V3 Timestamp Doesn’t Hold when I move Cam to Local Record

I setup up my V3 cam at home using my internet connection. Synced time. View it Live and everything looks good. Insert a 64 gb SD card. I take it to my rental property where I want it to record to the SD card, no internet. It records but makes up a timestamp of 5/13/2022. It’s really 9/16/2022. I drive it back home to the internet, I sync it. I drive back to my rental and plug it in and leave it for the night. I am over here today. I don’t unplug it but instead take the SD card out and view it on my computer. It recorded to 5/13/2022 and 5/14/2022 overnight! I can’t tell whether it changed to 5/14/2022 when I brought it back last night or whether it actually rolled over here to 5/14/2022 after midnight. Either way, I need a correct timestamp for a possible court case when the neighbor goes out and removes a new survey marker I am having put in any day now.

I got over here to the rental around 16:30 today 2022-09-16 and took out the SD card. It recorded that movement however it’s time stamped 2022-05-14 12:32:01.

How can I get it to keep the correct date when I switch it from recording Live with WiFi to recording to SD card with no WiFi? There’s really no functionality between the app and the camera after I get to my rental with no WiFi. It’s what I bought this camera for specifically.

Thank you!

Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @mydogsmom!

You can’t unplug it to move it.

When the cam restarts, it pulls all the data it needs from the Wyze Servers to run. It must have internet at startup, on the installed network, to function properly. If you unplug it and move it away from it’s installed network, it looses all it’s smarts.

The fact that you say it actually records to the SD after being powered off and removed from WiFi is a new development for me.

One solution would be to use your cell phone as a WiFi hotspot to install the cam using that as it’s network. Unplug it to transport it, then plug it back in when you get there and start it up on that hotspot at the remote location. Once it starts to record, synced w\ the servers, you can then disconnect the hotspot and it will continue to record until unplugged again. It will then need the hotspot to restart.

Alternatively, you can also just install it to the hotspot at the remote location, get it recording, and then turn off the hotspot and leave.

BTW, a 64GB card recorded in HD will give you approximately 7 days of continuous record. In SD quality video will double that to 14 days.

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Thanks for replying! Yes, it’s touted as being able to record to SD card without internet and why I bought it. Some ad even suggests using it as a car cam! I actually might while traveling and leave it in the car at night!

I couldn’t get it to see my phone as a hotspot when I tried to set it up at the rental. It only saw WiFi names of houses around me and not my iPhone. I then had to take it home to WiFi and set it up and bring it back. I’m trying to find where to try the hotspot setting again but it seems set on my home WiFi name and like I said, there’s really not a lot of functionality between the app and local camera unless you are on WiFi. You can’t move buttons or any setup features.

I don’t use hotspot… Or iPhone, so I’m not sure how it does that… But if it couldn’t see that network, my guess would be your phone is set to be a 5Ghz network. Wyze cams only see 2.4Ghz. if there is an iPhone setting to lock your phone to 2.4Ghz, that would be the ticket.

The cam will run and record without internet, but only after it powers on and gets all it’s smarts while on internet. Once it gets it’s settings from the cloud, it is good to go until it is unplugged. There are many users who have them as dashcams, but they power it on when on WiFi at the house, drive around and never turn it off until they return to the house.

Others take it camping and use the hotspot.

If there is no internet at the cam, there is NO functionality on the app. Both need internet to communicate.

I am using both a V2 and a V3 in my pickup. It connects to my WiFi at home and is never powered off. Records fine - as long as it does not lose power.
As far as using your iPhone, make sure it is radiating on 2.4 GHz and you MUST keep the iPhone on the Personal Hotspot page at least until the camera connects to it. Apple has deemed that non-Apple devices can only connect while the phone is on that page.

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It’s just my iPhone and the Wyze app on My phone so I can’t stay on the hotspot page and be on the Wyze app. But also…where do I go to ask the camera to look for the hotspot or any other WiFi connection? It’s set to the WiFi name at my home under Device Info and there’s no changing it.

Oh wait! I can go push Setup on the camera, right? Ugh! I hate to lose the advancements that I’ve made with it recording as is but I will go try that for the sake of a current timestamp! Thanks!

