Silicone cover is in the way to accommodate the solar panel plug

When I tried to plug in the solar panel into the outdoor camera rear charging port, it seems that the silicone cover would have to be ripped out of its proper installation, seemingly embedded deep inside the camera.

I was wondering… is there a way to plug the solar panel plug without gutting, prying out, cutting off – destroying the silicone cover original internal installation or the plug on the solar panel?

***upon my observation, it seems the silicone plug is attached deeply inside the camera so that it doesn’t come off so easily.

I recently disassembled a faulty WOC. Removing the silicone cover does require going into the bowels of the camera.

I don’t own the Wyze solar panel, but the connector looks just like the connector on a Wasserstein solar panel. I just fold the cover out of the way and the connector fits snugly.

Assuming you are speaking about the Wyze Solar Panel, correct? If so, here is a video on how to install it:

Around 2:30 you will see that the silicone cover is supposed to be removed.

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Some additional hands on information here and a tip from @Newshound on removal of the silicon cover

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Thanks, @R.Good – yes, use a razor blade or wire cutters on only 1 side of the 2 sides that go into the camera. Then the side you didn’t cut will pull all of the rubber out of the chassis. Then cut that part off like the other side. You won’t need the ‘between’ rubber again.

I routinely use one solar panel to charge two Outdoor Cameras, and the way I do that is every 2 months or so I swap the silicon plug from one cam to the other, while also swapping the solar panel between the two. :slight_smile:

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My bad… Thank you for the video. Yes, I forgot to mention that it is the Wyze solar panel that I’m trying to attach.

As you can see in this installation video you provided, the installer is ripping out the silicone cover at (2:29) right out of the guts of the camera. That’s exactly what I don’t want to do, nor do I want to destroy the plug on the solar panel to accomodate the silicone cover.

Thank you for attesting that the silicone plug is deeply attached to the camera. I prefer to dismantle the camera to remove it properly rather than destroy it like the installation video is showing. I was wondering… how easy is it to get inside the camera to remove this plug properly? Is there any illustration video that you can share with me to make it easy to dismantle the camera with minimal damage?

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The plug is not deeply attached and you don’t need to dismantle the cam.

Lightly pull on the plug to stretch until you see the 2 “legs”. Cut one leg. Pull the entire plug out from the uncut leg.

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I beg to differ. If you don’t want to cut the cover, the camera must be disassembled to lift the cover off of a tab deep inside.

I’ve performed this on 5 WCO v1 cams and 2 WCO v2 cams. It takes only a few seconds. In order to reuse the plug after removal, the “legs” need to be cut off anyway.

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Users are free to choose any method for removal of the WCO cam port plug. But there are only 2 removal methods that will maintain the warranty. Follow the Wyze video potentially leaving a small piece of the plug inside the cam, or remove cleanly without cam disassembly. Cam disassembly will void the warranty as will leaving the plug intact, folding out of the way and force-fitting the solar connector into the WCO port.

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As a retired auto mechanic, disassembly was not difficult. The only parts I struggled with were a buried screw and a small cover over the battery. There are two tabs that have to be pried up to release the cover. The plastic tabs are not very forgiving. The cover snaps back into place. Once the camera is assembled the clips are redundant. The battery cannot move because the cover is sandwiched.

See my previous post about this.

The silicone cover retaining tab is not in any of those photos.

There is a thin translucent cover over the speaker that I had to destroy to remove.

The speaker grill the cover protects

Perhaps a piece of cellophane tape would restore the IP65 rating.

Closeup of the location of the hidden screw

Two views of the case showing the cover cutouts

If you need more photos let me know.

Me too, I don’t want to cut anything. I believe Wyze needed to design these components correctly so that nothing should be ripped out, cut, or removed.

You won’t be able to use the plug cover afterwards when sharing a solar panel if you don’t cut the between piece off, but you may not be doing that anyway. Even if you do cut the between piece off, it will stay on an Outdoor Camera no problem. The piece is really not needed.

:sob:

On another note, I have two faulty OCs. One got soaked somehow and the battery seems to have failed in the other. I am going to attempt to repair. Has anyone found a source for the battery? I reached out to the manufacturer. Also, I have the Wasserstein panels that I got off eBay and they work great and you don’t need to remove the rubber protector.