Want to use WCO as simple baby monitor

I’m considering using the Wyze Cam Outdoor as a very simple baby monitor, but I’m not exactly sure how it works since the WCO is battery powered. Here’s what I’m trying to accomplish:

  • Place the WCO on a table and point at the baby.
  • Open the app to play a live video-stream on a phone/tablet.
  • I do not want any detection, notifications or any recording to SD card or the cloud. I only want live monitoring.
  • This will only be during the daytime, so night-vision is irrelevant to me. My goal is to move around the house/yard/restroom while still being able to see & hear the baby.
  • I’m not using a v2 or v3 for this because I’d like to move the WCO very easily from room to room, depending on where the baby is placed.
  1. Is this possible and reasonable?
  2. How long might a fully-charged WCO battery last while playing a live video-stream with audio?
  3. Is there a way to perform audio-only or video-only monitoring of the baby to extend the WCO battery-life?

Thank you for your help!

Do you not have electric outlets in those rooms? I think there are far too many compromises to trust the WCO for something as important as this.

Have you factored in the fact that a WCO requires its own dedicated hub?

Not sure if the WCO’s battery can be swapped, say you want to keep a fully-charged spare in case one gets discharged.

I have a somewhat similar need. Need to keep track of a sickly dog when I’m out. To monitor areas that don’t have nearby outlets, I keep a couple of V3s connected to phone battery chargers. I have several 20K mAh that I keep charged all the time. Each battery lasts about 2 days on the average.

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I have outlets, but I’ll be moving the camera to far too many places, depending on where we move the baby’s play-mat, chair etc.

If I look at the live-stream and notice that communication is lost, then I can go to the baby’s location and reset the camera, so I feel like this is not a high-risk action. (Unless the video picture freezes and makes it appear that the baby is still in the same position.)

I understand that the hub comes with the WCO, but will that affect anything? The hub will just sit in the house.

Thanks - that’s a good alternative, but I’d still like to avoid the wires and have maximum flexibility on where I place the camera.

Only the price, not the functionality.

Not if you use a 6-inch USB cable.

Does anyone know how long a fully-charged WCO battery would last while playing a live video-stream with audio?

The WCO is not really designed for what you need. If you connect for a live stream the battery, from what I’ve read, won’t last very long. The camera is designed, primarily, to take short videos, etc. when motion is detected. I really can’t recommend it for your requirements.

Forgot to mention, as I think others did, you need to have the base station attached to your router (I think this can be wifi now, but not sure). So you need to have the base station available to the camera so you can connect to it.

I definitely agree that it’s not designed as a baby monitor, but I’m wondering if I can still make it work.

The Wyze website says that the batteries last from 3-6 months based on 10-20 event videos per day. So if I conservatively assume 10 events a day, at 12 seconds each, for 3 months, that would give it 10,800 seconds worth of battery-life, or 3 hours.

Can anyone who has a WCO confirm that? I certainly don’t mind charging the WCO daily overnight, similar to my cell-phone.

Yes, that should be fine. The intended application would only be in the house, so the base station wouldn’t be moved anywhere. Only the camera (and the baby) would move around the house.

This is a very extensive (long) post on WCO battery life:

Anybody know if this is true? Link?

From Wyze: (https://wyzelabs.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037538072-Wyze-Base-Station-Setup-Guide)

Want to unplug your Base Station from your router?

Once it’s set up, you can use Wyze Base Station on a WiFi connection - no need for a router. To do this:

In the Wyze app, tap on your Wyze Base Station.
Tap on the Settings gear on the top right.
Tap Device Info > Change Connection. You'll see one of the following screens:
    Select your network.
        Follow the onscreen steps to connect to your WiFi network.
        Once connected, unplug the Base Station from your router.
        The status light will flash blue, then turn solid once complete. You're all set!
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