Say we have a Wyze camera set up with a Cam Plus subscription. If a crook were to unplug the camera before stealing something, would we still be able to capture video of him coming to the plug and unplugging it? Or does Wyze require some lead time before video gets uploaded to the cloud? In other words, would we be screwed if the crook knew we had a Wyze camera and simply unplugged it before committing his crime?
You won’t get the video of the thief grabbing the camera; the upload won’t complete. But you’ll get the previous video, presumably showing the approach. Ideally, the unfinished upload can be saved, but I don’t know if Wyze does that.
This is why I have another camera to back up a critical one.
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It kind of depends on a few details, but my experience is that most likely the interrupted cloud event would have a failed upload ending and not be viewable.
For this reason, if you are using these primarily for security, then the best practice is to do the following:
- Mount the camera in a way that it, and the cord, is not easily reachable without a ladder or something
- Use 2 cameras at opposite ends of the house slightly angled toward each other so that one captures everything being done to the other.
- Use person notifications with a detection zone. The Thumbnail will still come through even if the event does not. This could be given to police as evidence.
- Record to an SD card for backup. The SD card stores videos every 1 minute, so the average chances are that 30 seconds will be enough. It’s possible that someone could hurry and unplug 1 camera in less than 1 minute, but if you have multiple cameras at opposite sides of the house, it is likely they will take more than 1 minute, and you will also have the thumbnail image and notification to warn you.
- You can also use something to capture an RTSP stream like Tiny Cam, Scrypted or Docker Wyze Bridge and save all video for critical security cameras to a computer, tablet or phone inside the house. These would capture everything up to the last 5 one-hundredths of a second. So if you are really concerned about capturing up to the most recent fraction of a second, then use one of those and record your camera stream to a local harddrive for the most critical security use. A “crook” will never know if you are doing this.
Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of “crooks” burglarizing a place are actually someone known well to the victim. It’s often family or friends or acquaintances of someone in the household, or at least a neighbor who already knows them, rather than some complete rando they’ve never met before.
Basically it depends on how secure you need it to be and how easy you want it to be. The majority stranger “crooks” will see there are cameras and decide there are easier and safer pickings elsewhere, rather than risk going to someone who is already paranoid and looking out for intrusions. Even if you had a totally non-functional camera (let alone a real functional one), they’re very unlikely to come to you unless they already know you and are specifically targeting you for something in particular.
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If you have Wyze cams monitoring the outside entry points from inside the house - eg. cameras sitting on window ledges or mounted on window frames behind glass - they are usually going to capture enough video before any suspicious person gets into the house and gets anywhere near the camera(s).
Of course, if your Wyze cams use AC power then a suspicious person could cut the power to the house to disable the cameras and network equipment. But if there is a camera monitoring the vulnerable areas or access paths to those areas, again it will capture enough video to be useful. Alternatively, battery powered cameras, especially ones hidden from plain view, will alleviate that potential issue.
But as @carverofchoice says, professionals will tend to bypass residences that are protected by security cameras for easier targets. However, there is one cohort that doesn’t care and will commit crimes regardless. They are often young or stupid, or both. They will often mask their faces so camera footage of them will be less useful. That’s why cameras only form one part of a much larger plan to protect one’s home from unwelcome invasions.
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Good point! And a battery backup/UPS for the modem/router and possibly camera(s) if they don’t have their own battery.
A person can even get one of those routers that uses 5G Internet as a backup if the main Internet goes down.
And good suggestion about having cameras inside the house through the window. I do have a couple of those, but often forget about them because they’re so inconspicuous and rarely used. 
Works so well that even I forget they’re there.
I guess it just depends how thorough a person wants to be.
They could get PoE cameras and setup automations to trigger loud alarms/sirens even if the power/Internet goes down since things can be setup to run locally and with battery backup.
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Also be mindful of bad people using WiFi jammers.
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