Curious to know if anyone ( @Mavens , etc ) has experienced a non-charging state using wco v2 with attached solar panel?
I installed a set at my parents’ place about 2 weeks ago and it was doing great. The camera would use a few percentage points of battery during the evening & overnight and then recharge to 100% the following morning & afternoon.
The past 4 days, it has only depleted. Each day has been quite sunny and charging indicator is present throughout the morning & day. However, no battery charge is regained.
Is there a known issue where the charging kinda craps out?
I’ve had mine on the solar panel for what else is a very very long time but one hurdle I don’t think was ever able to be overcome was that if the camera gets below one or two percent battery you actually have to bring it in and recharge it at least to get up over that hump in order for the solar panel to start charging it again effectively. So if you got down below I believe it was 2% and the solar panel isn’t recharging it I would bring it in bring it up to at least 10 or 15% and try the solar panel again and see if it’s working correctly, showing that it’s actually charging in the app and if it doesn’t gain from there then I would start troubleshooting the solar panel.
Have you tried the solar panel with another camera by chance? If it works with another camera but not this one your issue lies with the camera, but if it’s doing the same behavior then your issue is the panel.
Has it been showing the charge indicator in the app consistently throughout this time (keeping in mind the charge hurdle I mentioned previously)
Currently, the battery is at 87% which is the lowest it’s been since I installed it.
Interesting dilemma. Unfortunately, I’m 500 miles away from this installation and unable to try anything else at present. I only have the single wco v2 as well, no additional cams. Isn’t it strange, however, that it has worked for 2 weeks and charged fully every day until the past few? I feel like maybe this is a firmware bug somehow. Or possibly I need to get someone to climb up a ladder and power cycle the cam. Whatta PITA… Disappointing
The charging indicator goes out when sunlight wanes. And then picks up again the next day once sunlight is sufficiently intense. So the wco/panel are definitely communicating and sensing when legitimate charging goes active.
EDIT-1: Also, since I noticed charging had stalled, I actually turned the cam off via the app for the past 2 days. Thought process obviously that no clips being captured or uploaded would preserve energy. I’m sure that I’ve slowed the depletion somewhat, but it continues to lose a percentage point per day regardless… still displaying the charging symbol and without it even being active. WTF, w/WCO, BAM?
EDIT-2: I’ve also placed this rig atop an outdoor trellis where there is plenty of sunlight during large chunks of the day. Affixed a small styrofoam hood on top of the cam itself (gorilla tape) in the event of downpour or careless birds
Unless you’ve done an update it shouldn’t be anything firmware. Even being a maven I’m hesitant with the outdoor cams to do the updates a whole lot because I use them and only specific instances and they’re not as privacy oriented as my other cameras. Some people have had some negative happenings with firmware updates on them so I’m a little paranoid ;).
That is very good to know. I’m glad you pay attention enough to be able to distinguish that too. Many people would only see it at one point and go based on that that it either is working or isn’t working but you’re seeing both behaviors indicating a change in circumstance. Well done
This I believe would be caused basically by the “heartbeat” of the camera communicating with the base intermittently and letting it know it’s still there. I could be wrong on that as I’ve never actually tested that myself. But in my small mind it makes sense. But if it’s draining the battery very quickly then I would say there’s an issue with that possibly too
I really like your setup with the cover on the camera. I wouldn’t have thought of that and it’s very proactive before you have an incident and have to go clean the camera. Great idea!
I’m thinking about what would cause a issue inefficiency, if birds or something have gotten fecal matter or whatever else on the solar panel that could be minimizing how much sun is actually getting on it and this causing less power generation and allowing the battery to drain. Maybe if you know someone that’s over there have them send you a picture of the solar panel. Make sure leaves or bird poop isn’t covering that thing. Based on placement I can see birds liking that very easily. That’s all that comes to mind offhand though. I’ll think on it a little bit more and see what I can come up with
I have noticed this on one of my cams, my v2 WCO. My other 3 v1 WCOs haven’t had this issue. It just slowly drains, and sometimes charges back up a few percent but overtime it drains.
This was my first inclination as well. I had my mom walk out to pay these devices a visit prior to the weekend (Thursday or Friday nite) and everything still appeared as clean as when I deployed it on June 9th. Here are the pictures she took to confirm:
You said “fecal matter” … Huhuhuh… and then you said “bird poop” Huhuhuhuhuhuh
Thanks dude! I had actually purchased an outdoor enclosure (with mini-visor) for this, but it seemed like it could be difficult if my parents ever needed to manually charge. Required the cam to be sealed-in and some disassembly necessary in order to fish it back out. Appeared to be minimal room for routing the big-headed charging wire as well. Since my visit was nearing an end I had to improvise with available materiel…
This is also next on my agenda for testing. The base and a number of other electronics items in their main living space is on a nice ups. I’m going to have them power cycle that even though it’s disruptive. We’ll learn if cycling the base is effective in this case and I will post my findings.
