Control bulb in Lamp Socket via Wyze Switch

[Grillingisgreat]

Question is simple.

I have a dumb bulb that is controlled via a regular wall switch in the house.

If I put a wyze socket in that lamp, add a regular LED bulb into that socket, and add a wyze cam OG into that socket (or v3 if necessary), and change the dumb wall switch to a wyze Switch, can I:

Keep power to the wyze cam 24/7 via the socket, but control the on / off of the light bulb in the socket via the wyze switch button (as if it was a dumb switch)?

In technical terms, can I rely on the wyze socket to complete the circuit for the bulb separately from the wyze cam that is plugged into it, so that the cam has power 24/7 while the bulb only gets power when I press the wall switch?

Thank you.

[SlabSlayer]

Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @Grillingisgreat!

Yes.

The Wyze Switch has Classic Control function, wherein it will cut the power when switched off, but it also has Smart Control setting that will leave the circuit powered and control the smart device in the fixture thru WiFi when the switch is turned on or off.

I am not sure how the Wyze Lamp Socket appears within the Wyze Switch Smart Control interface though as I have none installed. I know that you can set it up to control the Lamp Socket with Rules though.

Another option is to place Wyze Smart Bulbs in the fixture.

You must use a V3 to control the Lamp Socket. No other cam has the firmware to carry the Lamp Socket as an accessory.

Make sure your house wiring can support the Wyze Switch. You will need Neutral Wiring at the Switch for it to work. It will not work on a 2 wire Line\Load system or a 3 wire Line\Load\Ground system. This is why I don’t have one. My old house is basic 2 wire. You can check compatibility here:

Wyze Switch Compatibility Check

Is my wiring compatible with Wyze Switch?

https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/sections/4406245379483-Wyze-Switch

[Grillingisgreat]

Thank you so much, I have ordered the switch and socket.

Additional question:

Can I set up the socket with a v3, put the v3 elsewhere in the house, wire an OG to the socket after that? I’m guessing not but worth checking. Reason I ask- I find the v3 software experience to be well below the OG, and the v3 is significantly buggier with SD cards, streaming, just about everything.

And absolutely thought of the wyze bulbs too! They are just not bight enough for me at 950 lumens, my current LED bulbs are 1200 lumens and barely bright enough.

That said, sounds like worst case scenario for me is I use cam v3 with the socket and switch, deal with the software of the v3, and that’s that, everything works just as it does today but with a wyze cam in place getting power from the socket, bobs your uncle.

[SlabSlayer]

@Grillingisgreat

Can I set up the socket with a v3, put the v3 elsewhere in the house, wire an OG to the socket after that? I’m guessing not but worth checking.

No. All commands from the App and other Smart Devices to control the Socket are sent to the Socket via the USB Serial cable connected to the V3 Cam. Unplug the V3 Cam from the Socket and you loose the Sockets.

@Grillingisgreat

And absolutely thought of the wyze bulbs too! They are just not bight enough for me at 950 lumens, my current LED bulbs are 1200 lumens and barely bright enough.

I had the exact same situation with my Breezeway lights and opted for a pair of Sockets over the dimmer Smart Bulbs.

You will have to post back when you get it setup. I am interested to learn how the Socket interfaces with the Switch Smart Control function or if Rules are how it needs to be set up.

[Grillingisgreat]

Well, I have an update.

Installation is not forgiving. I’ve done a lot of electrical work and I’m… disappointed in the design of the switch.

1. The extra neutral wire is --ultra-- cheap and is quite difficult to insert, even if twisted.

2. The button design is not good. First, it feels like it’s a press-type button with a rubber membrane. I could be wrong but if it is a membrane, this won’t last ten years. My original switches are 30 years old and will continue to function for another 100. Second, it is a RIMLESS button. This means that the sides of the button are part of the button, so the faceplate alignment must be PERFECT if you aren’t using their faceplate (I am not, it’s a three gang box). My box has sagged in the middle over the years and the alignment wasn’t perfect so… This was a bear to get the faceplate on.

There’s a reason that rocker type switches are in their own frame.

Next, functions. Remember, I wanted a dumb switch but for the lamp socket to deliver 24/7 power. Well, this works. I set up a rule that when I press it, the outdoor light turns on. This does not affect power to the camera, camera remains on no matter what. The problem?

