I have several version 1 Cam Pans. I notice that when the camera automatically changes to night vision mode do to a lighting change, there is an audible relay click.
Okay, I still hear the click from a camera that has been turned “off” in the Wyze app. There is no video in the Wyze app when the camera is “off” (as expected), but a relay is still audibly cycling when there is a lighting change, so the video/optics are not really powered “off”. Why?
This behavior is the same on all my Cam Pan (all version 1), and I am on the latest version of app and camera firmware as of the time of this post.
The audible click when the camera is moving to night vision and back from night vision mode is the mechanical IR filter moving back and forth in front of the lens. You’ll hear this click on switching the night vision modes and when the camera is reset or power cycled because during the camera startup the camera exercises that filter back and forth causing the audible click.
When the camera is off via the app it’s not really off it’s just in a lesser state so that it is not able to be live stream from or saves any type of events or clips. The camera is still powered so that it can receive the on command to turn back on. To fully power off a camera you need to remove its power source.
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Understood. Having an electronics background I expected something to remain active when the camera is “off” in order to be able to turn it back on remotely. I just cannot understand why the filter mechanism needs to be powered. We have a couple cameras in the house that frequently “click” when someone walks by or is standing in proximity (due to a shadow no doubt). The clicking noise is just a little creepy to someone who you’ve told that the camera is “off”.
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Off is Not Really Completely Off…
Completely agree, that would be a akward experience for your Guests. Reading "How do I turn my Wyze Cam on and off? on the Wyze Support pages and trying to read way into this statement " * Turning the camera off from the Wyze app will not take it offline. The Live Stream and Event videos (which work in the cloud) will be disabled completely when the camera is turned off." it looks to me that just the live streaming connectivity and the event upload connectivity are “off”, but the rest of the functions are still “on”, IMO. Id say the most complete way to take one of these cameras offline is to use a smart plug to control the power to the device, or yank the power cord. 
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Id say the most complete way to take one of these cameras offline is to use a smart plug to control the power to the device, or yank the power cord.
Bingo! I have a couple Wyze plugs lying around.