Tesla Sentry Mode energy consumption is improving with each software update

In the latest tests, Tesla Sentry Mode proves to be getting smarter and consuming less energy while the car is parked for long hours, otherwise it has been causing the infamous ‘vampire drain’ but with the latest over-the-air updates (2019.28.3.x), the power consumption has went significantly lower.

Bjørn Nyland has been testing the Sentry Mode on his Tesla Model 3 since he bought it earlier this year, currently he parked his Model 3 aka MC Hammer outside Mercedes Norway for about 100 hours while he was testing the Mercedes Benz EQC.

While parked four days, Bjørn’s Model 3 reported only one Sentry Mode event (suspected vandalism/theft) which indicates that the algorithm used to trigger the events has also been improved by Tesla — as the car was positioned at the corner of the parking lot and the walkway is only about 1 meters away, the car could have been more suspicious but wasn’t.

The MC Hammer only consumed about 21% of the battery charging in ~100 hours of being parked, the owner left the car at 90% state of charge (SoC) before going on his journey.

To re-confirm the energy consumption, Bjørn again parked his Tesla Model 3 in Sentry Mode for about 72 hours outside his home and results were almost similar with some variation, the car consumed around 160 W on average combining the consumption of both events.

The following results were found in both Sentry Mode tests:

Test 1:

• 21% battery was drained during 100 hours
• 0.21 x 74.5 kWh = 15.645 kWh
• 15.645 kWh / 100 h = 156 Watts

Test 2:

• 16% battery was drained during 72 hours
• 0.16 x 74.5 kWh = 11.92 kWh
• 11.92 kWh / 72 h = 166 Watts

The higher amount of energy consumption in the second test should be the result of 27 Sentry Mode events reported, there is more power needed to activate 1 front and 2 side repeater cameras and the center touchscreen displaying the Hal 9000 while playing Bach’s Toccata in high volume.

Historically Bjørn Nyland ran 4 Sentry Mode tests for which he observed the following results, the average of current two tests on the 2019.28.3 firmware subversion is used to present the results:

• Test #1: 315 Watts
• Test #2: 233 Watts
• Test #3: 160 Watts (average)

What this means is that on average Sentry Mode is using 7% of battery during a 24 hour period and if you leave your Tesla Model 3 long range parked for 10 days with 90% SoC, you will still have 20% charging left when you arrive home from vacation, not bad at all.

Related:

• Tesla Model 3 vs. Tesla Model X HVAC efficiency/energy consumption test
• Manual zoom and rotate in new Tesla driving visualizations with 2019.28.3.7 firmware
• Tesla’s new climate option, the ‘Party Mode’ is detected and coming soon
• Surviving at -15°C/5°F inside a Tesla with the ‘Keep Climate On’ option
• Another Tesla Model 3 vandal caught by Sentry Mode in Norway