Wireless USB stick for dashcam possible?

[Knightshade]

Yes, the Tesla port is only USB 2.0 I believe.

Correct.

And USB2 is way faster than the video needs (0.5mb/sec per camera- so 1.5mb/sec for all 3... which is 2-3 slower than the slowest USB2 keys out there, and 5-10x slower than even average ones

 

[ccjw33]

I understand the manual only mentioned using USB 2.0 cable but never specified if the ports are USB 2.0 or 3.0. If the USB 2.0 wireless drive will work I may try that and see if that USB drive will work better so I don't need to remove the drive to access the files.

 

[silk]

The one I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZCFYF2W

-Randy

I have exactly the same, but no matter FAT 32 or exFAT, the car does not recognize it.
So how did you format your sanDisk wifi 64GB? If not exFAT, what did you use to format it to FAT32?
Thanks,

 

[israndy]

I have a Mac, so I open Disk Utility and I choose Fat32 formatting, but you have to be sure that you are not using GUID as the Partition type, that's not compatible with Fat32 on the Tesla.

-Randy

 

[Charlie_T]

I have been using said USB stick for a few weeks now. The advantage is that I can check the footage w/o taking the stick inside. I can pair it with my phone and watch it on the app they provide. I had to buy a new device as my original SanDisk device that gave me the idea was only able to play off an exFat disk. It was $19 on eBay for the one that works.

When I want to look at it I press the power button on the side and leave the car. I can sit in a restaurant or stand at a Supercharger and access the videos. I can even do it at home and the stick connects to my home WiFi, so I can be on my phone or iPad anywhere in the house and retrieve the file for up to an hour after turning the stick on. That feature is the coolest. Though I do love that wherever I go there is a WiFI hotspot in my car's name.

If I don't leave the car I get a message that it's in USB mode. I can pause the recording and eject the stick if I wanna look at the videos in the car. That works too.

-Randy

Thanks for this info. I got the same drive. However when I leave the car the app still says that it is in USB Mode even after some time, so I can't see the content without unplugging the drive first. How did you get this to work? Am I missing a step?

 

[Charlie_T]

After evaluation, I have found that the SanDisk product is fairly useless for use with the Teslacam.

1) You have to unplug it from the car and manually put the device into WiFi mode to access the videos. When it is plugged in, the device never goes out of "USB Mode" on the Tesla Model 3. I guess the car always supplies power to the USB port even when the car is off.

2) The app does not let you download folders, only individual files. This makes it impossible to wirelessly transfer the webcam videos to any other device since the TeslaCam system creates many, many folders for the files. The drive cannot be mounted as a drive on a computer either.

3) The device I got was flakey and eventually stopped working in USB mode at all.

I sent it back to Amazon and got a regular USB drive with a lightning port to use with the car.

 

[C141medic]

After evaluation, I have found that the SanDisk product is fairly useless for use with the Teslacam.

1) You have to unplug it from the car and manually put the device into WiFi mode to access the videos. When it is plugged in, the device never goes out of "USB Mode" on the Tesla Model 3. I guess the car always supplies power to the USB port even when the car is off.

2) The app does not let you download folders, only individual files. This makes it impossible to wirelessly transfer the webcam videos to any other device since the TeslaCam system creates many, many folders for the files. The drive cannot be mounted as a drive on a computer either.

3) The device I got was flakey and eventually stopped working in USB mode at all.

I sent it back to Amazon and got a regular USB drive with a lightning port to use with the car.

Have a look at this thread:
Teslacam - dash cam with a usb drive that has wifi capabilities
I have the Verbatim and it works fine.

 

[Kuijp74]

Solution is to make a new drive of max 32 gb then you can format it in fat32 ans then make dir and you are a happy camper

For IOS there is this app called sentryview

*** This app only works with SanDisk Connect™ Wireless Stick ***

connect


This app allows you to view Sentry videos and Dashcam videos generated by your Tesla on your iOS device without needing a computer.


- The left, right and center videos are automatically shown next to each other.

- All clips are organized by data and time.

- You can see thumbnail of clips as you browse through videos.

- The app allows you to deletes left, right, center videos associated with a time that you choose


Your Tesla must be able to record Sentry/Dashcam videos.

‎SentryView: For Tesla Cars

 

[Knightshade]

Solution is to make a new drive of max 32 gb then you can format it in fat32 ans then make dir and you are a happy camper

Only thing that's a solution for is "unwillingness to use something other than the build-in windows format tool"

It also leaves you stuck with a tiny partition for video, meaning you're going to wear out the storage device massively faster than using a 128GB partition or something.

 

[RScottyL]

Unrelated FYI- the USB ports in the Tesla are USB2- there's no value in USB3 sticks there (other than I guess for loading up a music stick from a PC with USB3... but it won't be of any benefit when plugged into the car)

If you do go with USB 3 flash drive, you will be able to transfer the files faster off the drive if your computer has a USB 3 port on it!

 

[RScottyL]

Is the USB 2.0 fast enough to record videos without lagging? I am little worry about the video speed that's why still have not pull the trigger to get SanDisk wireless USB drive.

I think the cams are only recording in 720p, so yes, the bitrate should still be good enough for USB2!

 

[calidreamz808]

I use the Sandisk wifi stick and use the SentryView app, and its wonderful. I love it and so far no issues with failed recording blah blah etc.