Tesla Sentry Mode: What It Is, How to Use It and Battery Drain

Tesla's Sentry Mode captures videos from up to four cameras at once

Not a Tesla App

Tesla Sentry Mode is an intelligent vehicle security system designed to monitor and record potential threats around your parked Tesla. This feature utilizes the vehicle's cameras and sensors to detect suspicious activity, notify the owner through the Tesla mobile app, and save footage to a USB drive.

What is Sentry Mode

When enabled, Tesla Sentry Mode keeps the vehicle's cameras and computer powered on and ready to record potential threats while the car is locked and in Park. If a threat is detected, the system pulses the headlights, displays a message on the touchscreen, and may sound the alarm, depending on the situation. In addition, footage of the event is saved to a USB drive, and the owner will be notified via the app if the alarm goes off. Sentry Mode offers an extra layer of security for Tesla owners, helping to deter would-be thieves or vandals.

Cameras and Sound

While Sentry Mode is enabled, it will record from four of the vehicle's nine available cameras. The video recorded comes from one of the front-facing cameras, the fender camera on either side of the vehicle, and the rear camera. The other remaining front-facing cameras, B-pillar cameras, and the cabin camera do not record at this time.

Teslas do not contain any external microphones, so all Sentry Mode videos are silent. Although Teslas do contain internal microphones, Tesla does not capture audio from these microphones. In fact, even if you're viewing the interior camera in the Tesla app, you can not hear any audio from inside of the vehicle.

How to Turn On Sentry Mode

You can enable Sentry Mode by tapping Controls then tapping 'Sentry.' The Sentry Mode icon will turn red when Sentry Mode is enabled. You can also choose to turn on Sentry Mode automatically when the vehicle is parked or activate it using the Tesla mobile app. Voice commands like "Keep Tesla safe," "Keep my car safe," "Sentry on," or "Enable Sentry" can also be used to enable the feature.

Enable Sentry Mode from the Controls menu

Not a Tesla App

How Long Does Sentry Mode Stay On

Once Sentry Mode is enabled, it will remain on until you turn it off, or when your battery reaches 20%. If the battery falls below this level, Sentry Mode will turn off, and you will receive a notification via the Tesla app. Since Sentry Mode increases power consumption, Tesla turns it off automatically to leave you with enough energy to reach your destination.

Sentry Mode Battery Drain

Since your vehicle's computer needs to remain on to process video from its various cameras, there is additional power usage while Sentry Mode is enabled.

The actual amount of power consumed varies based on your vehicle's specific hardware, but tests have shown that the vehicle will consume about 250 to 300 watts while Sentry Mode is on. This is equivalent to losing about 1 mile of range for every hour Sentry Mode is enabled.

In a day, Sentry Mode may consume as much as 7.2 kWh, about 24 miles of range, or roughly equivalent to 7% to 14% of your battery, depending on your model and battery size.

Since Sentry Mode consumes so much energy, it's best to use it only when needed. Sentry Mode is not meant for when your vehicle will be parked long term, as it'll quickly drain your battery. Luckily, Tesla offers options to automatically enable Sentry Mode at specific locations and Sentry Mode is automatically disabled when the vehicle's battery falls to 20%.

Sentry Mode Options

You can customize Sentry Mode settings to fit your preferences and requirements. Some options available include:

Disabling sounds: If you want to silence the security alarm and audio system when the alarm is triggered, navigate to Controls > Safety > Disable Sentry Sounds. Sentry Mode will still send a notification through the mobile app and save the last 10 minutes of footage of any events that occurred.

Excluding specific locations: In Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode, you can choose not to enable Sentry Mode in particular areas, such as your home, work, or favorite destinations. This can be helpful if you want to conserve battery power or avoid unnecessary recordings in familiar areas.

Choosing the clip length: In some markets (Not available in the U.S. and Canada), you can select the length of Sentry Mode video clips, allowing you to customize how much footage is saved during an event. 

Disabling camera detection: If you prefer, you can disable camera detection so that Sentry Mode only activates when the car senses a physical intrusion. This can be helpful in situations where you want to minimize the number of false alarms or unnecessary recordings.

How to Set Up Sentry Mode

First, insert a compatible USB drive into the glove box USB port. If your car doesn't have a USB port in the glove box, you can use one in the center console. Note that not all Teslas have data-capable USB ports in the center console, so the glove box should be your first choice. Chances are that Tesla already included a compatible USB drive in the car for you. Tesla defines a compatible USB drive as one that is USB 2.0 compatible and holds at least 64 GB. This Samsung USB drive is a good choice for Sentry Mode because of its durability and size. It offers fast write speeds and 256GB of storage, 4x Tesla's recommendation.

