We’ve been using Wyze cameras for several years but recently added Wyze Cam Plus. I added it in order to now have what I thought was 24-hour recording to the cloud, but apparently I have misunderstood how Cam Plus works. Are ONLY detected events recorded in the cloud?
We just purchased the Wyze Cam Pan v 3 and installed it to our current set up. After that, I signed up for a year of Wyze Cam Plus. I did not add a micro SD card thinking it was not needed due to the cloud storage. Would someone please clarify this for me? In order to have 24-hour a day continuous recordings, is the micro SD card needed even if I am paying for Wyze Cam Plus?
If that is the case, what are the advantages of having Cam Plus? Thank you.
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Yes. Cam Plus cloud Event recordings are all initiated by Motion Activation based on the sensitivity settings of your cam and will record until the motion in the field of view stops… Up to 5 minutes. They are not continuously recorded streams.
With Cam Plus, another Motion Activation Event can then immediately trigger another back-to-back Event Video Upload. Event Recordings for all cams is saved on the Wyze Server for 14 days.
The only way to record Continuous 24\7 is to record it to the SD Card in the cam. The number of days you get on the card will depend largely on the size of the card and the quality of the video. My Cam V3 and Pan V3 get between 21 and 28 days Hx recording continuous in HD on a 256 GB High Endurance SD Card.
The SD Card recordings give you none of the Cam Plus AI or Event notification benefits. It just records. That is all it does.
The only way for you to get push notifications from your cam is for the cam to upload a video or a thumbnail to the server. With no subscription, there is a 5 minute timeout cooldown between these event uploads and therefore also between notifications. There is also no AI detection without a subscription: Person Detection, Pet Detection, Vehicle Detection, or Package Detection.
Without a subscription, the uploads are not videos, they are thumbnail snapshots, subject to the 5 minute cooldown.
I have 25 cams on the Cam Plus Unlimited plan. The single strongest decision point for me was avoiding the 5 minute cooldown. A lot can happen in 5 minutes. Next was the Person Detection AI. I want to know when someone is entering my property. Next was the immediate notification of a positive Person AI event on my cams, usually within 3 to 7 seconds.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you, your answer is very helpful. I guess I am going to need to go ahead and get a micro SD card. I purchased the Wyze Cam Pan for our back yard and even though I have the detection sensitivity maxed out at 100, it does not detect movement should anyone come walking down the outside of our back yard fence (I’ve walked along the perimeter twice and the camera did not detect me). Apparently it is simply too many feet away from the camera.
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Mine will pick up motion from a surprising distance. Make sure you have the Event Recording options enabled as well as the Notifications options in the Cam Settings and the App Settings.
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I have an additional related question. Is the Cam Pan supposed to “move and track” someone walking across the detection zone? If so, is there a specific setting that needs to be turned on? Within the Detection Settings I have the Detection Zone ON and Motion Tagging ON.
Within the Event Recording settings I have Record Motion Events ON and All Motion Events ON.
Currently, when I walk across the detection zone, the camera does not track (i.e. follow) me.
Yes. The feature has to be enabled in the cam settings.
In the PanV1 and PanV2, the feature is enabled by selecting the “More…” button in the Live Stream UI and toggling on Motion Tracking:
In the PanV3 it is the “Track Motion” button on the toolbar in the Live Stream UI. You may have to drag\swipe the toolbar to the left to reveal the button along with other options available:
Thank you, SlabSlayer - very helpful! Unfortunately, after turning on Track Motion, the camera is detecting (and therefore tracking/moving) all the bugs flying in front of the IR. In Event Recording settings, I checked the ‘Smart Detection Events’ and the ONLY Object Detections I have selected is Person. But the bugs are still being detected. I realize it’s a balancing act, but as long as the bugs are setting off the detection, the Track Motion feature is not going to be usable. Perhaps Wyze will eventually improve this particular scenario.
Yes. This has been mentioned in other threads. This is the first Outdoor PTZ for Wyze and it certainly does have very pronounced ADD when it comes to motion w\ the IRNV lights active. As you continue to use it, you are sure to find more… um… “issues” that make it unique.
I currently have all of mine set with the motion tracking off because they won’t return to the Home Position accurately.
The bugs are attracted to the cam either because of the IR Lights, the heat produced, or the visible light they produce. But, they activate the motion so easily because they are very close to the cam and they are great IR reflectors of the IR being sent out from the cam face.
One thing that helps with mine not being bothered so much with bug activations is that I have IR Blaster Spotlights that provide a much stronger IR illumination of the FOV. These are away from the cams so that the majority of the bugs are attracted to them rather than the cams. With the Cam IR lights off, bugs that do fly close to the cam face aren’t painted w\ IR light so they don’t activate the motion detection. The location of the source IR light is the key.
I have my cams set to record all motion. I also have each cam set for Person and Pet. Where I make the adjustment so that I am not bothered by all the motion events is I filter out all non-AI events in the events tab so that only the AI events show. I also have the cams set to only Push Notify for AI events, not All Other Motion.
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