Wyzecam V2 real-world power usage test

Nice house…still got the bmer and truck? Keep that beer cold and wyzer on. :}

Truck? Man, that must be an OLD satellite photo. BMW and Jeep…and it’s the second Jeep since the truck. First one was totaled. I’m going to try a Wayzecam in the Jeep when I run without the top and doors. There’s little crime up here, and it’s never been an issue, but this seems like a super-easy way to add security overnight. I can’t put it in either garage.

 

Do you know what the off-state current usage ? I plan to take one photo a day and turn it off after that. I assume it will go into a sleep mode with just the wifi module active. Thank you so much.

In my brief testing, all three camera versions use about 2 watts when on (Pan Cam not moving). Turning to OFF mode did not affect that usage at all. Keep in mind that off mode is not intended to be for power saving, rather for disabling functionality. As you note, the camera must remain active to monitor for the ON signal.

Thank you for the quick response.

Is there another way to achieve low power consumption? For example, is there a system timer to boot up and shutdown ,wake on lan, or other possibility?

Thanks

No. You could put a clock based time to control power to the power supply.

 

I’m guessing a mechanical timer switch would use more than the 2 watts the camera uses, but I don’t have one to test.

You could use an internet controlled switch such as D-link, TP-link, Epicka, etc. I just tested an Epicka and with the load (camera) off, it cycles between 0 and .5 watts.

Is it really worth going to this trouble to save 2 watts? At 12 cents per kWh, running the camera 24/7 costs about 17 cents a month. It would take something like 5 years to pay back the cost of a (cheap) internet switch.

I want to use it with a battery, in a place without power. Thus the focus on low power consumption. Esp8266, for example, has a deep sleep mode where it uses microamps while asleep, and then wake up periodically to do useful work. I just need my camera to wake up daily at 7am, take a picture, save it to network, and go back to sleep for another day. If low power mode is available, I can power it with a battery pack, and only replace battery every few weeks.

Thanks

 

 

In that case, I don’t think Wyze Cam is going to work for your application.

So to summarize for anyone planning on what size battery pack to get:

  • it’s about 325mA per hour consumed.
  • about 7800mA a day

I’m planning to do a solar based wyse cam station on a tree outside of my property that would survived three days of no sun and properly not direct sun too… i probably need 4 wyse cam to have a 360 degrees coverage… So i will need about 475.2 watts of battery system… along with pretty massive solar panels… i figure 2 x 100 watts panels and one 50ah LiFePO4 will do the trick

That’s cool and all until people make a prank request to prank call nation and you end up with 2 dozen pizzas at your house every few weeks, payable upon delivery. Then you’re banned from every local pizza place. And that’s just the harmless things people can do. Putting your info out there is stupid.

I just read this.

I’ll be around as soon as I can afford the bus fare. I will bring beer. I have questions.

(jk)