Hello, I just purchased a Wyze Cam 3 and wanted to record events to SD card. Is there a way to capture all motion events? I noticed that I only get notification for the first event in a series, and then there is a long time before I get notification again , even though motion is happening in the frame of the camera. I assume the first event is only being saved? I understand there is cooldown period of 5 minutes but it’s not clear if this applies only to the app notification or also when recording events to SD card.
Thanks
Welcome to the forums! Looks like some things regarding local storage and cloud storage need to be cleared up. Here is something I wrote for a different thread that would help here.
To add even more to the above, only cloud storage options have app notifications. Local storage does not do any sort of notifications. And the free cloud storage option, which appears like you have with the cooldown, is a 12 sec clip followed by a 5 min cool down.
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Yes you need cam +
@Omgitstony ok thanks very much for that explanation.
So just to be clear, when recording to SD card and it is set to ‘event recording’ and not continuous, It will always capture the event up to 1 minute clips continuously with no cooldown between clips (assuming there is a motion event that lasts longer than 1 minute).
If I have notification on, then it will alert me only to the first clip that occurred in the sequence of recorded clips on the SD card - is this right?
In which case @kae4560 is mistaken that I need cam + to do that.
No,you should leave it on continues all the time,if there’s movement it will record,go try it and you will see
For local storage, as long as there is motion that falls into the minute time frame, that minute and any minute following will be saved to the card. There is no cool down with local storage. Like now, if my camera catches motion from the timestamp of 11:19:15 to 11:19:30, then the time frame from 11:19:00 to 11:19:59 will be saved to the sd card in the camera. If there is motion from the timestamp of 11:19:15 to 11:25:30, then the time frame from 11:19:00 to 11:25:59 will be saved to the card. I’d you have the local storage set to continuous it will record to the card 24/7. Free cloud storage will capture the 12 seconds following the moment of detection to the cloud (even in motion continues, the clip will stop at 12), then send you an app notification in enabled. Then a cooldown of 5 min starts. Camplus captures the duration of motion, from the moment of motion until the motion stops then uploads it to the cloud and sends you an app notification if enabled.
Only cloud storage sends you notifications. So the free 12 sec clips or camplus if you have that service. Local storage does not send notifications
I have most my cams set to continuous, then have cloud storage (some free, some camplus) enabled on some that I want notifications from, partially as a backup to the sd card, buy also for the notification side of things. I think I have one where local storage set to event only, but that’s my cat food dish I believe where I don’t need days of stagnant footage of cat crunchies. 
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Now with CamPlus Unlimited all of my cameras on on the CamPlus service, occasionally CamPlus fails to load an event so having the SD is a backup when that happens.
Well we have 6 sites with 6 cams per site and all work just fine,it’s on your end
Also re boot your cameras
Thought there was Comcast at your place
I’m new here and to security cameras. It was my understanding that cool down didn’t apply to local SD storage. I’m recording events and occasionally get 5 minutes blocked out. Will continuous recording to the SD card avoid this?
On your V3, when set to continuous, it will record continuously to the SD card unless the camera is turn off via the app, or the camera is powered down. SD card event recording is a little different than cloud event recording, where the sd card event recoding records the full minute where the motion falls. If your motion goes into the next minute block, then that minute block is recorded and saved to the sd card.
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Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @jbecker! 
Generally, this is the case for most Wyze Cams. However there are cams that operate a bit differently because of their specialized hardware.
What Cam are you using?
For the Cam V3, the SD Recording is not limited by the cooldown. Only the Cloud Upload Events get limited by the cooldown.
Using Events Only in the SD Recording setting, the length of the gaps in between the recorded event minutes, and the length of the saved events themselves, will all be exact full minute values (1m, 2m, 3m, etc.) due to how the video files are saved.
If there is a 5m gap, that means the cam didn’t detect any motion during any portion of the 5m gap.
If you use Continuous Recording, there will be no gaps unless the cam is shut off or looses power.
I’m using the Wyze Cam V3 Pro with a 256GB SD card. I wish to avoid on-going fees and the 5-minute cooldown.
Therefore, must I use it in continuous mode? Or will event mode eliminate the 5-minute cooldown?
