Help with motion sensing automation

[ElTigre81]

I just bought some Wyze products hoping to create an outdoor security/lighting solution. I got a doorbell v2, a floodlight pro, a bulb cam and some accessory bulbs. I set up an automation so that if the doorbell senses motion it turns on the floodlight, the bulb cam light and the accessory bulbs, but I can’t get it to turn off on its own after it’s been triggered. It seems like there’s no automation trigger that allows you to turn the bulb cam off after a certain amount of time. Have been googling and searching on reddit, but not finding a solution. Would really appreciate someone insight!!! Thanks in advance.

[Crease]

Welcome to the Forum, @ElTigre81!

@ElTigre81

It seems like there’s no automation trigger that allows you to turn the bulb cam off after a certain amount of time.

You’ve run into a common problem that a number of users have complained about specifically with Cam Floodlight Pro and maybe to a lesser extent with Bulb Cam (a much newer product, so give it time). Some other Wyze products have a “Turn on for…” Action in Automations, and you can use one of those as an intermediary to get this working the way you want until () Wyze fixes this. This is one way to do that:

• IF
  • Video Doorbell v2
    • Detects a person
• DO
  • Cam Floodlight Pro
    • Turn on floodlight
  • Bulb Cam
    • Upload a short video to the cloud
    • Turn on the lights
  • Bulb Color
    • Turn on for 5 minutes

I used a Bulb Color in this example because I’m thinking that one of those could be a visual cue indoors in a lamp or light fixture whenever your outdoor lights are triggered, but you could also use a Wyze Plug or one of the sockets in a Wyze Plug Outdoor as a logical switch for this. You wouldn’t necessarily want the Plug to provide power to another device, but you’d want the Plug connected to power and Wi-Fi so that you can use that as a trigger for your next Automation. In this example, though, I’m going to continue with the Bulb Color for the second Automation (also a “With a device and/or service” type):

• IF
  • Bulb Color
    • Turns off
• DO
  • Cam Floodlight Pro
    • Turn off floodlight
  • Bulb Cam
    • Turn off the lights

An alternative way to do this would be to use a simple “Turn on” Action for the Bulb Color (or Plug or whatever) in the first Automation and a “Has been on for…” trigger (“IF”) in the second Automation. If you do it that way, then you also want to add an additional Action to your “DO”:

• DO
  • Bulb Color
    • Turn off

That’s the easiest way I’m aware of to do this now, while we’re all waiting to see if Wyze fixes this. Like I said, the “Turn on for” feature has been requested specifically for Cam Floodlight Pro for well over two years. Here’s one example in an existing Wishlist topic:

Add More Actions for Wyze Automations (Rules)

Wyze Floodlight Pro I just installed the brand new Wyze Floodlight Pro. I can use a rule from other cams detecting motion, person, vehicle, etc. And opened or closed sensors, to turn on the Floodlight… But then what? How do I turn it back off? There is no Action option for “Turn on for” X minutes. And when turned on by rules or manually it does not respect the Auto Detection timer (which it shouldn’t). The floodlight also has a brightness control. There are no actions to control the brightnes…

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.

[Crease]

@ElTigre81, I saw a notification on Reddit from when I replied to your post there and you responded, but Reddit isn’t displaying your reply in the thread.

I’ll respond here. I prefer this platform, anyway.^[1] The notification said you wrote this:

u/MaxwellDinero replied to your comment in r/wyzecam
I saw that-that works well. I’m going to send the bulb cam back and just get regular smart bulbs—will save me some money too. Thank you so much for your help!!!

You’re welcome!

If your main goal with this area is illumination, then I think some variant of Wyze Bulb (I like the 1100 lm output of the Bulb Color) is a good choice, because then you can use those as your timer (“Turn on for” Action or “Has been on for” Trigger). You won’t get the “Upload a short video to the cloud” Action or the wide-angle view from the Bulb Cam, but hopefully your Cam Floodlight Pro and Video Doorbell v2 will give you the coverage you want.

If you have a moment, then I’d still recommend visiting the Wishlist topic I linked previously so that you can vote and comment. Others within the community who really want to see that feature added to Cam Floodlight Pro would likely appreciate the support.

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1. I really signed up for Reddit only so I could ask some questions in the recent AMA, though none of those have been addressed as of this writing. I probably won’t spend a lot of time responding there. ↩︎