Tesla Cam USB/SD Help

[T3SLAOD]

I have a Model Y that I picked up in July and WOW do I love it! I have had a little bit of problem getting the SD Card sorted out. I purchased a 128GB SanDisk Extreme micro SDXC UHS-I Memory card on Amazon and formatted it to FAT using my macbook. It works when I plug it in with my USB-A adapter but then I get the "disk read/write too slow" error. Multiple tries and reformats in/out of car and it still gets the same error. I took a USB C hub that I had for my macbook Pro and tried it and I don't get the error and it works great. I would just stay with the USB C hub and call it quits, but I want to be able to charge my phone and the charger won't work using passthrough by daisy chaining it to the same hub.

Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, does anyone have a SD Card hub that works with this SD Card, and/or a USB hub that does pass through charging and allows the SD card to be used as well? I don't want to spend a lot of money on this, so on the cheap would be best!

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[kpedraja]

I’m a big fan of the hub from Taptes. Nice clean solution. Works great for me. https://www.taptes.com/products/taptes-tesla-model-3-usb-hub
And is on sale!

 

[ag-mod-y]

I got a 128 GB USB 3.0 flash drive from amazon. I then formatted it with car and it works fine.

 

[tonyb99]

Do not use a flash drive, get the fastest SD Card and adapter, such as:-

SanDisk MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader - SDDR-B531-GN6NN
SanDisk 128GB High Endurance Video MicroSDXC Card with Adapter for Dash Cam and Home Monitoring systems - C10, U3, V30, 4K UHD, Micro SD Card - SDSQQNR-128G-GN6IA

 

[frankvb]

Are you sure you formatted it with FAT? That has a maximum 256MB size.

You should use either exFAT (if your car's software version is new enough) or FAT32. With the standard Windows tools you cannot format such a large drive to FAT32 (but you can to exFAT).

Don't know what a Macbook could/would do.

BTW: I'm using almost the same memory card, the 256GB version of the Sandisk high endurance one as in the previous post combined with that card reader, have two partitions (both exFAT), one for the cam, and one for music. Working perfectly plugged into the (right) USB-A socket directly. What USB-A micro SD card reader are you using?

 

[psuKinger]

This is the sort of feature that I personally didn't go cheap with and wouldn't recommend doing so for others... maybe not the input you're looking for, but FWIW I purchased a 500 GB Samsung T5 solid state drive (for like $85, "geek squad refurbished", from Best Buy, my goodness storage space is so cheap these days), and then I partitioned it 1/3 for Dashcam and Sentry Mode (167 GB), and 2/3 for Music (333 GB), and it has worked flawlessly for me, right from initial plug-in, both with making sentry mode recordings and for playing music (including 24-bit FLAC files).

I have a Jeda USB hub ordered, that I'm waiting for them to ship to me... all of their ports are supposed to be Power+data, and they have a hidden compartment to tuck your SSD inside. I have high hopes that it will be a great addition to my MY, and eagerly await receiving it...

 

[SEndicott]

I agree to the T5. I also bought a 500GB red one (to match my MY )
I initially decided to partition it to 2/3 Camera and 1/3 music, but recently made the jump to Spotify Premium, so I decided against using the SSD for music at all. So I deleted the partitions completely, created one partition and took it out to the car to format and prep via the car. There is an option now to format the drive within the car. So instead of doing on your mac/pc, just let the car do it. Especially if you dont need partitions.

 

[MrTemple]

Best option is a “high endurance” or “pro endurance” micro-SD card. They are specifically made for the constant writes of dashcams.

Some (not all!) SSDs will work with the sustained writes, but they will use more power and are not rated for the high interior temps a car can hit (especially in the console where the SSD is pumping out so much extra waste heat).

Other options might work fine for a little while, but will eventually corrupt. Which you’ll only know when you find you can’t open a video you REALLY need.

Literally no reason not to go with the endurance micro-SD and reader. It’ll run you under $50.

 

[T3SLAOD]

I ordered the sandisk usb 3.0 reader, will get tomorrow. I'm pretty sure my reader is the problem b/c it works with a different reader on the USBC.... problem is then I can't have the charger connected. I'll report back. Thanks for the replies!

 

[john8899]

Has anyone tried this UGreen double-ended USB-C /USB-A SD card reader - $8.99 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKRM12C/

 

[MrTemple]

I ordered the sandisk usb 3.0 reader, will get tomorrow. I'm pretty sure my reader is the problem b/c it works with a different reader on the USBC.... problem is then I can't have the charger connected. I'll report back. Thanks for the replies!

