Hello Peter,
I have been thinking about pitch black areas around my house and I came up with the idea of a solar light to illuminate the area where motion is sensed. Amazon has a few products that I have been searching, and this product has 4.5/5 stars. It’s worth a shot. It’s just a solar flood light that comes on when motion is sensed. $25. It should save you electricity as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071HW7N5Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oFUIAbJVPQSK2
Hi Sean,
What a great idea! I have a light out back however it is switched and I really didn’t want to try to change it to accommodate a Dusk to Dawn Light Activated outside Socket. i will have to look into the solar light!
Side note - Do you think they make these little solar panels to power a USB connected device… like our WYZE camera? How great would that be for those folks who want to put these cameras outside and don’t have an easy way to get power to them? If there is a good solar powered panel out there, this may make life so much easier for us!!
I have not thought about that yet. Although I don’t think it is impossible. I am sure Amazon or some other company has a solar panel that can have a USB cable being attached to the panel. All you will need to do is purchase a USB M/F adapter and plug the camera micro usb into the adapter and then attach that to the solar panel. I am going to be doing some research on that, because that would save much more electricity as it will not need to be plugged into the house outlet. The only downside is it might not be able to be powered on all day.
There are many “waterproof” solar battery packs on Amazon. For example:
I put “waterproof” in quotes because I’m not sure these are actually waterproof with a USB cable plugged in. You might have to seal it up with silicone to prevent water damage.
My guess is the Wyzecam draws about 300-400 mA. (That’s based on it being said that the included 1000 mA power block can power three cameras.) If that’s about right, then a 24,000 mAH battery such as the latter one above should power the camera for at least 60 hours (24,000 divided by 400). If the charging rate via solar is enough to overcome the camera draw and still charge the battery, it could conceivably power the camera 24/7.
Will be interesting to see if anyone tries it with success.
Instead of the downspout, you could use some vinyl fence post, then use a “cap” for the back side:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Veranda-5-in-x-5-in-x-8-ft-White-Vinyl-Fence-Post-73010700/202084745
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Veranda-5-in-x-5-in-Vinyl-White-Pyramid-Post-Cap-73003093/202882811
Very cool idea, however the downspout is the perfect size for the camera! No room for any bees to get through and build a nest in the back of the tube.
The fence post is 5" x 5" so a lot of room for bees to get in!
I ended up scraping the whole idea and used the little house you can order on Amazon. It will be as great test!
I never make a habit of trying to fight the bees. There’s too many of them and they work efficiently as a group.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071Z1LGFV/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3UHT2C0PD0FOL&psc=1
Wonder if if this would work?
I think it has enough power (I think the cameras use less than 2 watts at 5vdc. However, with no onboard battery, when the sun goes behind a cloud, down goes the camera.
I currently have one mounted on my garage door opener. There is a power outlet on the ceiling, and, the garage door opener cover is a magnet.
I mounted mine in both windows with command strips, but I’m having a problem with the night view. I’m getting a bright spot that is taking away from the view. I think it is reflecting from the glass I really don’t know. Here is a picture of it
Here is the other picture from the other camera.
The infrared illuminators reflect off glass. Bottom line: you cannot use the night mode if mounted behind glass.
There have been requests for Wyze to add an option to turn off the illuminators while leaving on the IR mode so that you could mount a separate IR illuminator outside the glass. No word on if they are considering that.
One could always put some tape/paint to block the illuminators.
Where is it located on the camera so I can put tape on it?
If you turn on night mode and look at the front of the camera, you will see four red dots in a square around the lens. Those are the IR illuminators. It might not be easy to adequately cover them without also obscuring the lens. And even if you do, when you turn on the IR filter without IR illumination, I’m not sure you’ll see much of anything, so you would probably need to supplement with an outdoor infrared illuminator of some kind.
If you’re brave, you could try to open up the camera and cover or paint over the illuminators directly to really hide them.
Hi Linda,
I am also having issues with the camera placed on Glass. I have my facing out the window flush to the glass and I lose connection constantly. Removing the camera from the glass and all seems normal. I’ve asked support to see if others have had similar experience.
-peter
Interesting. I have 2 of my 3 version 1 cameras on windowsills pointed through double-paned glass and have seen the same odd behavior on multiple occasions, even though all 3 have been pretty stable lately … Live stream loses connectivity when near (or pressed against) the glass, then instantly restores the Live feed if I simply pick it up and point it elsewhere in the room. Very odd. Hoping someone from Wyze sees this to offer a theory as to why this happens.
Doing some further research on wifi, WiFi (2.4GHz) will experience about 3dB of attenuation through clear glass, IIRC. Of course, any coatings on said glass may also affect that to a large degree. I’m guessing that the glass is clearly scrambling the signal. Awaiting feedback from Wyze. Also curious if V2 is any better with this?
Also very interesting, thanks for the additional info regarding 2.4 GHz. Will report back after my V2 cameras arrive and I’ve had time to test them.