If you had a regular v3 (not a v3 Pro), you could use Cam Plus Lite name your own price including Zero. I have Lite which does have a 5 minute cool down before recording additional Cloud videos, but with SD card on Continuous Recording I can go back and look at everything. Check out this link if you are interested in Cam Plus Lite.
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The 5 Minute Cooldown only applies to Motion Activated Cloud Server “Event” Uploads and Event Push Notifications triggered by these uploads. It does not apply to SD Card Recorded “Playback” video. Those are two completely different files saved in two different places.
Without a subscription, your Motion Activated Cloud Server Event Thumbnail Snapshot Uploads (Person Detection included) and Motion Event Push Notifications (no notifications for Person Detection) will be subject to a 5m cooldown. This is unavoidable without Cam Plus.
The SD Card Recordings (Playback), however, are NOT subject to a 5m cooldown regardless of if the SD Recording is set to Continuous or Motion Events. These are settings within the Advanced menu that are not affected by your subscription.
To verify this, I removed the Cam Plus Subscription from my V3Pro and power cycled it.
With the Cam V3Pro set to record to the SD Continuous, the cam uploaded an initial snapshot thumbnail Event on motion activation and entered a 5m cooldown. 2m later, I again activated motion. The cam did not upload another motion Event as it was in cooldown. Checking the SD Card Playback, video was recorded continuously without any breaks.
I then set the Cam V3Pro SD Recording to Motion Events. After the first cooldown from the last test expired, I activated motion on the cam. It uploaded a motion activated Event thumbnail snapshot and entered a 5m cooldown. 2m later I again activated a motion event but the cam did not upload an Event thumbnail because it was in the 5m timeout. Checking the SD card Playback video, both motion events in this test were recorded with a 2m gap in between.
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Thank you for this thorough explanation. Now I understand why I was confused.
I also decided to go with continuous recording. The sacrifice here is less video history. Regardless, I like the idea of being able to see video a few seconds in advance of an event.
Thanks again for your help and insights with this.
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If I might add one other quick newbie question-
When you guys are talking about “events” while doing the direct-to-SD continuous method, does that simply mean some sort of automatically generated markers on the timeline for playback in the app? Otherwise, it seems like if it just keeps recording until the card fills up, there would be no reason for them or the five minute cooldown functions. (FWIW- I’m not on any subscription plan,etc.)
Thanks
Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @soffee83!
Yes. When the SD is set to Continuous Recording, the “Playback” SD Card Video Player UI will show a Cyan colored bar throughout the entire timeline. The Cyan color on the bar is the indicator that video was recorded at that time.
When the SD Recording is set to Events Only, you will only see Cyan colored “bands” on the timeline indicating those times on the timeline when a motion event occured and was recorded.
The SD Recording set to Events Only works differently than the Uploaded Cloud Events. When SD Card Recording is enabled, the cam is recording 24\7 regardless if it is on Continuous or Events Only. It records all footage in a 1 minute MP4 from second 00 to 60. If set to Continuous, every 1 minute MP4 is saved. If set to Events Only, the 1 minute MP4 is saved ONLY if there was a motion event during that minute. If not, it is discarded.
Both Continuous recording and Events Only recording to the SD Card will eventually fill up the SD Card over time and start to overwrite the oldest 1 minute MP4 video files. I record continuous on my V3 cams and get between 24 and 28 days history on 256GB cards. If I were to record Events Only, I could probably get 5 to 10 times the days on them since there is less video being saved daily. If I set my sensitivity low enough, I could probably even extend that.
There is NO 5 minute cooldown on SD Recording for the wired cams. If an event happens once every minute for an hour, you would get an hour of SD Video recorded.
The 5 Minute Cooldown is only on Cloud Upload Events. It is also a user defined variable feature on the Wyze Doorbell Pro and the various Wyze Cam Outdoor models because these are battery operated cams that need to nap between events to conserve battery. But, those are a horse of a completely different color.
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Much thanks for all the info SlabSlayer, especially about the whole timeline being Cyan on continuous. I hadn’t run it until last night, but did so in “Events” mode and saw what you’re talking about. I’ll probably keep it on that, but it would be nice to still be able to jump around to the sections where something actually took place in a long recording on continuous mode.
Thanks Again!
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