I plugged a 6w solar cell into the camera in full sunlight. The camera app showed the camera was charging. However, the battery slowly went from 96% to about 85% during the day. Overnight it ran down completely.
I am going to do more testing, but I believe the solar panel connection is keeping the camera in a more active/higher consumption state than no connection. And, the solar cell isn’t charging fast enough to keep up with this higher level usage.
Over night when there is no current from the solar panel leads to even faster depletion of the battery.
I wonder if wyze could offer a software option to keep the camera in a lower demand state when attached to power so that the internal batteries can charge?
I think I may be having the same issue. My camera used almost nothing until i plugged in my solar panel. it dropped 15% in 2 hours today in testing. Have you found a solution?
No, I haven’t tied anything yet. I’m thinking about putting a battery between the solar panel and the WyzeCam to see if it changes anything.
If not, my next step was going to be to leave the battery attached and look for some sort of lower power timer relay that could charge the wyzecam from the battery for 2hrs at the end of each day.
I agree. Especially when a firmware update could fix this. Wyze could you please find a way to only turn on the camera when required and NOT just because there’s power charging the battery.
That’s a problem because now we are talking 60 + 40 for each camera. Thats 100 dollars. Not to mention the mount for the solar panel since it’s not really designed to be mounted (Figure like 20 bucks). Thats basically a Eufy Cam 2C price.
Either way though that is kind of besides the point. I have a solar panel with the rated voltage and amperage requested by the camera on the bottom by the mounting hole. For some reason it drains a CRAZY amount faster while charging from it then when not plugged in at all. I left it outside for 2 days and stayed above 90% while not plugged in. After being plugged in starting from a full charging I am currently at 30% reaching the halfway point of day 2 on my 2 day test.
Lastly, if this really is an issue about needing more current then 1: the rating on the bottom of the camera is wrong and 2: any solar panel I use will kill the camera battery in the winter when it starts snowing or if it’s cloudy for to long. As opposed to just leaving it unplugged entirely. This defeats the point of the solar panel as we are doing all this work so we can just set the camera and forget it.
I actually have the camera turned off in software (not the actual power switch on the camera) and I still have this issue. Makes me wonder what the power switch in software is actually doing, and what is really draining the power.
The Eufy 2C doesn’t come with a solar panel. Adding a panel to the price of the WCO and comparing it with a camera that doesn’t come with one doesn’t seem fair?
Your proposed solution:
Wyze cam outdoor: 40
Solar Panel: 60 (Anker Solar Panel, no included mount)
Mount: 20+
Total 120+ (Depending on mounting solution needed)
Eufy Solution:
Camera: 120 (Lower power draw then wyze cam)
Solar Panel: 20 (Proven charge rate…cheaper panel will suffice, these panels usually have included mounts)
Total: 140 (near guaranteed price)
As you can see there is a 20 dollar difference between the 2 different companies. This is of course only the price of the cameras. But I would like to remind you that Eufy has many more camera options, and a lot more time patching bugs and adding features.
I am NOT hating on Wyze right now, I am just trying to take an objective view of the market and its options in its current state. I really want Wyze to succeed, so I will be posting the details of this bug in the wishlist and hoping they see and add the fix. Check my profile and vote for it when it goes live.
If the endgame is everything solar then I agree that your scenario with the 2C is probably a better buy (assuming solar works well) unless there is a lower cost high watt/amp panel that has yet to be discovered. This also assumes you need at least two battery powered cameras since you have to buy the base with a two camera kit? I don’t see a single camera kit that comes with a base?
I’m not actually suggesting that anyone run solar I’m just relaying information to the OP about a panel that someone reported as working. Personally if I wanted a solar camera I probably would look at other options than the WCO since it wasn’t designed with solar in mind.
That being said my most recent charge on the WCO got me 1092 cloud events and dropped the battery from 100% to 15%. Taking the camera down to charge is easy for me so charging whenever necessary is not a big deal.
There is a 1 camera kit with base for Eufy, its just out of stock… go figure that the 2 camera one is available lol. But yes the endgame would be everything solar. Big high output panels are not cheap. Also yeah if the camera was low enough to take and charge it would not be a big deal, however that means it is less viable for security as the camera is down while charging. That also makes it easier for someone to take the camera off the mount since it needs to be easily accessible rather then high up. This kind of makes the Wyze cam more of a recreational thing then for surveillance.
The WCO is more supplementary coverage for me since I already have V2s with motion sensors continuously recording at all entrances. My camera right now is mounted on a 2nd floor balcony railing so it’s easy access without the danger of theft. I also have one of those siding mounts so I can move it around anywhere pretty easily and can place it arms reach outside any 2nd floor window. If mounting low within reach and I was worried about theft I’d probably use the 1/4 20 thread on the bottom and fashion something that was more resistant to grabbing and running or camouflage it. My neighborhood is pretty boring though. I could probably just leave it naked sitting on the ground outside my garage and it would be fine. I see neighbors with bikes sitting out all the time that are worth a lot more than the outdoor cam. In almost two years of continuous recording the most interesting thing was a delivery guy throwing one of my packages one time .
It sounds like your solar panel Does NOT have a diode.
A diode acts like a one way valve so when the panel is producing less power than is needed to charge the battery the current does not go the other way. Think of the solar panel as a slow short when not being powered by the sun.
Yeah, that is the issue I bet, it is just a dumb panel. If you get a controller, it should be intelligent enough to prevent power leaching from the battery it is trying to charge.
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