Outdoor/Weatherproof Wyze Cam

I would agree with having a corded version of the outside cam. Im not a fan at all of battery cameras.

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No doubt. However, they’re probably intending to sell their product worldwide and with that it mind it makes sense to produce a product that doesn’t potentially have difficulties in some markets, especially when those issues are easily avoided.

BTW, I edited my post above as it contained a couple of inaccuracies and wasn’t totally global in outlook - the dangers of writing posts at 4am in the morning when tired.

So far as I’m aware they’re sold globally through Amazon.

I have been been guilty of this numerous times

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I think as the current wyze cam is a powered internal cam you only have people from part of the market here there’s a bit of a bias

I personally have wyze indoors & another brand battery powered cam outdoors

Just because there’s a handful of people wanting poe here doesn’t mean that it would do better in the market, probably the opposite, most people want something they are familiar with, having to get a poe injector / switch & running a ethernet network around a house will probably put them off

Just because you want it & pro systems use it, doesn’t mean it’ll do well in the domestic market

If it makes so much sense other big brand domestic companies would have already done it like Netgear who as a networking company anyway

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I totally agree and that is why you will not see POE on the outdoor camera coming up.
And probably the same reason you will not see it on the Wyze Cam v3 .
I don’t think wyze should waste their time with it ( like they did with RTSP ), if you really want POE you can get adapters to do it now

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They may be, however Wyze does not authorize those sales. At the moment they only sell in the US market. I am sure that will change someday.

If Wyze is to grow they need to be an international brand even if only through retailers such as Amazon.

Equally, it would be short sighted to design a product solely suitable for the domestic market as the consequence of this would be an expensive re-design if they ever decided to go global. To that end, it’s far better to design to an international standard such as POE than try to rely on USB as the charging / cable data method for long range outdoor communication. Assuming WYZE is going to retain a battery and sd card, POE makes more sense for wired runs than USB for global compatibility and long runs,

I still feel that you are still trying to make this a commercial product not domestic

Not sure what you mean by “retain” a battery. The existing cameras do not use batteries.

I am reasonably sure that Wyze has plans to expand but please remember they do not make the cameras they make the firmware and software.

Going forward they may choose to actually build the camera. If they do then I am sure they will look at other successful products in the Market, like Arlo, and Amazon, and Ring.

Note that none of these cameras which are sold globally offer POE. Ring sort of does via an adapter.

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Not at all. Wireless is pretty useless for outdoor cameras. The quality is generally poor, range restricted, prone to interference and the reliability of connection low.

For power, as mentioned above USB has numerous problems not least of which is USB cables are limited to 16ft of length max before repeating amplifiers are required (slightly longer if power only not power and data). In most properties you’d use that 16 feet before even getting the cable out of the house. USB cables are very expensive when you look at charging rated cables, (most regular usb cables are unsuitable for charging and either carry a fire risk or risk damage to the device through power loss), they are not waterproof, not uv resistant etc.

Putting in a USB power supply outside to enable a short USB connection to overcome the cable limitations, causes all sorts of issues including the expense of WYZE designing a waterproof power adaptor and then having some means of power supply point to plug or wire it into in the form of either adding an outside IP68 rated socket (again expensive with a professional electrician required) and most of these won’t accommodate the size of a power adaptor, just a regular plug, or as suggested above taking power from an external light fitting (even assuming you have enough light fittings in the right locations to match the cameras and not foregoing that in many jurisdictions taking power from a light fitting may well be illegal and in some cases danergous).

POE on the other hand uses a POE switch plugged into your pc. Cheap ethernet cable plugs in and into the camera at the other. Carries both data and power with almost unlimited distance.

You seem to be forgetting this is an outdoor camera and that makes the logistics of data and power much more difficult than for indoors.

Re the battery, probably something I picked up from the wish list. Not a fan of batteries tbh. Can easily overheat and catch fire in summer, lose most of their charge when cold in winter, require regular maintenance / charging etc.

Ring may have sold a lot of doorbells because it was a unique concept. Personally, I would rate the video quality you get out of them as poor. Security is only of use if you can get good recognition day and night and at a reasonable distance.

Also, above it’s been mentioned that many want to use these as wildlife cameras. You’re not going to keep a reliable wifi connection, if obtain one at all, any distance from the house. Even within a house the walls drop off the signal strength and bandwidth rapidly with distance caused by simply moving rooms. The possibility of recording locally to SD may help. However, power supply will remain an issue. There’s a reason professional cameras use POE and it’s not because they’re professional but simply because it works at any distance with both data and power.

USB is unworkable outside in many instances.

You seem to be conflating several different topics. My post was directly addressing two points you made.

  1. The camera hardware is not made by Wyze for the current crop of cameras. That may change with the future. But the hardware is already marketed globally so it’s not holding anyone back. There are other issues.

  2. The POE issue has nothing to do with anything we have talked about. The overwhelming majority of cameras and other iot devices world wide use USB power with no issues. POE if you desire it can be had for any camera via inexpensive adapters. So again a non issue.

Lastly a “trail camera” would use battery power not POE. And the battery would connect via USB.

I am getting the feeling that you are a big fan of POE which is great. There are existing ways to use POE with Wyze cameras right now.

I use the following adapter for my neighbor who already had a POE camera he wanted to replace with a Wyze camera. The adapters worked perfectly no additional wiring required.

UCTRONICS for Raspberry Pi PoE Splitter 5V [2-Pack] - Active PoE to Micro USB Adapter, IEEE 802.3af Compliant, for Tablets, Dropcam and Raspberry Pi 2/3, and More Amazon.com

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If wireless battery & usb cams are useless why have all major domestic cameras gone that way?

