Buy a better Power Adapter

Cameras
1

Buy a better Power Adapter. Sorry, needed a title that got your attention.

Bottom line: I replaced several (8) of my Wyze power adapters with much better quality (high amperage/wattage) and it improved my camera’s performance.
Save you reading my lengthy post. Here’s the choices.

2 Port but used only one USB A Port
4 Port but used only two USB A Ports

I’m not selling power adapters. I don’t care if anyone buy these. I am only posting these links, because someone is going to ask which ones I was referring to.

Generally my cameras work okay. I’ve added Smart WiFi plugs so they restart early in the a.m. But once in a while during the day, I notice they need another restart.

It appears the issue is not my WiFi network. So what’s left? Power? Yep, I think power. Power to the camera. The power adapter.

I know the camera needs at least the 1,000 mA (average) power that their adapter supplies. Months ago, I swapped out some for a better (higher power adapter) and those cameras have worked better. So, I compared which are giving me the problem these days and none were those that had a better than average adapter.

Time to look for better adapters. So, I found some I liked, ordered and got them a week or so ago. Installed now for about a week, these are better than what was being used (from Wyze).

These are all power wise more powerful. I want 'overkill". I bought two configurations. One type is two port 20W “power delivery + QC3.0.” One each USB A and USB C ports. But although its 20W and two ports, I only use the USB A. So though its probably powerful and stable enough for two camera, I use it for 1 camera. (By the way, I replaced the V3 Pro’s adapter with one of these. And the V3 Pro camera is working much better)

But I also need some adapters to use where I have power feeding two cameras. So, the other type is a 4 port 40w Fast Charging block, - 2 USB C and 2 USB A. These I will use for two cameras. So though there’s probably enough to power 4 total USB devices, I plugged in only 2 Wyze cameras into the USB A ports.

The quality of the picture/view is not better. But when I click on the camera choice from the main screen, and it opens to that camera, the ‘refresh" has improved. Sometimes it redraws in only two “wipes”. And the refresh of the screen seems a little faster. I am being to believe the adapters that come with the cameras are marginal, and work in optimally only in perfect conditions, whatever those conditions are. I believe using a higher amperage adapter is a solid choice for improving the cameras’ over all performance.

I discourage myself from starting new threads. I like for problems and variety of solutions to reside in one place to make it easier for us to see all the ideas. I looked though dozens of old threads and could not find one close enough to add this post to. Sorry.

2 Likes
2

I use a lot of these:

Output: DC 5V/3.1A

(note, 3.1A shared, so if you use all 3, it is 1A each, but if you use only 1 port then it is 3.1. So use 1 port only for Pan/Pro cams, and you can use more than 1 for the other cams like V2/V3/OG, etc)

I also use several of these:

5V/3A output

(3A per port, so you can use this for higher demand cams, even if using both ports):

I do use the official Wyze adapters on some cams too, but I have bought and used a ton of the above adapters.

Both of those are a pretty good price and give enough Amps for any Wyze device. My Wyze experience has been really great too.

I don’t necessarily want to recommend to people to use something different than what your camera comes with. I suppose it could potentially technically affect your warranty, but if you are no longer under warranty anyway, I have had amazing success with these adapters. I liked them so much I have bought more multiple times. They are my go-to adapters depending on whether I want more ports, or a flatter adapter or need more amps. I haven’t had any problems with either of them in the 2-3 years I’ve been using them.

3 Likes
3

Thanks for posting this, Sam. At the same time, yeeesh. Another variable to consider when cam behavior is suboptimal or erratic.

Equanimity now.

image It’s our only chance.

1 Like
4

I will never achieve that. I have one V3 connected to a 25 foot USB extension and the camera works just fine but if I turn on the siren the Wi-Fi rate goes to zero and I can not stop the siren from the app, I had to turn power off to the cam. I guess I need an adapter like one shown above or a shorter cable run.

2 Likes
5

Some (maybe) power-related vagaries, chez peep:

6

Yep! That’s one of the big reasons I got adapters with higher amps because I often use longer 3rd party cords, and I wasn’t getting enough power to my cams, especially when they use the speaker, or other things that require more power. This solves that problem for most of my lower-powered cams :+1:

2 Likes
7

I tried a 5V- 2A adapter and it did not solve the issue either. Time to get out the drill and put another hole in the side of my garage so I can use a short cable run. I only use the siren when the neighbors little yapper dog is outside barking none stop for 45 min or so. It does not like the siren.

2 Likes
9

Someone on Reddit told me adding amps doesn’t resolve the issue because it’s the voltage that drops over the long length, so we’d need a slightly higher voltage to compensate.

I don’t know enough about electricity, but it would explain why it didn’t work for you.

1 Like
10

@carverofchoice and @Antonius the cable length is your issue. As you mentioned it is not the Amps, it’s the voltage drop over a long USB wire. Mind you if the voltage drops the Amps will drop as well. Ask me how I know :wink:

11

5V/1A is more than enough, there is no voltage, amp drop over cheap 20ft microusb cable, when it consumes more power it is probably because all these bugs

1 Like
12

Try the “Apple” 96W power adapter to see if it works for long distance cord?

13

That’s not how it works. It’s easier to break down into watts to make sense. Volts x amps = watts. So 5x1 = 5 watts of power available ( think a hair dryer is 1500 watts of power used. (1500 / 110 = 13.363 amps.) now that same hair dryer at 120volts is 1500/120 = 12.5 Amps of current. So in actuality a smaller wire will be needed to carry 12.5 Amps than 13.37 amps or the same size wire can carry 12.5 amps farther without voltage drop. Which when voltage drops - amps rise to maintain the same power which then over loads the wire which creates heat, which creates resistance, which increases the amps needed to provide the power ( watts ) needed. If you use a 5 v 1 amp (1000ma) power supply and a long cord and a little corrosion on the connector, you can easily only end up with just about 3 watts of power at the camera.
BTW the power adapters you listed aren’t “high power” they are 3.2 amps and that’s divided over 3 ports - not each port. I use adapters with at least 2.5 amps 12 watts) per port available. Otherwise you may as well use the 1000 and 2000 ma ones (1 and 2 amp ) ones that come from Wyze with the cameras. I just throw out all 1000ma power supplies I get as they won’t power much of anything.

1 Like