Sentry mode while parked at home?

[Wennfred]

My sentry mode is off when i arrive at home (icon is not red) however when I review videos it constantly shows
images from my garage. It does not show that events have occured but is clearly still recording.

Sounds like your TeslaCam. You can turn that off also.

Fred

 

[Schroeder0202]

Sounds like your TeslaCam. You can turn that off also.

Fred

How do you shut off TeslaCam vs Sentry mode. Is there another tab for this im not seeing??

 

[Wennfred]

How do you shut off TeslaCam vs Sentry mode. Is there another tab for this im not seeing??

Simply press and hold that icon and you will see it flash, release.

Also if you see an incident, you can tap that TeslaCam Icon and it will save the last 10 minutes.

Fred

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I haven't found a single person who knows what that big red button means and what sentry means.

Ya, the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference is not something that most people would get. However, if I'm a criminal looking to break in and I see the exterior marker lights all flash and a big red circle come up on the screen, I know something's up. And it doesn't look like something I want to mess with.

Because it drains a TON of battery. I'm talking a legitimate 5-10% a day. I live in an apartment complex (no private driveway or garage) so I keep it on. I keep it on at work. And I obviously have it on when I'm going around town doing various activities.

But to drain that much battery is crazy, regardless of how often it's used. I mean, it's not like the video footage is good enough to even read license plates (TeslaCam certainly isn't).

The high power drain is due to the implementation. To run the cameras and capture their footage, there is no dedicated hardware like a dashcam, so the Tesla has to power up the AutoPilot computer (both NVidia PX2 CPUs). Running the AP computer then requires coolant circulation, so it has to run a coolant pump as well.

Dedicated dashcams that have the camera images recorded directly to an SD card can be made to use way less power than that. However, we do get the advantage that Sentry is able to record multiple cameras (possibly all 8 in the future), detect motion without being in the camera field of view (uses the ultrasonic sensors), and contact you via the app. Normal dashcams can't do those items.

 

[Bushwickbill]

I do have the sat maps, maybe bandwidth was the issue. I pulled into the garage today and right away tried to set my home address, and it worked this time. I probably snuck it in right before the downloads started again.

 

[VincentM3]

Here's my experience - there are 3 ways to switch on/off Sentry mode:
1) the black dot at the top of the car display (turns red when "ON")
2) the switch on the Tesla app (becomes blue when "ON")
3) the setting in the safety menu where you can also exclude locations like home,... Let's call it the MAIN switch.

I call it the MAIN switch because it affects the 2 others, whereas the 2 others do NOT affect the MAIN switch, e.g.:
- switching Sentry "ON" using the MAIN switch turns the black dot red, and the app switch blue
- switching off Sentry by tapping the red dot or blue switch to "OFF" will leave the MAIN switch to "ON"

Here's my problem: my car does NOT recognize the fact that I'm in my own home.
In other words, if I set the MAIN switch to "ON" and EXCLUDE my home location (which IS recorded in the navigation settings) it STILL activates the Sentry mode. Very frustrating.

I'm on a simple 110V charger so I really can't afford to lose over 14 miles between 6 pm and 8 am the next day. Since I'm on the time of use plan my car charges only between midnight and 6 am, or 6 times 5 miles = 30 miles. Obviously, I would lose HALF of this when using the unnecessary Sentry mode in my garage.

My solution is to leave the MAIN switch for Sentry to OFF. Then, when I'm out and park the car, I simply press the black dot at the top of the screen and Sentry mode will be active just for that time. Even if I forgot to switch it on, I can still remotely activate it through the Tesla app.

Will check this again once we get the V.10 update but I'm afraid it will only be more features rather than fixes when it comes to Sentry.

 

[whatthe2]

Here's my experience - there are 3 ways to switch on/off Sentry mode:
1) the black dot at the top of the car display (turns red when "ON")
2) the switch on the Tesla app (becomes blue when "ON")
3) the setting in the safety menu where you can also exclude locations like home,... Let's call it the MAIN switch.

I call it the MAIN switch because it affects the 2 others, whereas the 2 others do NOT affect the MAIN switch, e.g.:
- switching Sentry "ON" using the MAIN switch turns the black dot red, and the app switch blue
- switching off Sentry by tapping the red dot or blue switch to "OFF" will leave the MAIN switch to "ON"

Here's my problem: my car does NOT recognize the fact that I'm in my own home.
In other words, if I set the MAIN switch to "ON" and EXCLUDE my home location (which IS recorded in the navigation settings) it STILL activates the Sentry mode. Very frustrating.

I'm on a simple 110V charger so I really can't afford to lose over 14 miles between 6 pm and 8 am the next day. Since I'm on the time of use plan my car charges only between midnight and 6 am, or 6 times 5 miles = 30 miles. Obviously, I would lose HALF of this when using the unnecessary Sentry mode in my garage.

My solution is to leave the MAIN switch for Sentry to OFF. Then, when I'm out and park the car, I simply press the black dot at the top of the screen and Sentry mode will be active just for that time. Even if I forgot to switch it on, I can still remotely activate it through the Tesla app.

Will check this again once we get the V.10 update but I'm afraid it will only be more features rather than fixes when it comes to Sentry.

Any luck with Sentry recognizing exclude at home? Mine used to exclude home, but with a recent update (just before v10) it stopped working and Sentry will trigger in my garage. On v10 the issue persists so wondering if others are having problems? Thx

 

[wanaride]

Same as above..."Main" switch=ON, "Exclude Home"=checked, "Home" set in navigation, yet Sentry Mode still activates in garage. In this state the Tesla app and the Stats app shows Sentry Mode enabled. I'm not on V10 yet (still on 2019.32.2.1).

 

[whatthe2]

Same as above..."Main" switch=ON, "Exclude Home"=checked, "Home" set in navigation, yet Sentry Mode still activates in garage. In this state the Tesla app and the Stats app shows Sentry Mode enabled. I'm not on V10 yet (still on 2019.32.2.1).

That sounds like around the update I started having issues as well. Also toggled, to no avail. I haven't tried deleting home and re-adding as it isn't that big of a deal since I wipe the drive every week anyway as I fill it up at the airport. Just more curious than anything.

 

[BBB4000]

I am having this issue all of a sudden after clearing out my nav history and home/work locations. Reset Home to my correct address and Sentry mode will record all activity while parked in the garage. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[wtalyff]

This past May someone broke into my garage and stole four high value bicycles, if i had sentry mode on the car would have flashed lights and possibly let thieves know that they were being recorded. The car now acts as part of my alarm system in garage so my sentry mode is left on at night.

 

[Joelgjr]

I had this issue where sentry mode was running at home even though I had it set not to. What I realized is that my home address routes to the front of the house (town house community), but the garage is behind the house and the car thinks its a different address. So when I parked in the garage, the car didn't think I was home. I fixed this by changing my home address to what the car thinks is my garage's address. Problem solved.

 

[RayK]

Seriously thinking about activating Sentry Mode while at home....

Car_Burglars_2020-08-31

Funny thing is, the guy across the street avoided looking in or touching my neighbor's Tesla S.

 

[VicO]

My Teslas know where “home” is, but I too found Sentry still was on and giving warnings while in my garage even though I checked the box to exclude home from Sentry.

Same here, I just turned it off and use the Tesla app to turn it on manually when I park in a public parking lot.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Same here, I just turned it off and use the Tesla app to turn it on manually when I park in a public parking lot.

Actually, you don't need to do that. You can just click the icon on the car screen to start it manually. At least on my latest version of the software I can. Don't know when that got implemented.