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As I said before, Arlo are Netgear, the first ones were even badged Netgear

Netgear already produce domestic networking devices as well as commercial managed devices that incorporate poe yet the still decided against it for their cams

I think out of all of the camera manufacturers that says the most

I really think that if you made the wyze outdoor cam wired & poe only they would sell very few units especially compared to a usb chargeable battery powered cam version

I really feel that people want a cheaper, subscription free direct replacement for the likes of Ring, Arlo, Eufy, Nest etc

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I did not know Arlo was made by or is Netgear that’s something new I learned today.

I think POE has its place but like you mentioned I don’t think it’s of interest to the vast majority of home users. And with inexpensive adapters so available it does not need to be built into the camera.

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Non of the cameras you mention have anything approaching top quality picture quality in my opinion.

As for usb, usb is great for indoors power not outdoors. The outdoor cameras from the manufacturers you mentioned, don’t use USB for power. Ring outdoor cameras use wireless not USB and are mains powered by outdoor sockets.

Arlo also require mains sockets:

If you want for eg 4 cameras to get an electrician to come along and install 4 outdoor IP rated sockets + all the wiring + circuit breaker in the distribution board is going to cost a small fortune. I don’t know US electrical costs, but this site suggests for a standard indoor outlet US electricians charge between $130-286 per socket!

That makes a 4 camera set up a minimum of $500 and as much as nearly $1,200, and that ignores the fact outdoor rated sockets and IP rated armoured cable are far more expensive than standard sockets / cable, and you’re not simply adding a socket onto a ring main but also adding a new ring onto the breaker board. You can buy a full 4 camera professional POE system easily by Hikvision / Dahua for that kind of money at the top end, and a Lorex (rebranded Dahua) for that kind of money at the lower end.

I personally see a market for a cheap security camera that can rival the PQ of the top brands. Home security surveillance is one of the fastest growing sectors as shown by the growth of Ring, Arlo etc. I believe there’s a lot of people who would be interested in a camera that could rival eg Hikvision or Dahua’s best models for pq but offer a simpler plug and play experience with video stored locally either via a dvr or pc software.

I also see no issue with wireless and battery, for those wanting ease alongside poe. Batteries have temperature issues, but I have no objection if it satisfies the needs of some. USB power supply for non battery use however, isn’t really an option unless you’re going to pull the camera off the wall every few months to take it inside to charge it or start installing outdoor sockets at huge cost.

Ring usb

Arlo usb

Eufy usb

Nest usb C

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Those models obviously have USB but note the maximum distance 25 feet. That’s no data at that length, power charging only,

A room height is 8 feet, at least in my house. Considering most plugs are around skirting board level, you’ve used 8 feet going up, a foot going through the wall, leaving around 16 foot max. Depending on the house size and socket locations, that may or may not be enough to reach the corners of the house. It could rule out use on, carports, garages and in trees depending on socket location. It’s going to mean a plug in multiple rooms and holes drilled and wires up multiple walls.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to stare at a white plug adaptor and a thick white USB cable going straight up my lounge wall. I’d rather have a single hole in somewhere that isn’t visible from the inside eg my loft or through the back of a built in cupboard with all the cabling going to the one place.

You still haven’t grasped the reliability or quality issues surround wifi either. It serves a purpose when you don’t want cables but at the cost of quality and reliability, especially as you add more cameras, and if you’re drilling walls and running cables for power, it’s pretty pointless not to send data as well. A small plug and play POE hub available as an accessory would enable users to drill a single hole eg under the eaves in a loft and feed out as many cables as they liked. A single USB cable from the hub to a pc or DVR, would take care of the interface and recording. Wireless alongside would satisfy those with an absolute cable aversion, although if they’re running power…

Anyway, I’ll bow out. Early on it sounded as if we might actually get something developed to rival a proper CCTV camera at a cheap price as there were plenty of requests for a cheap POE as well as wireless cam. However, it seems there are too many people who want just another mediocre camera in an already crowded market place. The problem with mediocre is identifying your suspect from a video still when its dark or they don’t come up close to the camera can be impossible.

The camera does not use USB for data, ONLY for power. So it would appear this is a non issue.

This is all true no matter how you are getting power to a camera. Personally I have about 30 outlets and another 5 or 6 eave mounted lights I can use for power. I have zero ethernet ports anywhere. Which is true of the majority of us homes. I have never run into a situation anywhere on my house or my kids or friends home where getting power to a camera or other device was an issue. I suppose you could but in 99% of the cases just a little planning is required. A quick look in “Captured on Wyse” will show plenty of cameras on Carports and Garages. For trees I would not use a wired camera of ANY type. I would use battery power. Plus remember that until the upcoming outdoor camera is released none of Wyze’s cameras is rated for outdoor use.

Any ethernet cable I have ever seen is just as thick if not thicker than a USB cable. I personally don’t want to see a Network port high up on a wall. Sounds like a personal choice to me.

I assume you have had a bad experience with wireless. Modern wireless has great range and is very reliable and does not have the issues you seem to think it does. Those that experience wireless issues tend to either have a poor router or router location or live in a location subject to environmental factors. These can be overcome with a wireless survey and properly configuring the wireless device.

The Wyze cam can already be used as an inexpensive POE camera via use of existing POE to USB adapters.

Again Wyze does not market the camera as a security camera. There are plenty of those on the as you pointed out, crowded market. :grin:

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