I really like the Pan Cam. I want to use it outdoors, but I don’t have an outdoor outlet or decent solar source. Am I left with running a cord through the window/wall?
Does anyone have any creative solutions?
Welcome to the Forum, @djGravel! 
Even if you did, I think you’d still need a battery to run the Cam. I understand that some users have managed to rig these kinds of things for some Wyze Cams, though I don’t know specifically about Cam Pan v3.
I believe that this is what @dave27 has done for years with good results, and I imagine he’ll chime in at some point with suggestions about using the stock flat cable to run between the pane and sill (depending on what kinds of windows you have), ensuring that you use a drip loop, making the Micro-B connection more water resistant with dielectric grease, mounting the Cam base down (cable and rotating base on bottom) in order to reduce chances of water incursion into the gearing/motor portion of the device, and potentially looking online for a cover or doing your own DIY cover to give the Cam some kind of precipitation shield. 
If you poke around in the Forum, you can find other ideas. Depending on how involved you want to get in mounting this and what your application is, then supplying power via PoE with an appropriate adapter might also be an option. If you want to share some more information about how and where you would like to use this outdoors, then that might help spark other ideas from the community.
Yeah I suppose the solar source would only work during the day if at all, without rigging up a battery. Right now I’m just running a long extension cord to figure out where I want to place it. It will probably end up under the eaves so should be reasonably protected from rain and wind.
I do really like the pan camera though, follows where the action is.
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Even so, water tends to obey gravity and can make its way into the bottom of the Cam if it’s mounted in an inverted fashion (swivel base on top). If you’re planning to mount that way, then you may want to give some strong consideration to extra protection to minimize water incursion into the base.
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The v3 pan cam says it is IP65 rated, that is good enough for pretty good water spray on it? I know that’s the same rating Nestcams have.
I ended up doing some googling and found a device called the Power Mole that claims to send power wireless through the window. I’ll give that a go and see if it works.
Otherwise I may end up drilling a hole….
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I don’t have any experience with Nest cameras or with using Wyze Cam Pan v3 outdoors, but I know that @dave27 and other Forum members do. Again, I think many users within the community would tell you that your risk of problems from water and other elements is likely lower if you mount the Cam base-down. If you can’t do that, then I think there’s a consensus that measures should be taken to shield or otherwise protect the base, if at all possible.
I looked that up because I wasn’t previously aware of it. It appears to use a principle similar to inductive charging, and the spec’d 5V/≤11W output should be adequate to power Cam Pan v3 (which ships with a 5V ⎓ 2A power adapter). It looks like it costs more than the Cam, so I wouldn’t expect everyone to use those, but I can imagine use cases for some applications, and it’s an interesting idea. If you decide to try that, then I hope you’ll return to share your experience with it! 
Also, when looking at the installation video for Power Mole, it appears that they don’t offer any sort of weather protection for the USB-A female connector for the exterior portion—not even anything like the silicone boot/sleeve that Wyze includes on a lot of Cam “pigtails”—so I’d probably consider ways to attempt to protect that from the elements (the aforementioned dialectric grease, butyl rubber, heat shrink tubing, various kinds of tape, etc.). I don’t know what the weather is like where you plan to use this, but I’d definitely give weather protection some thought for any Cam I wanted to use outdoors long term.
“many users within the community would tell you that your risk of problems from water and other elements is likely lower if you mount the Cam base-down. If you can’t do that, then I think there’s a consensus that measures should be taken to shield or otherwise protect the base, if at all possible.”
Not sure if I did that right. This is my first time on the forum. I have three pan v3 cameras, mounted base up. One kept going offline. When I tried to reset it today, it wouldn’t respond. Found out the l shaped plug had actually shorted out and melted, I’m sure from water incursion. It was under a small overhang, and the ac outlet is inside a shed. I don’t think replacing the power cord will work at this point. Lesson learned.
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If you highlight the text you want to quote, then the Forum should give you an easy option to quote it, like this:
You don’t have to do any copying/pasting yourself. That’s from a PC browser, but it works similarly in a mobile browser if you’re accessing the Forum that way.
