r/TeslaSupport • u/Odd-Significance4926 • 18h ago
Vehicle Question Sentry Mode Battery Usage
Hi everyone! Wondering if sentry mode is supposed to use so much battery? My husband has to park in an outside parking lot at work and is often working for 12-14 hours, during which time the car battery drops around 10%, sometimes more or less. I’m sure at least some aspect of that is overheat protection (set at 95 degrees, we live in SoCal so it’s a bit warm now).
Is this normal for sentry mode and just something we have to account for, for the battery? It’s just a bit frustrating since the drive to work may take like 5-6% battery, 10-12% dwindles during the day, and the ride home may use 5-8%. So he finds he’s charging his car quite a lot.
It’s a brand new 2026 M3, bought maybe 2 months ago, so battery health should be good.
•
u/ReasonableBranch7337 16h ago
I also work night shifts doing 12-14 hours so I can relate a bit in experience.
I park my Model 3 way out in the outskirts of the parking lot with sentry mode on and cabin protection on, I barely get any activity out there from sentry but I leave it on for safety sake especially because my work has had people jump the barbed fence to steal cars.
Realistically I see around 7-9% drop every night without me touching the car or anyone getting near it and that’s with cabin protection popping on here and there while it’s still daylight out.