Right now the rules checker prevents the Smart Plug from going on and then off immediately to create a useful Camera “shutter” action.
It would be very useful for photographers if you can add a new “Shutter” Action to the Wyze Smart Plug!
The action will turn on the Plug and then turn it off after a small delay. The delay between the on/off should be programmable from 0.1 to 30 seconds, to allow for burst shots. The precise shutter timing will be controlled by the camera.
In addition, the ability to program the Smart Plug to release the shutter multiple times would be helpful too.
With this new “Shutter” Action for the Wyze smart plug, photographers can trigger the Wyze smart plug directly from Wyze Cam V3, without the need to go through IFTTT.
This will be a great product differentiator for the Wyze smart plug versus other smart plugs on the market.
One of the problems I have experienced in using any device that needs to be triggered immediately or on a low tolerance time delay by any Rule is the Rule Execution Variable Latency built into the feature as a function of how it works.
Once the trigger is fired from whatever Wyze device you are using, it has a full round trip to travel before gets back to, in your case, the plug. This latency is exacerbated by local WiFi Network connection speeds; ISP speeds, prioritization, congestion, and routing; distance from Wyze Server; and Server congestion. And that is just the one way trip. Then it has to send the action command back from the server.
In the case of using cams for triggers instead of say a motion or contact sensor, there is added latency if Wyze Smart AI is being used as it takes additional time for the Wyze Smart AI Server to interrogate every individual frame if the upload to apply a tag and initiate a confirmed trigger to the Rules engine.
I have Wyze plugs being triggered by my HMS, Motion Sensors, Contact Sensors, and Cam Plus Smart AI events. All of them experience varying delays in Rule execution depending on when they happen and from which trigger device.
No, I am not trying to time the shutter. The birds are moving so fast and it is almost impossible to time anyway. A pragmatic way to shoot birds in a bird bath is that I will shoot a lot of pics when birds are detected and then hopefully I can pick a few pics with good composition and actions. So even a 5-second delay is acceptable as birds usually stay longer than 5 seconds. Yes, I will miss the landing shots but that’s ok.
An example pic I got by shooting in this fashion:
Indeed, Cam V3 can trigger the Wyze plug directly and this is definitely preferable to IFTTT but the problem is that once you try to program the Wyze rules, you need the actions “Turn on” & “Turn off” to be executed in succession to emulate a shutter action. i.e. press the shutter and then release the shutter. Immediately you will get an error warning from Wyze saying that you cannot do it because it is conflicting (or something similar) The “Turn on for” action may work but it is in the minutes rather than in the seconds. Not suitable for a shutter release.
I am wondering if you might be better served by removing the internet and the trigger to action delay altogether by employing a PIR Motion Sensor Trigger or Camera Trap.
Thank you Seapup! Let me try that! I need to be able to press the shutter say 5 times with a delay of about 1s between each shot. Would this technique work?
I was actually referring to a photography PIR Motion Sensor Trigger or Photo Trap that is battery operated and triggers the DSLR directly to capture during a set time delay or while there is active motion. Many are programable.
Interesting ideas. Wyze cam motion-detect has an edge in the “Detection Zone” in which only a precise location in the frame will cause a motion trigger. This has helped me reduce a lot of false triggers due to the motion in the water caused by wind. A camera trap is a proven technique but it may quickly burn the battery. (at least in Magic Lantern) Currently, my DSLR battery can last for days! Not sure about PIR sensor… but then you will need to place it closer to the birdbath and power it up somehow. More setup needed, I think. If it is a spot-focus camera trap, it may use very little power but it cannot cover the whole birdbath area.
PIR won’t trigger with wind or trees or other environmental motion like the V3 will. It is Passive Infrared which requires a heat source… the birds. You can easily mount it near the bath.
There are many YouTube videos about how to build your own PIR DSLR Trigger. Most remote triggers are battery powered so they won’t use the camera battery and they send the electrical shutter trigger to the camera via remote wire, although you can get wireless ones if you have the coin.
Thank you SlabSlayer for the PIR sensor idea and I have spent some time reading up on it.
It is cool but a lot of work to set it up outside with weather casing etc, not to mention the wireless link. I only shoot the birds inside my home through the window glass lol. Yes, wind can cause a lot of false triggering with Wyze cam so I just disable the trigger on a windy day. I saw a video in which a Wyze cam pan was converted to an infrared camera. He just didn’t block the visible light. If so, using an infrared Wyze cam V3 as a PIR + motion trigger would make the bird detection much more accurate.
Perhaps an infrared Wyze cam v3 should be on my wish list as well lol, as it is easily set up in the house. Actually maybe not… the infrared camera setup in the house may just detect my window glass’s temperature and could not reach out to the birds. I need to open the window to use the Wyze cam infrared but it is not desirable. Oh… Wyze cam v3 is weatherproof and perhaps I can install it outside the window and replace its lens with a telephone lens to reach out to the bird bath. Thanks again for the idea SlabSlayer!
The Wyze Cam V3 is already an Infrared Cam. Night Vision settings to On will close the IR Filter over the lens. IR lights on the face of the cam can be set to near, far, or off in the IR Lights setting. If the cam is behind glass, you can’t use the LED IR Lights in the cam or the status lights as they will reflect off the glass and wash out the image. You can put an IR Floodlight outdoors that the cam can see from indoors. I have one running under this setup. IR Night vision is in Black and White.
However, in it’s factory state, it is still NOT a PIR Triggered cam so daytime IR is useless. Even though it is in IR Night Vision, it uses the exact same Digital Image Motion Pixelation Algorithms as the daytime color. It does NOT have PIR motion activation. Only the Wyze Cam Outdoor has that or a V3 Floodlight Cam configured as such to use the Floodlight PIR for activation.
Wyze Cam V3 Triggers … Wyze Plug Actions 
Wow, that is some fast trigger-action response. Problem is OP probably needs trigger mobility.
