It’s apparent Wyze cameras use low-glow, 850nm IR LEDs because their glow is easily seen. If their built-in IR is toggled off can the cameras sense scenes lit by 3rd party, no-glow, 940nm illumination?
Some Wyze cams use 850nm, some use 940nm and some incorporate both 850nm and 940nm and are user-selectable via settings. Most Wyze cams incorporate only 850nm. Wyze cams that use 850nm can see scenes lit by 940nm, but not as well. The difference depends on the intensity of the 940nm LEDs. Indoors, the difference is negligible. Outdoors depends on range. Your topic tags indicate Cam Pan v3 (CPv3). That cams uses 850nm. Here is a shot from a CPv3 with IR LEDs disabled, 940nm LED panels illuminating foreground and high-intensity 850nm illuminating background from 2 PoE cams. My field to the right is lit by 940nm. There is no moon out. Ambient illumination seen is purely 940nm and 850nm LEDs:
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Thanks, Seapup. That looks like an informative scene to me. I’m hoping off angle illumination will reduce direct reflection glare. Glare tends to SERIOUSLY confuse nighttime detections. It turns spider silk into PERSON Events and reduces people in hi-viz vests to MOTION Events.
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Just turn off the recording cam’s LED to prevent silk reflections back at the lens and use either dedicated LED blasters or repurpose old Wyze cams as LED emitters-only and mount those LED sources away from the cam that is recording. IR pointed 90 degrees to the side of the cam works best but is difficult for most installations due to lack of power source. People in hi-viz vests and things with hi-vis tape are going to be a problem with cam in IR mode. Those reflectors are designed to reflect all light sources outward in all directions. The more intense the LEDs (or any artificial light source) and the closer the reflective stuff, the worse the image will be. A vest at even 10 feet will wash out a cam’s view in IR mode. Most of my cams that see moving vehicular and human traffic have Night Vision Mode set to Auto and Night Vision Conditions set to Dusk, so the B&W IR view switches to color night vision earlier when reflective objects get close to the cam. That side of the house has plenty of ambient light from yard pole lights and door sconces so even when cam auto switches to color night vision, people and animals are clearly identifiable and even high-vis vests don’t wash out the cam’s view.
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Just a big mess of antennas. And that’s the “clean” side. 
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Thanks for confirming my theories. I can’t disable Wyze IR without providing another source. Where I live, dark is DARK and we like it that way.
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In my area the main issue is snow and rain year round, and in the summer the bugs are really attracted to the IR lights. I only have one outdoor cam that needs IR, and it is a Pan cam with motion tracking, when raining (even misting) or when the bugs are out the thing is moving around all night.
I did consider getting an external illuminator just to move the light away from the cam, but in my case it hasn’t been a huge deal.
I know a lot of people have done separate IR illuminators. I think some ran into an issue where the cam would never detect to go into “night” mode as it was seeing the IR as it being light out, but I’m guessing with the 940s that wouldn’t be an issue based on what @seapup posted. I believe some are also running 850 without that issue too. I’m guessing the problematic ones were just really cheap amazon illuminators that were actually putting out a pretty wide wavelength range.
Thanks, dave27. We get swarms of midges that white out my cameras and have prompted me to disable motion tracking in my PanV3. I’ll be sure to check for visible light or glow from my 3rd party 940 source b4 going to the trouble of mounting it… or exceeding the return period!
I actually suspect it is not the little bit of red from the 850s on the Panv3, I think the bugs can either sense the IR light or maybe the heat from the cam. But given that so many have resolved the bugs issue by using a separate illuminator mounted away from the cam, I don’t think it is the heat. My other Panv3 on the front of my house (which never goes into IR due to street lights) does not attract bugs or have any issues with tracking rain/snow.
I think insects can see some IR? I may have that wrong. But regardless it would help with rain/snow/dust.
yes they can, I actually ggot a IR floodlight off amazon years ago and ran it from inside my house looking outside and it illuminated my entire backyard! all my cameras saw everything and the bugs left the cameras alone….it was great…. Man actually I took it down for some reason I don’t remember why and now I think it’s hidden in my basement I might have to pull that thing back out LOL
Has anyone found a source of solar IR lights? Turning off Wyze IR and using supplemental IR sources solves a world of problems and would massively cut the false alarm spider, bug, rain, snow event volume going to Wyze. Remote IR source is ideal as it does not attract spiders, silk and bugs. Power in those remote locations is the problem. Has anyone found a source of solar powered IR lights? The solution is simple, install solar IR lights LEDs instead of 5K LEDs. I can’t find any manufacturer that makes this simple cheap solution. Wyze could you step up to find us a source of solar IR lights that would in my case cut the Event recording volume sent to Wyze down by 30%. 30% of total events my cameras send in are false triggers caused by installing IR emitters near the lens.
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I haven’t seen any single-source solar powered IR products but there are 12V IR lights you might combine with a battery & panel, if you’re crafty.