I have a Wyze cam v3 that I flashed to a webcam to use with Zoom during the Pandemic. I’d like to return it back to being a security camera, just like how it was when I bought it.
I’ve tried flashing the latest firmware, but that doesn’t seem to work. I’m using a 32gb micro sd card. I follow the directions verbatim. Every time it powers on, the status light is amber orange for a few seconds, then flashing blue for indefinitely.
What am I missing? I feel like this should be pretty straight forward.
[Mod Edit]:Title and tags modified to enhance search clarity.
The directions still have a confusing part in them where it isn’t clear whether you should have a folder on the microSD card or not. From what I recall, you want to place the demo_wcv3.bin file directly in the root of the microSD card, not inside of a folder. Also make sure it is formatted to FAT32 (which a 32GB card should be by default, but check to make sure).
If that’s what you did, the only other thing I can think is try putting an older firmware on first, then upgrading it to the latest.
Though flashing blue may mean it was successful and is ready to connect? Did the light go purple for a while during the manual flash?
Curious what exactly the “webcam firmware” was though. Never heard of that, it is possible it may be a permanent thing depending on who wrote it…..
place the demo_wcv3.bin file directly in the root of the microSD card, not inside of a folder. Also make sure it is formatted to FAT32
Did exactly this
Did the light go purple for a while during the manual flash?
It did not.
Webcam firmware
This article describes everything:
You have a v3 though right? You were able to get it to accept that firmware?
I’d say try the oldest normal firmware you can get. I know at one (or more) points they’ve made changes to the bootloader so you might have to start with an old “base”.
The other thing I can think of, the button on your cam may not be making contact, may have to push it harder with a pointed (but not sharp) object. When it is flashing blue, does pushing the button seem to do anything?
Holding in on the button and working it around might help get through any corrosion. Or if you really get desperate, you can try to pull out or cut the rubber cover for the button and get some contact cleaner down in there, then push the button a couple dozen times.
The challenge is I just wouldn’t have any idea how to test the setup button with that firmware. I wonder if the original instructions on reverting (which seems to be a dead link) had some extra step….
Another thought - you’re just plugged into a standard 1 amp wall adapter now, not a computer right? I’m thinking if it handshakes with USB that will probably interrupt the flashing.
All else fails - maybe partition the SD card to 2 gigs and format it FAT16?
I’d also consider using a smaller card if you have that available. Although Wyze recommends using a 32 GB microSD card formatted FAT32, some users testing the current RTSP β firmware for Cam v3 and Cam Pan v3 have reported better success with flashing when using smaller cards (ranging from 8 GB to 512 MB; begin reading at this post).
I think that’s a fair question, and I don’t know the answer, but I would expect the steps for reverting from a webcam back to a normal Cam to be the same as those for reverting a Car Cam, which is basically the normal flashing instructions.
I’m still wondering how a Cam v3 was used as a webcam with Wyze firmware, because—as @Seapup noted—I didn’t think Wyze made webcam firmware available for that model.
Can be hard to find a smaller one these days but you can use windows disk management to create a smaller partition on a large card which should work fine also. Might as well go for 2 gigs which was the last major change (from FAT16 to 32) if trying that.
Yeah, the smallest I’ve ever grabbed for flashing was 32 GB because that’s what I’ve had conveniently available short of robbing an older device. Trying one of the cards I normally use in these Cams—256 GB—definitely failed, even when I forced a FAT32 format onto it, though I did not try forcing smaller partitions onto it first.
Yeah forcing FAT32 on a big partition won’t accomplish the same thing. I keep a couple 2GB cards around (even have an old 1GB flash drive from like 25 years ago) for stuff like this, but have also done the partition trick when I didn’t have them with me. Has always worked for me.
That 1GB thumb drive was over $100 (paid for by work at the time) and is still the fastest transfer rate drive I have…. Back when kingston flash memory was some of the best.
(edit: I posted this before I read all of the replies. For some reason I didn’t notice there were any replies when I responded lol My bad)
One thing that I often see causes of flash failure is that people follow the instructions explicitly, and the instructions are not technically correct.
I believe the instructions tell you to copy over the folder and rename the folder to whatever.bin, but what you actually need to do is just copy over the .Bin file and put it on the root of the SD card, not inside of a folder. We keep telling them to update the instructions, but for some reason we get ignored by everybody that works for Wyze.
So, I would try that, and then wait a little while after you did the flash, and try to go through setup from scratch again like you would for a new camera.
You did say it’s a 32 GB card, which is good. I am assuming this means that it is formatted in FAT32 since that is the default format for most 32GB cards, but sometimes people have them in exFAT. If for some reason you don’t have it in FAT32, then reformat it to fat 32.
If you check the date on the Help Center article, they actually did update the instructions a little over a month ago (as of this writing), and they cleaned up some of the erroneous “folder” references, but the article as a whole still needs improvement for correctness and consistency. For instance, Steps 4 and 5 for the Cam v4 instructions say this:
The same instructions for Cam v3 say this:
Unfortunately, I think that still has the potential to lead to user confusion, so that article could use more remediation. Someone who has actually used the process to flash a Cam should go through that article line by line to eliminate any unnecessary instructions and ensure that anything left behind is accurate.
I am naming the file demo_wcv3.bin, per the link above, although it already comes this way from the firmware site. The original webcam firmware file was still on the SD card. It was named demo.bin, FWIW. I am attempting to load the latest firmware.