It DOESNT WORK for a regular switch press! Rules can only be toggled via LONG PRESS and a SEPARATE command (double press) to turn the light off! So my only solution is to put a wyze bulb (as that can function on and off via regular short press). As I’m using the wyze socket and rule combo, only long press works, while short press works only for the bulbs and not the socket.

That is straight up a dumb and artificial limitation.

Overall this solution works and saved me from running Romex in the attic for a dedicated power line for the camera. But I’m truly not pleased in the unnecessary difficulty due to switch engineering and software limitations. This feels like a ultra generation 1 product or perhaps even a deliberate limitation by wyze.

Is there a way to submit a feature request do you know to improve the switch?

Short press logic: “If [socket is on] then [turn off socket] else [turn on socket].”

Oh also please tell me if mistaken. I’ve tried every combination of rules and buttons, but I can’t get it to work the way I desire…

Oh edit again. Device rules don’t seem to work. I have two device rules set up. 1. When switch is on, wyze cam turns on socket. 2. When switch is off, wyze cam turns off socket. But pressing the switch does nothing - the socket does not turn on or off.

Switch is set to smart control mode, if that matters.

Edit yet again. Google searching “wyze switch device triggers do not work” yields other people that experience the same thing. It seems that in smart mode, device triggers just don’t work. Cmon, this is a bug – it just needs fixing. I feel that if this bug gets fixed, I’ll be overall happy enough. But right now this is a pretty bad setup. Press and hold to turn off, press twice quickly to turn on, I mean, cmon, this is a joke.

Or better yet. Set up that in smart mode, a button press (short, long, hold, whatever the user wants) will trigger an event, whatever event the user wants. I’m surprised this isn’t how it’s already set up.

[SlabSlayer]

@Grillingisgreat

Is there a way to submit a feature request do you know to improve the switch?

Feature requests are submitted to Wyze Via the Wishlist.

You can go to the Wishlist switch category:
https://forums.wyze.com/search?expanded=true&q=%23wishlist%20%20tags%3Aswitch

and search the topics for one that matches. If one matches your request, vote for it at the top, like some posts, and add your reply post to support the request. If you do not find a match, submit a new topic for approval.

How to Use the Wishlist

Hi, everyone! You all have amazing ideas about what we can do with our products, website, and app! We’re excited to work together with you to create a wonderful experience for all Wyze customers. Here’s how you can share your ideas with us: Posting If you have an idea you want to share with us, please search the Wishlist to see if your topic is already being discussed. (This link will automatically also search Wishlist subcategories, see below.) Adding votes to existing t…

[Grillingisgreat]

Got it. I’ll search around tomorrow. I’m not sure if this is a feature request or a bug though. I’m thinking it’s more a bug as device triggers should work regardless of what mode the switch is in.

[SlabSlayer]

You can search the forum, outside of the wishlist, for topics tagged switch by clicking the grey hashtag button within my post and then searching those for key phrases.

As I stated, I am not able to install neutral required switches because of my 1950s wiring in my house.

There are other @Mavens and @Mods that have the switches installed and may be able to provide you with more details on their operation. I have tagged them to post in if they have any suggestions for you.

[carverofchoice]

You can definitely control the lamp socket with a Wyze switch through “Rules”. The switch allows you to set different rules for a double-tap, triple-tap or press and hold. So you could have one of those turn the lamp socket on and another turn the lamp socket off, all while keeping the camera on.

I actually have a lamp socket running the lights in my basement kitchen, but instead of a Wyze switch to control it, I just use a Wyze contact sensor. I bought one of these 3D printed brackets:

Switch Bracket for Wyze Sense V2 Contact Sensor beta - Etsy

Now when I flip the switch up, it turns on my lamp sockets, and when I flip it down, it turns them off. That allowed me to put the switch(es) where I wanted to, instead of where the original owner had them wired to, and without needing a neutral wire for the normal smart switch.

[IEatBeans]

@Grillingisgreat

could be wrong but if it is a membrane, this won’t last ten years. My original switches are 30 years old and will continue to function for another 100

I would be impressed if it lasted 10 years. It is very hard to find any tech products or even any other product that lasts more than 10 years nowadays. People just aren’t willing to pay for longevity. I have the much much more expensive Lutron smart switches, and even though they are made by a reputable brand for standard switches, and they are like $80 a piece (at least when I bought them), I fully expect them to only last 5-7 years, assuming they don’t drop support for the cloud side of things.

Anything with a computer involved, especially the internet, is so complicated that there are so many parts that can wear out, fry, or just stop receiving updates.

