the 360 S5 is not a direct variant of this model. Would not recommend trying that. Also, if you were to flash one of the other manufacturer’s firmwares on (Xiaomi and/or Viomi), you’d probably not be able to get it on their servers b/c you wouldn’t have the right credentials (certificates, ssn, device id, etc).
Sorry, but the 360 S5 is virtually identical, has better software and is $30 cheaper. Also, one of the self emptying Shark robovacs was recently on sale for $249. Wyze robovac is beta, has some serious flaws and - with current software - is barely competitive.
Came across this on Reddit… may help with your map issues
I’ve moved this to the Roadmap! We plan to release replacement parts & accessories for Wyze Robot Vacuum soon. We don’t have an ETA to share quite yet, but we’ll be sure to let everyone know once we’re ready!
I looked into the 360 S9 specifically as it was $360 and included mopping. What stopped me was the company that was behind it. Their software bounces off servers in Chna and their customer service is literally non existent.
Have you not noticed it Wyze products talk to China? I tried blocking the IP s and the cameras stopped working… I’m assuming it’s the same with my vacuum. If Wyze is going to neuter, our vacuums to only do 1 floor, why can’t they take the chip out that tells China our house layout and probably more. To see the IP traffic I’m using PiHole on a Rock64 board. You block Chinese IPs, and it stops working. This subject had come up before.
The vacuum stops working also or just the cameras? – there’s no China-chip though. It just does whatever the software tells it to. Wyze doesn’t write the actual firmware for the vac (maybe they have access to the code, but it seems just about identical to other vacs). They have an application that sits on the vac and is the interface between the vac and their server. I know when it’s initially connected in the app, it downloads certificates for an AWS IoT server. I’d guess that if it’s pinging a Chinese server, it has to do with something in the firmware and not something that Wyze did intentionally, unless their Venus server that the vac connects to is in China.
I’m speaking by what I’ve heard only. My vacuum hasn’t even arrived yet. Supposedly today.
First, I know Wyze didn’t do it intentionally, it’s made in China, and would probably take machine code to fix it, and I assume Wyze doesn’t have an a programmer for machine code. Second, I used the term China chip in jest, however there are Chinese made chips in the Wyze products. I’m being 90+% of the board/chips are made in China.
The vacuum and Wyze devices need the internet to start. You HAVE to have internet. I just tested before writing this part. I paused my internet and tried viewing the vacuum, no luck. I unplugged/plugged in a camera and it just sat there blinking the blue light, until I resumed the internet connection.
We recently had a tree fall on a power pole that severed the cable connection and took out the power. Our generator started, but no internet for a day while the cable company fixed the cable line. During that time, everything shutdown before the generator power kicked in, but none of our Wyze devices worked while we had no internet, at least the ones I tried using.
China chip, YES, they all are. I would like to run a Wyze server on my house, via Unix/Linux on a Pi, or windows, whatever they require. My server then can phone home periodically.
My background: 9 years Electronic Intelligence for the USAF, 30 years IT for Private corporations and the US Treasury.
BTW - the DoD last year found Lenovo laptops did in fact have a “chip” in them that was sending information to China. They let it play out while investigating, then stopped it… That is Googleable. I tend not to trust companies that don’t disclose the communications.
Yeah, they have to have the internet b/c everything is routed through their servers, but you said that you had cut off Chinese IP addresses and that it would no longer work. I don’t have a WiFi sniffer in place, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be too hard to find exactly where the vacuum is connecting. – As far as local control, I think the guy behind dustcloud is close to getting Valetudo running on it (ironically by flashing with Xiaomi software, and then cutting it off from the internet). Another route may be to modify the upcoming wyze component w/ vac support for home assistant. It spoofs the app, but it may be possible to spoof the server instead to control it locally.
Laughing (good way)… That is awesome. Love to hear the outcome. I mentioned flashing the Xiaomi firmware, but you’re taking it a lot further.
Not sure if you can do this on Windows, but if you have a Linux box you could enable promiscuous mode on the nic then TCPdump/Wireshark and get IPs.
I first heard about the China connection on here from another user. I unplugged a camera and watched it’s connections upon booting… I did see the IP the other guy saw, looked it up on network-tools.com and sure enough, it was based on China… Blocking that traffic stopped the camera from booting. I considered making a China network on my house, I’ve got routers laying around, then using static routes to direct the traffic… I’d have to think about it more…
Good luck on the spoofing, I’d pay for the instructions if you get it to work.
We use our Wyze Robot Vacuum extensively. Living with a big German Shepherd, the robot vacuum does a great job seriously reducing the time we’ve previously spent vacuuming our house.
However, with heavy use both the brushbar and the edge brush become worn. I was surprised to learn I cannot buy replacements for these two “consumable” items from Wyze. I imagine many others who own one of these robot vacuums would also want to be able to purchase the brushbar and edge brush. I hope Wyze will make these available soon.
See posts starting around #30
They did in fact send me a replacement robot vacuum to fix my issue - very surprising!
Thanks for the update Kenny!
Please sell spare batteries for the bot vac.
Welcome to the Wyze community @cbro!
The robot vacuum is rechargeable so it shouldn’t need the batteries to be replaced. If the rechargeable lithium battery is not functioning in your robot vacuum, you may want to contact Wyze Customer Support about this issue!
By phone: (206) 339-9646 Available Monday - Friday 5 am - 6 pm PT and Saturday 8 am - 4 pm PT
Or online: Wyze.com/support
phone support is typically faster however this isn’t always true due to fluctuation in the amount of calls.
Surely you know batteries can/need to be replaced before the end of a device’s life. Since the battery in this vacuum is rather small, the effects of degradation may be felt as early as a year depending on the size of the floor plan. Wyze may end up selling one but anything labeled as being compatible with the Xiaomi STYJ02YM/STYTJ02YM will work with the Wyze vacuum will work with the Wyze vacuum.
-Trevor
Hello Trevor,
Can you shoot me a link to the correct battery on Amazon? I see a cell phone battery, that can’t be the battery for the vacuum…
purchased the robot vaccum about 3 weeks ago. Trying to be pro-active, I want to be able to order replacement parts to have ready in case something happens where a brush needs replaced or a filter needs replaced. My bot goes 3 times per week. Normal wear and tear probably gives me 6 months before I will want to look at replacing those items. apparently they do not have a way to do that as of yet so I really don’t know what a person is to do IF something were to happen where the gets into something and you HAVE to replace it…So, if you own a wyze vaccum, you probably better vote for it it so that we can get replacement parts. I have had robot vaccums for years and never had a problem getting replacement parts until today.