Wyze Cam V3 - Motion Detection Not Working Properly

Hi,

I recently ordered a Wyze Cam V3. I have a micro SD card in the cam and configured it to record events only. I’m not sure if the camera’s motion detection is bad or if I’m having problems due to user error.

When I received the camera, I replaced the Yi Home camera that I was using. I was immediately impressed with how bright everything looked at night even when night vision remained off. I use the camera behind a window pointing outside.

The following morning, I noticed that it did not record anything at night. So I changed the motion sensitivity settings from 50 to 100 (most sensitive and unless I’m mistaken, this will cause the camera to record minor motion).

I’ve had the Wyze Cam V3 right next to the Yi Home camera all day and I noticed that while the Yi Home camera recorded footage of small animals such as squirrels, birds and cats, the Wyze Cam V3 often did not record the same footage.

Under smart detection, everything is turned on except friendly faces. I even turned on Detection Zone and enabled everything. Nothing is in grey.

The firmware version is 4.36.3.19. I think an update is available but I’m hesitant to upgrade because I’ve read a lot of reports of people bricking their cameras by upgrading firmware. Also, this firmware version should be fairly new.

I’m wondering if this camera is just bad at picking up on movement from small animals or if I have missed some configuration option. Although having movement from small animals is not a security issue, I do like to see what’s going on at night and during the day.

The quality of the video is excellent. No complaints there. But can the poor and inconsistent motion detection be improved?

I have 4 V3 cams and they record everything, light changes, trees moving shadows and so on. I Have smart detection set for Person, Pet and Package. Pet includes any critter that moves. this is one cam. My cameras are outdoors but it should work through looking out a window I guess, many people do it.

This firmware is over a year old… August 2021.

You definitely need to upgrade the firmware to get the advantages of the updates for that cam.

The latest version currently available is 4.36.9.139

I have been upgrading my cams and even testing the Beta Firmware and have not yet experienced any bricked V3 cams. You also have the option of manually flashing firmware to the cams via the SD card also.

I agree my V3 cams are all using 4.36.9.139 and work great. !

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Thanks for the replies. Yes, I just checked the firmware history and noticed that the firmware my camera is using is old. I had thought it would be newer because I just bought it.

Is it safe to upgrade the firmware through the android app or should I flash it manually seeing that the current firmware is over a year old?

Edit: I found a recent thread where someone reported that updating the firmware on the V3 bricked their camera. Person detection not working 10/26, no tags or notifications - #19 by abrons2011

So I would prefer to not update the firmware. I also went through the firmware logs and did not see anything related to improving motion detection.

You might want to reread that post. It didn’t brick the cam. It just reverted the notification settings that then had to be reset. Bricking a cam means it is DOA. No life and no recovery.

And, based on the date of the post, if it were for the V3 rather than the V3Pro, which is unclear, it would have been for the October 18th 4.36.10.2700 update which was halted due to issues. All 4.36.10.xx firmware is currently on hold.

Very rarely are all fixes and improvements listed. If you prefer not to update that is your call, but there is no way to troubleshoot issues w\ old firmware.

The only thing flashing is going to do for you is save you time. The cam will be stepping you thru every update till it gets to current. I am impatient. I just installed 7 more new cams recently and immediately flashed them all to 4.36.10.2864 because I wasn’t going to spend two hours jumping thru consecutive updates and 4.36.10.xx has new features I absolutely love.

I was referring to azolivas’ post.

No. They are turned on. I have had three Wyze cameras and the first two notifications worked fine until a firmware update. The cameras bricked with the infamous yellow light so I returned the cameras. I then bought a third camera and this one is working fine except no notifications are pushed through. I do not want to update the firmware in fear of the yellow light of death.

Thanks for the info about the difference between flashing and updating within the app. I understand what you said about the chances of bricking the camera, but do you know if there is a higher chance of bricking the camera through an update if it’s done within the app instead of by flashing it?

No

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