[Grillingisgreat]

“You can definitely control the lamp socket with a Wyze switch through “Rules”. The switch allows you to set different rules for a double-tap, triple-tap or press and hold. So you could have one of those turn the lamp socket on and another turn the lamp socket off, all while keeping the camera on.”

Yes, agreed – except why is there an artificial limitation to double tap, triple tap, or press and hold? I just want to press it once. Why is there a limit to only control Wyze bulbs for single tap? Why not wyze socket? Or any other function. Wyze bulbs are a very narrow product, they don’t work for most light bulb use cases.

There is a workaround for single tap functions (that is seemingly bugged), the Device Trigger rules are actually broken for the switch. They do not function, at all. If able, try this: Set Switch to smart mode. Set up Device Trigger rule to do something: In my case, Device Trigger “Switch: Turns On”. When “Switch Turns On”, Wyze Cam V3 “Turn On Socket”.

When “Switch: Turns Off”, Wyze Cam V3 “Turn Off Socket”.

I have these two rules set up, right now. I am pressing the switch on and off, either physically pressing the button or in the app. It does nothing. The switch is turning off. The socket is not doing anything. The switch is turning on . The socket is not doing anything. I think this is a bug. I’ve pasted a pic of my rule setup.

[carverofchoice]

It it my understanding that the single press is different because it mechanically connects or disconnects the electrical circuit. So when it turns on with a single press, it is also restoring electrical power to the lamp sockets and camera, which take a while to boot up after having no electricity. And when you turn off the switch, the sockets and camera lose all power because it mechanically disconnected the circuit. That is why the single press does not work.

If you wanted the single press to work for the lamp socket and camera, you would need to not use the same wiring that the lamp sockets are connected to and relying on staying turned on.

For example, you could probably buy a universal adapter, make sure it’s set to the correct power output, and wire that to the switch, Then mount the switch in the wall. Now that the switch isn’t controlling the power to the lamp sockets or the power to that camera they can both stay on all the time. Now I assume you’ll potentially be able to single press The switch on or off and have rules that say when it’s on turn on the lamp sockets and when it’s off turn off the lamp sockets, and it should work with a single press since it’s no longer killing the power to those things and needing to wait a couple of minutes for them to reboot every time. That’s why the single press doesn’t work in that instance… It’s killing power to them with a single press and then they need a couple minutes to reboot when you restore power. Smart devices can’t work if they don’t have power. But with the double press and triple press it’s not actually turning the power on or off It’s only executing rules.

Disclaimer: I’m no electrician. I’m not really advocating to use a universal power adapter to a Smart switch. I was just giving an example to demonstrate that the light switch would need to be wired entirely separately from the device wiring it’s dependent on in order for the single press on or off to work in the use case you want.

[Grillingisgreat]

There are two modes for the switch: Classic mode and Smart mode.

Classic mode works as you describe – opens and closes the circuit just as a regular wall switch does.

Smart mode does not do this – it keeps the circuit ALWAYS open and controls downstream items via wifi commands.

Example, if you have a wyze bulb in a wyze socket, with a wyze cam v3 in the socket, in the fixture on the same circuit and the switch is in smart mode. You turn off the switch, it will turn off the bulb, but the circuit is still open. Your wyze cam will remain powered.

This single press only works for Wyze bulbs (and select power on/off of other devices - NOT, specifically, the socket).

This is an artificial limitation.

Additionally, the Device Triggers also do not work with the switch in smart mode (remember, the circuit is always open in smart mode). Everythings always connected to wifi on smart mode, the switch, the wyze cam, the socket. The triggers should work.

[carverofchoice]

Ah, thanks. I have a smart switch, but have not installed it, so I wasn’t aware that it even had the smart mode. That is cool.

[SnowDog]

Just wondering if you found a suitable solution? I have been wondering what to do with our lights by the side and back doors.

Not everyone in the house would bother memorizing how to use the different tap frequencies and hold settings, we want the cameras on 24/7 but have the ability to turn the lights on/off manually like a ‘normal’ switch for when our dog is outside.

I find the auto control for only when movement is detected limiting… and I haven’t figures out how to control the socket by voice.

Wyze products are more expensive/import fees add up in Canada so I am trying to make sure a smart switch would work before buying.

[Grillingisgreat]

No, no solution as of today. I just checked back on this forum thread because I’m so tired of remembering the secret knock password to turn on my lights… Lol. Double tap on, hold off, pray, do a twist, click your heels… So lame.