Wyze cam v3 in direct sunlight with window mount

Cameras
,
1

Anyone have experience, good or bad, with a Wyze cam v3 in direct sunlight using the window mount?

I believe I should tun IR off to avoid reflection and was thinking of mounting in a window over the front door that faces SE, so a lot of sun. Worried that the cam may overheat and also not sure if being in direct sunlight bring any other issues / concerns.

Any guidance, suggestions greatly appreciated. TIA

2

I have several V2 and V3 cameras that are behind glass. First off, there are three V3 cameras that are inside a bay window that is double pane glass. The camera front faces are pressed flush against the glass, so they point perpendicular to the window glass. I have them set to Auto nighttime mode with the IR illuminators turned off. Also on the V3 you need to turn off the status light. For quite a while there was a V2 and aV3 side by side, but except for one, the V2 has been moved elsewhere. In the photo (taken from a V2) the side window of the bay closest to the message board points almost directly east so most of the morning the cameras are in direct sunlight. I have not had any overheating issues

Front_of_House_2018-12-03
Front_of_House_2018-12-031334×750 95.9 KB

The other V3 behind glass is stuck to the windshield of my pickup truck. In that case, the camera is a couple inches behind the glass. Again, the camera is in Auto nighttime mode and the IR illuminators are off. That camera gets plenty hot, but has not shown any ill effects from the heat.
I’m in southern California so we do get lots of sun and heat.

1 Like
3

hey @K6CCC thanks for sharing your experience with the cams in direct sunlight and the pic.
Also, the heads up on turning off the status light on the v3.

4

Surprised that truck cam doesn’t overheat, @K6CCC! :slight_smile:

I had a bad experience once.

I had a V2. I painted it black with Plasti-dip (a rubber coating), and put it on a garage windowsill, behind a single-pane untreated window. It got the full brunt of the afternoon summer sun in an already hot garage, and would drop in and out of consciousness, including recordings to the SD card. I put a temperature probe on it and found it was hitting 170 DEGREES!

I moved the cam from sitting on the sill up against the glass to being mounted out of direct sunlight a few inches away at the top of the window, and cut the effect of heat down to around 100 degrees, worse case. Even though the V2 is rated for 104°F operation, it didn’t fail until about 145 degrees. So I was pretty proud of the tolerance it had. That camera and SD card still work today.

So the main things you need to watch out for are single-pane windows, uncooled spaces, black cameras…

I suspect most house windows are fine,

2 Likes