Don’t delete the cam from the app. Just run the setup again once the phone is on 2.4Ghz hotspot.

Setting the cam up again will ask you to select from the visible 2.4Ghz networks and ask for the new PW. All your cam settings previously set will be saved so long as you don’t delete it from the app.

No, it can’t see my phone. And it only blinks red now. It was blinking blue and red when it was recording to the SD card. I interpreted that as blue = recording and red = unable to connect to WiFi. Don’t know it that’s what it stands for or not but it was recording albeit in May when it’s really Sept. Taking it back home and redoing on home WiFi and then bringing back tomorrow!

Wish I could find someone else on here using it at a different address without WiFi to start up. I’ll try making it look at my hotspot at home too.

You can thank Apple for that one.

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The status lights will be:

image

From:

I put a call-out to the rest of the Mavens who are using iPhone to see if there is something that might help. Stand by. Someone might post in.

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I’m able to connect devices to my hotspot without the hotspot page being open on my iphone

Blinking red and blue at my rental means recording to SD card! :rofl: Got it setup again here at home on my WiFi and will take it back tomorrow. Had used about 11 gb of data on the card. I formatted it and hope that it forgets the May 2022 timestamp. Thanks for all the help!

What about connecting cam to hotspot. Ever done? V3 wouldn’t recognize hotspot at all. Just didn’t see it. Did see the WiFi I entered for home. Thanks!

Is that your cameras initial set up date? Could be rolling back to that when it can’t reach any servers when it’s powered on in a no wifi and trying to retrieve it’s settings. Could be a manufacture date, or rando date too.

No, I just bought it two days ago. You’re right, might be manufacture date.

Others take it camping and use the hotspot.

I couldn’t get it to recognize my iPhone as a hotspot. Do you mean a WiFi connection at the campground?

I’m curious how people travel with this as a dashcam if they leave their home WiFi overnight? Do you have to connect using a hotel WiFi connection?

There are many users who use the V3 to connect to their phone via cellular hotspot. The difficulty is in the phone, not the cam. The cam will connect to any 2.4 Ghz WiFi it can see so long as you have the PW.

One user tricked the cam by setting it up on their guest network SSID names "phonenet"and then programmed their phone hotspot to be named “phonenet” with the same password. That way the cam doesn’t know it is logging into a different network. All that matters is the SSID and PW.

There are users who set it up on hotspot, take it camping, plug it in and initialize on hotspot, then leave it plugged in to do time lapse star videos. Others hook them up to battery packs and let them record like trail cams. One user described using it as a backup cam on their RV connected to the phone hotspot in the cab and live streaming the feed.

As long as you don’t turn the cam off, it doesn’t care where it goes. As a dashcam, it just can’t be turned off overnight, otherwise it needs it’s setup WiFi to restart.

Hotel WiFi is tricky because of the type of WiFi at the hotel and their login protocols. If the WiFi network login is URL portal based that sends you to a webpage to credential, the cam won’t connect because it can’t do that. If it is a guest network without a PW, you will have trouble because the cam needs SSID and PW. Users have gotten around this by using a mini travel router to connect to the the Hotel WiFi and connecting the cam to the Travel Router. That way, they only have to set up the cam one time to the travel router SSID and then just log the router into the new WiFi at each new hotel.

Here are two searches that may produce some info for you:

https://forums.wyze.com/search?q=Ios%20WiFi%20hotspot

https://forums.wyze.com/search?q=Hotel%20WiFi%20travel%20router

Other topics that have used iOS hotspot:

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Other apple devices only. Non apple devices won’t connect unless the iPhone hotspot is on the hotspot page - and BTW, if the WiFi connection drops even for a second, it won’t reconnect unless the iPhone is on the hotspot page and the screen is showing (not blanked). I get caught on that one regularly. Very annoying. My work forced on me #$%^&* iPhone 8 with iOS 15.6.1 is the only Apple device I have, but it has unlimited tethering…

The V2 and V3 in my truck connect to my WiFi at home. They are normally never powered off.