Battery Operated Wyze Cam

@UserCustomerGwen apologies if this redundant. I think a lot of these posts are pointing to the options that the Argus 2/pro have.
(Closest thing I’ve seen) Althoughh I like/think Wyze is better,

It seems requirements would be minimum 3mo operation on battery (I’m guessing these would have to be Li Ion). Detachable battery pack for easy replacement of batteries, or Wyze developed rechargeable battery packs.

I don’t see how development should take extremely long for this type of model, my main concern would be price. If you do come out with a model like this, please keep it within the 20-40$ price range.

Ultimately, I think an option like this is a must for this industry, as a security concern would be advanced criminals affecting home power/electricity before breaking in.

You mentioned beta testing (I assume for battery operated camera), is this correct, implying prototypes have been developed? If not, Is this currently being seriously considered, or actioned?

The outdoor camera we’re working on is battery operated. We’re needing to balance battery concerns, weather proofing, use, etc. and that has made development tricky. :slight_smile:

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Awesome Gwendolyn, good news. I’m sure in time you guys will work it out. :wink:

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Thanks for the support! :grin:

@UserCustomerGwen can we get actual clarification unless I’m missing it somewhere. What actual power options will the outdoor cam have? I’ve seen battery mentioned a lot and nothing else then I started seeing hardwire option also but no specification.

If it’s hardwire power also what exactly is that option micro usb, 110v plug, PoE?

What actual power options will the outdoor cam have?

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So has Wyze replies yet for a battery operated camera?

Battery operation will be a feature of the in-development outdoor camera. There is no separate indoor battery operated camera under development. More info about the outdoor camera’s development here: Outdoor/Weatherproof Wyze Cam.

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Or if not a battery powered Wyze cam – at the very least a solar powered battery accessory. From what I understand, most solar powered ‘chargers’ can EITHER be charged by the sun OR provide power to connected devices but very few (if any) can do BOTH simultaneously.
So what is needed is a device that can be BOTH charged by solar light as well as have a load on the battery.

Again… I’m envisioning an accessory that is purchased in addition to the Wyze cam itself.
Ideally, an all-in-one design that incorporates a battery and a Wyze cam would be best. But an accessory would allow those who already have Wyze cams to provide solar power to them.

There should be a way to mount my Wyze cam without plugging it in because the cord looks bad hanging down the wall. It would look a lot more professional and sleek.

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I currently use a solar panel that has a battery built in to provide power to my Blink XT cameras. I thought I wanted battery-powered cameras because 1. they are neater, ie: no wires and 2. installation is simple, however, after using them for a while I was like, no way. First of all, I have no doubt that they can last 2 years but 2 of 3 of mine did not. Only the one mounted to the side of my home which got minimal traffic lasted over 22 months. The other 2 cameras which are in the front of my home lasted between 12 and 18 months and this is with efficient use and tight settings. The thing is, I want my cameras at max resolution and I don’t want to worry about live viewing or shortening clip length, just to save on battery usage, so I looked for and found a solution. I found these. The only downside to this panel is that the battery is built-in so at the end of their lifespan (normally 3-5 years depending on cycles), I’ll likely have to replace the entire solar panels vs. just swap out the rechargeable batteries in them. So far so good on these. They’ve been operating the cameras perfectly fine and I have remove batteries from the cameras entirely.

Blink really made a misstep when they didn’t allow the internal batteries to be chargeable, but I guess this is based on the fact that the cameras are really designed to make use of Lithium batteries only and they did not intend on people “doing their own thing”. A built-in switch to allow trickle charging to internal batteries would have been ideal by the time V2, ie: Blink XT2 were released but the guys over there don’t seem to take input as well as Wyze does, which is why I’m very much looking forward to replacing my Blink XT with some Wyze Outdoor cameras when they become available.

If there are a few recommendations I would make to Wyze, it’s to just do your own battery vs. allow the cameras to use aa or aaa. Failing that, as mentioned, I’d allow the cameras to have the option to charge the batteries OR utilize lithium batteries for long life - depending on user preference (some people are fine with just batteries and reigned in settings). I would say follow companies like Netgear and Reolink - make the batteries rechargeable and shorter life and then create a solar panel solution because batteries just don’t prove convenient over time, period. The other option is, of course to just build the solar power into the cameras. Here’s an example. I have not used any of these types but I think they’re heading in the right direction when it comes to battery-operated cameras. People are going to want to use the best or highest settings and then they’re going to complain their battery life falls short of whatever claims are made so hit that problem over the head before it has a chance to come about.

Battery operated cameras, in my opinion, are more suited towards doorbell cameras which are within reach of changing vs. cameras that you’ve gotta grab a ladder to get to.

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Perhaps you should have gone with a panel like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Security-Outdoor-Weather-Charging/dp/B07Y4L4F9B

It appears the back panel is secured with screws (see the 5th image on the left side), and can be removed to change out the two 18650 batteries.

I absolutely would have if this type was available at the time. I’m not too sour about it. The amount of money I’ve saved and will save vs. paying for lithium batteries makes even the panels I can’t change the batteries in well worth it. I have the cameras set to full resolution (ie: enhanced), 10 second retrigger time and 60s clip length with the clip ending early and the cameras with no batteries and just the solar panel haven’t missed a beat.

My point is that people only think they want battery-operated cameras, lol. I say this half-jokingly. I have never encountered a 100% satisfied battery-operated camera customer. They/We either complain that the batteries don’t last long enough (as long as advertised), that the camera misses detections (obviously, because they’ve lowered sensitivity so much as to save battery, it’s a vicious loop) or that the settings have to be dumbed down so much, it’s not really worth it anymore vs. other cameras. There are also a lot of compromises made with battery-powered cameras that people don’t realize exist until they own one, like, for example, I’ve never encountered one that can record 24/7 and I’ve seen this requested a lot. Another is that for some reason they don’t have detection zones for many of them, at least not when they run on just their battery. I own some Reolink Argus 2 cameras and they don’t have detection zones in these cameras at all, even when they are being charged with solar power and their excuse is that it takes a considerable chunk of power to perform this (although my Blink XT had this feature added later and it works well for me). People expect battery-opeated cameras to work 1:1 with powered cameras and from what I’ve experienced, this doesn’t happen.

When people ask for a battery-operated outside camera, I really think the majority of folks are thinking more that they don’t want to drill holes through their walls and/or prefer a DiY setup vs. hiring a professional. In these cases, I’m thinking, it’s not that they want the cameras to be battery operated per se, it’s more that they are looking for “wire-free” cameras. My own recommended response to this would be, build some solar panels into the camera itself or give it a solar panel option and as mentioned, make it so the batteries they use are re-chargeable vs. one-use/replaceable lithium (aa/aaa).

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Very well explained

First impressions of available info so far from automate your life

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SO is there some type of options for solar to be integrated?

Any solar setup with 5v USB output will work.

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Any more progress towards the battery power camera or the doorbell?

Yes on both. :slight_smile:

Wyze Cam Outdoor is going to release much sooner than the doorbell but we aren’t giving public dates for these yet.

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really want the solar charger. I have a number of solar powered LED light panels on motion detectors. I want to put cameras near them to record what trips the detectors. In my area it could be anything from a skunk to a moose.