Official Wyze V3 Window Mount is Live (just hidden at time of writing)

Hello, People.
On July 25th, post No. 72, I presented a preliminary spreadsheet to calculate coordinate values to layout an “Sq Large Tube Glare Shield” pattern.
below is the link to the completed spreadsheet:

Sq Large Tube Glare Shield.xlsx

In addition to the coordinate calculation from simple input. There are other sheets that:

Show how to mark, cut assemble, and glue the shield

A simple method to look through the window and obtain aim angles.

Effectiveness of the glare shield.

Points for Export - How I have to set up points for export.

Till later.
Victor Maletic.

3 Likes

Hello, @jwt and Others.
I am replying to post #37 regarding a camera aim capture device. The described method requires a camera with a live view and may also require working at height on ladders. Not always immediately available.

Below are described two paint-stick methods.
The first is the outside method with a pair of large paint sticks. No overhead work is needed, See the four pictures below.

The next method uses smaller paint sticks and it is suited for aiming cameras that will be looking through windows. See the next six pictures.

Victor Maletic.

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My personal observation regarding camera tilt angles when mounted behind a double pane window. If angled too much and pointed east or west, the bright east horizon in the early morning (or the bright west horizon in the late afternoon) causes multiple reflections between the panes that results in a blurry view.

Hello, Ipil60R34s.
l am curious, does the most blur occur when the camera is aimed 10 to 20 deg from straight ahead? Would you post some pictures of your typical cases?

Victor.

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Sorry I didn’t take a pic. I was so disappointed with the results (3 different windows) that I ripped the mounts off and scaled back the angles, from about 15° to about 5° from the horizontal.

Hello People.
Here is a thought about post 76 from @Ipil60R34s concerning unwanted extra reflections thru multiple pane windows.

Place a flat shield in the shape of a rectangle-ish donut on the outside glass pane. The camera on the inside pane would be aiming through the donut hole.

The exact shape of the donut hole can be mapped directly to the exterior window pane with a dry marker. While in the Wyze Live View trace the edge of the camera’s field of view on the window’s surface.

Masking material would be applied around and up to the edge of the donut hole. The amount to be determined is by the successive expansion of the surrounding shield. In other words, making the donut incrementally wider.

Maybe worth a try?

Victor Maletic

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I hope you’re correct and I hope it works. There’s a grazing angle at which more light is reflected than gets through the glass surface. And the presence of the double pane makes the situation worse.

have to tell you, these are garbage. The fit is so tight that my camera has bounced out and fallen onto the floor at least 50 times. They can loosen the tolerance to make it a better fit. Even after a few days, the fit still eventually force the camera out. ( a little more time in R & D next time please )

Make sure you don’t have the cable weight hanging off the camera. That should be tied to a curtain rod or other strain relief, or it will slowly pull the camera out of the mount.

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I have not assembled the plastic mount that accompanies the camera and I do not have the cable connected. I removed these for the same reasons that you mentioned. Simply put, the combination of the plastic material and the polymer window mount does not retain the camera as it is sized. A couple suggestions. 1. Open up the size a bit. 2. On the next model, add a protrusion or similar to the camera so it can be easily retained. Their are a few small raised spots on the mount, but since there are no mating holes on the camera, they are useless. Sorry about the bluntness, but, it is what I’m experiencing. thanks

Hello @gerryquint and People.
The pictures below show some of the experimentation I have been doing with library-printed V3 camera holders/shields. I have designed them to be lightweight and effective back-light blockers (sorry single pane windows only). The magnetic base was removed to cut down weight and also provide a cleaner appearance of the camera/shield assembly.

In pictures 2 and 3 permanent taping would be black as well as the camera. Note the simple paper roll stand for a low-mounted camera.

Picture 4 shows the camera’s field of view. I am standing 9 Ft. from in front of the door next to the window with the camera.

Picture 5 is a 25° shield setup to aim right. It will capture a more centered view of someone in front of the door.

Picture 7 shows the effect of the 25° right view.


Beyond the red line is interference from the right edge of the shield itself. For left or right aims, 25° is the limit angle. Between the green and red lines is the window frame.

