I’m pretty sure that ‘not’ is normal operation for everyone.
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I definitely want logs from those cases then. 
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I will run some tests this weekend following your steps and see what I come up with
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Thanks, Jason!
Penguin
I tried going down the Android path a while ago. Got a pre-owned Galaxy Note. It was not a pleasant experience. The Wyze app didn’t seem to be fully compatible with the version of Android on the phone. I went down a time-consuming rathole trying to figure out how to update it, and determine which version of Wyze firmware was compatible with which version of Wyze app.
Apple is not the problem here. The problem is the changes that Wyze made to the camera firmware, which now requires that the camera remotely connect with Wyze servers at start-up. That design decision has nothing to do with Apple.
It is - my workflow uses various iOS apps on my iPhone (and iPad) that I use when in the field.
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Gwen, I just tested two V2s.
I had to modify your procedure a bit, but I think I got exactly what you were after:
- Confirmed WiFi availability
- Powered up cam w/SD cards installed
- Turned off SD card recording
- Erased SD card
- Turned on SD card continuous recording. Noted time.
- Waited 3 minutes while cam recorded w/WiFi on
- Powered off cam
- Turned off WiFi
- Powered cam back up. Noted time.
- Waited 5 minutes, assumed the problem was occurring
- Ejected SD card
- Reinserted SD card (this should add the log)
- Heard the ding-ding sound
- Waited a few seconds, then removed card
- Put card in computer
- Confirmed only the 1st 3 mins w/WiFi were recorded to the card (based on the time I logged)
- Attached the log to an email that included a brief description of the problem, the app version, and the firmware version as specified in #109 above.
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That aspect would probably be a little tougher. At the very least, it’s a separate feature request. (Offline wireless playback ≠ Offline recording) I think the camera would probably have to be in a different mode, broadcasting its own SSID, and then you could (theoretically) connect your phone to the camera’s WiFi to see the playback. I’ll just say that as a customer, I wouldn’t necessarily expect that feature. But I WOULD expect the offline recording itself to work, regardless of whether internet is available at the moment the camera is powered up. (Assuming the camera has been set up initially, of course, which is totally reasonable to require the internet for.)
Those three steps are superfluous, right? That just triggers a timestamp in the logs, I guess?
The log is only added to the card when the card is inserted into the camera. Since the card was already in the camera for the SD card test, I had to eject it and re-insert it to get the log file added.
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Hi, @Newshound!
Sorry for not being as clear as I should have been in the instructions. Turning off the recording and formatting the microSD card was likely superfluous but shouldn’t hurt anything. Thanks for the instructions and the log! I edited mine to include removing the microSD card.
@nerdland, the logs are periodically updated (I’m not sure what time frame it occurs in) but you can immediately collect a log by inserting a microSD card.
Ah! Good to know, if I ever need to do that.
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Yup! Hopefully you won’t need to but this is a nice shortcut to make everything go more quickly.
My intent was to minimize the log size to just this event, and not include anything that was there previously. Shutting off the recording was also a minimalist move so I would only see the 3 minutes of recordings. Just keeping it pure and to the point.
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I disagree - this is not a new feature request.
And it shouldn’t be tough, as it used to work that way.
Note that I wasn’t suggesting that the camera was broadcasting its own SSID, as you suggested. As detailed in post #1 above, the camera connected to an external AP (ie. a travel router). The smartphone + app also connected to the AP. The app communicated with the camera via the AP’s WiFi network. The app could configure the camera, set up local recording (to the SDcard), and subsequently view the recorded video. The Wyze app could Live View the camera over the WiLAN, independent of any internet connection.
As described in post #1 on this thread, this worked wonderfully last summer (June-July 2018), all without any connection to the internet. Then Wyze ‘upgraded’ the firmware, and broke offline operation, which is the subject of this thread.
I did a second test to determine if SD card recording stops 8-hours after loss of WiFi (Internet). It does not, at least with the current 4.9.4.169 firmware for the V2. WiFi was turned off globally at the router for 12 hours in my test.
My test included 7 V2 cameras, 4 of which remained powered through the loss of WiFi, and 3 that were powered down just before WiFi was restored (just to mix things up). All were functioning properly on WiFi at the beginning of the 12-hour cycle.
All but one recorded the full 12 hours, but that exception was predictable too.
The exception was a cam I had set the plug to power-cycle in the middle of the test. It unsurprisingly did not continue to record to the SD card once power was restored because the WiFi was still down. But it did continue to record to the SD card on its own without intervention about a minute after WiFi was restored, as you would expect.
The continuously-powered cams also reconnected on their own once WiFi was restored. I did not have to power-cycle them.
The 3 cams I powered down just before WiFi restoration predictably lost SD card recording during the few minutes they were off, but nowhere else in the cycle, or after they were powered back up in the presence of WiFi.
So the loss of SD card operation when powering up in the absence of Internet is still the focus here. There is currently no 8-hour bug.
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Yes, there is something still there. The one camera of mine that is in my vehicle and drives out of WiFi coverage will consistently stop recording to the uSD card after about 8 hours after driving out of coverage, It does it at exactly the same amount of time after driving out of coverage - in other words, if I leave home three minutes later, it stops recording 3 minutes later. It does not matter which of my 12 V2 cameras is operating in the car - they ALL do it. All are running whatever is the latest firmware at the time. This has been going on for at least a year.
Part two is that with a very high reliability, if the camera stops recording to the uSD card, it also will not reconnect to the WiFi upon driving back into coverage without being power cycled. If a camera is going to reconnect to the WiFi when I drive back in range, it will be solid Blue before I can back into my driveway. If it’s not going to reconnect, no amount of waiting will allow it to reconnect - only a power cycle. My WiFi management shows no attempt to connect.
You said you were using firmware 4.9.4.108. I tested with the current firmware of 4.9.4.169.
There is no longer a 8-hour SD recording limit after loss of WiFi, nor a problem reconnecting when WiFi is again available, at least with my router.
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I have tested this with EVERY firmware that has come out in the past about a year. The problem persists regardless of which firmware version it is. This has been tested with all 12 of my V2 cameras (not all at the same time). I have swapped which camera is installed in my truck (the only one that drives out of range), and they all do it. They will stop recording at about 8 hours after driving out of range. Additionally, they ALL (regardless of firmware version) will fail to reconnect when I drive back into range. It appears that the failure to reconnect is tied to the uSD stopping recording. If the recording stops, they won’t reconnect without a power cycle.
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I’m sorry @WyzeJasonJ’s (#111) and my (#135) experiences are different. I am at a loss to explain it.
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I did a test just the other day on this, I was testing to see if it would record if I booted the camera without WiFi, here is what I did.
- Set up cam with continuous recording to SDcard
- Also set a time lapse for 12 hours
- Unplugged cam and moved it to a vehicle.
- Drove away from Wifi then plugged in cam.
- Drove to work spent 12 hours away from home Wifi
- When pulling up at home cam picked up WiFI
- Went into app and check recording
a. Found cam never recorded until the WiFi connected
b. Time lapse did record the entire time power was connected.
Cam was powered for a total of 12 hours but off of WiFi, recorded time lapse but did not record continuous until it found WiFi.
The other test I did a few weeks ago was a 12 hour test that only invovled removal of WiFi but cam stayed powered
- Set up continuous recording
- Turned off Wifi
- Turned on WiFi after home from work about 12 hours (at least 11)
- Camera recorded entire time
The only time I lose continuous recording is when I power off the cam until it grabs WiFi again
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