How to minimize battery loss while using Sentry Mode.
Sentry Mode is one of the security features for modern electric vehicles but it is famous for draining the battery. For people who own these cars in the United States those who park at airports or in cold places it is very important to manage this battery loss.
Here is a guide to help you minimize battery loss while using Sentry Mode.
How to Minimize Battery Loss While Using Sentry Mode
Teslas Sentry Mode keeps the cars computer awake to process camera feeds. This can use a lot of power 200 to 300 watts and can make you lose around 7-15 miles of range per day. If you want to keep your car safe without coming to a dead battery follow these steps.
- Use “Exclude Home” and “Exclude Work”
The way to save battery is to not use Sentry Mode where you already feel safe.
To do this: Go to Controls then Safety, then Sentry. Turn on Exclude Home Exclude Work and Exclude Favorites.
This works because it stops the car from running the cameras in your garage, which’s where most battery drain happens over time.
- Disable “Camera-Based Detection”
With the latest software updates you can choose to turn off camera processing while keeping the sensors on.
The good thing about this is that the car will still alarm if a window is broken or the car is tilted. It will not wake up every time someone walks by. This reduces the power used by the cars computer.
- Park in Lit Areas to Reduce “False Positives”
Sentry Mode triggers an alert whenever it detects movement. If you park near a neon sign or a busy sidewalk the car will record clips keeping the computer running at full power.
A good tip is to park in a corner spot with foot traffic to minimize the number of times the system has to alert.
- Manage Cabin Overheat Protection
If you are parking in a place, like Arizona or Florida Sentry Mode works with Cabin Overheat Protection. Running both can drain your battery quickly.
To optimize this: Set Cabin Overheat Protection to use the fan or turn it off if you do not have things in the car that can get damaged by heat. This ensures the battery is only powering the cameras, not the heating and cooling system.
- Check Your External Storage Drive
The type of storage drive you use is important. Old storage drives or slow USB sticks generate heat and use more power.
To fix this: Use a quality solid state drive or a high-end microSD card with a USB adapter. They use power and handle the constant data writing of Sentry Mode much better.
- Monitor via the App Carefully
Every time you open your Tesla app to check the Live Camera feed you wake the car from its low-power state.
The rule is: If you are trying to make your battery last for a week at the airport try not to check the app times a day. Let the car stay in its deep-sleep cycle.
It is important to remember that Tesla automatically turns off Sentry Mode when your battery drops to 20%. This is a safety feature to make sure you have range to reach a charging station. If you know you will be away for a time try to arrive at your parking spot with, at least 50-60% charge.
How much battery does sentry mode use?
I was feverishly scouring Amazon to get the cheapest thumb drive that met the capacity limits for Sentry Mode. Two days later, thank you Amazon Prime, it arrived.
Without hesitation, I ripped a nice wound in my thumb (thank you blister packaging). After bandaging the wound, I finished opening the thumb drive, swiftly went to my Model 3, and put the thumb drive into the right USB port under the screen.
I couldn’t wait to get to work the next day to try out Sentry Mode. I activated the feature via the mobile app (yes, I know I could have done this on the screen, but what fun is that). I worked my full day, returned to my car, and noticed I had three Sentry Events!
I drove home like I had rented the car (its a Tesla, I can’t help it). I put the thumb drive into my PC, and patiently waited for the content to load…
…and there it was…a BUNCH of files.
I searched and searched for those three moments among the plethora of monotony and finally found three separate instances of people walking by my car. Man…that was such a let down.
- Someone actually damaged your vehicle and you happened to have the thumb drive loaded and Sentry Mode activated.
- Tesla changed the software to ONLY record when Sentry Mode is activated.
Outside of those two circumstances, I do not see value in the feature other than this:
How can the Tesla vehicle Sentry Mode deter theft?
This is a combination dashcam and alarm system. When you enable this, which requires locked and parked car, this keeps the car on and ready to record activity around your car. If there is motion near the car, the system records video on the drive installed in the car. If it suspects a threat, it will also pulse the headlights, sound the alarm and display a message.
This doesn’t prevent theft, but it deters thieves. If someone had a keycard or managed to hack the OS, they could steal the car. I don’t know anyone has successfully shown this in the real world or in research.
Note: This uses battery when the car is parked. If you’re in a store or at dinner, not a problem. If you park somewhere like the airport, this can drain your battery as the car doesn’t get to sleep with lots of activity around. I’ve seen 7–8% a day disappear.
This also requires the battery to be >20%