Sentry mode not recording events?

[HTXCisco]

Has anyone experienced issues with Sentry Mode not recording events? I’m not sure if there’s something I’m missing or not doing correctly but based on what I’m seeing in the Owner’s Manual, there’s really nothing to it but enabling Sentry Mode via the console.

When enabled, I’ll see a message that says there were events that occurred but when I click on it, I get a “No Dashcan footage found.” I have confirmed there’s a USB drive in the USB port located in the glovebox and have even reformatted it via the console once already. I had a pending software update but scheduled it to install overnight and that didn’t seem to address it either. Currently running software version 2023.20.7.

 

[AS9.9.]

Yes I just had this issue and was insanely pissed because I had already driven far from home, and I HATE driving without my dashcam and sentry (too many morons out there).

I reformatted 10000000 times and it did nothing. What worked was formatting it on my PC (exFAT format), then creating a folder named 'TeslaCam' on the drive. Worked after that!

 

[HTXCisco]

Yes I just had this issue and was insanely pissed because I had already driven far from home, and I HATE driving without my dashcam and sentry (too many morons out there).

I reformatted 10000000 times and it did nothing. What worked was formatting it on my PC (exFAT format), then creating a folder named 'TeslaCam' on the drive. Worked after that!

Nice! I’ll give this a shot and report back.

 

[HTXCisco]

Nice! I’ll give this a shot and report back.

So, here's what I did: I reformatted the drive after the update, and thankfully, that fixed the formatting issue. However, I still can't access or view any of the recordings through the touchscreen. Additionally, the touchscreen doesn't show the red eye/recording warning when Sentry Mode is on, and I don't get any alerts on the app either, even though the events are recorded and available on the USB drive.

I'm not sure if there's some setting I need to fiddle with to make it work properly, but it's definitely not behaving like what I've seen in those YouTube videos.

 

[DanDi58]

So, here's what I did: I reformatted the drive after the update, and thankfully, that fixed the formatting issue. However, I still can't access or view any of the recordings through the touchscreen. Additionally, the touchscreen doesn't show the red eye/recording warning when Sentry Mode is on, and I don't get any alerts on the app either, even though the events are recorded and available on the USB drive.

I'm not sure if there's some setting I need to fiddle with to make it work properly, but it's definitely not behaving like what I've seen in those YouTube videos.

Dumb question - how many miles do you have on the car? It needs a hundred or so miles for the cameras to calibrate....

 

[HTXCisco]

I have 901 miles.

 

[JeffnReno]

I'm pissed about how intermittent Sentry works or doesn't work. I've noticed that several times in the past when reviewing recorded events, it will show cars or people near the car but I've also noticed cars that have parked next to me were gone and a different car was there with nothing recorded. Last Sat. we were parked in a parking garage while attending a concert for a couple of hours. When returning to the car, there was damage about the size of a softball on the right rear fender of our '23 Model Y. I immediately viewed the camera footage and the only footage was cars leaving as the concert was letting out and us returning to the car about a half hour later. No Alarm or Sentry alerts but the system was working fine to catch nothing events. What good is it if it only works when nothing is really happening and doesn't work when real damage is being done? Now we'll have to pay our deductible and the real criminal gets off free and clear. I've read it has to do with the car going into sleep mode and taking a moment to wake up after being disturbed but that doesn't explain it recording us walking up and an impact not. Any ideas?

 

[DanDi58]

I'm pissed about how intermittent Sentry works or doesn't work. I've noticed that several times in the past when reviewing recorded events, it will show cars or people near the car but I've also noticed cars that have parked next to me were gone and a different car was there with nothing recorded. Last Sat. we were parked in a parking garage while attending a concert for a couple of hours. When returning to the car, there was damage about the size of a softball on the right rear fender of our '23 Model Y. I immediately viewed the camera footage and the only footage was cars leaving as the concert was letting out and us returning to the car about a half hour later. No Alarm or Sentry alerts but the system was working fine to catch nothing events. What good is it if it only works when nothing is really happening and doesn't work when real damage is being done? Now we'll have to pay our deductible and the real criminal gets off free and clear. I've read it has to do with the car going into sleep mode and taking a moment to wake up after being disturbed but that doesn't explain it recording us walking up and an impact not. Any ideas?

There may be a difference in wake-up speed if you're approaching with your phone, as opposed to someone just near the car. Not sure, just spitballing here.

 

[JeffnReno]

There may be a difference in wake-up speed if you're approaching with your phone, as opposed to someone just near the car. Not sure, just spitballing here.

I would accept that as possible if it hadn't recorded cars driving by behind the car 30 minutes before we returned to the car. There are also those times when it catches people walking by with a cart when we're in a store shopping or cars driving by but didn't catch a car pulling in or out parked next to us but does catch them other times. Just inconsistent mystery behavior. My wife wants to buy a dashcam but I keep pushing back since Sentry is supposed to be the reason Teslas don't need one.

 

[DanDi58]

I guess what I would do is to go back through all of the settings, make sure everything is set up properly then drive to someplace where Sentry SHOULD work, walk away so the car sleeps then try and trigger it yourself. If it still isn't working, I would try a service appointment.

