At the end of my rope with these cameras

Cameras
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I’m just wondering if anyone has any additional suggestions. I have 4 Cam Pan V3s that used to work somewhat okay, probably the first month that I had them. At some point, they stopped being reliable at all. They connect and disconnect from the network at their leisure, and seemingly ANY TIME I actually NEED to look at them, like to pull them up to check on my animals or for the mailman, they disconnect and are unresponsive for 20 minutes.

I feel like I’ve tried everything, from testing other USB power adapters and cables to purchasing a new, more effective router. I placed extenders, which work phenomenally on every other device in the house but are apparently insufficient for these cameras. I’ve tried different SSIDS, the garbage web view app on the browser, mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Has anyone had any kind of success fixing this? What bugs me specifically is that I have a seriously small single wide mobile home to cover, a completely fine otherwise wireless network for it (note that I’ve moved and adjusted and tried extenders) and these things just crap out any time you try to open them.

They seem to work a lot better at night, I’m assuming because less visibility/colour reduces bandwidth or something, unless you actually need to try to use the “PAN” feature, or to open the camera to improve resolution at all. This will cause the camera to time out and not reconnect until it feels like it much later when whatever event you were trying to view has completely passed. Most of the server-side recordings are obviously “failed to upload” so that’s useless also.

I don’t know. I’ve tried troubleshooting with support, who didn’t provide me with any relevant further troubleshooting steps or a resolution, other than the knowledge that they’ll close your ticket if you don’t respond remarkably quick. I’m getting tired of climbing ladders to reset the whole camera to change the name of the wireless network it’s attached to. I feel like these things are probably only effective as a deterrent if someone happens to see them and think they’re decent.

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Are the cams outside? Mobile homes typically have metal siding with a few small windows, your only way to overcome that is going to be getting the cams mounted where the signal can pass through windows, and try to locate your router/extenders where they have a clear line of sight to the cams through the windows.

Your symptoms are related to connectivity so it is either wifi or your internet speed, and I’m leaning more toward wifi based on your description.

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In addition to the suggestion about connectivity—I was thinking the same thing about metal siding and potentially roofing, as well, particularly since you mentioned “climbing ladders”, which makes me wonder if the wireless signal has metal roofing as a barrier—I wonder if power is also part of the problem, because of this:

Also this:

Cam Pan v3 has higher power requirements because of its movement capability, so it ships with a 5V/2A power adapter, in contrast with something like Cam v4 or Cam OG, which ship with 5V/1A power adapters. When you activate panning, if the camera doesn’t have adequate power (and wireless signal), then there’s an increased potential for performance to suffer or features to quit working, I think. Cables that are substandard or too long can also be part of the problem because of power drop over the increased distance, as has been discussed elsewhere in the Forum.

Aside from the recent issue with Waypoints in the current production app and one of my Cam Pan v3s having microSD issues, I’ve found that their reliability has generally improved over time, particularly following some firmware updates that were specifically supposed to address connectivity, so making sure you’re current with firmware is something I’d look at in addition to evaluating their placement for Wi-Fi interference and their power supplies/cables.

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i’m not sure how to respond to two comments at once, but these are both remarkably helpful suggestions; thank you very much. i also believe the issue is wifi related, but it’s a miserable situation because every other device on the network works exceptionally at the points where the cameras are located. initially, i was using what the v3s shipped with, but i also tried additional power adapters. the cabling is capable of supporting regular electronics at the same distance, so i don’t imagine that is the problem, but anything could be.

regarding metal siding, roofing, it’s minimal. one is above a window with the access point below on the inside, really a straight shot with minimal interference but the same problem.

i suppose another part of this that i didn’t mention is the potential for external wifi interference, while i live fairly rural and don’t have a lot of traffic i do have one neighbor nearby. but i don’t think that’s really the case. i’m going to try swapping the channels around and then maybe swap to another router, though i’m really losing faith on spending more money for these to work.

thanks again

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Here is one more thing to try at least temporarily as a test. Turn off 5Ghz band in your WiFi access point. Most Wyze cameras only use the 2.4Ghz band. Just want to rule out your cameras getting confused if your SSID is the same for both bands.

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2.4ghz interference comes from a lot of sources. What router are you using? Most likely you don’t need to buy another one, pretty much any aftermarket router can do what these cams need (some ISP ones are garbage, actually most of them are). However some of them come default with some settings and features that actually can hinder things. But interference/congestion could certainly be your issue, maybe that neighbor is running a 40mhz channel (using the entire spectrum) and a heavy user during the day, then at night doesn’t use it as much and your connectivity improves.

