This is just an FYI and may ring some bells for someone;
I am currently many miles away from home and monitoring my V3 cameras routinely (some continuously). None of my cameras have Smart Plugs.
One camera in particular has gone “OFFLINE” several times including today for a few hours. I was of the understanding that if a camera goes offline it must be reset (unplugged then re plugged in) to get it back online. Well, I have found that my cameras do come back online without resetting (there is nobody there to reset them). Comments please ??
I like to periodically power cycle my WiFi access point. My v3 cameras will go off line but reconnect automatically when the WiFi comes back up. I believe Smart Plugs are used when a device is acting weird and needs to be power cycled when you are not physically at that location. It could be a poor signal area or WiFi interference on that one camera.
The cameras can go “offline” for several reasons. In some cases it will come back after a while, in some cases it will not. Power cycling the camera is NOT a 100% sure fire solution. There is an old bug where a camera will show offline, but if selected, ti will work fine. Sometimes a power cycle will help and sometimes not.
Two times last week I opened up my cameras and they were turned off not offline but turned off something very strange going on. I changed my password just in case we shall see what happens
@K6CCC is correct. There are a host of network issues that could cause a cam to truly go offline and be unreachable. If the network issue causing this ceases (intereference) or the router makes changes internally (QOS), there is a good chance that the device will connect to the server without a restart. But, there is an equally good chance it won’t. And, most users don’t want to wait for a 50\50 shot at maybe they will come back online.
The problem is identifying where in the daisy chain of data transfer the problem is being caused: Cam? Router? Modem? ISP? AWS? Wyze?
The power cycle by smart plug is useful because it restarts the entire connection between the cam and Wyze. New router login handshake, refreshed IP assignment, new Wyze server login. The reason I recommend non-wyze plugs for this is so that they are being serviced by a different server in case the issue is w\ AWS or Wyze. An offline cam can’t be reached in the app. You are at the mercy of your network, ISP, AWS, & Wyze with the hopes that it will come back on its own. With the smart plug, you can break the faulty connection and make it start a new session. Sort of like ctrl-alt-del on the old Windows OS. Rather than wait and see… Punt.
As Jim mentioned, the “offline, but not really” issue is still out there and Wyze is still trying to get enough SD Card logs to pinpoint the cause. It has been difficult to reproduce on demand in captivity and has to be caught in the wild to be studied.
Review this thread on a recent conversation about that:
@SlabSlayer
Thanks Slabslayer and everyone as always for your input.
My situation “like everyone else’s” is a bit unique. I have (6) V3 cams deployed. I’ve been away from home for awhile now and only 1 of those cams has gone Offline. However, it has always come back online in minutes (or) maybe up to an hour. That cam is of particular importance to me. Therefore, rather than installing a smart plug I decided to use one of my spare cams in a location that gets the same video. That particular cam has not yet gone offline and is always available as a backup.
NOTE: the cam that sometimes goes offline is immediately outside a window. The spare is inside that very same window.
Next time you get the opportunity, swap those two cams but not the power supplies.
If the problem follows the cam and moves inside, it probably has a weak antenna. If the problem stays outside, swap the power supplies. If the problem then moves inside, you have a weak power supply or cord that needs to be replaced. You can then swap the cords to test which. If the problem remains outside, you have a weaker signal outside and it is in the router signal or node placement.
If you find that the cam is the issue, you can try to swap it with one that is closer to one of the nodes.
I thought about those plugs also there’s one camera that seems to give me a little issue but it’s been a while I mean I had to reboot it once in 6 months not a big deal but if you’re away it’s a big deal LOL I have 17 other cameras I’m not too worried but for the person that only has one this would definitely help.
I use an older, discontinued version of the Amysen Smart Plug. It does not have the History feature you are looking for. However, I selected this plug specifically for its form factor and price rather than other features.
