Sentry Mode is like a strong warrior-like guard, protecting your car from any threat from the outside world. The most common threat it’s protecting your Tesla from is vehicle theft.
As per the reports of federal statistics, In 2017, there was approximately one attempted car theft every 40.8 seconds in the US. That’s where the Tesla Sentry Mode comes in.
It enters a Standby mode, which activates the external cameras of the Tesla and looks out for any potential damage to the car. But does Tesla Sentry Mode drain battery?
There is a valid reason for worry about this as Tesla cars run on electricity and you don’t want to come and see that your Tesla has run out of battery even when the car was unattended.
What a Sentry Mode would be and How does it work
As we mentioned earlier, the Sentry Mode is always guarding your Tesla when activated. To prevent your car from falling victim to vehicle theft, it’s mostly activated when there’s no one in the car.
Standby mode lets the car monitor the surroundings by activating the external cameras of the Tesla. If it detects any sort of threat like even someone leaning on the car, it will go to Alert mode.
A warning message will appear on the touchscreen of the Tesla saying “Cameras are recording”. And if someone causes greater damage to the car, the Alert mode will set out an alarm by playing music from the audio system at maximum volume.
Also, the Alert mode will send a message to the owner via Tesla mobile app.
Tesla Sentry Mode battery drain: Protecting your car at what cost
When you go around asking the question whether or not Sentry Mode drains the battery, then the answer would be YES, it drains the battery when it’s activated.
Now, wouldn’t that be a problem if Tesla ran out of battery due to Sentry mode?
Although the Sentry Mode drains the battery, still it’s safe to say that the drainage isn’t so much that you need to worry about. Approximately, 10 kilometers over the night’s worth of scale.
Moreover, the only things it would do is it will flash the lights of your Tesla, turn on the touchscreen’s display and save all of the recordings to the flash drive. They don’t consume much energy.
Let’s see what the Tesla Support group says about the usage of batteries for Sentry mode.
According to them, it will drain about the same power as it will need to drive a Tesla for one mile per hour. Basically, it will take 11 days for the Sentry mode to drain all of the power out of a fully charged Tesla Model 3, and once it does it, you will get a dead Tesla car.
And if you don’t use the Sentry mode on your Tesla while being parked, it will take 20 days to get a dead Tesla. This is called a Vampire Drain, as there is no source of power consumption, yet your Tesla will lose its battery power.
Although Tesla provides us with a solution, which is 20% safe from failing. What it means is that if the battery level downs under 20%, then the Sentry mode would turn off automatically. This prevents your Tesla battery from dying, although your car might be exposed to car theft greatly.
Tesla gave us a solution, let’s see what we can do for ourselves to deal with the battery-draining issues of Tesla Sentry Mode.
Solutions to deal with Tesla battery-draining problem
Parking at a charging device/outlet
As the Sentry Mode drains the battery, it would be the easiest solution of all if we just park our Tesla at a charger.
It could be a charging outlet, although the outlets aren’t an ideal location to park on. If you have any matters to attend to near a charging outlet, you could park it there and keep your Tesla safe with the Sentry Mode.
Otherwise, you can park it near a Wall Connector or a Mobile Connector. Even though they don’t provide high voltage charging options, still you can work with it. You can easily install a Wall Connector in your garage where you usually park your cars.
Planning ahead
When you know that you will be gone for a long time from your car and your Tesla would be unattended and needs to be protected, then you should charge your Tesla enough before heading off.
This way, you would know that your Sentry Mode won’t make your Tesla dead and it also will be safe from vehicle theft.
Closing 3rd party apps for your Tesla
Before you head off leaving your Tesla, close and limit all of the third-party apps running in your Tesla.
The third-party apps will eventually drain your battery more than your Sentry mode. So, it’s better to close them before you set on the Sentry Mode for your Tesla.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much battery does Sentry Mode use per hour?
Although we did answer the question earlier, let us make it more clear. The Tesla Sentry Mode would use the battery power equivalent to the power Tesla uses to drive one mile in an hour. Tesla could run 22 kWh per mile, which means Sentry mode would drain 22-kilo watt power per hour.
2. Should I leave Sentry Mode on all the time?
To protect your car from theft, you should leave the Sentry Mode always on. But if you park it in your garage and your home security is tight enough to minimize the risks of vehicle theft, then you don’t have to leave Sentry Mode on when you park your car in your garage. You already know that Sentry Mode would turn off by itself once it drops below 20% battery charge.
3. Is Sentry Mode worth it?
Yes, of course, Sentry Mode is worth it. Otherwise, considering the popularity of Tesla cars, your car might get stolen if you ever become careless once. The interesting part is that even if your Tesla gets stolen, you can track it down with your Tesla Mobile App.
Conclusion
You asked us whether Tesla Sentry mode drains battery.
And we sure provided you with the answer, didn’t we? The rest is up to you, we have clarified how you can deal with the problems. But we understand that you might have some queries regarding the issue as we can’t actually cover up every single thing.
Tesla Customer Service is always been helpful to their customers. They don’t want to give any scope to their customers to complain. So, if you have any questions or doubts, you can seek their help or you can always search in our other content regarding Tesla.