Are your cams mounted cam on top or on bottom? With mine I found that being on the bottom let water get in, which first causes random wifi connection issues, then eventually the cam would not boot up at all. Seems unlikely to have 4 do it at the same time but possible. But it really does sound like connectivity.

How is your internet connection, do you get the speeds you pay for with reasonable latency numbers (using a speed test site)? The cams do need to talk to the Wyze servers even when you’re viewing them locally, so that’s another thing to think about.

Also note that wifi repeaters/extenders can cause more problems than they solve. If you’ve gotten a new router, maybe try shutting those off for now and see how things perform? Too much wifi, especially when it is with repeaters, can be even worse than not enough. Those repeaters take what little spectrum is available and divide it in half.

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The Panv3s can’t get confused, they have no 5ghz radio so they don’t know anything about it or care. If your router has some design flaw where it blocks stuff between 2.4 and 5 (and your phone is on 5) that can cause issues, but the symptoms here don’t sound like that, especially where OP has tried other routers. Usually that glitch is only an issue during initial setup too.

So I’m not saying not to try the test, but if it does help, then that would actually show some issue with the connection between your phone and the router (or something internal to the router itself) and not between the router and the cam. Of course you could basically test the same thing (not exactly but similar) by switching the wifi off on your phone and using mobile data too.

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thanks for both of the suggestions; i have them mounted in dry spots, two with the mounts angled above the cameras, two mounted to exterior posts under roofs.

for what little it’s worth, i took a wifi scanner and set the channel from auto to 11 (the thing suggested the neighbor was on 10. he’s approximately 80 and doubtfully a heavy user of anything at any point, but i think he does have a potentially strong router going. might try another channel also when i can get a home and a proper test in) the router also provided the option for "20MHz, 40MHz, 20/40MHz so i manually assigned to 20MHz - my limited understanding leads me to believe that might help prevent overlap with additional bands. i had virtually the same issues with the ISP router as the tp-link router I’m using now, i’ll have to confirm the model.

in regards to the use of extenders, i have 2, but only one in active use that’s wired from the router itself to the other side of the house. it seems to work just fine for anything else i try to use on that side of the house, though admittedly that’s mostly connecting with my phone at this point to check that it works for this specific use case.

it was suggested at one point to assign the routers to specific ip addresses, so i did that. obviously the cameras are reflecting strong enough signal, but that means little to nothing in terms of consistent signal strength.

thanks again everyone.

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If your neighbor is on 10, try 1 or something on the totally opposite end of the spectrum. The lower channels also penetrate things slightly better. When set to “auto” your router is choosing based on what it sees inside the house. But what the cams are seeing outside is probably totally different, so manually trying a couple channels like 1 and 6 might yield better performance.

Setting your router to 1 and your repeater to 6 (if it lets you choose) would be good, if the only thing you’re competing with is something on 10. Or router on 6 and repeater on 1, same diff mostly.

20mhz is good, 40 causes a lot of problems.

If your extender is wired that’s good, it reduces a lot of the issues that wireless repeaters have. Though you still may find your single newer router is enough now.

Even though my 1 panv3 was mounted under an eave and I’d even taken steps to protect it more, like dielectric grease around the boot of the power plug, water still managed to get in around the rotating base. But my upright one has been in direct rain for a couple years now without issues. So that probably isn’t the problem.

Your phone probably operates on 5ghz so it will see totally different things from what the cameras do. You could try disabling 5ghz in your router and using your phone to get an idea of the signal in the areas where the cams are, but that’s a pretty crude test, just a rough idea at best.

Yeah the signal meters don’t tell you much, you can have a very strong signal but 99% of it can be unusable due to interference.

Static IPs on your routers/access points doesn’t matter, that wouldn’t change anything. However look in your router (and possibly the extenders) to see if it lets you tweak advanced settings.
-Universal beamforming should be shut off, it is very problematic. Explicit/AC/AX beamforming (only on 5ghz) can be left on, most things don’t use it and it wouldn’t be affecting the cams anyway.
-Airtime fairness should also be off, that’s for some very specific scenarios that most people don’t have.
-MIMO usually is fine but you can try turning that off too
-Encryption type should be WPA2 only, not WPA2/3 or WPA3, though if that was an issue most likely your cams wouldn’t connect at all, but who knows it could be interfering.
-If it has the option, disable 802.11b and 802.11g on the 2.4ghz band nothing uses that anymore and it slows everything down just having it enabled. Though every router handles it differently, with some setting it to “auto” then checking off “disable b” accomplishes that, others you set it to “n only” or “n/ax only” depending if your router is wifi 5 or 6. This again is just on the 2.4ghz band, 5ghz doesn’t really matter (though I do dyable 802.11a on mine, that’s an old 5ghz one that nothing uses, but that won’t affect the cams).

