I use the Wyze OG cameras, set up in our windows to view the outside. I loved how they captured night vision, except overnight it seemed to stop working the same. The 28th was the last time it worked for me and ever since then the cameras are basically pitch black at night. Since they are in windows I keep the RC light off but I never had an issue with the usual night vision until recently.
You can see how it looked before vs now from the photo. No settings were changed, it just happened overnight. Any ideas/anyone experience the same?
Have you checked to make sure that you have the latest firmware? 1.0.82
I haven’t experienced this issue but I would start there and if you updated recently then just go though your night vision settings to verify they haven’t changed.
I bought my second OG camera this past weekend and noticed it wouldn’t allow me to select auto activate for the spot light unless I upgraded the firmware. Also some of the settings options changed after the firmware update.
That’s a good thought. Please be aware that Cam OG firmware 1.0.82 broke detection zones for a number of users and that firmware 1.0.83 has been released to some individual cameras (via push from Wyze to specific MAC addresses) as a testing/troubleshooting measure. This has been reported to fix the issue, but that firmware is not yet widely available as a production version, as far as I know. This is just something to keep in mind if you’re relying on detection zones for now.
Your image is small so hard to see, were you using night mode before (black and white)? Has it gotten colder out? The temperature of glass (or the temperature differential from one side to the other) can have a big impact on its ability to transmit IR light. It could also just be the cam lens or image sensor getting colder near the window as temperatures change.
Have you tried night mode=off to see if there is enough ambient light for “color night vision”? Typically if you have a decent black and white image without IR lights, then there should be enough for a decent color one, which won’t be impacted by temperature.
full moon night vs no moon night? where are you located? Just that difference could effect the starlight sensor and the light it gathers. Both appear to be in night vision mode.
I was assuming they’d had them for a while but yeah, not a valid assumption, if just a few weeks, then the normal cycle of the moon could definitely explain it if there is no other light in the area.
I forget moonlight is the only light in some areas. I miss those days
If not the moon, has the temperature gotten colder outside, or have you turned your heat on? Did you put up a new windows screen or anything else that might hinder the camera?
If you temporarily open the window (if it opens) or hook the camera up temporarily outside, does it get better? The fact that more than 1 camera is doing it seems to rule out issues with the IR filter getting stuck or something like that. Seems to be more likely environmental.
it has gotten colder but it is odd to me because i have had these for over a year now so not sure if thats it, good idea tho… i tried your suggestion to turn it off and its slightly better but still not near as good as it used to be
That pinkish hue from the right makes me think it is something to do with switching between day and night mode and the IR filter getting stuck. Would be a big coincidence to have it happen on multiple cameras at the same time, but weather, humidity, etc could explain it.
Did you cycle night on and off several times to try and unstick the IR filter?
Is there not enough ambient light to try color night vision (night = off)?
Another random possibility, brownout or power surge (any power issues around when it started) damaged the power adapters or cameras. Try a different adapter (cell phone charger rated at least 750MA, ideally 1000MA or more will work) just to rule that out.
they all have a pinkish hue if that means any thing… i had them set previously for night vision mode auto so i wonder if that could make it get stuck? tried cycling off and on and couldnt get it to fix it
Does it look any different when set to night vision off vs on?
There should be absolutely no color when on, even the grass, as dim as it is, looks like a tiny bit of green showing, but that may just be the pink messing with my eyes.
Do you recall if there were any power issues back around when it started, brownouts, outages, etc? If you can, I’d try plugging at lease one of them into a USB cell phone charger just to see (look for like a 2000MA or above one if you have one, but as low as 750MA is probably enough).
With night vision on and IR lights off, you need ambient light (well the same goes for night vision off/color night vision). Has anything changed with the lighting conditions outside?
I have a camera in my front hall where it is totally dark and night vision off gives that slight purple hue but I can’t see anything. Night vision on without IR lights is pitch black.
Your original post, the picture can’t be enlarged so it is hard to see, do those event pictures have the purple hue or no? I think you might just be noticing it getting darker earlier or maybe some nearby light source is no longer there (could even be a flood light on some other house that is no longer on).
im not sure because nothing changed in terms of lighting unless it really is because of the moon, but that seems odd to me because i check them every morning for the past year and havent seen this before. it also just happened overnight so i dont get how suddenly the lighting could be that drastically different, kind of figured maybe a random system issue. but heres a better photo of the before
The moon can make a drastic difference, but if it has never been like this, that may not be related. Like I said it could be some other light in the area, even someone else in the house/area that used to leave a living room light on a lot and now doesn’t… Very small changes in light can have a big impact on the night vision.
You need ambient light for either black and white or color night vision to work. It is possible a firmware update changed the sensitivity or something else to do with night vision, The last firmware update was quite a while ago, did you just click the update recently (around the 28th)? I’m running the latest and haven’t seen any difference in night vision though.
If all else fails, you could try deleting one of the cams, reinstalling the app, factory reset the cam, and re-add it. Maybe there is some mis-communication between the cam and server or your phone and the cam, who knows.
NOTE - do not uninstall the app if you are still on the 2.X version. That likely means your device is not compatible with 3.x and you can no longer do a new install of 2.X!!
I really suspect an illumination issue at this point, and I wonder what some testing would reveal, specifically:
Color Night Vision
Set Night Vision Mode to Off for a test camera and leave it in place.
Walk outside in view of this camera when it’s dark and shine a bright flashlight around.
Review the events/recordings.
Regular Night Vision
Set Night Vision Mode to On for the same test camera and leave it in place.
Walk outside in view of this camera when it’s dark and shine an IR illuminator around.
If you don’t have a portable IR illuminator, then take a Cam OG outside plugged into a long extension cord.
Set Night Vision Mode on this camera to On and make sure Night Vision IR Lights is also enabled.
For the purposes of this test, we don’t care what this camera records; we just want to use it as an illuminator, so act like it’s the flashlight from the first test and “shine” it around.
Review the events/recordings on the stationary test camera.
You might discover that you’ll want to place a source of visible or IR illumination outside so that your cameras have something to detect, but at this point what I think you really need is more data on which to base any future decision.
