I have EIGHT wyze cameras, a mix of Wyze pan cam v3/v4 and Wyze cam v3/v4 and they are COMPLETELY USELESS. Live view loads MAYBE 10% of the time, the other 90% I get an error or ‘Device offline’. I’ve troubelshot ad nauseam. I work in tech on mobile apps specifically. This is not a connectivity issue, some of my cameras are right next to the router. I’ve reset, re-positioned, swapped out cables and equipment (INCLUDING MY CAMERAS AND ROUTER), the cameras continue recording to the cloud while they claim to be offline. I get occasional relief from downgrading firmware, but its a huge pain, and they upgrade their firmware even when I uncheck ‘update automatically’ and repeatedly tell them not to, eventually the update leaks in (the old firmware isn’t without issues itself). I’ve got nightly reboots scheduled, i’ve poured over the forums and tried literally everything! these cameras are just trash!
Even on the rare occasion when one of the cameras is connected and working, the motion recognition software is terrible. They’ll either miss big events entirely, or record twenty 10 seconds clips, missing content between them so that I get sort of a portion of the event. I’d taken to putting 2 wyze cams on important areas so that hopefully ONE of them would catch events, but now I just have two cameras giving me a handful of different useless 10 sec snippets of a 5 min event. The terrible software on these cameras makes them a COMPLETE waste of money, and these issues have been widely reported for over a year with no resolution. I’m about to dump all of these cameras straight in the trash and go to a competitor.
Ditto for me, but the problem of dropping cameras started well before the last firmware update. Last week week, I could watch 9 cameras at once, but that did not last long. The last couple of days, 3 is the limit. I don’t really know how the Wyze server side authentication, etc. works, but I think there is something there.
A few years back, Qsee had a similar business model to Wyze (nice little inexpensive cameras but steadily declining system function), and they just went belly up one day, and all the hardware ended up in the trash. I have not purchased any new Wyze products for over 2 years now, but I bet the end is getting near.
This is not new. Many of us simply did two things. Replace the Wyze supplied adapter. Find some that are 2.1 amp+, even if it means getting a 2-3 port and don’t use the second port. Made a difference. Also select some wifi 120v power plugs. Put those new 5v adapters on them. Get the ones where you set an internal schedule to turn them off/on on some early before daylight time daily. This gets a fresh connection. All the offline issues will disappear. (And yes, you are correct, we should not have to do this.)
Hi @Sam_Bam I’m having the same issues and it’s driving me batty! Can you please give a little more info. I have V4 Cams. so you say swap their power adapters to what exactly? Would you have links?
And for “select some wifi 120v power plugs. Put those new 5v adapters on them” I don’t understand what you mean by this. Thanks in advance.
You might try one of these and see if your v4 stays Online. Plug your v4 into one slot and leave the other 2 ports unused should supply your v4 with up to 3.1 amps.
Smart plugs can be scheduled to power cycle your cameras on your schedule. You could try pulling your v4 power cords once per day manually to see if restarting helps. If you notice an improvement, then Smart Power Plugs may be worth it to try.
I have lots of these adapters, and I love them. One thing I would STRONGLY caution people to be aware of with this adapter (and many similar splitter adapters like this) is that they they have 5V/3.1A that is SHARED POWER split between every port. So if you use more than 1 of the USB ports, and it is sharing the power with the other devices on that adapter, the adapter can and does sometimes CHOKE the power to your camera and can cause issues (including simply connectivity issues or causing the camera to power cycle in some cases). I have had that happen many times when I was sharing the adapter with multiple devices.
So this adapter is FANTASTIC if you are only using it for a single camera, or only using it for 2 low powered cameras that don’t have sudden huge power spike needs. Assuming you use it appropriately, knowing the 3 ports are shared power (not dedicated power per port), then these are fantastic adapters. I seriously have a couple of dozen of them and they work great. I love them. I have bought them repeatedly. Just make sure you aren’t using them wrong with a misunderstanding about the shared power or you COULD cause yourself issues unintentionally and not realize what’s going on.
Hi @GenericEric, Yes, I can, I am happy to share what has worked for me. As you see @StevenA has already given you a link. Good choice, I think.
