I see in Specs that it “says” PoE cannot be used for most wyze cameras. I have used it for Cam Pan v3 for a year now with no problem. So 1) why does Wyze claim this and 2) will PoE work for Cam v4. I am returning these Battery Cam Pros because they do not charge with Solar panel and switching to new Cam v4.
A few points to understand:
Wyze cams don’t support PoE in the sense that they would get their internet through the ethernet cord. They don’t generally support that unless you use a firmware hack such as Wyze Hacks, or Wyze Mini Hacks on the SD card. Otherwise they can get power from the Ethernet cord if you use an adapter that converts it to a MicroUSB port. But in a way that isn’t what most people mean by PoE (power and internet from the ethernet cable), that is JUST power but no internet…the camera internet would still go through WiFi in that case.
Why it can work to power a Wyze cam through PoE with a mUSB adapter:
Most Wyze cams need 5 Volts and 1000 milliamps of power = 5Watts. Some cams like the pan cams need up to 2000 milliamps = 10 watts.
PoE can output up to 15.4Watts per port and up to 48 volts DC, and 350 milliamps. In that sense, the milliamps is too low, but because it can do more volts, it can still give the camera more than enough overall watts to power the camera (at least this is how I understand it, I’m sure some of our electrician buddies can correct me if I misstated the relationship between Volts, Amps, Watts, and which matters…I’m make inferences from the fact that I know lots of people power their Wyze cams through PoE, so it seems to obviously function as long as there are enough watts and not matter if the Milliamps are too low…but someone tell me if my deductions are wrong here). Since it can provide enough power/watts, the camera will turn on and the WiFi adapter will give it internet. But it won’t get internet through the PoE because it’s not setup that way.
For the above reasons it can’t be said to support PoE, but technically speaking nothing has to support PoE in order to be able to get raw power for a PoE port if all you care about is getting power to it and you will be using the right adapter.
So yeah, sure, you can use a PoE cable with a V4, or Battery Cam Pro, or Pan cam or anything else you want to give it power, but it won’t be connecting to the Router/Switch locally for internet access like most people mean when they say PoE. It will still be using the WiFi network card in the camera to connect wirelessly. It should definitely work for you as you were hoping. 
You could even keep your Battery Cam Pros and wire power to them so you don’t have to ever worry about the battery, and you could switch to tell them to record to the SD card continuously because it will no longer drain the battery, and the benefit of the Battery Cam Pros is that because they have a battery, if your internet goes out, the cameras would still be able to record to the SD card what’s going on because they’d have a battery backup that let them keep working even though you have no power or internet at your home.
Though a V4 has other benefits. Just depends on your preferences.
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Yes, I was referring to using PoE for power only. Easier for me to run a network cable than USB or 110v power.
Keep in mind that there is dumb POE and smart POE. What Carver was describing was smart POE - properly the 802.3at or 802.3af standard. That would work if you could come up with an adapter that will take the smart POE and output the 5 volts that the camera requires. Personally I have never seen such an adapter, but I’ve also never looked for one. Dumb POE simply puts power on some of the wires of a Cat-5 (or higher) cable. At 5 volts, that will work, but not for long distance because the voltage drop in the cable will reduce the voltage to the point where the camera will not operate. It will likely work farther than a standard USB cable simply because the wire size is larger.
Also note that the power requirements that Carver listed is the power adapters capability that comes with the cameras. The cameras do not require that much power. There are quite a few threads here that have discussed the actual power draws from the cameras.
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K6, I have already been using PoE on Pan Scan v3 cameras for a year or two. Was just checking on how compatible with other models. If they all require 5 volts then I should be good. The PoE splitter I purchased on Amazon says it’s IEEE 802.3af compliant. My runs are 20-30 ft. Thanks for the assistance.
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Can you post a link for your adapter? I’m sure there are others that would find that useful.
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As long as the output is 5v and meets the minimum current requirements (2000MA for Pan, I think 1500 for V4) no reason it won’t work, camera doesn’t care as long as the specs meet its needs. You’re not really using POE with the camera, you’re using it to feed a power supply which then sends normal USB power out to the cam, as far as the cam is concerned, it is just any other USB wall charger. Current rating can be higher, but not lower. Voltage rating should be 5V exactly.
Sort of like how you can run one of these cams off a battery pack with USB output. Cam doesn’t know the difference.
Search “UCTRONICS PoE Splitter Gigabit 5V - Micro USB Power and Ethernet…” for the item I have used. It is 5v / 2.4 amp.
You will need a PoE equipped switch on the other end as well. A traditional one may not have PoE ports.
Thanks. That could be very useful. Bookmarking that one.
When that voltage drops to 5V using proper adapter the Amps will go up exponentially. Higher the voltage lower the Amps and vice versa.
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