Defective V3 camera? Won't stay connected to wifi

I have 8 cameras, including another camera on the opposite side of the 8x8 post this camera is attached to. The last few days this one has been offline. I can power it down and restart it and it reconnects in about a minute and works fine for all of about 5 minutes, then goes offline permanently again. I’ve power cycled it multiple times, I’ve even deleted it and reinstalled it. I’ve connected to different wifi that also covers the spot that it’s in (same wifi the other camera is connected to) and it still goes offline after 5 minutes or so. Camera is a couple of months old.





I would try a factory reset of the camera. If that does not work maybe do a manual flash back to older firmware.

Your V3 Firmware is on the most current and stable version avaialable.

Check to be sure the power supply isn’t failing.

Also, was there a change to your network or devices on your network \ power delivery to your cams that coincides with the start of this offline issue?

Does your router have the ability to log activity by device or report the RSSI for this V3 cam?

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One cam is a Cam Pan V3, is that the one that doesn’t stay connected?

SlabSlayer makes a good point on checking the power supply. Also, check your power cord connections. I am using a short USB extension cable on one v3. One connection was loose causing the v3 to go off line.

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All good ideas. And we see this type issue every few months. Different things resolve it, so its not a single problem behind it. Some of the questions asked of you are to keep you thinking. Some, you don’t have to answer, just meant to give you some ideas.

Before or while its fresh on your mind, mark the power cord and the power supply so you can tell it you move it round to different place. After you swap the power supply, if it continues to do the same, you might move the camera. Swap it for one of your other’s location. Let’s see if the problem is location based, not camera based.

Could something have pinched the cable feeding power? Maybe wind shaking it is causing it to work then stop?

It could be the distance is just a little too much for the power going to it. Many of us don’t use the power adapter that came with the camera. Sure, sure its enough, barely enough, and sometimes conditions after the power delivered at the camera. We use on with a little more watt/amp than the 1 amp that came with it. Funny thing, is, we’ve replaced the power adapter, it fixes the problem, and we forget it fixed the problem. So, often its not the first thing we think to recommend to others.

Have you added anything else recently to your network? Could you be exceeding the number of devices your router allows? You don’t need to answer with that number here. Just an idea to think on.
Look up the specs on your router on the 'net and see what the max number of devices allowed is. Then do a count at your home. Close, too close? More than? Maybe a family member bringing home a laptop, phone or tablet is causing your net to reach its limit, and your camera is the first device to fall offline. If you are using a mesh router, that’s cool, but most mesh routers don’t balance the count of devices moving their connection to the other node. So, you could exceed the count on one, and there’s plenty of room on the other.

Alright, I ended up taking it indoors and plugging into a completely different cable and adapter. It was working fine for a couple of hours and is now offline again.
I’ll have to research how to do a factory reset. I deleted it from my app and re-added it as if it were new. But I guess that wouldn’t do anything to the firmware that’s on the camera.
At least I’ve eliminated the cord, adapter, and location as being the issue. Which all should be fine since there’s literally a pan cam on the opposite side of the post that has fine signal strength and none of the other cameras have ever been affected by the wind or cold even. Plus it has been relatively warm.

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Reset a V3

A factory reset doesn’t revert the firmware either. Only a manual flash will revert the firmware.

Again, has this been happening since initially installing the V3 or is this a new development? If new, what changes to the cam or to the network coincides with the start of the problems? The Pan V3 are new. Did this just start happening when those were installed?

I installed 6 out of the 8 cameras in the same couple of days about 2 months ago. All have had their firmware updates at the same time and all have been working perfectly up until 4 or 5 days ago, this one in particular started flaking out.

I have 6 V3 cameras and 2 of the new outdoor pan cams.

I don’t recall their being any recent firmware updates, but they all would have received it, not just the one.

Do you have the ability on your router to set up a Guest Network with a different SSID and PW and install the cam to that network alone?

This would rule out IP conflicts within the network with one of the other cams or devices.

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Glad to hear you were able to isolate the camera from the location, cable, and adapter. Maybe this will be temporary and you can soon put it back.

If you wish to get a good count of the number of devices on your WiFi network, you can get from the app store an app called FING. Costs nothing. It will allow you to poll your network and count the devices. Then with a little reach, how close are you to your router’s limit? (You don’t need to tell us any of this info. Just trying to help.)

I can speak for everyone that comments, that we are sorry you are having these problems. And we certainly don’t take any pleasure in your misery . But these type problems are useful to all of us. It helps all of us refresh and update our skills figuring this kind of problem out. So, helping you, we are helping others that read the content, but helping us too. Just so you know, we welcome your comments and updates on your progress - I guess even when its not much.

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Looks like it doesn’t matter now. Camera doesn’t turn on at all. Left unplugged overnight, plugged in waited 5 minutes, nothing.

Realistically they’re CHEAP cameras. I’ve already spent more time than it’s worth screwing with it. Now it’s totally dead. No, I hadn’t reset it or anything yet. It had just been plugged in until it disconnected itself.

Yes, you are right. These are cheap cameras. Disposable - well expendable. And as such, because they are cheap, we can - wait for it, wait for it. We can put 2 side by side. We can put up a pair where they are needed most. Backup, security in depth, duplication, assurances, peace of mind, call it what suits you/us. We can justify without a second thought, so let’s just do it, eh?

We could even setup a spare, have it joined to our network, under the counter, in a drawer, in a cabinet, - but ready to go, so when someone swings by the house, they can simply swap or plug another spare in. We are not limited to a single dimensional method.

The Wyze cam pan v3 is useless because it will not stay connected to the wifi network. I put it in the same place I previously had a cam v3. The cam v3 worked fine. The cam pan v3 does not. It is a piece of junk.