I am going to share some for you that I have bought in the past. And you are lucky, since Prime Day is coming, a lot of the 2.1’s will be on sale and a bargain. From my links you see I like the 2-3 USB-A version, but I also have purchased some with 1 USB-C. I don’t need the USB-C, but since I seldom use it, it prevents me from overloading the adapter, and self-defeating my purpose of more amperage available that I will use. I literally want more amperage available to the camera that I will use. That gives me a nice margin. To be clear, I buy these 2-3 port 2.1s and only use 1 of the USB-A ports per camera. Over doing it? Maybe, but it works. I’ve not tested/measured the Wyze plugs, but I think they are marginally 1.0 amp.
I admit to being too lazy to check what adapter comes with the V4, but the V3+ needed more than 1.0 amp. I think it was a 2.0 amp adapter. So, simply using the 2.1s everywhere, saves me trying to remember to insure a V3, or V3+ or V4 has the correctly sized adapter. I’ve said enough why I do it. And someone is going to say its not necessary. I agree it should not be necessary, but it works.
Here’s what I works for me. I buy WiFi 120v plugs. I use them to daily turn off even the 2.1 adapters and restart them. That gives me daily a fresh connection to the Wyze cam. I setup a schedule on the WiFi plug one time and it daily stops and restarts. While this might be overkill for some people, it cost me nothing, happens daily, and saves me having to fuss with Wyze often.
Here’s what I am using. But these are not special. You need not try to find these. These are sample 2.1s/ I think this will help. But I would wait to Prime Day.
I like this one on the side, because it allows me to get power to some cramped spaces too.
Thanks @StevenA@carverofchoice@Sam_Bam
I really appreciate the awesome info and on being careful not to assume the power won’t be doled out equally if you use more than one slot.
And thank you SO much for providing the links and reminding of Prime savings. It all helps, especially these days.
Forgive for perhaps stating the obvious but the reason for swapping to these chargers is because the ones that come with the Wyze cameras ( in my case the v4) are under-powered and why the camera bugs out?
Is that right?
And restarting the cameras addresses a bug that creates a disconnect if on for a certain duration?
It would make my day to have these running smoother, nothing is more frustrating trying to keep an eye on my kids and have the areas they are in with several cameras “disconnect” or “offline” where I have go to each one and “restart service” and “restart camera”. It defeats the purpose.
2 things:
What do you use for outside cameras? I would assume these chargers aren’t waterproof.
Is there a major difference using WiFi to restart these cameras opposed to using the automation feature on the Wyze app > Automations > + Add Automation > With a schedule > Camera Name > Restart The Camera and choose Start Time?
If this is a power source issue, I would expect Wyze to issue an extended warranty and replace faulty adapters. Wishful thinking. They offered me some Wyze dollars to buy new cams but I’ve learned my lesson the hard way. Not buying from Wyze again .
Most of my Wyze v3 cameras work fine on a 1 amp power adapter. One v3 will go Offline and not respond. A power cycle of the problem camera and my WiFi brings it back to normal.
Yes, I think so. But it’s just my opinion and my experience. I am not going to debate with anyone. I just learned the hard way that replacing my Wyze with something else solved 90+% of my “offline” issues. AND I admit to adding the WiFi power adapters about the same time, as a helper to solve this. Its not my intend to pick on Wyze. That’s why I qualify my comments, with “my experience”.
Outside cameras? I don’t have any that are close enough to get rained on. And even if the camera is under a ledge where rain beats down? I have the adapter hidden. Let me do you one better.
Difference in using Wyze to restart the camera or WiFi plug? I think so. Again, my experience is Wyze app restarting or shutting down and WiFi plug off and on, is akin to Rebooting your personal computer or shutting down your personal computer and pressing the start button. Restarts don’t clear all memory, don’t correct memory leaks, don’t reset your graphics card. Shutdown does.
