Last night I noticed my outside camera was disconnected. I tried somethings from inside the house but nothing worked. I followed the list of things to get it reconnected and the only thing that worked was to factory reset it (had to bring it inside because it was so cold out last night) which involves removing the SD card to do this. It was around zero degs F last night.
I get up this morning and apparently the camera disconnected again at midnight. This morning at 8am I didn’t need to factory reset as I was able to reconnect it by removing power for 5 seconds then plugging it back in.
The camera has a signal strength of 3 bars and none of my other connected devices do not have any issues staying connected (even the ones further away from the router). Note that the only other device outside is my Ring Doorbell camera and I’ve never lost connection with that camera.
Is this an issue with the Cam V4’s and colder outside temps?
EDIT: The firmware is up to date.
Looks like you were toeing the line of the operating temp range so that may have played a role.
You could keep it plugged in, inside for testing for a day or three. See if it’s the weather that may be causing the issue.
Oh wow. I didn’t realize these things had an operating temp for outside like this.
If that’s the case then it’s worthless as an outdoor camera in many areas. It gets colder than that in late December and January here in NW Indiana, sometimes hitting -20 with the wind chill factor.
They really need to list the camera as a “moderate weather only” camera. In fact there are areas along our southern border that can get hotter than 122 degs F.
Regardless Wyze did contact me and wants info for a replacement camera. It seems like this might be an issue they know about.
They are offering either a replacement camera or a gift card.
Do you know of any of their cameras that can operate in colder temps?
If you want 100% guarantee (or close to it) that a camera will operate in those extremes you’ll need to look at something specifically designed for it, usually will be in a larger housing that has insulation for cold and a fan for the summer.
However often things will operate near or even beyond their rated temperatures, it may shorten the lifespan though. What SD card are you using, have you checked the rating on that? They are pretty sensitive to temperature too, but there are ones that are designed to be more tolerant of extreme temps.
One of the biggest issues is actually temperature change, when going from warm to cold or cold to warm over even a few hours time, it can cause condensation which will wreak havoc on electronics.
Camera placement can help, keeping it out of the sun and shielding it from wind for example.
It’s not the SD card as it is an “extreme endurance” card that I got after having many issues with the card not working but the camera still did.
This cold here is not that extreme. It is a common temp along this latitude and further north.
What electronics consider extreme is different from what people that live in that climate may consider extreme.
I would not consider -4 to 122 degrees to be “mild” or “moderate”.
Each camera has their own official operating temps listed under their tech specs. But I know there are folks that have used their cameras in ranges outside of those with success, at your own risk of course.
In Minnesota here. I keep all my outside facing cameras inside windows up against the glass. Keeps an eye on the fridged cold from the comfort of inside the house.
Exactly.
Compared to the North Pole.
I only like it that cold on vacation. Temperature is relative. My northern relatives go swimming in the winter in Florida. Not me.
If having them inside a window isn’t an option, you could build it a little “house” with plexi or glass window. Sometimes just cutting the wind chill is enough (I have plants that won’t survive single digit winter temps but a very thin breathable fabric over them designed for that purpose and they’re fine, I suspect mostly due to eliminating the wind and keeping frost off them).
Of course you’d want make sure it isn’t in the sun in the summer (or maybe rig up a USB powered fan).
It is attached to a 2x6 rail above it, a 2x4 behind it, and 2x2 rails on each side.
So it’s not really in the wind except for the front.
I just checked now after the sun went down about an hour and a half ago and it is now offline. It is 22 degs outside with a wind chill of only 14 degs, and those temps are above the operating temps of the camera.
I just got a second cam V4 in the mail today from Black Friday sales, I will connect that camera up outside tonight to see how it lasts. If it works fine then they will just replace the other camera for me. If it doesn’t work fine I will try and see if it can be escalated.
I am actually planning on putting that camera up under my deck roof so I can keep an eye on my full porch still see out over my driveway.
I don’t think putting a cam inside a window will work very well. I have a v3 camera in my bathroom window (the only window in the back of the house) to watch for people and other animals like coyotes, but when I turn on the bathroom light the camera can’t see beyond the window. This is why I ordered another V4 with long cables to hook it up outside under my gutters. But that will need a ladder to get to after it is up, if this happens with every V4 camera then I don’t want it anymore because I am not going to be getting out a long enough ladder and climbing it just to reset the camera.
They make window mounts that will stop the inside light from reflecting, but understood if it isn’t the ideal option.
I’ve got two Panv3s and 3 OGs outside and they’ve done fine into the teens last year and regularly are in the 20s. No issues in 18+ months so far. So it may just be a dud.
