I am debating a set-up like this at my house in Wisconsin. How has yours been handling it?
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Much appreciated. I’ll be setting mine up soon!
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Please only rechargeable battery if you go that route.
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Ye$!!! I’ve been wanting this ever since I bought my 5 cameras for my home and office! Can’t wait! Congratulations also on the $20MM!!!
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I know the current cameras aren’t designed to be used outdoors, but isn’t that “in the weather”? I’d like to put one on my porch, under roof (out of the weather). Won’t that be OK? I’d also like to put one in the back of my house, under an eave. Won’t that be OK?
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You should be OK…here in central Illinois it got down to -20 a few weeks back; have one on a covered porch. Can’t say about under an the eve though.
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It’s unlikely that Wyze is going to tell you that it’s Ok. They are indoor cameras.
I have one outside under a soffit where it’s unlikely to get wet. I’m on the East Coast of Canada. It does get cold here. 
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Just got my first WYZE CAM. I hear you are developing an outdoor version. While you may be far along in its development, I like to express two things I would like for the outdoor version.
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I would like it to be powered by or have the option to be powered by an external source. I don’t want to use batteries.
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Please keep the ability to select a motion zone for triggering events. This may be a challenge if you are only using a PIR at night. Thank you.
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I’m sure they will keep the current features. You can only improve right. I would like to see the internal battery to be rechargeable.
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4 posts were merged into an existing topic: Home Assistant Integration
MOD NOTE: These posts moved to a thread that is more on-topic.
3-3-19. FYI, We are in South Louisiana. I put one WYZE cam V2 on my rear porch and one in my shop. Both worked for a while, then they stopped working and reported errors. Both of them were in outdoor type dry locations and the temperatures were in their operating temperature ranges. The humidity gets very high outdoors and in the shop. I thought maybe they were defective. However they both worked just fine in the A/C house. Apparently humidity affects the cameras also, even though they don’t get wet? Both of them did not get any direct sunlight either.
Because of these little cameras, I don’t have to pay monthly for a security service. I have Simplisafe alarm equipment. My WYZE cam V2 cameras listen for their alarm and are motion detected. When away, the cameras pickup the alarm sound or motion and send me a notification to alert me. If I want, then I can call the police or fire department.
When your outdoor version is available, I plan to buy two. Neat little cameras. Hurry up please with the outdoor unit.
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Well thought out. This is something that I’ve been talking about as well. I work for a security company and have heard stories, oh boy. I am TOTALLY paranoid now, despite or in spite of the fact that I live in an area with ultra low crime rates (we don’t even have package thefts, yet?). Before I worked at this company, I had a camera to watch my then 2 year old and one in my garage. My circuit breaker is inside, not outside so that I’m happy for. The camera in the garage as dual duty, fully in view of the door etc. because I saw a story long ago about how easy it was to break into garages.
Anyway, post working at this company; I have a camera facing the line that supplies my home with power (a Blink!), it is set to trigger on a fly’s fart because no one ever really goes back there. My home is fenced in with Vinyl fencing and that’s the one area that is never really walked through. Then I have my modem and router on a 1500VA UPS (yes, just those 2 devices). I have a 500 VA UPS running the Blink module, solo. I have 5 Wyze Cams (2 pan and 3 regular) inside, each on a 325 VA UPS except for upstairs because it’s super rare for folks to break into a home that way. One views my porch, another my back yard, one in my living room (the pan) and one my office. The one I mentioned upstairs is in my kids room (the other cam and replaced the baby monitor I had). I also have 2 Blinks in the front of my home, 1 views the driveway and the other my front yard (Blink XTs). I need to replace the Blinks in the front because I’m not interested in changing batteries every 2 years (or earlier). Necessity had it that I’d have to do it but now there are options! (Solar Power). I also don’t want wires because I don’t want to drill holes in my wall and the other option is, yuck. I own my home and don’t want wires hanging all over the sides and front of my home for cameras; even well placed wiring is a total turn off for me so I’m placing my cards in with battery+solar. I really, really, really hope that Wyze is able to do battery+solar otherwise I’ll have to throw in with Reolink or ugh, Netgear (so expensive!). I am also considering Ring due to the fact that their security package is $10 and includes cloud storage BUT, no micro SD card means every bit of data is cloud bound, both download and upload and I live in an area serviced by Comcast so my internet is capped. I can tell you, I trialed my 2 Nest Cams for 1 month (ie: Nest Aware) and they busted my cap by 400GB, so I can only imagine what 1 or 2 Ring Cams outside would do. Nah, I prefer a camera with a micro SD where it records to that vs. to a cloud service, only motion detection should hit the cloud (if necessary).
