Detection confusion remains, and solar charging question

[Cara]

I understand that the Outdoor Cam (gen. 1) detects horizontal movement best. I have mine set up to monitor my driveway. Movement can be either horizontal or vertical, in the camera range, and I need to detect both. I need to see who is coming into the driveway (horizontal movement) and, because we share our driveway, I need to see if my neighbor is hitting my home or vehicles as he is entering and exiting his parking area (vertical movement).

I have read the article at https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037908391-Motion-Detection-and-PIR-Effective-Area and still don’t really understand the function of the detection zone, if motion is only detected in the PIR zone only.

If I mount the camera so that the PIR is not just at the bottom of the screen (which is where I most want to detect motion, near my garage doors) but is instead angled diagonally across the driveway - might that help? Or do I need to sell my Outdoor cam and buy a Wyze Cam v3 or something else?

As for solar charging - we’ve had great luck with our camera staying at 100% with our solar panel (Wyze). We had new windows installed this week and the installer accidentally moved the camera (didn’t tell me, but I saw him re-place it in my events). I noticed that the battery had dropped to 75%, so I ensured that the cables between the solar and the cam were tight, and the charging icon came back on. However, the battery never increased from 75%. Is there some “reset” I can do to reconnect the panel to the camera? Also - does the charging icon disappear at night? (Never noticed, before.)

[Newshound]

@Cara

I understand that the Outdoor Cam detects horizontal movement best. I have mine set up to monitor my driveway. Movement can be either horizontal or vertical,

Best way to adapt is to move the camera a bit to the side so it sees what used to be oncoming movement as horizontal movement.

@Cara

Or do I need to sell my Outdoor cam and buy a Wyze Cam v3 or something else?

V3s are more powerful cams, and you should always be using these in power-available situations. But they also sense things differently – since they are always-on, the use simple pixel movement sensing. That means shadows can trigger them. There are ways to tune this, but Outdoor cameras use heat movement sensing. But then they have to wake up to record.

@Cara

the battery never increased from 75%. Is there some “reset” I can do to reconnect the panel to the camera? Also - does the charging icon disappear at night?

No reset. Usually just a sunny day. Not a clouded day. Once you get real sun, you should see the cam charge increase.

Yes, the charging icon will definitely disappear at night, as there is no sun.