Foggy image - possible hardware solution

I just twisted it with enough force and the glue broke off. I didn’t use anything other than my fingers.

That camera is a V2.

Going to do another one tonight if I can find the time! Picture is SO much clearer!

That was my first instinct as well.

Wondering if that piece also guards against sensor impact damage during assembly as the threaded lens housing is added? Or possibly a backstop for fixed focal length measurement?

Some camera sensors are infra-red sensitive and have a filter behind the lens to remove the infra-red light. A number of years ago I read of a digital camera hack where you removed the filter to pick up infra-red for experimental purposes.

I don’t belive this is an infrared filter. those are usually tinted. This one is completely clear. Likely a UV filter or just some kind of dust cover/protective piece of glass for the sensor.

I doubt the Wyze cameras (or any other security camera) uses a fixed IR filter, as they use IR for their night vision.

I attempted to open a defective black V2, but it seems the insides look a little different from the pictures here.

There’s no wire/nothing stuck to the side of the case.

I found this screw hard to reach. It’s angled in such a way I can’t reach it with a normal mini-screw driver.

Interesting. Ther Phillips screw in the white tube is hard to reach. It requires a screwdriver with an extended neck.

Could be a new version of the hardware. I’ve opened one from. 8/2019 and hardware was the same for the most part. Any date on your circuit boards?

This is a black V2 from their 2019 Thanksgiving promo.

I can’t take out the circuit board to look at the dates. The camera still works but the image is bad. I don’t want to totally break it, as I want to do some firmware testing on it.

Does yours look anything like this? I was thinking maybe you didn’t remove the back of the unit which would make getting into that tube screw very hard.

On a side note. I’ve just removed the silicone piece and glass from the last 2 units I’ve fixed. Removal of the glass in both cases required re-focusing of the lens for a sharp image. I guess there’s a little bit of refraction occurring in that super thin piece of glass.

I think that piece of silicone is likely the cause. I deal with 2 part silicone at work and often see some oozing of oils from mixes that have been left sitting for a while. They leave oily spots where they’ve been sitting. Maybe it has not been properly vulcanized. But it is weird that there is no residue on the sensor itself. I’m still conflicted as to whether that glass is already scuzzy when it’s installed and I just never noticed before.

Also, I’ve been sent a couple of units with revised hardware to test. First impression is that the image is crystal clear, no haze. Cameras have the same part number externally. I’ve also been advised not to open them. This has been extremely hard for me not to do.

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I did the glass thing on two V2 cameras and you’re absolutely right about the focus. On one camera, I broke the glass and that camera had to be refocused after reassembly without it… But, the other V2 camera didn’t need any focus adjustment after just cleaning the glass. Both cameras saw a big improvement on both clarity and contrast, and I didn’t see any difference between the one withe the glass removed vs the one with the glass in but clean with both streaming side by side. .

Hi my First real forum post (from Australia :smiley:),
I just purchased my first WYZE V2 cost a lot of cash here compared to US.
Anyway this fogginess, I am wondering ‘if’ this could be related to heat generated by the Camera and it’s enclosure.
I spent a long time in the new car Auto Industry and ‘New Plastics’ can give off a Fogg which sticks to glass (in fact all surfaces) and result in foggy images when exposed to warm to hot temperatures.
Not keen on having to disassemble V2 Camera to keep Lens clean.
Cheers
Ash

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Could be something like that. I used to work in engineering for a barcode reader manufacturer, so optics, imagers, lasers cameras, etc. I find it very hard to believe that the assembly plant is putting in dirty lenses. I mean it’s fundamentally rule number one in optical devices. The lenses I looked at in the Wyze camera were not smeared, or even glove finger print marked so it’s more likely either something that happened after assembly. Another cause could’ve been dirty machinery if it was machine assembled, but again, unlikely it wouldn’t be caught in QC.

You’re right, I didn’t remove the back of the unit. Opened it again and tried. A very tight fit. I don’t want to force it.

I have the same theory, actually. If it’s an off-gassing of some sort, the heat may exacerbate it.

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I just picked my first Wyze cam yesterday and already love it so much I am picking up a second one today. I am a tinkerer at heart, and my curiosity is getting the best of me. I will unbox the new one, test the picture quality compared to my first one then take it apart to see how the lens looks with a brand new camera. I will try to take pictures of everything and report back with my findings.

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Cool! Please share your findings.

Maybe age too, I’ve bought my first cams awhile back and am seeing the same thing discussed here. At some point I’ll take it apart and examine it but might just order some new cams in the meantime. No response from customer support? They are probably too busy with data hacking and AI software envelopment. :wink:

Customer support seems to acknowledge the issue as they are currently testing minor hardware modifications to prevent the fogging.

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