I have worked up STL print files for the follwing holders/shields:

Sq Shield 0°
Sq Shields 15° Left, Right or Down
Sq Shields 20° Left, Right or Down
Sq Shields 25° Left, Right or Down
Sq Shields 15° Left and 15° Down - Compound viewing angles
Sq Shields 15° Right and 15° Down - Compound viewing angles
Later, links will be provided for the STL files with more to follow at no cost to you.

Till later Victor Maletic.

7 Likes

Hi Victor,

This is a neat shield design. I have three minor suggestions:

  1. make the lens opening a bit smaller, with the walls tapering towards the lens to block the white camera body frame (or just place 4 pieces of electrical insulation tape around the lens.)

  2. add 4 flat thin and flexible prongs with small (1-3 mm) ratchets to hold the back walls of the camera tightly in place, so you don’t have to use the empty toilet paper tube for an additional support! :wink: The camera body would be securely pressed against the front wall and lens opening by these extensions (you may need to use supports to print the 90 degree Ls.)

  3. use a double sided adhesive tape (small squares of 3M VSB?) to mount the shield on the glass.

Cheers!

1 Like

What do you guys think of this? Easy peezy.

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Of course, it’s easy for somebody to just steal the camera with the SD card but we don’t have to worry about all the tape on the window and all the other stuff. We can also attach the Wyze spotlight on top of it. There’s a great field of view, We point it wherever we want and of course the V3 is waterproof.

There are other camera mounts that don’t require one to drill holes. Don’t forget the reason for this thread though; people don’t have outdoor outlets, nor want to route wires outside.

Hello @TonyG and Others.

Thank you for your comments in post #84, I wasn’t as clear as I thought in my post #83.

In general, the design of the V3 camera window-mounted support/shield is to keep the camera as close to the window as possible and provide ample tape surface area. The V3 weighs 98.8 g. Removing its magnetic base lightens the camera 28.0 g. Keeping the camera close to the window minimizes overhanging pull-away forces caused by the camera’s weight. Removing the camera base does more than removing 28.0 g of weight – its’ removing 28.0 g of prying weight. And you have a more elegant installation.

The white 25° Right, Down, Left, or Up support/shield (depending on how it is mounted to the window) shown in the picture below weighs 38 g and has no moving parts. A standard resolution 3D print of it uses 280 layers and takes about 6 hours and 15 min to print. At high resolution, 417 layers are needed, and it takes about 8 hours and 15 min to print.

For suggestion 1, I would use tape to hide the camera’s white frame or a permanent marker to blacken the white. This is a lightweight option and it also keeps the camera in contact with the window. An inner blocking frame would add weight, increase camera stick-out, and add to the print time.

For suggestion 2 (see picture below), I would use some tape layers to build up a shim between the camera and the support sleeve to create the amount of slip resistance force wanted. Prongs would work but also add complexity, weight, and print time.

Suggestion 3 is incorporated into the design of the support/shield. The shield area around the camera is almost 20 square inches. Plenty of room for command tape. Most of the tape area is above and below the camera, resulting in greater resistance to prying weight forces. No external supports are needed.

A selection of various fixed aim angle support/shields available for printing will provide the simplest approach to window-mounted cameras.

Victor Maletic

3 Likes

Hello All and @sneauxone.

Sneauxone, seeing what you liked of my posts, I thought you may be interested in checking out:

Is it possible to angle the window mount? post# 6

V3 Power Cord Control, Support, Holder, Anchor, Routing Accessory post# 1

Simple Dog-Leg Layout w Spreadsheet to 3D print STL file post# 1

Till later Victor.

1 Like

A post was split to a new topic: Direct V3 Camera Aim Angles w Paper Transit

Hello, People.
I have been posting about creating a list of Square Tube Glare Shields with various left, right, down, and up angles in 5° intervals. I have created 160 STL files. Rather than repeat the post here is the link:
Print a Look-Through-Window at Selected View Angles w Back Light Shield for V3 Camera

Victor.

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I have seen the window mount trending around $15 on ebay, with one at $23.17. Why ? It is only $4.99 direct from Wyze.