Sentry mode rather useless

[sixela]

I returned to a badly dented door and found that the thumb drive had filled the day before so Sentry mode had stopped recording. I contacted Tesla via customer support chat (the only way I could get someone to help) and was told in no uncertain terms customers cannot get copies of the uploaded video. Please let me (and us all!) know where you called and how you were able to get your video from Tesla. I have a large insurance deductible and even larger sense of satisfaction riding on it! TIA!

I sent a mail to the Service Center e-mail address. They told me that

a) you need to enable "data sharing" in the menu in your car for images to be sent over LTE (can't remember for the moment where exactly this is, but when enabling sentry mode for the first time a screen also popped up; that screen did explain tat "data sharing" would in certain circumstances upload backup copies).
b) except if Tesla sees something that they need to investigate (to enhance Sentry Mode) the images are only kept 72 hours.
c) there were no guarantees

24 hours later they sent me a video of the left B-pillar camera of the incident (someone shattering my side window).

Mind you, things like this could be different in different countries.

 

[Gabbleratchet7]

Was visiting family over the weekend and parked our M3 in our host’s garage to charge overnight (120V trickle). Came out this morning to see 124 sentry mode events. After sampling a handful of video files after getting home, I couldn’t see what may have triggered all the recording activity.

Was also the maiden voyage with the Sentry View app on my iPhone and the Sandisk wifi USB key. Maybe there were too many files to sort, but the app choked and crashed several times before I gave up and brought the USB key to my Mac.

 

[SVMike]

Probably a spider crawling next to one of the cameras!

 

[SMAlset]

What is Sentry mode? I took delivery of my M3 last Saturday and no one mentioned to me about Sentry mode and how to operate it.

Here's a link to the latest Model 3 Manual (dated 5/16/19). You can do a search in the pdf for Sentry... a number of pages will show up. Should answer a lot of your questions.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

 

[SMAlset]

I sent a mail to the Service Center e-mail address. They told me that

a) you need to enable "data sharing" in the menu in your car for images to be sent over LTE (can't remember for the moment where exactly this is, but when enabling sentry mode for the first time a screen also popped up; that screen did explain tat "data sharing" would in certain circumstances upload backup copies).
b) except if Tesla sees something that they need to investigate (to enhance Sentry Mode) the images are only kept 72 hours.
c) there were no guarantees

24 hours later they sent me a video of the left B-pillar camera of the incident (someone shattering my side window).

Mind you, things like this could be different in different countries.

Thanks for that reply. Hadn't heard that officially from Tesla other than I think Elon saying something about them being uploaded and available for a short period of time. It's in the manual btw about needing to have data sharing turned on but we all know not everyone reads the manual so might come as a surprise to them (and some won't turn on data sharing for privacy concerns I guess).

From the 5/16/19 Manual Page 121 under "Video and Recordings":

"Note: Sentry Mode will also send recorded video to Tesla for temporary backup. Tesla may also use this footage to help enhance detection for Sentry Mode. You can enable or disable the collection of this video at any time via the "DATA SHARING" video clip in Controls > Safety & Security.

Note: Video recording may not be available in certain market regions or in vehicles built before approximately August 1, 2017."​

@sixela so that's great to hear you got the video sent to you. Was it of any help? Love to see it if you can post. Think others might be interested to see what comes from Tesla's servers back to you. Also, did you send your request for the footage to your local service center?

I made a point of telling my husband about this. He has an early 2017 Model S which gets Sentry Mode through his car's software but doesn't have the USB capability that my Model 3 or even later MSs do. He does have a 2-ch Blackvue running but nice to know if he needs footage from the side repeaters (which he doesn't have any recordings from) he could try seeing if Tesla can provide it. Really appreciate your posting the info.

 

[sixela]

@sixela so that's great to hear you got the video sent to you. Was it of any help?

The police have it, and the perpetrator is clearly recognizable; it's evident that he thought I had been stupid and "left my iPad in the car" -- he glances at the centre console discreetly while walking, stops in front of the car, briefly checks for bystanders and then runs back and smashes the window (he had a small hammer --the kind especially made to break windows-- hidden in the palm of his hand). Evidently the special sentry alarm plus "you're being recorded" appearing on the console is effective; he immediately walks away again, and after a second walks as if he had nothing to do with it all. Clearly experienced at smashing windows with a cool head, albeit clearly not familiar with the Model 3.

The police said I was not supposed to share the video (and there are privacy law concerns about doing that). The investigation is supposedly also secret unless a party files a complaint and sues, and in my case it would have to be the insurance.

The video I have is from the B-pillar, BTW.

 

[E-Lectric]

They are time/date stamped in UTC (so you would need to convert). In fact EVERY file ever written is time/date stamped. Don't think you can have a file without a time/date stamp.

As far as on screen playback it is likely coming. Sentry Mode is a new feature and in early beta mode.

Ur missing my point. Of course the files are time stamped. How about telling me the times to look for when I pop in my thumb drive? Better would be a separate folder. Better still is playback on screen. Best is mobile alert and playback.

 

[jebinc]

Ur missing my point. Of course the files are time stamped. How about telling me the times to look for when I pop in my thumb drive? Better would be a separate folder. Better still is playback on screen. Best is mobile alert and playback.

someday, perhaps the BETA stamp will be removed and this gimmick more practically usable.

 

[Flatbat]

Sentry mode allows you to exclude various locations. If the car is within 30'/10m of an excluded location it will not activate Sentry. Problem is it seemingly only treats an address on a street or road as a location. Where I park at home is at the end of a long private driveway (a hundred yards away from the street address) so the exclusion wont work. How does one save a location some distance from the nearest Google maps address in a manner that it can be used as a sentry mode exclusion?

 

[hugh_jassol]

How does one save a location some distance from the nearest Google maps address in a manner that it can be used as a sentry mode exclusion?

Press and hold on the map at the location you want. It will place a 'pin' there like in Google Maps / Apple Maps. You can then name/favorite that pin

 

[Flatbat]

Press and hold on the map at the location you want. It will place a 'pin' there like in Google Maps / Apple Maps. You can then name/favorite that pin

I had already tried this and Sentry mode will not exclude the point. It seems like when I drop the pin at the precise spot, the system still considers the exclusion point as the nearest navigable street address which is over 100 yards away. Because the car is more then 30'/10m from the position it does not work.

This behaviour is also suggested by the interface. When I long press to drop a pin, it offers the nearest known address and and a Edit box to name/favorite it. If you look in the header at this point it shows the distance of 0.1km to the nearest known address.

 

[mdanieltech]

Sooo having my M3 LR for almost a month I come to the conclusion that the Sentry Mode is almost...almost useless

Let me explain

Having the car stolen and with Sentry Mode on we will never know who stole it since there is no notifications/cloud update on the videos, same goes with a break-in if the criminal knows a tesla the first thing they will do is break open the glove department and remove the USB stick then continue on with the job.... Once again we will know who it was since there was no uploads to the cloud/email.

Now on the flip side
I see that this mode is great for anything car related (Crash/Backups) anything that it can catch the license plate

Now my rant is over... My main questions is this,...

Why doesn't Tesla allow/have Cloud Base uploads for this while in Sentry Mode, once it detects motion it should shoot it up to a cloud base or since the user has Tesla Connectivity have the ability to view the video from the car... (Only a option if you pay for the Tesla Connectivity)