Also anytime a cam is out of reach I’d ensure to have a way to reset the power remotely. Circuit breaker is sometimes easiest but a smart plug will work.
If the only way to get it back online is a factory reset then it sounds like it is dying, it should not be losing its settings completely.
Out of curiosity have you tried to see if it does it without the SD card in it? Sometimes an SD card that can’t be written to (or is experiencing a lot of bad blocks and errors, can cause these cams (and really any device) to lock up and behave strangely.
How are you powering the camera that is having issues? How long are the cords, what type of power supply and where is the power supply compared to the camera?
I didn’t know they made window mounts. Are they from Wyze or some other service and do you possibly have a link to share?
I will try one for now because it’s not going to be until it gets warmer (at least low 40’s) before I climb a ladder to put a camera up outside.
I do have an outdoor smart plug that I used to use for Christmas lights but I haven’t put those up now in 2 years (3 years counting this year).
I have not tried it without the SD card because I wanted that in the camera so I could see the playback anytime.
I now have the new camera outside with the SD card in it and I am going to place the problematic camera inside without the SD card and see if either of them fail.
I just noticed something. I checked the wifi signal going to the cameras and the one outside is two solid bars, where last night the problematic one was showing three bars that weren’t solid (so maybe no signal) after I reset it even though I could still see that camera in the app. The problematic one is inside and showing 3 sold bars for a wifi signal, but it’s only about 3 ft from the router. So maybe the wifi card in the camera is failing. I may place it at the back of the house to see how well it does.
It is connected via an outdoor power cord that comes from an outdoor outlet with normal 110v.
Wyze makes one - Wyze Window Mount for Wyze Cam v3, Cam v3 Pro, and Cam OG Series and you can also get 3D printed ones on ETSY, Ebay, etc but theirs will probably be the best fit. Note the title doesn’t say v4 but the description does.
Showing no bars in the app could just mean the app can’t communicate with the camera to get that status (I’m assuming the cam was offline when you saw that)? Even if it had bad wifi signal, it should not have needed a factory reset or even going through setup again. That implies it is losing the wifi info which it shouldn’t do. As soon as it is rebooted or the wifi issue goes away it should reconnect automatically.
The wifi chip is one possible part that could be impacted by the cold, but even the main processor having an issue could make it disconnect and show no signal.
If they’re willing to send a replacement, might as well do it, and in the meantime you can test like you’re doing to see if it just failed early or it is a temperature thing. But if they say -5 to +122 usually that’s a “safe” range and it should be capable of going a bit beyond (possibly with shortened lifespan or sporadic issues). It shouldn’t have problems in the 20s or even teens.
The important part is how much distance between the power supply and the camera (the USB cable portion). If you’re using the stock length that shouldn’t be an issue. However as part of your testing, may want to try a different power supply (even the non-outdoor rated one that comes with the cam when it isn’t raining/snowing) just to confirm the power supply isn’t the part having issues with the cold. Others have had the outdoor power supply go bad on them.
It’s not the PSU having issues because the camera kept recording on the SD card the entire time it was out. It just wouldn’t connect to the app for some reason even after a simple reboot. Which is what makes me think it is the wifi chip in the unit that failed.
Note that I am using the basic PSU that came with the unit but it is inside an outdoor weatherproof cord box.
Both the new camera outside and the old camera inside seem to be working fine so far. The outside one has two bars for signal strength but the older one inside has 3 bars even though it’s about twice the distance away than the outside one. The front door must be causing the weaker signal.
I purchased an outdoor security mount for the V4 camera that is supposed to go at the back of the house, but I think I might need to boost my wifi signal for out there. I also might need to get an extended USB cable so that I can run it to the weather proof cord box and put that under the house. Do you think I would need to insulate the extra long USB cord if I do that?
Power issues don’t mean the camera completely works or completely doesn’t work. A low voltage situation causes certain things to flake out before others. Are you using that same power supply now for the test or some other one? It should be something you test regardless to make sure the power supply hasn’t started to go bad, the ones that come with the cams are not the most robust and will also have temperature ranges they are good for (which may be less than the camera itself). There are better power supplies from Anker and others on amazon and frequently go on sale, but for now I’d just try a fresh Wyze one as part of the testing.
Should not be any need to insulate the USB cable. But I would not go longer than about 20 feet, even then if possible it is better to get a regular outlet or extension cord closer to the camera and use a shorter USB cable. If you do go with a longer USB cable look for one that has the highest gauge possible, the thicker the wire, the less voltage drop.
Wifi outside will always be weaker, not necessarily an issue (and would not cause your camera to lose its settings).
My wyze v3 and v2 cameras work fine, no matter how cold it gets ( although the coldest they have gotten is only -30F give or take.
Are the v4s really that bad?