I was on vacation, a two hour drive time from my second house. One of my v3s went offline and could not be “restarted” with the app. “power cycling” was suggested. Doesn’t that mean having to physically access the camera? So I drove two hours, deleted the camera and reconnected, starting by physically pressing the switch at the bottom of the camera. Obviously I had to change my physical location (2hrs drive time) to do this!
This has not happened often but huge problem when it does. All solutions using the app failed.
What am I missing here? I assume millions of others have experienced this. Surely there is a remote solution.
Thanks for help.
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You aren’t missing anything. Yes, this has been discussed MANY times here in the forums.
Doing the restart in the app is a soft reboot. Physically disconnecting power is a hard reboot.
There are times when a cam just doesn’t want to get back onto the WiFi with its current IP after some type of connection loss and needs a new connection and IP. This requires the hard reboot because the soft reboot command from the app can’t get to the cam to initiate when its offline.
I have all my cams plugged into non-Wyze smart plugs that I have found to be mostly reliable for power cycling cams remotely. I also have a routine scheduled that automatically power cycles my cam smartplugs on a semi-regular basis, along with my router, to refresh the network and reduce downtime.
Unnecessary. Pulling the plug and plugging back in is all that is needed. With a smart plug, it’s as easy as clicking off, waiting a couple seconds, and clicking it back on from anywhere with internet.
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^ Exactly what SlabSlayer said!
All of us seasoned Whyze Cam owners have smart switches on our cameras
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Thanks all. I completely understand the solution as I have a timer that “unplugs” then “replugs” my router at my other house a coupla times a day. Works perfectly. Never thought of that as a solution in this case, but should have. Thanks again!
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Wow. A router reboot several times a day? Seems a bit excessive, but whatever works for you!
Good luck with the cam plugs! Glad we could help!
Rebooting the router several times per day does seem excessive. It also may be part of the camera problem. I have seen that problem before with the WiFi rebooted and some devices (not just Wyze) did not want to reconnect to that WiFi until the device was rebooted.
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Out of curiosity (as I am doing the same with my cameras and router), how often do you reboot your router, cameras and plugs? Have you found a sweet spot?
Twice a day, not several. The timer disconnects the router for 5 minutes, then reconnects. Process occurs at noon and again at midnight. That way I could never be without a router for more than 12 hours.
The smart plugs seem like a very good idea but why isn’t this a reasonable substitute when applied to the cameras as well?
Thanks.
Maybe off topic, but are Kasa decent smart plugs? They seem the best bang for the buck on Amazon. Thanks.
You get what you pay for 
From my research and from what other people are saying not the best option. Gosund and Kasa might be a better choice, but pricier. I own Kasa myself and I am pretty happy. They do what I need them to do.
My router goes thru a native onboard reboot schedule every evening. Half my cams get power cycled by the plugs an hour later, the other half an hour after that. I have an AP also, just haven’t dug into the advanced settings yet to see if that has a native reboot.
I have a similar schedule, my router reboots at 3:00AM and the cams an hour later. Have you had any issues with this schedule?
The only issue I have experienced was when I modified the router to WPA3. After the reboot, a dozen of my non-Wyze IoT fell on their face. it appears that they are not WPA3 compatible.
Other than that, I have not had any issues whatsoever.
Nothing WYZE offers is WPA3 compliant. They will connect to a mixed-mode network, but not a pure WPA3 network.
I don’t believe that is correct. I recall a while ago that a firmware release added WPA3 capability. I added a WPA3 SSID on my Wifi, but never got any further with that (lack of time).
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Good morning and thank you for your reply. You may want to revisit that when you have more time. Trust me when I say that WPA3 is not support on the following WYZE devices:
- V2 cams
- V3 cams
- Color bulbs
I have personally verified those devices as I own them all. Before you say it is my router or network, I know it isn’t. Also, have a gander at this thread here on the forum when time permits. You will notice that a WYZE employee is participating.
You are 100% correct in that WYZE touted WPA3 as supported in July of 2021, at least for the v2 cams. We were all lied to by WYZE. As you can see in the thread above, I’ve been on them/it since November of last year.
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Your last paragraph was what I remembered - did not realize it was over a year ago…
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I really hate this issue and Wyze needs to address it! We shouldn’t have to use a smart plug. This is just another device we have to buy, which uses power and uses my home Wifi. If Wyze can’t fix this then start making cameras with built in a hard reboot ability.
I agree. You do have a choice of either a smartplug or a timer but you shouldn’t be forced into this extra expense. Does anyone know if this issue is present in other companies’ cameras?
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what brand of smart plug are you using. All I have looked at seem to have a lot of bad reviews…thanks much…