I had 4 Wyze V4s outside my garage. Nearly on each corner. BUT, I didn’t want passerbys to see them. I bought some plastic project boxes on Amazon, measured how to cover 1"+ strip wide & long enough to max the viewpoint, and painted all the rest of the box to match the building. then mounted the camera inside. How did I mount them inside the plastic boxes? I took a flat piece of steel 3 inches long 1.25" wide. Small piece of double sided tape and taped them to the bottom lip of the plastic boxes clear cover. The camera’s magnetic base, allowed me to recklessly place it inside, then clumsily handle it as I installed the cover. I could depend on the camera staying in place because the magnetic did a terrific job of holding it.. And I didn’t have to design it. It simply worked. I drilled a hole through the back of the box into the building and ran the USB cable. Tween us girls, I also used a short male/female USB extension cable 12" long to power; because the camera’s power pigtail did not reach, all the way though the hole and into the building. And I wanted a way to disconnect it without opening the box (facing the street). So, picture in your head, 4 plastic boxes, clear front cover, painted 40-50% larger than the camera, mounted on corners of a building. with USB power cables inside the building. Then, I cheated. From the center of the building towards each corner, I ran a 20’ 2 prong 120v extension cord. Added a 2.1 adapter to the female plug on the cord. And plugged in the Wyze 3-6 foot cable. (each corner, same thing) Back at the center of the building, all 4 of the 20 foot extension cords went into a power strip. And the power strip plugged into a single WiFi adapter, that plugged into building power. Now, one adapter with it’s schedule turns all 4 on and off at 03:00 am for 10 minutes and back on - daily. Fresh Wifi/Internet connection. Not a minute of my time.
And since building is my garage, why not? I added two more Wyze cams inside and ran their power back to the same WiFi plug. Each was not under a corner, so was not useful to run to the 2.1 adapter, and didn’t want to violate my own rule of one cam per 2.1 adapter.
Now, don’t take this as a slam on Wyze, but… I said, I HAD, not have. I stopped using Wyze. I out grew them, because they didn’t grow in the direction I want. I dislike their subscription service. I want a couple of things they don’t care about. I wanted video local storage, (they do not),. I do not want the company that stores my video be tempted to hand them over to law enforcement “in my behalf” without me having a say in the matter. I will decide if I want to be part of an investigation, or I will simple “know not what you are talking about”.
I want my cameras up on a large monitor so I can see, but I don’t want a CCTV or NVR from Reolink. I tried Reolink, I didn’t like them. So, I bought some different stuff, and gave my Wyze to someone new to watching the neighbors’ cars. I bought the Tapo H500 hub, added a SSD and a large monitor and connected their C120 and C260 to - via WiFi. (And I love it.) But everything is still on 2.1 adapters and WiFi plugs. The C120 is a 2K small form factor camera like the V3/V4. Those two are better resolution. As soon as Tapo makes a 4K small form factor, I will replace all I have.
One last thing, I noticed on my 27" monitor (1080p) that the view was fuzzy. I have both 2K and 4K cameras. Why is it fuzzy. Friend said, "duh, you are looking at a 1080p monitor. why do you think?) So, I bought a cheap 4K monitor and the changes is AMAZING. I sat myself down immediately and wrote out a counseling statement for not seeing that myself. It will go into my permanent record.
I think one of my V4 cameras is using the original adapter and cord they came with and it’s been working fine. But I would agree with the general statement that if a camera restarts a lot or frequently losses connection then that is a red flag of possible low power issues. These things happen more frequently when the camera is doing multiple things and needs more power (recording motion events to cloud and SD card while live streaming and maybe doing 2 way audio, it using the flashlight).
If you are using a long 3rd party USB cord, that’s probably the issue. The default adapter can’t transmit enough power through a long cord. You either need a more powerful adapter or just use a regular extension cable instead of a long USB cord. That’s a common cause.
Its been almost two years now, so can’t remember the models. I had heard so many good things. I waited for a sale and spent $1,000 on stuff. Their homebase that connects and stores. several Wyze like and a bigger p&t and one with dual lens. I connected the homebase to a large monitor, I wanted to use them like a CCTV. None would stay actively connected to the homebase/monitor. I had to click and wait for a refresh to get them. A quad view would have 1 maybe 2 each time I turned to look at it.
I found they had a NVR, so I bought it too, and connected cameras to it. POE cams liked it, so I was told, but wireless did not. And anything I connected to the NVR was disconnected from the homebase. Too much work. Kept that stuff about 10 days. Had retained all the boxes. Put everything back in boxes, wiped the NVR, removed my drive from the homebase and took everything back. Got all my money back. Learned Reolink is not for me.
I never have issues with the Reolink Client App (not the smartphone app) running 13 cams constantly on a big screen TV above the main TV.
It runs 24/7 and only the monitor gets turned off when not in use but the output to the HDMI is always going. Plan to split the HDMI to the upstairs bedroom someday..
Ah , you hit a few points there for me. Yes copying to SD card AND uploaded to cloud as well as aggressive motion control settings topped off with some extension cables. That could make a situation for some of my v4 disconnects. Thank you.
It all helps, especially these days.
