Tesla
Tesla finally resolved the Sentry Mode battery drain
Tesla has resolved a battery drain problem for sentry mode in its electric vehicles (EVs), which has been causing a major problem for users.
Once enabled, Sentry Mode records suspicious activity around your Tesla when it’s locked in Park. It has different measures to alert the owner and warn the intruder.
If it detects a threat, the sentry mode will pulse the headlights and sound an alarm to warn the outsider. It will also show a message on the front display to indicate cameras are recording the outside footage.
On the other hand, sentry mode will raise an alarm in the owner’s mobile app and save the recorded footage to a USB drive, if it is installed.
This feature is disabled by default and you can enable it via voice command by saying “Keep Tesla Safe,” “Keep my car safe,” “Sentry On,” or “Enable Sentry”. You can also enter the mobile app to enable this feature.
In April this year, Tesla added a remote sentry mode video preview feature. This allows the user to view sentry mode footage directly on the smartphone.
Despite its high security level, this feature remained a major battery consumption problem. It requires the battery to be at least 20 percent charged and turn off if the battery goes below this power level.
“Power consumption may increase when Sentry Mode is active” Tesla mentioned in the official user manual.
This could be due to the continued use of the camera and other related hardware to record outside footage.
Earlier this year, Tesla’s former SVP of Powertrain and Energy confirmed a forthcoming solution for Sentry Mode’s battery consumption issues. He announced a cut in power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to existing intakes.
Rollout Date
Tesla is expected to rollout new Sentry Mode power consumption improvements with software version 2024.38.4 and it’s first spotted for Cybertruck. The improvement will expand in the following months to other models.