I want to run about 20’ of cable with a micro USB splitter to power (2) Wyze Cam OGs (not using the stack kit).
I may be a little paranoid here, but I’m just curious if I’m okay to use either one of these two unused power adapters I have lying around: an Amazon Kindle 9W, 5V 1.8A, or an Apple 10W, 5.1V 2.1A.
Just wondering if one would be preferable to the other, or if one or either could damage the cameras over time.
None will damage the camera, but I would go with the Apple 10W, 5.1V 2.1A as it has higher amperage to feed both cameras. You might still experience some voltage drop, but might be fine. Expect to have some connection issues here and there over that length of USB cable.
Thanks for the reply! Wyze includes a 5V 1.5A indoor power adapter with the OG Stack Kit, and there are plenty of folks on here who seem to be running similar length (or longer) cable runs, so hopefully I’ll be fine.
I may potentially be able to run a shorter length, but I won’t know until I get specific measurements and look into availability of a cable closer to the total run length.
I used to run 40 foot cable on three v3’s with no issues except I wasn’t able to use the siren or two way radio. I am running a v4 now on the same cable and everything is running fine. Even floodlight activates whenever there is motion. Haven’t tried the siren or two way radio as I don’t have the need for that.
Where possible, run the highest gauge USB cable you can for the 20 foot run, and power it with a 2A or higher adapter (as you’ve mentioned, the stack kit is 1.5A and works fine at short distances, but voltage drop can cause increased current draw).
At a certain length, the voltage will just get too low and either the camera won’t work correctly, or it will have a shorter lifespan, but I think you should be fine at 20 feet (well probably a bit more assuming you’re going to run cables off the splitter to the cams). Maybe don’t use the cables included with the camera off the splitter and use some thicker, shorter ones. If the gasket doesn’t fit tightly over whatever cable you use, you can use a bit of silicone dielectric grease and/or electrical tape to seal it up, which I did both, even using the wyze cables.
(Using OEM power), I have a splitter that splits before 25’ cables to a pair of V2s.
I also have 2 OGs… I’m daisy-chaining them.
You’re running two Wyze Cam OGs off a single cable using a splitter adapter, not daisy-chaining, correct?
If I’m understanding the application correctly, daisy-chaining would involve the cameras (or at least one of them) having two USB jacks, one for the power input, and one to act as pass-through to power the second camera.
A Wyze Cam v1 and v2 have this functionality with a micro-USB input and a USB-A output, while the OG cam only has the one power input and would require the use of a splitter adapter.
Which has me thinking… can you daisy-chain a Wyze Cam OG off a v1 or v2 with no ill effects? Hmm…
v1/v2 > OG works fine using suppled cable, even with OG blasting IR, spotlight and siren and continuous SD recording:
@Seapup flogs the 
out of his cables until they’re really soft and flexible. That’s the secret. Should be no problem at all for someone with a name like @Hellosluggo. 
[1]
Seriously, though, I dig that you’re showing actual data. That’s cool to know if I ever acquire some of the older Wyze gadgetry. 
What’s it look like if you pop a 25 foot cable inline? I’m guessing voltage lower, amperage higher, but probably not too bad (depending on the gauge/quality of the cable).
Probably, but haven’t tried it. I think I have a 25 footer, but won’t have time to check until tomorrow. I think I also have some 17’ cables.
Think it basically comes down to, keep it as short as you can, and where possible use the highest gauge cable you can (even if just for one portion of the run). Every cable will have a bit different resistance, one person may have a 50 foot run working fine, another may have issues at 25 feet.
Regardless, at longer distances it can’t hurt to use a good quality higher amperage USB adapter. Should last longer and keep up with the increased demands better.
For people who want to go really far, using ethernet with POE to USB adapters may make more sense, or in my case I just wire up a new receptacle, but not everyone is able to do that.
You ate totally right, as per physics laws the amperage should increase, but if the wire is not thick enough, everything goes out the window.
Well in the case of electronics, there is the extra factor that when the voltage drops low enough, the device simply won’t work and current will pretty much stop flowing. Since voltage drop is worse under load, I would imagine with these cams at a certain distance, turning on the spotlight or siren would cause the cam to reboot or at least have some recording issues. Then at another longer distance, they simply won’t power up fully, probably go into some sort of boot loop.
Even if they work, always need to be mindful of the effects of under-volting equipment, will shorten the lifespan and probably result in at least occasional “oddities”.
Of course a potential solution is a USB power supply that you can adjust to above 5v to account for the drop at the other end, but too many people would end up roasting their stuff. There are plenty of systems out there (not cameras, talking professional networking, industrial, etc) that have a feedback loop and the power supply varies the output voltage based on what is being seen at the other end. With PoE cameras and other devices, they’re simply designed to work over a wide voltage range, from best case to worst case for the supported lengths.
But our cheap Wyze cams aren’t doing any of that stuff, I would suspect they can operate fine below 5v, how far below depends on the design and quality of the components.
From my personal experience with Wyze Cam V3s, they will just freeze requiring a power reset. After experiencing these issues I just rewired the cams so the USB cable is no longer than 10 feet. It’s been a smooth sail ever since.
Yeah, that will definitely fry these cameras.
Again. from my personal experience and by measuring the current at the cameras, they are fine up to 4.86 Volts. Under that is a crap shoot.
I would guess it could eventually damage the SD card and even the camera.
As long as you make sure the voltage at the camera is around 5V it would be fine, however since voltage drop will fluctuate with temperature and how much current is being drawn, it would be a risky proposition.
That’s actually a bit more sensitive than I would have expected, but not surprising. I’m guessing that it actually drops lower than that when something happens (night vision switch, spotlight, etc) which is when the camera actually freezes/has other problems.
CORRECTION: Oops, I am incorrect. They are not daisy-chained. I was too lazy to go into the attic to verify my setup. I think I may have #lostastep
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