Hi everyone! I have a bit of an odd request. I purchased the Wyze V3 cam to use in my research project for graduate school. I’m using these cameras on hatching sea turtle nests to monitor predation of hatchlings on their way to the water. (I tried to upload a video but it won’t allow me since I’m a new user!) These cameras have great infrared night vision and offered continuous recording, which is why I chose them, and of course, I don’t have wifi access out on the beach.
Online, it said I would be able to configure the cameras over wifi and then plug them in anywhere, and they would record without Wifi. For some reason, whenever they’re unplugged and plugged back in, they don’t record. The only way I’ve had success is by starting the cameras from home, driving them out of range of wifi without turning them off, and recording my entire 30 minute commute out to the beach and then installing them there. I tried using a second device to set them up and using my phone’s hotspot as the network, and that didn’t work either. I feel like I’ve tried everything, and I’m getting so frustrated! Every time I’ve called Wyze support they tell me the cameras don’t work without Wifi (and they do, I’ve done it, I just want to know if there’s an easier way!)
If someone could help me out, I would be ETERNALLY grateful. You would be assisting with sea turtle conservation by helping me out!
The V3 camera needs WiFi to start up. You can take them out-of-range of WiFi after that, but they must have WiFi to start. If they don’t start, onboard systems like SD card recording will not work because the camera never booted.
You found both solutions:
Put it on a battery bank, boot it off WiFi, and drive it to the location where you would like to use it while still under power (so you would start it with a battery bank, and lose it when the battery bank runs out of power). P.S. – don’t try recharging the battery bank or plugging another battery bank into the first one later, because most, even those with pass-thru charging, will glitch the output when you connect an input. That will reboot the camera.
Start it up using a hotspot when you get to your destination. You didn’t say what problem you had with that, but some hotspots can be difficult, and of course you still need a nearby cell tower.
Another solution is to use an Outdoor Camera, which can be put into travel mode and successfully run away from home. Unfortunately they haven’t upgraded that one to a Starlight sensor yet.
So maybe if you gave more details on your experience with the hotspot, someone here might have a solution. What phone/hotspot/phone OS are you using? What exactly is the issue?
I have used one of several WiFi hotspots very successfully with both V2 and V3 cameras. To do so, connect your phone to the hotspot, and then go through the setup steps to affiliate the camera with the hotspot. Once the camera is set up to use the hotspot, it should come up working as long as the hotspot is available when the camera powers up. Then the camera will continue working and recording unless it looses power.