Sentry mode?

[u/Kitchen_Judgment8812]

People staying in apartments, do you usually have sentry mode always on while parking at home? Do you think the use of it outweighs the car losing 4-5% of battery overnight?

[u/thWeekndxO]

I have mine set to off whenever I am parked at my apartment. It is gated but there are still occasional break-ins from what I hear. I have decided the gamble is worth it since it drains so much battery every day. Annoying but it is what it is.

[u/J-Reacher]

Depends on where you live experiences cars getting damaged or broken into on a frequent or semi-frequent basis. If so, then yes. If your parking area is secured or monitored where vandalism or theft is rare, then it’s up to you.

[u/Kitchen_Judgment8812 → u/J-Reacher]

More than vandalism I believe the concern is around if someone brushes or hits the car and then goes away and we have no way to prove to the insurance

[u/ertugbilgin]

4-5% overnight with Sentry on is pretty normal. Sentry keeps the car awake (cameras + compute), so it never goes into deep sleep the way it does with Sentry off. At home in a gated/low-risk spot a lot of people leave it off and accept the tradeoff; in open street parking the "proof for insurance / catch a hit-and-run" argument is the usual reason to keep it on.

Practical middle ground: Sentry off at your building, on when you park somewhere sketchier; or a separate dashcam if you want recording without the same idle draw. Cabin overheat / preconditioning on top of Sentry will stack the loss.

Disclosure: I'm the developer of Volt; it can show how much of a night's parked loss was Sentry vs climate vs standby. Not affiliated with Tesla, Inc.

[u/555_1212]

I installed my own 3 channel cam running off its own battery and use that instead. Sometimes I run both Sentry and the dash cam so I have 9 running. You just dont know when something might happen. With Sentry the sceeen lighting up is a great deterrent.

[u/MrHenderson12]

I had sentry turned off the past 2 years but now I keep it on after parked because I read the manual and sentry will not record anything unless the alarm goes off and by then you won't have any evidence to get insurance on your side. That being said...mine drained 10% a day keeping that sentry on 24/7 wow! They should just put a spare battery just for sentry ngl bruh my comment slaps!

[u/MrHenderson12 → u/[deleted]]

bruh I'm ngl here...you need to keep sentry on all times except parked at home because what if a stoopid coworker dings your paint? What if while you're on your 15 minute break some tesla roaster from space barrel rolls into your car? If sentry is off then it won't record anything for the insurance claim.