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the features you can use to monitor the security of your vehicle when parked.

www.tesla.com

 

[yerEVan]

From my understanding, the car will not sleep while sentry is on. Only when it hits at or below 20% battery.

 

[yerEVan]

I'm pissed about how intermittent Sentry works or doesn't work. I've noticed that several times in the past when reviewing recorded events, it will show cars or people near the car but I've also noticed cars that have parked next to me were gone and a different car was there with nothing recorded. Last Sat. we were parked in a parking garage while attending a concert for a couple of hours. When returning to the car, there was damage about the size of a softball on the right rear fender of our '23 Model Y. I immediately viewed the camera footage and the only footage was cars leaving as the concert was letting out and us returning to the car about a half hour later. No Alarm or Sentry alerts but the system was working fine to catch nothing events. What good is it if it only works when nothing is really happening and doesn't work when real damage is being done? Now we'll have to pay our deductible and the real criminal gets off free and clear. I've read it has to do with the car going into sleep mode and taking a moment to wake up after being disturbed but that doesn't explain it recording us walking up and an impact not. Any ideas?

Did you try to view dashcam footage on a pc or Mac? Or only using in-car crappy viewer?

 

[JeffnReno]

Did you try to view dashcam footage on a pc or Mac? Or only using in-car crappy viewer?

Yes, I pulled the drive from the USB in the glove box and watched (on my desktop computer at home) all the video clips before and after the damage was done but there wasn't any of the damage being done.

 

[JeffnReno]

I guess what I would do is to go back through all of the settings, make sure everything is set up properly then drive to someplace where Sentry SHOULD work, walk away so the car sleeps then try and trigger it yourself. If it still isn't working, I would try a service appointment.

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the features you can use to monitor the security of your vehicle when parked.

www.tesla.com

That's the frustrating part since it always triggers when I test it but randomly doesn't when there has obviously been movement close to the car when I'm not around. I hate to schedule service for things that aren't easily repeatable but since this is going to cost us a $500 deductible and wasted time, I just might follow up with your suggestion when I have time to do so.

 

[DanDi58]

I had an interesting experience this past week while vacationing on Cape Cod. I park the car right outside the bedroom slider of our timeshare. So it's literally one floor and about 20 feet away. We had a huge thunderstorm roll through one morning, and after one very loud bang, I got an alert on my phone that the car alarm had been triggered. The alarm never actually sounded, as I would have definitely heard it as I was lying in bed awake because of the storm. It did record (although there was nothing to record except water streaming off the car). So now I guess I need to loom at my settings and see why the alarm didn't actually sound, even though I was glad it didn't!

 

[fsb1]

Yes, I pulled the drive from the USB in the glove box and watched (on my desktop computer at home) all the video clips before and after the damage was done but there wasn't any of the damage being done.

I just had the same exact experience with my MYLR. Someone dinged my door in a parking lot. I got the Sentry notification that there were 'events' but couldn't find anything on the car's screen.

I plugged the USB into my PC and saw a bunch of recordings from when I got back to my car as well as my drive back home. Nothing of the person dinging my door. I thought it might be because the new recordings deleted the older ones so I'm ordering a larger SSD for the glove box USB.

 

[JeffnReno]

I just had the same exact experience with my MYLR. Someone dinged my door in a parking lot. I got the Sentry notification that there were 'events' but couldn't find anything on the car's screen.

I plugged the USB into my PC and saw a bunch of recordings from when I got back to my car as well as my drive back home. Nothing of the person dinging my door. I thought it might be because the new recordings deleted the older ones so I'm ordering a larger SSD for the glove box USB.

I'm pretty vigilant about deleting recorded events as I usually watch them within the same day or the next and delete them after I do if there's nothing worth saving. I have saved a few that I wanted to keep until I could download onto my PC before deleting them on the USB but that was still no more than a day or 2 so I don't think my USB size is the issue in my case. My wife is pushing me to submit a service request but if the problem isn't easily repeatable, I have my doubts about getting a resolution with Tesla.

 

[KieranTS925]

I just had an incident where someone struck my car and damaged it. Sentry mode has not worked for me since august 28 I have removed the USB and dash cam works. I have rebooted the car as well. This is very frustrating as it will be thousands in repairs and should have been captured

 

[EatsShoots]

Yes I just had this issue and was insanely pissed because I had already driven far from home, and I HATE driving without my dashcam and sentry (too many morons out there).

I reformatted 10000000 times and it did nothing. What worked was formatting it on my PC (exFAT format), then creating a folder named 'TeslaCam' on the drive. Worked after that!

On my new model 3 picked up in July the included USB absolutely refused to work without me also formatting on a PC and doing the steps you mention here.

 

[ChrisML]

Someone spat on my car three times with sentry one, didnt record a thing. Got two big scratches from a key aswell, left rear panel and the right one. All these times Sentry was on, did not record a single thing. I've pointed an external camera on my Model Y now, from my kitchen.

But yeah, so far sentry is not really working for me, and others I see.