I hate to ask them to climb a small ladder, but it also occurred to me to either remove the charging cable and re-seat it and/or toggle the little switch to reboot the wco v2. The last item is a bit simpler now since it’s easily exposed after removing the silicone cover for solar panel operation.
Yeah, I am a little bit leery of firmware in general after several years of experience with wyze. That said, I performed all the updates when I was on site a couple weeks ago. Haven’t done anything since; neither have further updates been published since that time.
Based on your corroborative experience, I’m actually rooting for new firmware here… hopefully released before battery depletion to win the day!
Seems like something had to have been missed with the slightly different updated WCO model (and/or base) if you’ve observed similar specific to that model as well…
EDIT-1: Meant to ask if you’ve reported this in a trouble ticket and/or submitted logs at all? I was considering that and wondered if the additional squawking would be productive towards a solution…
I will submit a log when I can, currently my internet is down so no Wyze devices work
Also I have the original base, but Wyze has said they are identical.
My experience is you probably have a Outdoor Camera hardware issue.
I share 2 solar panels between V1s and V2s.
One V1 has SO MUCH trouble staying charged. So much that I keep the solar panel connected to it full time. The V2 on the pair is cool; it can wait patiently for the next recharge.
On the other solar panel, both the V1 and V2 are cool.
So I suspect a failure of the V1s battery on the one side that isn’t acute enough to cause total failure yet.
You may want to pursue a warranty replacement on that one if you are still able.
I purchased it through Amazon and literally deployed it on June 9th. So you are saying it worked okay for 2 weeks and then hardware has gone bad on the wco v2 itself?
This installation is about 500 miles away from me, so I’ll have to be creative.
Oddly, without intervention, I’m showing a 1% gain today with wco v2 still off via app.
Parents also just had a visitor at the house who was comfortable climbing a ladder. Had her remove the charging cable and flip the power switch off for 5sec and then back on… AFTER having observed the 1% gain above.
Confirmed that positioning was still good and then powered the cam back off via app. We’ll see if any further gain with remaining sunlight.
Sorry to report that disconnecting the panel & power cycling didn’t make any difference.
Charging indicator still shows during peak daylight hours but the camera battery does not regain any charge. The 1% uptick I reported above was apparently an aberration…
I’ve submitted log bundle & opened support ticket thusly. Have submitted proof of purchase and the other information they requested. Hoping to get both a new cam and panel since it’s unclear which is at fault in this case.
Received warranty replacements for both the cam & solar panel. Coached my mom through setting up the cam and pairing it with existing base. Today, someone inadvertently unplugged the solar panel from the existing cam for about 20min and then plugged it back in. Charge went from 76% to 91% as sunlight waned. This charging performance is precisely how the current equipment operated during its first two weeks of deployment. Not sure what has caused the laggy inconsistency recently.
Not sure how to make heads or tails of this, but definitely curious to see if I get back to 100% off the existing rig during peak daylight Friday. Neither cam nor solar panel have been replaced as yet, although replacements are ready in the bullpen.
EDIT-1: This previous behavior has resumed. Charging symbol is present, but cam battery continues to slowly drain…
I am having the same issue. First hooked it to solar after 100% charge. It worked a couple days and stayed fully charged. After a week or so I say the battery drain 1% a day. Then called support and they sent a new panel. First I charged the cam to 100% again and it took about 12 hours which it should not. The for about a week it was fully charged. Then it started discharging the same way. Is it a bad camera or just a bug. It is so annoying as I wan to add more but not if this is the experience.
I have started having this issue as well. My v1 WCOs don’t do this, but my v2 does. It just slowly drains 20%, and then kinda stays there for a while, and very slowly goes down 1% every day. Never goes back up until I plug it in
Next visit down to my folks’ place, I’m pretty much gonna dismantle the whole installation and scrap it at this point. Self-sustaining power was a requirement in deploying a battery operated cam there. No way I’m putting a manual charging onus on the parents - total deal-breaker. Got enough Bravo Sierra at my abusive job that I don’t need to babysit a camera that’s SUPPOSED TO BE watching MY back.
Disappointing that their marketing is out over their skiis and way ahead of product development yet again. Style over substance when the actual product doesn’t do what is advertised. Another stellar feat of Wyze QC… or lack thereof.
I guess I’m here to add to the “me also” chorus. Had a v1 charging off of a panel just fine for months. Upgraded to a v2 and after an initial charge of a day, it just starts draining instead. I purchased a second panel for another v1 cam I hung up so I guess I’ll test the v2 on the second panel as soon as it arrives. But something tells me this shouldn’t be a panel problem when all I did is upgrade the cam.
but one hurdle I don’t think was ever able to be overcome was that if the camera gets below one or two percent battery you actually have to bring it in and recharge it at least to get up over that hump in order for the solar panel to start charging it again effectively. So if you got down below I believe it was 2% and the solar panel isn’t recharging it I would bring it in bring it up to at least 10 or 15% and try the solar panel again and see if it’s working correctly, showing that it’s actually charging in the app and if it doesn’t gain from there then I would start troubleshooting the solar panel.
