My guess is that they’re aiming at a $65 - $75 price target.
So the ultrasonic radar units that I have used on my battery operated projects use about 3ma. The PIR units that I have used in the past used around 50µa. Yes, it’s considerably more power to run radar, but really not that much of a difference when compared to the 6000-12000 mah battery packs that I use. The actual triggered device draws far more power, and all the false positives from the PIR sensor actually caused my battery to fail much faster with the PIR sensor. Literally, every time a cloud passes over, the PIR sensor trips. A tree waves in the breeze, and casts a moving shadow on the ground that the PIR is looking at? Yep, another false positive.
I bid one dollar bob 
Thats a PIR reference for anyone who doesn’t know…and that means “Price Is Right” not “passive infrared”
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Does that mean you ACTUALLY think it will be even lower than $30-40? Or just couldn’t resist the Price Is Right reference? Haha.
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just couldn’t help myself, felt like Price is Right moment 
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Your 3mA seems low - see datasheet Sparkfun Ultrasonic Ranger. Perhaps your 3mA is the quiescent current when it’s not ranging. Or maybe that’s an average number between ranging at some lower duty cycle.
But, let’s accept your 3mA and do some math. We’ll assume a 5000mAH battery and we’ll run everything directly off the battery without going through any power converters (should be doable). 5000mAH/3mA = 1,667 hours. 24 hours in a day yields 69.44 days. And that’s if your camera does nothing else. The image sensor never wakes up, the radio never gets on your wifi network, nothing. It just sits there and runs the rangefinder and you get a little over 2 months of battery life. If someone actually walks in front of your camera a couple of times a day and it streams some 10 second clips over your wifi you’ll be lucky to get a month out of the battery.
Even small amounts of power consumption add up when it’s there 24/7.
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…and that also ignores that Lion batteries should not be discharged below 30% to ensure a long life. So straight away, you’ve lost 1/3rd of your capacity so your 69 days become 40 days or a month and a half for long life, and that’s without any of the other power use considerations mentioned by TheEggMan.
I run 2 dashcameras off a 10,000mah Lion battery when parked. They have wifi but it’s turned off. They record on movement from software analysis of the picture (internal) and only record when it’s detected. There is no screen being powered in parking mode,
The 10,000mah battery lasts approximately 2 days. Divide the capacity by the 2 cameras and you have the 5,000mah battery assumed above. So life for a single camera from 5,000mah using 24/7 detection and recording on detection is approx 2 days based on my dashcameras. The only real difference between one of these and a potential battery Wyze cam might be the pir which may reduce the consumption during sleep mode. However, I wouldn’t be expecting long times between charges. If they can get a week or two out of it, they’ll be doing well.
That sparkfun sensor is not the right type of radar sensor for this purpose, it has way too high of a current, and uses actual ultrasonic transducers which drives up the cost. The boards I’ve purchased used a RCWL-0516 chip. If you look that item up, you’ll notice a rather large difference in the needed current. And you’re conveniently ignoring the massive increase in false positives the PIR chips give. As I said, I’ve actually built devices that use both the standard BISS80001 PIR controller chips and the RCWL-0516 doppler chips, and the doppler ones used more energy just sitting there, yes, but the batteries on the PIR ones actually died first due to false positive triggers.
A single 5000mah battery will not last long in an outdoor camera, no matter what, unless you want to replace batteries constantly. Those outdoor blink cameras I have have PIR sensors, and they barely last 2 months outdoors on 2 high energy non-rechargable expensive primary lithium AA batteries. (3500 mah per battery) Compare that to the indoor blink cameras I have that have lasted 18 months on the exact same batteries from the same package.
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thats about what the Xiaomi outdoor security cam goes for
And what about a solar recharging option? I’ve run my V2 for a couple days off of 16850s as discussed and can charge them pretty cheaply with a couple of small panels and a super cheap charger board designed for that purpose. So Wyze could make the way in which the camera is powered by a simple plug in choice. And where the power comes from for any of them could be a distance from the camera.
You might consider those of us who do not live in cities. I am interested in this to use in ancillary buildings that have no power at all. I’m quite happy to use even a 12V car battery if necessary because I could buy 100 of those for what trenching and power line would cost.
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I’m in your camp - a decent battery option has a significant market for many people. The battery haters seem to ignore the benefit of having something useful versus having nothing if only line powered. I can certainly acknowledge the greater capabilities of line powered devices and could probably get power from existing fixtures on my house. But there are good locations for cam’s where line power is simply not practical. Fwiw, being in FL, cold is not an issue, heat maybe, and I have seen reasonable cost 5-10 Ahr solar chargers that might support a rechargeable battery cam.
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Mbernier, I have considered all that. See my quote…“For those who have no choice but to only use battery power…Wyze has you covered”.
I’m merely pointing out that many people may not be aware of the pitfalls of battery power and think that it is the “be all end all”. I think, as twn.53 incorrectly call us, “battery haters”, are actually people trying to make sure that the first time buyer has all the facts before committing to a technology that is fraught with problems that they may not be aware of or considered. As with every side there are exceptions,
Assuming you live in an area that has ample sun, I might also suggest that you invest in a small solar panel that produces 12 volts DC and couple it with a battery backup, Still far less expensive than running power to the buildings in question and more reliable that battery power alone.
For the rest of us who have a choice…I’m sticking with line power. It’s one and done.
Love your cameras !!!
Better than arlo,nest and ring.
Any chance of getting a OUTDOOR device?
doesn’t have to be waterproof,just resistant. Lol…for covered porches,front doors etc.
Your camera detects animals better at night than any of the previous systems(raccoon problem).
Thank you for your time and support.
The outdoor camera is in the testing phase right now
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I’m having to use a combo of Wyze, Ring and Nest because no single ecosystem has everything. Nest records everything but eats too much bandwidth and monthly costs are too much. Yet their doorbell is super sharp, reliable and their product durability is outstanding. No hardware failures for me.
Ring has solar powered cams that can be placed anywhere, but their PIR is always late thereby missing most events and recording only what follows after the motion object has passed by. Hardware reliability is also mixed for me. Two hardware failures in two years. Wyze needs the ability to place outdoor product anywhere in order to compete with Ring and they must have 3-5 second pre-record with PIR motion detection: otherwise, I might as well stay with Ring or maybe try Arlo. Solar power should at least be an option even if Wyze doesn’t actually manufacture the solar panel itself. Simply keep the power input port and weather proof it.
I’m using Wyze Pan Cam under an overhang as a potential replacement for Nest Outdoor cams and it is outstanding as it is. I think with a tiny bit of weather proofing, this may be a good foundation for your outdoor offering. Wyze also needs a doorbell product.
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Thy sir. Keep up the good work…word is spreading about Wyze. From me…lol
Already hot family and friends hooked.
SafeTravels
I hear very good things about the Eufy doorbell cams.
What is the status of the outdoor camera. I need a few.
thanks
Mdeckerski
