I have 4 Battery Cam Pros
Is there a way to turn on and off continuous recording at set times of the day?
My main reason is it seems these cameras fog up at night. If I turn on continuous recording for a short time, the fogging clears up.
I would like to automate this process.
I don’t own Battery Cam Pro but don’t believe this is currently possible for any Wyze Cam, though it’s been requested in the Wishlist:
As with any Wishlist topic, you can visit that one to click or tap the Vote button above the initial post and share your ideas and use cases in the comments to show your support for the product and feature request/suggestions that are important to you.
You pose an interesting dilemma. Am I correct in assuming your running the camera on battery only. Or do you have a solar setup?
Reason I’m asking is the WBCP, on battery only, actually spends most of its life in a low power state. My Drok USB tester shows 0.00. There is something there as the wifi works and a degree of motion detection works. Without better test equipment I’m speculating that in low power state it’s probably in thr 5-10 mA range (no heat generated). Compare that to when your in “continuous “ mode your in the 500 mA range. Enough heat is generated to clear the lens.
Keep in mind that in continuous mode the battery will last 8-10 hours. Not enough to make it through the night. If you were to automate it you would have to take this into consideration.
I would suggest a different point of view. Why is the lens fogging up? Is the fog internal or external? Realizing it may not be easily accessible, can you wipe the lens externally? This would at least prove if it’s external or internal.
I also have 4 WBCP units and have never seen a fog over. We only see fog occasionally. I suspect that your camera may have a bit of moisture internally.
If possible swap this camera with one of your other cams (you didn’t say if the other cams have the same issue). If the issue goes away then it would indicate internal moisture. If under warranty–replace it. If out of warranty your options are limited. Leave the swap in place or try and dry out the camera. Some have had success with rice.
If the swap is not successful, then you may need to relook at placement of the camera and if there is anything you can do to keep the fog off the lens (tall order).
Anyway good luck in your quest!
The fog is external. Just need some way to generate activity on the camera to create the miniscule amount of heat to keep it from fogging.
An automation to turn on and off continuous recording would do it.
Would periodically automating the spotlight do it? I don’t know if that’s possible with Battery Cam Pro and/or if it would create sufficient heat for this purpose or be desirable with your location/application. I know that LED is generally considered to be “cool” lighting, but it often does generate some heat.
@Crease has a good idea. Following are items that can be automated on the WBCP.
If the spot light doesn’t generate enough heat uploading a short video might. Not sure how long that would turn on the camera. Worth experimenting with. Just keep in mind your affecting battery life.
Why would there be a turn on spot light for one minute and also turn off spot light. There is no option to just turn on the spot light.
How would you turn on the spot light so it comes on at a set time schedule and the issue a turn off spot light at a later scheduled time?
Am I missing something?
That is odd, my wired cams let you choose how many minutes for “turn on”, and they don’t have a “turn off” option, since as you say it is not needed. But I’m thinking maybe that option is to turn off the automatic spotlight (turns on whenever there is motion and it is dark out automatically). Maybe to save battery they give you that option to be able to limit the hours it is enabled? Just a guess. I do not have auto spotlight enabled since I use a manual automation for it (time based), but even if I turn it on, I don’t get that option, just tested. Though again maybe the BCP offers it to let you save battery.
Don’t know. Feel free to experiment. We’re trying to give you suggestions to solve a difficult problem.
The fog happens on all 4 of my battery cam pros…its definitely external…I have checked. The camera is basically worthless when it fogs. If I turn on the continuous recording for about 10 minutues, it all clears up. That is why I was looking for some automation to wake these things up, and get them having to do something.