There are hubs or splitters you can buy that will do variously complete jobs at charging and usb port for the memory reader. None of them are perfect. (There's only so much power coming out in the console, so to power more, you have to charge one phone less.)

I ordered the Jeda hub, because they seem to have done it the smartest and safest. Plus I like to support local manufacturing, so it's a bonus that they're in North America.

 

[T3SLAOD]

I ordered the sandisk usb 3.0 reader, will get tomorrow. I'm pretty sure my reader is the problem b/c it works with a different reader on the USBC.... problem is then I can't have the charger connected. I'll report back. Thanks for the replies!

So to update everyone this did not work. Still getting the x in the dash an icon. Soooo frustrating.

 

[T3SLAOD]

Anyone have luck with a generic inexpensive ssd and usb enclosure. The Samsung T5 is so expensive and if it failed it wouldn’t be as easy as swapping out a cheaper ssd hard drive in a case.

 

[MrTemple]

Anyone have luck with a generic inexpensive ssd and usb enclosure. The Samsung T5 is so expensive and if it failed it wouldn’t be as easy as swapping out a cheaper ssd hard drive in a case.

The best option of all is under $50.

 

[brinox]

The best option of all is under $50.

I also recently bought this exact storage setup and it works flawlessly, and much cooler than my Sandisk external SSD I bought. Not sure what's going on with T3SLAOD's setup, but my guess is the file system is part of the problem. Perhaps the performance just isn't there either on that particular card. I'd go with the exact 128GB Samsung SD card here, use the Tesla built-in formatting option and see if you still are getting errors. If so, then schedule service to have Tesla look at and potentially replace something in the center console.

 

[MrTemple]

I also recently bought this exact storage setup and it works flawlessly, and much cooler than my Sandisk external SSD I bought. Not sure what's going on with T3SLAOD's setup, but my guess is the file system is part of the problem. Perhaps the performance just isn't there either on that particular card. I'd go with the exact 128GB Samsung SD card here, use the Tesla built-in formatting option and see if you still are getting errors. If so, then schedule service to have Tesla look at and potentially replace something in the center console.

Yep, even the best SSDs need like 4 Watts when writing (which the dashcam constantly does). That's power stolen from the phone charging and generated as waste heat (which if you're cooling the cabin, costs you more than double). The micro-SD and reader is something like 0.25W when writing.

Plus, not all SSDs are rated for the constant writes of dashcams. And most aren't rated for the heats that can be seen in the console, so will be more prone to premature failure (which you only find when the video you REALLY need is corrupted).

There's literally no reason to go with an SSD for the TeslaCam.

Even if you need an SSD for terabytes of music, you're better off keeping the TeslaCam writing to the "high endurance" or "pro endurance" micro-SD, so the SSD can idle all the time except for the super brief reads when loading a song.

 

[FredMertz]

After more hours of research than seems reasonable in retrospect, I decided on the Western Digital Purple series of micro SD cards, which are made specifically for surveillance devices that are constantly writing and rewriting.

I got the 256GB directly from WD, which was $51. I believe it is currently backordered:

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/memory-cards/wd-purple-microsd#WDD256G1P0C

Any USB 3.0 reader (like the ones linked by RockChurch above) will get the job done.

 

[MrTemple]

After more hours of research than seems reasonable in retrospect, I decided on the Western Digital Purple series of micro SD cards, which are made specifically for surveillance devices that are constantly writing and rewriting.

I got the 256GB directly from WD, which was $51. I believe it is currently backordered:

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/memory-cards/wd-purple-microsd#WDD256G1P0C

Any USB 3.0 reader (like the ones linked by RockChurch above) will get the job done.

Nice work Fred! Thanks.

 

[aahann]

Best option is a “high endurance” or “pro endurance” micro-SD card. They are specifically made for the constant writes of dashcams.

Some (not all!) SSDs will work with the sustained writes, but they will use more power and are not rated for the high interior temps a car can hit (especially in the console where the SSD is pumping out so much extra waste heat).

Other options might work fine for a little while, but will eventually corrupt. Which you’ll only know when you find you can’t open a video you REALLY need.

Literally no reason not to go with the endurance micro-SD and reader. It’ll run you under $50.

View attachment 576504

Perfect. Formatted in car, all problems solved. Thanks

 

[sjmcman]

I debated both a Flash Drive and SSD, and am going with a Samsung MUF-256AB/AM FIT Plus 256GB - 300MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive. Good performance and seems to work well with TESLAs in general. I debated the Samsung T5 SSD, and may eventually to with a Hub (I think the Jeda has better electronics) and SSD. To start, though, I think the Flash Drive will meet my need.