As far as your camera goes, I imagine @dave27 would recommend sticking it in a bag of rice to see if that helps, because he has indicated this revived a Cam Pan v3 that he had mounted upside-down outdoors and that he still occasionally uses that Cam even though there’s kind of a funky grinding noise or something from the gearing now. If there’s actual electrical (and not just mechanical) damage, then that might not yield any positive results, but it’s minimal effort to try. If your Cam is less than a year old, was purchased directly from Wyze or an authorized retailer, and you haven’t done anything with it to void the warranty, then you could open a ticket with Wyze Support and see if they want to replace it.
Welcome to the Forum, @raisin9cain!
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As @crease said I’ve had a Panv3 running with the flat cable going out through a closed and locked window for years, no issues. I did pick a window that doesn’t get opened and closed a lot, but I’ve done a similar setup for a neighbor and they open and close the window a lot and it hasn’t been a problem. The weather strip at the bottom of the window protects it pretty well. I’m coming in via the sill (very bottom) of a double hung window. In theory the top would work too but there is more risk of water following the wire in, and the drip loop would probably have to be bigger and more obvious. Coming in through the bottom it is naturally angled outward so no chance of water coming in (and I have a small drip loop in it too).
Another option is to run some thin ethernet cable to the area and use PoE converters, might be less unsightly and easier to conceal than an extension cord (if the through the window method isn’t an option).
I also have a Panv3 with the wire going through the top of a garage door, but my garage doors don’t close terribly tight so doesn’t even touch the wire. Then I have 3 non-Pan cams running with the flat cables through a horizontal sliding window, again it is one that does not get opened and closed much, and I’m able to fully close and lock it. I ran the 3 wires next to each other, not stacked as that would obviously be too thick.
I also agree to either mount it cam on top (“right side up”) or get/make a small disc to go over it, I believe they sell some on amazon or it could be made out of a plastic lid or something. After I had water get in one of mine, I just changed it to right side up, didn’t want to bother messing with covers. The cam can withstand splashes and direct water, the problem is when it sits on the “bottom” for a while, it will find its way in, just little bits until it becomes too much. As the cam pans around, the rotating circle on the bottom drags in water and even dust/dirt.
Yeah when I had mine upside down, I had filled in around that plug with silicone/dielectric grease (which I do on all my cams). Water actually managed to get between the rubber boot and the thin wire. That isn’t actually what ended up killing mine though, best I can tell water got in around the rotating circle on the bottom.
After diagnosing the problem and seeing all the ways water could potentially get in, I just decided it wasn’t worth messing with and switched to “cam on top”, but there are disc shaped covers that others have used (or made themselves) that seem to work. Ideally you want something that fits between the cam and the L bracket mount and covers the whole bottom of the camera. Then just put the mounting screw through it.
If you have a microUSB cable that will fit (doesn’t have to be L shaped for the test, just thin enough) and a different USB adapter, you can test and see if the cam is shot, or if it might be worth ordering a new L cable. Might want to test it on a switched outlet (power strip, etc) so if something goes sideways, you can switch it off or unplug without having to touch the adapter.
The USB cables that come with all the other cams (non-L shaped) fit in there fine, just don’t sit flush. As far as my drawer o’ random cables, some micro USB are small enough to fit, others aren’t, so just a matter of what you may have around.
Thanks! The socket melted, too. I don’t know if the camera can be separated from the motor part, but if not, it’s a paperweight now. I was surprised that happened, being a low voltage plug.
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Oof. That’s a mess. If you were using the Cam as advised and it’s inside a year of purchase, I’d still contact them about it. In my experience, warranty replacements have been pretty easy. Thanks for sharing the photos!
Yeah that thing’s dead, no sense in attempting anything.
I just got the Power Mole and used it to install my Pan Cam v3 outside. It was pretty easy to setup and I didn’t have an issue even though my windows are pretty thick.
The good thing is the AC source is indoors, so it is automatically protected. I have a lot more indoor outlets than outdoor, so this makes for more flexibility. I will let you guys know if it stops working, but so far so good.
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That’s cool! I’m glad that it’s working for you so far, and I appreciate your taking the time to share your experience with it!
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