@Loki - That internet-sensing remote reboot device is an excellent idea. I didn’t think of that. We had similar things we used at my work. They weren’t automatically triggered by internet loss though. They controlled power to our networking gear - routers, switches, etc. We accessed them by telephone dial-in (old school!) From there you had access to power cycle any/all of the power ports on the device (and there were many).
I like your suggestion so much that I think I will implement this using a Raspberry Pi. The code would be simple, and I could customize things like “Power cycle modem, wait 2 minutes, power cycle WiFi Router, wait 2 minutes power cycle multiple Wyze cameras and other hardware”. Remotely controlled plugs are a dime a dozen these days, I’d just have to pick a brand/model that I could learn how to control with a Pi (maybe requiring some kind of hub as intermediary for local device access, but maybe not). Maybe Wyze could enhance their power plugs to allow direct local control from things like Raspberry Pi’s (hint, hint!)
I do currently have things (but unfortunately not the WyzeCams) plugged into multiple power strips so I can instruct my mom to cycle “power strip #1” then cycle “power strip #2”. That has worked for years, although using this method has rarely been needed. But now mom is losing the ability to follow these kinds of instructions, especially since the power strips are found in different locations in her place, and some of them are tucked under furniture and such. I am also starting to lose my memory of where each strip is and what is plugged into it. I used to know, but those memories have faded over the years as we found little need for power cycling things like this. My fault for letting my memory slide on this, without documenting things. Live and learn. I never expected something to preclude my access to mom’s place. I was always expecting a ten minute drive over there, a quick look around, and I could investigate and fix any problem. That plan worked fine. Until present day lockdown.
Another Pi project I am considering is a remotely controllable TV remote (“IR Blaster”). So I can remotely login from home and send commands to her TV setup when she invariably calls with the “No Signal” complaint after inadvertently changing the input from HDMI to Composite or something equally as deadly for an elderly person. With the WyzeCam being able to see the TV as well as the rest of the room, I could send TV and cable box commands remotely and observer their effect on the TV using the Wyze app viewing video.
Ideally, TV’s, cable boxes, cameras, and all kinds of other stuff would accept direct control remotely, but there are still a lot of gaps there. Heck we’ve been trying for years to get TV/cable box designers to support discreet on and off rather than toggle, but they still seem resistant. So we have TV’s and cable boxes that get out of sync power-wise. Grrr. That’s as bad as the “No Signal” problem (why don’t TV manufactures implement a configurable lockout for input source change?)
We are halfway to our automation goal with things like WyzeCams and Raspberry Pi’s, but it’s still the wild, wild west regarding this and it’s really only accessible by techie geeks currently.