Update:
I ended up purchasing some Reolink Argus 2 cameras (2) and they are impressive. They aren’t perfect. For one, even with the solar panel plugged in, they can’t do 24/7 recordings, but this isn’t a big deal for me and I knew from the research I’d done that they aren’t capable of this. Secondly and the more annoying things are, you can’t turn the notifications off unless the motion detection is also off and they’ve linked Alexas integration to their paid cloud. Finally and this one makes me appreciate how Wyze does this; Reolink staggers their software update so you can have 2 entirely differently behaving cameras which are the same model. As an example, so far one of my units has worked very well and motion detection works almost perfectly, The other is quirky. It’ll work fine but then completely stop working for no good reason. When I realize this I reboot it and it works again but this is not a good thing. I could do a simply FW update myself, but Reolink does not offer manual update files on their site so there’s really no way to force an update if the camera is “behind” and both of mine are way behind. Still, the features, capabilities and options the cameras and app offers made them a great buy. The camera has a unique feature, where it can do color video at night (in very low light). This video is crisp and just as great as the color video done in daylight. It’s great. This is, imho, an example of how to do a battery powered weatherproof outdoor camera. I’d take notes. I would though, keep in mind that people still want detection zones, notifications (enable and disable, independently of whether camera is detecting motion or not) and alexa integration in their outdoor camera solution.
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Thanks for your reply. I feel your pain. I’m also a proponent of solar plus battery. And the sd card in the cameras. If WYZE can do that AND hold the price down I will buy their stock and more cameras. You might want to look at another system too. It’s called the Abode system. Their Abode Iota is the one I’m looking at right now. They’re at goabode.com.
Best.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mitch and Tara Klein
EDIT: Mod removed email and phone information from post for privacy reasons.
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I’m new to the Wyze cams, only have 1 pan so far.
As far as having an “outdoor/weatherproof” cam I’ve 2 Reolink Argus 2’s ($100@). They each have a big honkin’ battery and last about a week with my usage.
BUT like Wyse they are powered off USB. HOWEVER Reolink sells a separate solar panel charger for ~ $25.
For my Future Wyze cams I plan on using a small powerbank (< $20) and a small solar panel charger ($25). Enclosed in a small waterproof enclosure.
I think I can easily duplicate the weatherproof functionality of my Argus 2’s and add in pan/tilt capability plus 24/7 operation for well less than the cost of the Reolink Argus 2.
So if Wyse could just source a good waterproof enclosure which incorporates a small battery and small solar array they could have 95% of the solution today.
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YES!!! Talk about being at the right place at the right time with the right idea! A compatible weatherproof rechargable battery/solar panel device would be the total solution. Not just for the WYZE Cams, but for millions of security cameras that use a wifi connection to pas the images and sound, and PTZ BUT do not carry a battery. The power cable from the camera could be attached to this array with a universal connector and the sale of outdoor rated extension cords, staples, etc. would hit the bottom of the barrel. So, when setting a price point for this thing, just look at what a 50’ - 100’ extension cord costs + the labor to install it + the cost to hide it. Wow!!
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Clarification: Is the prototype outdoor Wyze cam battery powered?
If so, battery chemistry and size determined for production model?
Any issues with using the outdoor unit indoors? If not, this model would meet the needs of those wanting a battery powered and/or outdoor model.
Hope is the app will have a battery level monitor/indicator. More convenient than needing to check out an indicator that is part of the camera. Having both the app and camera located indicator would be real nice.
If battery powered please factor in a pack far in excess of the minimum required voltage. Cold temps = increase IR which can result in voltage drop. Off the shelf rechargeable NiMH or Lipo and user replaceable battery? Personal preference for a battery made of button top 18650 lithium cells.
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Be sure to leave a note for the fire department so they know where you left the padlock key. If your house catches on fire they will want to turn off the breakers - if the can - so that they can put out the fire. Would you want to hold a firehose that’s streaming water onto a live wire? Didn’t think so. They don’t either.
Sometimes a padlock isn’t JUST a padlock. . Besides, what was YOUR position on an outdoor, weatherproof WYZE Cam that has a rechargeable battery and a compatible solar panel? I didn’t quite get that…
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