You could potentially try taking one of the cams inside, maybe the most problematic one, and just see how it behaves for a day. Most likely it will work great and that will effectively prove it is a wifi issue, but if it doesn’t, then can focus on other things.

As @crease mentioned make sure the power adapters you’re using are rated at least 2A (2000MA) as the pan cams need more power than the others, and not enough power usually manifests in wifi or SD card problems first.

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hey all; i’m not sure what the etiquette is here so i apologize if i’m necroing an old post. i implemented much of the very useful information provided here and while it has not totally resolved my issue, it has at least improved marginally to significantly improved some of the issues i’ve been dealing with, specifically in regards to channel monitoring and updating the wireless networks to a less impacted channel, updating the mhz range the router was broadcasting in.

i’m going to continue to try to implement further changes and tweak settings to find the optimal configuration for this equipment. the primary function of having these cameras is to monitor few very dear goats, one of which is currently very sick and requiring regular physical intervention, so i apologize if at any point i’ve come across as rude or hard to deal with, just been very emotional about the whole thing. but i want to thank you all again for your patient and very helpful suggestions.

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How would this be possible when your initial post was only two days ago‽

I don’t think any apology is necessary, though I appreciate the consideration. These devices can be frustrating sometimes, so I regard getting upset occasionally as a normal experience. I’m glad you’ve found ways to improve performance, and I hope your goat has healthier days ahead.

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I don’t have anything more to add to your troubleshooting as @dave27, @Crease and @StevenA already covered it. I just want to commend your humbling approach to your situation. Most people come guns blazing and blame everything and the WWII on Wyze.

Al the best to you and your goat.

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If you had, you would not have gotten as many detailed replies trying to help (certainly not from me anyway).

Your frustration was evident from the title and the first post, but nobody here is immune to being frustrated (with these cams or anything else in life).

The fact that tweaking wifi has helped at least confirms you’re on the right track. 2.4ghz wifi can be very frustrating, and it has been that way for probably 15-20 years at this point. Back when I first started using it in the late 90s it was the coolest thing ever and it worked fine because hardly anyone was using it. It just wasn’t designed for the demands we’re putting on it today really.

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You are not alone. I’ve spent $$$ upgrading my router, extenders, have ran extra ethernet, access points, etc. etc. Same results. Cameras always going offline. Unless the camera is hardwired into the freaking router and sitting within an inch of it then they are unreliable as s****. When they work they’re great. Unfortunately the planets have to be aligned and must sacrifice three chickens to achieve that.

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That’s not possible, these are wifi cams, are you sure you’re using Wyze cams?

If you’re having that much of a problem with connectivity, you’ve either got major wifi issues, or possibly your internet connection is not fast or stable enough to keep up.

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i wanted to update everyone here with, while not a solution, something beneficial that i learned. using firefox on linux, which i know is not generally typically the usecase but mentioning for transparency’s sake, i am presented with the option of picture in picture mode on the wyze webview app.

traditionally, attempting to fullscreen a camera on the app increases the resolution of the video, triggering the camera to reconnect which can be incredibly frustrating while you’re experiencing issues with connectivity, sometimes freezing the webpage and forcing a reload or at the minimum slowing you down until what you were trying to get a closer look at is gone.

while my problems are not currently resolved entirely, a workaround for the cameras having to reconnect and do all of that to put them into fullscreen mode is to run them in this PIP mode provided by firefox and enter fullscreen with the shortcut in the PIP screen. it presents a scaled version of the original video instead of reloading and reconnecting the resolution, which is more than enough for my use case.

i’m saddened to mention that my much beloved goat Josie passed away tonight at 3:30am as comfortable as we could make her. when i’m feeling a little less heartbroken and a little more up to it i’m going to continue to try to fiddle with these cameras. thanks again everyone involved for all of your understanding and suggestions, you’ve each been remarkably helpful.

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I’m sorry to hear that :sad_but_relieved_face:

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I recommend an outdoor AP if you’re going to use them outside. I put one up and they behaved flawless after that. Give them their own vlan too

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@matthew_540012738, that stinks about the goat’s passing, and I’m sorry for your loss. I’m glad you could be there to make her comfortable.

Welcome to the Forum, @mobiledork! :wave:

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If your cameras are in a group in the app on your phone, try taking the cameras out of the group and listing them separately. This turned out to be a game changer for my camera issues.