDREDS of sentry clips in my drive of random people walking by the car all day in the city (literally 100 vids a day which make it impossible to even find anything useful), and it does not catch the one time someone backs in an destroys the front end. How the hell is the algorithm biased towards people and not pick up a whole car backing into it...

I had a close encounter with a deer last week, and honked the horn to record it. I pulled into a lot and searched the camera footage but couldn't find the clip. I pulled the usb drive, and when I got home I found it tucked away in a folder named with the date and time. I am not sure why it wasn't visible when I was in the car.

 

[ATPMSD]

If the car detects an”accident” it may save the video to internal storage. Plug the USD/SD card back into the car, open the Dashcam viewer window and look at the top. If it is there you will see a download icon.

 

[Ackman999]

If the car detects an”accident” it may save the video to internal storage. Plug the USD/SD card back into the car, open the Dashcam viewer window and look at the top. If it is there you will see a download icon.

It clearly saved the footage to the drive, I just was not able to find it until I plugged it into my laptop, (operator error?). I will do a test to see if I can re-create it and locate it in the dashcam footage.

 

[EVRider-FL]

If the car detects an”accident” it may save the video to internal storage. Plug the USD/SD card back into the car, open the Dashcam viewer window and look at the top. If it is there you will see a download icon.

Not if the battery is less than 20%.

 

[ATPMSD]

Not if the battery is less than 20%.

Very true when in park, but I am not sure if this is true when you are driving as I am pretty sure the car records all of the time when driving. Not relevant here of course since “Sentry” is used only when parked, just a thought.

 

[Snakedoc]

My car was hit in the rear in an indoor parking lot and I got a message on my phone plus it recorded the incident.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Very true when in park, but I am not sure if this is true when you are driving as I am pretty sure the car records all of the time when driving. Not relevant here of course since “Sentry” is used only when parked, just a thought.

Correct, the dashcam doesn’t turn off below 20% when driving, but Sentry Mode uses more power because it analyzes all the video looking for threats. Just recording video doesn’t use much power.

 

[JulienW]

Correct, the dashcam doesn’t turn off below 20% when driving, but Sentry Mode uses more power because it analyzes all the video looking for threats. Just recording video doesn’t use much power.

....and I bet some more logic also is if you are driving then you are actively monitoring your battery. If parked the car may be there for days unattended and the need to preserve energy below 20% becomes VERY important.

However I bet what happened to the OP was the car was below 20% so Sentry was off. However they appear to have had it charging and I know Sentry still doesn't work below 20%. IMO this is a bad oversight on Tesla part. If charging Sentry mode should be active no matter what the SoC is.

 

[EVRider-FL]

However I bet what happened to the OP was the car was below 20% so Sentry was off. However they appear to have had it charging and I know Sentry still doesn't work below 20%. IMO this is a bad oversight on Tesla part. If charging Sentry mode should be active no matter what the SoC is.

Maybe so, but unless your battery is really low or you’re charging on a Level 1 charger, once you plug in it won’t take long to exceed 20%, and I think (but I’m not positive) that Sentry Mode will turn on once you get there.

 

[JulienW]

Maybe so, but unless your battery is really low or you’re charging on a Level 1 charger, once you plug in it won’t take long to exceed 20%, and I think (but I’m not positive) that Sentry Mode will turn on once you get there.

It does turn back on when you pass 20% but even L2 it can be some time. Example if Model 3/Y and at 5% and you use a 8kW L2 then you are looking at over an hour to pass 20%. A lot can happen in a hour and I bet that is what happened in the OP's case (since they haven't respond we can only speculate).

 

[EVRider-FL]

It does turn back on when you pass 20% but even L2 it can be some time. Example if Model 3/Y and at 5% and you use a 8kW L2 then you are looking at over an hour to pass 20%. A lot can happen in a hour and I bet that is what happened in the OP's case (since they haven't respond we can only speculate).

Good point. I guess the takeaway is don’t let your car go below 20% if you need Sentry Mode while you charge. I don’t know if there’s any technical reason why Tesla couldn’t eliminate the 20% requirement while charging.

On a related note, I think Tesla should use miles remaining (say 50) rather than 20%, or provide options for both. On my Model S LR, 20% is 81 miles, which is more than enough to use Sentry Mode. 20% made sense when the range was under 300 miles, but seems overly conservative with longer range cars.

 

[KArnold]

Is the alarm also disabled if below 20%?

I've never heard my '17 MS alarm before last week. It had more than 20% SOC. I was on a 2nd floor patio and a half full plastic soda bottle rolled off hitting the trunk lid. Not a big hit by any means and not even a mark. But lights started flashing and the radio started playing at full volume.

Of course if that happened in NYC nobody would likely notice. They would here.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Is the alarm also disabled if below 20%?

I've never heard my '17 MS alarm before last week. It had more than 20% SOC. I was on a 2nd floor patio and a half full plastic soda bottle rolled off hitting the trunk lid. Not a big hit by any means and not even a mark. But lights started flashing and the radio started playing at full volume.

Of course if that happened in NYC nobody would likely notice. They would here.

The are two different alarms, the regular security system alarm and Sentry Mode’s alarm. The regular one should be active regardless of the state of charge, but the Sentry Mode alarm (which is what you experienced) won’t activate if Sentry Mode is disabled (because of low battery or any other reason).