Is Wyze doing the right thing and refunding peoples money for the outdoor cam?

I got my camera at least a month ago but today was the first time I had to set it up and try it. It’s a big fail. through a glass window, the max range is 40 feet. Even when they are in the same room 10 feet apart, the camera settings show no bars.
Is Wyze doing the right thing and refunding peoples money for the outdoor cam and not nailing them for shipping both ways?

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Mine is working fine. Have you reached out to support to see if there’s a hardware issue? I’ve seen a few people have been able to return their camera comment in the forums.

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Support may be the best path, but here is a link that has some solutions for other problems with the cam:

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Thanks, but that’s not my problem. That’s not the issue with mine. I only get 40 feet through a glass window. And when they are in the same room 10 feet apart, I get no bars on the camera.
I have not gotten any response from wyze except to tell me they have my question and are real backed up. (I wonder why)

While you cam is designed for outdoor use, you can use it indoors, but not through glass. The Wyze Cam Outdoor uses a PIR sensor to detect IR heat signatures. Modern windows are designed to filter out IR and UV heat signatures so PIR sensors cannot work efficiently through glass windows unless you have a very old house with single pane plate glass.

There is a bug in the signal strength display under Android where it always reads no bars. A temporary workaround is to get the signal strength reading from the base station instead of the cam.

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Yes, support is backed up and has not gotten back to me yet. I described my problem in detail but I bet they will just give me a generic response or ask for more info. I get no bars on my camera even when it is 5 or 10 feed from the transmitter. And the max range I get with a clear shot is 40 feet.

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I’m thinking you mean the WiFi signal is not going through a glass window (almost free space unless it has a metallic reflect coating) and not the IR motion detection.

  • The 40 feet WiFi connection from base to WCO is about average on many of the WCO. I have a Android and when the signal strength showed no signal the WCO didn’t work or was spotty at best.

  • If you have an open ticket and receive a RMA it includes prepaid USPS return label to Wyze Labs.

  • You might try posting your problem with @UserCustomerGwen

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They advertise 300 feet. Now I really don’t expect to get 300 feet, but more than 40. Yes. I have cheap single pane glass. Even when I put them both indoors 10 feet apart, the app shows no bars on the camera. Thanks for you suggestion, I will look into Gwen.

From Wyze app Home, click the base station icon, not the cam icon. If your base station and cam are connected and 10’ apart and you see no bars on the right side of the line with your cam, the cam or the base station (or both) are defective.

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Thanks for you reply, My base always has shown 3 bars and my camera has always shown no bars. Not sure what that is about. The base is plugged directly into my router so I am not sure what the bars even mean on the base station.

There is a bug in the signal strength display under Android where it always reads no bars.

Signal strength between base and cam. It’s the same thing that the cam itself should be reporting, but alas… the bug.

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Thanks, Is this how it is for everyone? I guess I would not even noticed if I was not having issues. I would probably not have even looked in that menu. I wonder why don’t they just remove the bars until they get the bug fixed?? If it is supposed to be the same as the base is reporting, you don’t even need it.

It’s a firmware bug that only surfaces under the Android version of the Wyze app. It looks like this bug has been fixed with the most recent WCO cam and base station firmware. Please update your firmware (it just came out 37 minutes ago):

Wyze Cam Outdoor Camera: 4.17.0.159
Wyze Cam Outdoor Base Station: 4.16.0.168

—> Edit: Signal strength reported correctly with the cam firmware update to 4.17.0.159, but upon applying base station firmware 4.16.0.168, it is once again… broken. :neutral_face:

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Thanks, I did just upload the firmware thinking it would fix my problem. But like you reported in you edit, it is still broke. Oh, and when you say, “only android”, Android has over 1/2 the cellphone market.
I tried to send mine back, but because I let this sit in my office for a month before I tried it, Wyze just told me I was past my 30 days and the proud new owner of a $60.00 paperweight. I really used to like this company. I must have sold 25 of the pan cameras by recommending them to my friends.

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My WCOs are working very well as outdoor cams. I’ll be happier with them when Wyze gets Cam Plus working with them.

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Hey, they just came out with a second firmware update a few minutes ago and guess what? I get bars on the camera. Now I will put it in my back yard and see if they fixed the distance.

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Did you get the (September 9, 2020) updates for:
Android 2.13.118 & iOS 2.13.21

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Yep, just got it and love the new changes and fixes. :+1:t2:

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Awesome. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Just so we are on the same page, where do they advertise 300 feet? The normal PIR sensor is 26 feet.

Glass is a problem for PIR, what official reference says no?

Glad the firmware update fixed this!