TeslaCam recording while parked?

[turanuk]

Hey all! Just got a brand new March Model 3 that came with older software (2019.35.108). Was there a known bug that got resolved at some point with recordings continuing while parked (Sentry Mode off since it's at home)?

 

[Matsayz]

Not quite sure what your question is... Sentry can be turned off for “home/work/favorite locations”. Also, it doesn’t record if you don’t have a formatted USB drive in one of the two front USB slots.

I don’t remember there being a bug for that software version but if you’re still on that version expect an update soon if you just got the car as *almost* everyone is on 2020.4 and up. Also, in one of the later versions the car will just overwrite the oldest recordings so even if it was constantly recording it’d be okay.

Make sure you car is plugged in and connected to your home wifi and you’ll get the update is ready notification soon. New buyers tend to have to wait about 24hrs to 3wks.... there’s no secret way to force an update and it’s not worth annoying the Tesla chat people or your time/theirs.

Enjoy your new car! And wash your hands!!!

 

[turanuk]

Thank you!

Yeah sorry I wasn't clear - Sentry is turned off, this is just the regular TeslaCam that seems to be recording constantly. And it does appear to overwrite older recordings, which is kind of the issue since I just end up with a bunch of recordings of my pitch black garage

Yeah super painful waiting for 2020.4+, but I'm hoping that fixes it, thanks!

 

[Matsayz]

Weird that it’s recording if Sentry is off and you’re at home. Are you is your garage a detached garage? Like if the car thinks it’s not close enough to “home” so Sentry is still on? I’d try to reboot (press & hold both steering wheel buttons until the screen goes blank) and see if that helps. Beyond that I wouldn’t worry about it as the next update will probably fix that. You can also reboot while driving which is fun to mess with your passengers, everything still works (brakes/lights/etc) but you will have a blank screen for 20secs, good times

Also, reviewing the footage is a pain and unless you’re a glutton for punishment you’ll most likely never see anything unless you know when something happened.

Read up on the manual and here on the forums and ask anything you’ve got. The search function sometimes gets you want you want but usually not.

 

[turanuk]

Will do, thanks for the help!

 

[Knightshade]

Thank you!

Yeah sorry I wasn't clear - Sentry is turned off, this is just the regular TeslaCam that seems to be recording constantly

That's not a bug.

If the car is awake (and there's a correctly set up USB storage device attached) then teslacam is recording. Period. Park, drive, doesn't matter. Car awake=recording.

All sentry does in this regard is keep the car awake the entire time it's on... (and if it goes to alert, move the last 10 minutes of teslacam footage to the sentry folder and do the light flashing/screen display thing).


With sentry off teslacam will record for a while in your garage anyway until the car goes to sleep normally.

 

[Dogtone]

So your saying I don’t have to tap the camera icon to turn it on and see the red dot to start recording to the usb drive?

 

[turanuk]

That's not a bug.

If the car is awake (and there's a correctly set up USB storage device attached) then teslacam is recording. Period. Park, drive, doesn't matter. Car awake=recording.

All sentry does in this regard is keep the car awake the entire time it's on... (and if it goes to alert, move the last 10 minutes of teslacam footage to the sentry folder and do the light flashing/screen display thing).


With sentry off teslacam will record for a while in your garage anyway until the car goes to sleep normally.

Got it thanks, yeah I guess I wasn't expecting that. I could have sworn the test drive car with newer software didn't do that, and there was a state of the icon where it didn't have a red dot, kind of like Dogtone is alluding to?

 

[Knightshade]

Got it thanks, yeah I guess I wasn't expecting that. I could have sworn the test drive car with newer software didn't do that, and there was a state of the icon where it didn't have a red dot, kind of like Dogtone is alluding to?

You can turn recording off (camera icon without the red dot) manually- regardless of location or being in park/drive/etc...but that's it.

It's on by default though.