We’re looking into this! Though we don’t have timelines or promises to make yet. A battery operated Wyze Cam would allow for different placement options away from outlets or other power sources. The downside is that you’d have to monitor the power remaining and change/recharge the batteries from time to time.
Best,
WyzeGwendolyn
Any plans to introduce a battery operated wyzecam camera? The operating time between charges would be limited, but you could install the camera to almost any location.
You may not need a battery powered camera to be produced by Wyze. Since it’s powered by USB, just plug it into any standard USB power bank. Just one example:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J5P98SK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You could even use a solar recharging power bank. Again, just one example (there are many):
Has anyone tried this with success? Could a solar recharging power bank keep up with the amount of power the Wyzecam uses? I think a power bank would work well for a temporary application, but I am wondering if the solar solution suggested could work for a more permanent set up?
This got me thinking so I figured I’d test it…I plugged it into a 6000mah battery. I’ll let you know how long it lasts.
I have motion detection on and constant recording to SD card enabled. I have the stairs light turned off
A 6000mah battery lasted about 10 hours.
I think the power bank would take too long to recharge by solar power alone and therefore the Wyze cam would run out of power after a couple of days.
If anyone has success or finds a product that will recharge sufficiently for continuous use, please post!
cool thanks for the test! that’s good to know!
I tested the WyzeCam v2 with the latest firmware with a fully charged (first cycle) Anker PowerCore 10000. Lasted almost 22 hours (21:50 to be exact)!
7.63 GB were used during this test.
Motion detection was enabled and constant recording to SD.
I placed both the camera and battery in a closed cardboard box with several holes in the back for ventilation, and a big hole for the camera lens in the front.
The magnet on the bottom of the camera magnets to the battery (although not too strong).
No overheating was caused.
This is one of the smallest power banks of that capacity as of today, and it’s not too expensive ~ 30$.
Size: 92 × 60 × 22 mm / 3.6 × 2.4 × 0.9 in
Screenshots of the camera on top of the battery attached.
I just got my first Wyze Cams last week and one of the things I was curious about was how it would perform connecting it to a power bank. So I’m glad to see some folks like yourself have already tested this out. Just curious, have you done a test with the recording to micro SD card set to “Record events only”? And if so, what was the battery life like? TIA!
The expensive Blink camera says it lasts 2 years with an AA battery. It would be nice if wyze could work on a a version that does not consume so much power. I think one year would be sufficient. I dont think recharging a USB Battery every day is a reasonable work around.
The function of a battery-powered Wyze Cam may need to be different than the powered ones. I currently have 3 Wyze Cams and 2 Pan Cams in my house. I also have several Blink cams that are battery-powered. I have 5 outdoor and 2 indoor. They do not stream constantly. Instead they detect motion, which triggers recording. You can also view the Blink cameras in real time stream, but that is for short periods of time. It asks after 20-30 seconds if you want to continue to watch. That way the battery lasts longer. They say up to 2 years. I haven’t had them that long yet. If you watch the real time view a lot or it is triggered much more frequently, that will run the battery down quicker. I have them for security, whereas I use the Wyze Cams to keep an eye on my dogs. I have the Pan cams pointed out windows to keep an eye on my front & back yards. I just really like the battery powered cams, because I can place them anywhere and move them easily.
I’ve been trying various setups using batteries, solar panels and the Wyze Cam. Here is the latest version. Unfortunately, the battery only lasts a couple of days. The problem is that the camera is drawing too much power versus the battery refresh rates from the small solar panel. I have it setup for continuous recording and HD event notifications.
I believe a larger solar panel (e.g. 50 Watt 12 Volt Solar Panel) is needed to make this setup work.
Just adding to those who are using USB Batteries for your camera, I think that it would be cool to make a 3D printed base with a battery AND a plug.
Ninety7 makes this for the Google Home. And it allows you to keep it plugged in 99% of the time, but then when you unplug it, the battery keeps the camera going for a while. It’s obviously not a long-term solution. But something like this could just clip onto an existing Wyze Camera without a new piece of hardware.
On the software side, maybe there could be a special timelapse mode which goes into a deep sleep and wakes ever X seconds to take a snapshot?
https://ninety7.com/products/loft-portable-battery-base-for-google-home?variant=52869588619
Did you try this without continuous recording? If it was only recording on alerts only I think the battery would last pretty long.
Here is twist and a question on what is being discussed above. I have several locations where I would like to put the Wyze cam but have power only during the nighttime hours (i.e. photocell triggered lights). So, what I am concluding from the research on battery power already done above is that a common USB power pack that would recharge from AC power during the nighttime hours would not have the capacity to power the cam for the daylight hours, or would it? How big would that power pack have to be to power the cam for up to 16 hours?
There are other battery-operated cameras that last for two years on a single charge… and aren’t much bigger than Wyze… this feature would be much appreciated, as an outlet doesn’t exist everywhere I want to place a cam!
I’m curious what camera you have that you’re getting two years on the batteries. I would love to have a couple of those.
I don’t own one, but the “Blink” cam by Amazon advertises a 2 year battery life. Of course that’s contingent on how many clips it records… but I’d be happy with even a few months.
