Can the WYZE CAM OG spotlight function without WiFi connection?
I have 2 OG’s mounted as security CAMs monitoring tenant mailboxes in a location that my WiFi cannot reach. I want the Spotlights to come on if movement or sound is detected.
The cams will not function properly without an internet connection.
Honestly not sure if the spotlight will function properly or not, but without internet or subscription, it would only work at most once every 5 minutes anyway. You’ll run into lots of issues if they have no internet/wifi connection. You’d be better off with any plain motion sensing light bulb etc.
How are you currently using/accessing the mounted Cam OGs without a Wi-Fi connection? What are those cameras actually doing for you at this time? I’m trying to understand how this works:
This makes me think of a post from Wyze last year about cameras and recording to microSD without an Internet connection:
My understanding is that many (if not most) Wyze Cams will periodically reboot without an Internet connection or at least a connection to a local Wi-Fi network that’s able to provide NTP service, so I don’t know what use you’re actually able to get from these Cam OGs the way they’re currently set up.
So I am using them on an apartment building as a deterrent to the mail thefts that have plagued this area. Apparently someone has a USPS master key that unlocks the mailboxes.
I mounted and powered spare WYZE CAM OG’s above the mailboxes hoping that with movement the spotlight would turn on. As I mentioned this is more of a deterrent than trying to actually get video of the perpetrators although I did install memory cards in them and set them to record continuously.
Are you able to retrieve useful footage from the microSD cards? Without access to time, what the cameras record might not be especially useful for capturing any theft timeline for evidence unless the camera’s view is also showing a readable clock or something. If you’re not providing a Wi-Fi signal to the cameras (with a mobile hotspot or something, maybe), then this probably isn’t the best tool for the job.
Having said that, now I’m wondering if a Cam OG set to trigger on generic motion (based on pixel changes) would enable the spotlight. That seems like it could be possible, but I haven’t tested it. Smart Detections (Person, Vehicle, etc.) aren’t going to work at all without a connection back to Wyze servers. If the goal is more about deterrence, then I’m inclined to lean into @dave27’s suggestion for a motion-triggered light of some kind, though that might just be providing more illumination for the thieves to do whatever they’re going to do. 
I haven’t tried it. I have an extra OG and a USB battery bank, might give it a shot (drive away somewhere that it loses signal), but these are the only two ways that it might work:
-Under spotlight settings, set it to “automatic”. Note this will only turn on the spotlight if it is dark enough to be below the threshold that wyze has pre-defined (which isn’t quite the same as the threshold to switch to night mode, but it seems around the same). As long as it is dark, it will turn on the spotlight when there is motion (but not sure if it will do it without wifi, I’m thinking it probably will). I believe the “max of once every 5 minutes” applies here, but not sure.
-Under spotlight settings, set it to manual. Then under automations create one for “when motion is detected” and “turn on the spotlight for x minutes”. You can set this to run 24x7 regardless of how light/dark it is. Note that this automation will only trigger at most once every 5 minutes.
Obviously you need to set this up when the cam has wifi (bring it to your place, or use a hotspot). Then try moving it back where there is no signal, and see if it works or not.
But I’m leaning more toward have the camera there, with its status light enabled, and also mount a small motion sensor light right near it, which will draw attention to the cam. Heck, even if the spotlight works without wifi, wouldn’t be a bad idea for that 5 minute “cool down” period to have a backup.
Unfortunately those mailbox keys are quite easy to get, they aren’t the same as the ones to the blue and green mailboxes they have on the street, much more generic and not unique to the area/region.
I believe that would require a Wi-Fi connection, because Automations run from Wyze servers.
It won’t, at least not in the test I just did.
I enabled the mobile hotspot on my phone and connected a spare Cam OG to that. In the Cam’s Settings ➜ Spotlight, I selected Auto, enabled both Turn on when conditions, and set Timer to 15 s. I could walk into the darkened room where I placed the camera and trigger the spotlight reliably while it was connected to the hotspot’s Wi-Fi. There was no cooldown, but the Cam OG was automatically added to my current Cam Unlimited subscription during setup, and I don’t think there’s a way to opt individual cameras out of that. (I didn’t create a secondary Wyze account to see about setting the Cam up in an unsubscribed state, but I wouldn’t expect a better result if I did that.)
When I turned off the hotspot—I confirmed with the Wyze app on another phone that the Cam OG was unreachable—and walked into the room, there was no spotlight activation even when I moved closer to the camera and made exaggerated movements laterally across the field of view to try to trigger it. Nothing. Bupkis.
When I turned the hotspot back on and walked into the room again, the spotlight activated as before. I think this pretty convincingly demonstrates that a Wi-Fi connection is required for spotlight activation.
That’s the best answer I have so far, @MrT. It’s not what you wanted, but I think the test was fair and generated an accurate result. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, because I thought the camera might do pixel differentiation within the device itself, but with Cam OG being the “budget” line for Wyze, I think that’s asking a lot. Now I’m curious about what would happen if I did the same test with a Cam v4…. 
All excellent responses, thank you everyone.
Now I‘m wondering if all of the spotlight settings are WiFi dependent. I would be okay with the spotlight coming on at sunset then off at sunrise.
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Without even testing, I’d put money on that being a no-go. If I navigate to Cam OG’s Spotlight settings and tap Schedule, then the app takes me straight to a Create Automation page, indicating that any scheduling is going to run from the cloud. This contrasts with something like Cam v4’s Spotlight Settings ➜ Schedule, which appears to be configured independent of the Automations engine (the UI pathway is different, anyway), but I haven’t had a use case for specifically testing that.
If you want a sunset-to-sunrise spotlight in this application, then I think you’re going to have to supply a different light source, get a Wi-Fi signal to your Cam OGs, or both.
Yeah I’ve been highly suspicious that the automations are NOT onboard, and I think that may have even been confirmed at some point. Was just one of two possible options to try.
I am surprised that it doesn’t work with the built in “automatic” but I guess that may really just be a “back end automation”.
Looks like we’re back to a cheap motion sensor light, could probably even find one that is USB powered and split the cam’s cord (possibly with upgraded power supply).
I’m actually not surprised, but I am now curious if Cam v4 gives the same offline experience because it’s supposed to have some “edge” processing that Cam OG apparently doesn’t.
Anyway, I wasn’t really sure about Cam OG earlier in the topic, but I think the science provided an answer to the original question.
What about setting the spotlights to always on?
The location of the mailboxes is some distance from a power source and I had no problem running low voltage DC wiring to them but I don’t want to run AC for regular lights.
Go test it! 
It isn’t possible to set them to be always on. If you toggle them on then they lose the connection they shut off.
There are plenty of DC powered (even USB) motion sensing LED lights out there. Battery ones too.
Just mount some fake security cameras and motion activated spotlights (DC powered) like @dave27 suggested.
I thought about something like this, too, even as I was writing my first response in this topic. Without a Wi-Fi connection, I’m not sure what the Cam OGs are actually doing (or expected to do) in this situation, which is why I asked earlier.
Yeah I thought it was a simple solution, spare cameras with spotlights that I’m currently not using used as a deterrent for would be thieves, but No, without WiFi they do absolutely nothing. Don’t want to purchase fake cameras or spotlights so I’ll just take a chance that the criminals pick a different location to do their evil deeds. 
Maybe a resident closer to that area would let you put it on their wifi (perhaps a guest network if they’re nervous about it)? Technically it is for everyone’s good.