I’m glad that what I posted was able to help you that’s always my intention to help people sometimes my replies are a little rough around the edges I apologize for that
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I have 15 at my home and 17 each at 2 other locations. If you want to add an external antenna I would not worry about the warranty on a $25 product, or I would not bother to make modifications and buy a different more expensive product. Instead however, buy a $35 mesh wifi 2.4 extender at amazon and plug it in halfway to your cameras with the weak signals. If it is a very long run with no outlets nearby, simply use a 50 ft standard power cord and plug the extender into the end of that.
The very best solution on the V3 would be for wyze to have an extended antenna fabricated into the body of the external stub usb pigtail that is affixed to it. We would all get at least another 50 ft of solid range
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A patch antenna would not be a good idea for Wyze to implement. You’re assuming the back of the camera is pointed toward the access point it’s trying to reach and that’s likely not true in many instances. Wyze has to do what’s best for the largest number of users and an omni is the right choice.
Also, the vertical polarization doesn’t matter the omni linked above. It’ll function almost exactly the same if it’s horizontal or vertical polarization.
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I agree that omnidirectional antenna is more universal but I disagree with the statement that vertical and horizontal are the same. For camera horizontal polarization may be much better for two reasons:
- Magnetic field component penetrates walls and other obstacles better than the vertical electrical component.
- Horizontal polarization is usually less susceptible to the industrial and man-made interferences that mostly vertical polarized.
The patch antenna has not a sharp directivity. For the camera, the most important direction for the antenna is to the backside. Making the antenna able to slightly move for about 30 degrees in both directions makes it practically universal. 20-times range extension worth such a small improvement.
Are you trying to say that horizontal is magnetic and vertical is electrical?
Patch antennas do have a much more directed radiation pattern than omnis. Using my own deployment as an example, only two of mine could utilize a patch antenna and have a performance improvement.
You have a substantial investment in cameras and therefore being able to improve their range for very little investment still puts you way ahead in the money game
By my experience horizontal is magnetic. At least more often than not. I am using this property of magnetic component to penetrate walls a lot and successfully. Patch antenna has relatively wide diagram. I use them a lot without fine tuning. Also, for 2.45 GHz this antenna may be made small enough to be placed inside the camera case. In any possible way this antenna will be much better than surrogate antenna that used inside the camera today. Moreover, I can easily design a loop antenna that is much cheaper than patch and will provide up to 5 dBi. With back reflector in probably will have about 8 dBi and can be design to have 50 Ohm impedance with at least -20 dB S11.
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By the way, if you want to experiment, the first measure with VNA what output impedance the camera circuit has at the antenna terminal. Then design an antenna that will match well with this impedance. It is easy to do.
Oh I definitely agree there is plenty of space in the camera housing and a much better antenna would be easy.
This is all very interesting topic it would be nice if you two gentlemen would be kind enough to share how that can be done and if we could do it ourselves
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It is easy to do when you are experienced in high-frequency RF engineering. Without these knowledge and experience you hardly can be successful to design and make a good antenna. But you can buy patch or loop antenna and install it. To get good performance you need to match antenna. For this you need to use the VNA (vector network analyzer) to measure the output impedance of the circuit (it may be a tricky task because there is no connector), then do the same for your antenna input impedance (this is easy because antenna usually has connector), and then design a good matching circuit for your antenna. When you have the VNA and experience it is easy task. Without the VNA you can only assume that impedance of the circuit and antenna both are close to 50 Ohm and just connect them together. If both circuit and antenna were well designed you will get good result.
Well it isn’t brain surgery but if you don’t have the equipment and if you’ve not gained the experience it will be very challenging
You may ask Wyze about the transmitter output impedance. It must be in the complex number form Z=R+jX. There Z is full impedance in Ohm, R is active part in Ohm, and X is reactive part in Ohm. This is the most important because they uses small antenna. For 2.45 GHz wavelength is about 13 cm and antenna is significantly smaller, therefore, its impedance may be much less than 50 Ohm.Knowing the antenna impedance is much easier - almost all vendors provide the datasheet that shows what impedance antenna have on each frequency. Then, if these numbers are close (X must be of opposite sign) you may simply connect your antenna without the matching circuit. If there is a significant difference in impedance, send me these numbers and I design matching for you. It is usually one or two small components like capacitors and inductors. I think it is doable if you really want to have a good antenna.
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The V3 has a built in usb stub. A perfect solution would be to embed an antenna wire in that during mfg
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It is not possible to include the antenna connection for 2.45 GHz in the USB connector.
Anything is possible during manufacturing, unless you are suggesting the usb power and the antenna reception would conflict
Clear as mud friend. As a technical ‘know enough’ not too touch (it usually ends badly), I’d go with mesh router and extension cords. Technical skills requirement…low. Chance of working, high! 
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