Next, you can format the USB drive by going to Controls > Safety and tap on "Format USB Drive." Tesla recommends using a high-quality USB drive to ensure smooth recording and playback of Sentry Mode videos. You can also enable Dashcam recording. Navigate to Controls > Safety > Dashcam in your vehicle's menu and set it to Auto. This will allow your vehicle to automatically record footage while driving. Footage will automatically be recorded when an event is detected or when you tap the Dashcam icon under Controls > Dashcam.

How to View Sentry Mode Recordings

You can review your Sentry Mode video with the Dashcam Viewer app in the car

Not a Tesla App

To view Sentry Mode or Dashcam videos, use the Dashcam app in your vehicle. The Tesla system tags events with a red dot, making locating and reviewing footage easier. This feature allows you to quickly identify any incidents around your vehicle and gather evidence if necessary. Remember to regularly check your USB drive's storage capacity, as new recordings will overwrite the oldest ones when the drive is full. It's a good idea to back up important footage to a separate storage device for safekeeping.

Sentry Mode Live Access

You can view live footage from your vehicle in the Tesla app

Not a Tesla App

Sentry Mode Live Access lets you view your vehicle's cameras in real-time using the Tesla mobile app. This feature requires Tesla's Premium Connectivity. When using View Live Camera, your vehicle will periodically flash its exterior lights and displays a message on the touchscreen, notifying others that the area surrounding the vehicle is being viewed through the cameras.

To enable the View Live Camera feature, touch Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode > View Live Camera via Mobile App on the car's touchscreen. First, ensure no occupants are in the vehicle, and all doors are locked. Then, navigate to Safety > Sentry Mode > View Live Camera in the Tesla app. The live camera feed is fully encrypted and cannot be accessed by Tesla, ensuring your privacy. View Live Camera is limited to approximately one hour (or 15 minutes for some regions) of cumulative usage per day. Although Sentry Mode Live Access is widely available, it is not currently available in all markets.

If your vehicle is equipped with a pedestrian warning speaker you can press and hold the microphone button in the app to transmit your voice through the speaker, potentially deterring would-be intruders or vandals.

When Dog Mode or Sentry Mode are enabled, you can also switch the live camera view to see through the vehicle's interior camera. This can be useful if you want to check on your pet while away from the vehicle. Note that this feature is not supported in vehicles with Autopilot computer 2.0 or 2.5.

Tesla Sentry Mode is a valuable security feature that can help protect your vehicle from potential threats. By following the steps provided, you can set up, enable, and customize this feature to fit your needs. As a Tesla owner, using Sentry Mode can give you peace of mind, knowing that your car is actively monitoring its surroundings for potential threats. While no security system can prevent all attacks, Sentry Mode offers an added layer of protection that can help deter criminals and keep your vehicle safe.

Imagining Tesla’s Robotaxi Network Charging Stations

Not a Tesla App

It was a rainy April 1st when a news-searching author went on a delve into the depths of April Fools to find fact from falsehood. And while we found a lot of fantastic jokes, we also found some good ideas.

So, with a shoutout to MarcoRP on X, whose April Fool’s Joke gave us a good run for our money for a couple of minutes, we thought to ourselves - what would a Cybercab Charging Station / Cleaning Hub really look like?

Cybercab Wireless Charging Sites

Now, before continuing, we’d like to point out that the image up top is a joke from Marco - it isn’t an accurate or real site map submission from Tesla. However, it gave us the impetus to think critically about what is required for a Robotaxi fleet, based primarily on the Cybercab, to be able to service a city.

Requirements

Tesla will likely need to charge a small fleet of Cybercabs at a single time and in a single place. That means that the site needs to be large enough to cover a major metro area while also still being compact enough to not cost too much money to build out.

In addition, we need to factor in charge times. The Cybercab is likely to launch with a battery around 50 kWh, which will result in a range of approximately 300 miles. With that much range, the average Cybercab may not need to charge more than once or at all during daytime shifts, so instead, most of the vehicles will charge overnight.

