It is interesting to me how many ways you can “reset” your Wyze app and devices. Let’s see if I’ve got all of them:
- Do nothing. Just wait and hope Wyze server behaves. - Kill the app. Start app again. - Delete cache under App Settings. - Restart device via app. - Power cycle device. - Power cycle router(s). - Re-add device to the app. - Press reset button on device, repeat above. - Delete device, repeat above. - Repeat all of the above in different orders, hoping for a miracle.
Given the complexity and symbolic meanings of these various carvings, their placement and importance lies in the observer’s knowledge and connection to the meanings of the figures and the culture in which they are embedded. -Wiki
My mesh router finally added the ability to ‘anchor’ a device to a particular node. Now I can reset all cams on a daily schedule and only benefit by it.
The router also gained the ability to reboot itself on a schedule!
Router and cams now look at modem like, ‘You think you’re better than us?’
@peepeep
Clearly I do not know enough about my fairly new Netgear Orbi router. You have helped in that endeavor but I need to get better educated on it and it’s capabiliies. Maybe I should youtube it…tlhutch4
@peepeep
I did consider buying a Wyze router but went with Netgear ORBI because I was familiar with that brand of router. However the mesh (satellite) part was new to me.
After my note to the Forum yesterday I did some more research and called Netgear technical Support and also my internet provider (Greenlight fios) and got all of my questions answered. The system is working fine.
Thanks, tlhutch4
Refresh device connection via router optimization or unbind/bind functionalities.
I discovered today that when a Wyze device goes offline, if your router supports binding and/or optimization to individual devices, running them can refresh the connection and bring the offline device back online. You just need to find your device with matching MAC address.
Woohoo! I’m going to try this next time my floodlight goes offline. This is a usable workaround for me, because I don’t need to physically be there to power-cycle the Wyze camera or plug.
Last time I tried it it improved my network like a pigeon landing on a chess board (improves the game.)
BUT
The latest firmware with its device-anchoring capacity (that works) and the per-device address reservation (which always worked) may make my current fears unfounded.
My ASUS router has a devices list per mesh node. I can drill into each device (connected or offline) and select Bind to anchor that device to a particular mesh node. I had to do this because somehow by default all devices love to connect to my wired node (the one all the way at one side of the house, behind a brick fireplace).
The router doesn’t power-cycle anything, but it’s able to somehow refresh the connection with offline devices.
When I noticed my OG and plug went offline, I found them under the offline list, then unbind/bind it back to the mesh node. I also was able to just click on optimize and it would refresh the connection and come back online.
This optimization is a black box set on ‘improving’ whatever condition it is allowed to operate on.
My network didn’t need ‘optimizing,’ It had been stable and serving me well for many months. But… could it be better? Maybe, but actually, no.
And since the logic it uses is opaque to the user, and the user has no option to manually set channels used (like to the ones that were working before optimizing - and there is no option to revert) customer is stuck with a network scrambled in performance, which subsequent scans inform him is ‘perfect.’
Ultimately, I power cycled the modem, the mesh router and one remote node, all the cams, bulbs and plugs, hoping the core router logic would return me to where I was before ‘optimizing.’
Then I ‘trained’ the system by letting the timed ‘sequence’ feature of tinyCam cycle between cams for a few hours, then cam groups for a few hours, and I was pretty much back where I started: ‘stable & well-served.’
UPDATE (10 days later)
The optimization feature is now usable. When performance degrades, optimizing improves cam connectivity at least minimally.
Bind/unbind had the same useful effect with TP-Link Deco app.
Also, scanning for optimization goosed things nicely - whereas actually optimizing was a net negative (borks 5Ghz band, main and backhaul channels, somehow. )