Hello y’all I’ve been having trouble with two of my cam v3. Color night mode won’t work at all, it’s completely dark. I’ve restarted and unplugged and all of that but still no color night mode. Started 4 days ago all of a sudden. Suggestions?
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Check each camera’s settings “Gear” upper right corner > Advanced Settings > Night Vision Mode set to Auto.
Sometimes it simply jumps to off. And sometimes a firmware update sets it to off. And sometimes its the Henway that sets it to off.
But usually its pretty good about staying on Auto
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Also try clearing your app cache in account > app settings. Then check the devices settings again.
Welcome to the User Community Forum @aj.ranos20!
If you want color night vision, your IR mode setting needs to remain OFF. Turning it to ON will engage the IR filter and force the black & white IR vision. Turning it to Auto will allow the cam to decide when it is dark enough to switch to black & white IR night mode.
The color night vision (IR off) uses ambient light in the field to enhance the image. If you do not have enough light to support this, the image will be dark and you may need to use the IR mode on.
There have been instances of the starlight sensor malfunctioning and therefore not illuminating the image. Best to test this next to another Cam to see if there is a difference in the two images. If there is, then the sensor may have given up. You may need to contact Customer Support and check the warranty status on the cam.
Additionally, there have been reports in the forum that a recent firmware update reduced the color night vision light levels. Here is that thread started 25 days ago:
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Hearted solely on this basis.
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Thanks SlabSlayer for that explanation. I’ve had the same problem and could not determine how to fix the problem.
I have tried all these things. Nothing works. And it’s in both of my cams v3. And both stopped working at the same time. I have night mode turned to (OFF) to force color night mode at night. It has always worked till it didn’t. I switched it to auto and then to on and then off and nothing.
The different modes are “night vision mode ON” and “night vision mode OFF”
Night vision mode “on” is the traditional night vision mode where the picture is black and white and you can use the onboard IR lights to illuminate the camera view if you enable those settings. The IR illuminator settings is different than the night vision mode settings, different functions.
Night Vision “OFF” is when the picture is in color.
Night vision mode AUTO, is when the camera controls when the nodes are switched between in and off based on available light and your dusk/dawn settings.
The V3 has the starlight sensor that helps in all low light situations, wither your night vision mode is on or off. It is sensitive enough that even the smallest amount of light (visible or IR) can effect the picture. Full moon? No moon? Neighbor patio light? All effect the brightness of the starlight sensor picture when evenly lit.
Can you provide screen shots of what your seeing?
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Which is understandably confusing when the camera is touted for its color night vision.
Good summary.
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Yeps, the wording could be better to be more easily understood and differentiate the modes. “Color night vision” doesn’t really fit either because it’s color in low light conditions, not necessarily what one would think of at “night”.
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That is for sure. I thought i was doing it all wrong but the only way to force color night mode is to have it off. I’ve had this set since I set up the cameras and then after the last update July 7th I think is when it stopped working.
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If the same problem you are describing is a reduction in the Low Light Color Vision at night (Night Vision Mode Off), it would be best to post before and after shots from the same cam if you have them in your events or SD card depending on how long ago this started. I have only 3 cams in NV Off because they are behind glass, but they are already dark due to a lack of light. These are more daylight cams for me.
As there have been other confirmed reports of this happening recently, I would be confident in correlating the increase in reports with a change on Wyze’s end. Add to this the recent change in NV Auto on\off triggering thresholds, and I would suspect that Wyze has been once again fiddling with the firmware without considering the consequences.
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As good a theory as any:
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Time to call Wyze support and ask for replacement. I think the latest FW update not only degrades quality but also brakes the StarLight sensor on some cameras and might even brick the camera. It happened to me and looks like it happened to you too. The replacement camera is better but not as good as the old one with the old firmware. I bought four more cameras and all four show lower quality at night after FW update.
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I’m on team @habib here. And I believe that @PaulGrace has a solid hypothesis.
I’ve been searching for detailed descriptions of what changes were made in the firmware affecting the starlight sensor but can’t find any documentation from Wyze that provides any detail. The Release Notes & Firmware Knowledge Article might as well say “Various Changes Made”.
The color NV image quality, which used to be a defining feature of the V3, is no where near what it was before. And, the light sensor levels to trigger IR NV on and off have changed drastically. Wyze needs to step in and take a serious look at this.
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Thank you sir, greatly appreciated.
Spot on, that was the reason I decided to choose the v3.
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@aj.ranos20, I have posted this issue with the V3 to this month’s Fix-it Friday thread.
If you are still experiencing this issue, feel free to follow the link, like the post with a heart coin, and add your experience in a reply post (if you are so inclined).