MarcoRP

Math and Charge Times

The overnight charging means that most of these vehicles could be charged slowly. When we did some back-of-the-napkin math last year, we determined that Tesla’s wireless charger will likely peak around 17 kW (for comparison, Tesla’s Wall Connector at 32 amps charges at about 7 kW). If we scale Tesla’s wireless charger down slightly to 10 kW, accounting for some energy loss and the potential size of the site, that means a Cybercab will be able to charge in about 5 hours.

Tesla’s upcoming V4 Supercharger unit can currently handle 1.5MW per cabinet, but this slower-speed charging is A/C, not DC, which means there is a step-down loss of about 3-5%. Let’s make that a comfortable 10% for any other overages, but we can estimate around 1.35MW of power. That 1.3MW will easily handle charging up to 100 Cybercabs at once - all wirelessly, using Tesla’s unique beam-forming and beam-steering technology to keep efficiency high at every single stall.

Within about 5 hours, a whole fleet of 100 Cybercabs could be charged overnight when electricity rates are cheaper and still be out in time for the morning commute.

While this is all just hypothetical, it really does make sense that Tesla will be establishing these sites that won’t require much space or a ton of energy.

Tesla recently curtained off a large section of the parking garage at Giga Texas, as well as some of their chargers on the eastern end of the facility, leading us to believe they may just be testing this at scale internally.

There’s a lot to look forward to with Tesla’s V4 Supercharger deployment coming this year and with Robotaxi launching in just a couple of months.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Tesla Announces 2025 Q1 Numbers: Lower Than Expected, but the Worst May Be Over

Not a Tesla App

Tesla released its Q1 2025 delivery and production numbers this morning, reporting 336,681 vehicles delivered and 362,615 produced—marking the company’s weakest quarter since 2022. Deliveries declined 13% year-over-year and fell well short of Wall Street estimates, which ranged from 360,000 to 370,000. Some analysts had forecast as many as 407,000 units.

Despite the shortfall, Tesla stock is actually up about 4% this morning, not only suggesting the market had already priced in weaker performance, but that this may be seen as the low point for the company. Tesla began delivering its refreshed Model Y in March, and production across all four Gigafactories was impacted by several weeks of downtime as Tesla retooled lines to accommodate the newer model. However, there’s no doubt that there is some brand impact from Elon Musk.

Comparing Numbers

Most of the deliveries—323,800 units—came from the Model 3 and Model Y lineup, while the “Other Models” category (including the Cybertruck, Model S, and Model X) accounted for 12,881 deliveries. That’s a 31% drop for Model 3/Y and a sharper 45% drop for the Other Models category compared to the previous quarter. However, comparing it to a more applicable Q1 2024, these numbers are only down about 13% for the Model 3/Y and down about 24% for the Model S/X and Cybertruck.

In terms of production, Tesla built 345,454 Model 3/Y vehicles and 17,161 from its “Other Models” line. The company attributed the production drop to the Model Y changeover but said the ramp is “going well.” This still leaves a large gap between production and delivery numbers, although they may not be as large as many had feared.

Cybertruck

One major weak point in Tesla’s numbers seems to be Cybertruck deliveries. While Tesla previously expected the Cybertruck to sell more than 250k units per year, we’re already seeing a decline in numbers. This is likely due to several factors, including the higher-than-expected price point of the truck, the unavailability of the RWD model, and the Cybertruck’s polarizing design, which may attract unwanted attention right now.

While the Cybertruck was ramping up production in 2024, making the lower numbers reasonable, the deliveries for Q1 2025 dropped drastically compared to the previous quarter. Cybertruck deliveries are estimated to be in the 5- 6k unit range for the quarter.

The good news to take away here is that the Single Motor variant of the Cybertruck appears to be nearing release. The price of the RWD version is expected to be about $60k USD before any incentives.

Q1 Earnings Call

Tesla announced their quarterly numbers this morning and posted on social media that they’ll live stream their Earnings Call on April 22nd.

This post was later edited to change “Q1 Earnings Call” to “Q1 Company Update.” It’s not clear whether there’s any significance in this change, but it could mean that Tesla has more to announce during the call.

The Company Update will occur on April 22nd at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET. The standard Q&A session with executives and Musk is expected to follow the release of additional financial results for the quarter.

Tesla is set to launch its long-awaited Robotaxi service in June, and a cheaper, mass-market model is also planned for this year. With delivery numbers coming in soft and the refreshed Model Y just hitting the road, all eyes will be on forward-looking commentary during the update.

Follow

Follow

Follow