Solar powered Wyze camera - only requires wifi connection

I am using a T-Mobile 2GB plan @ $10 month… these aren’t cameras you are going to camp on and watch for long periods of time.

https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet

T-Mobile throttles down to 2G speeds… I haven’t confirmed yet if this is still allows for timely and lower resolution motion stills to be sent. Pics are around 150k in size.

One thing to remember if you don’t have a T-mobile prepaid setup is you will want to receive an account SMS confirmation text on another device. The cameras do not have a way to receive text messages. I had an old T-mobile burner phone around that allowed me to receive the activation messages.

That being said… it was fairly plug and play to go live.

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Now, with the solar power supply, all you will need is a wifi extender,
Powered by the same solar setup
Usually, when you are that far from a power supply, you more than likely, have gone beyond your wifi range as well

The extender will need to be somewhere between the Wi-Fi network range and the Wyze outpost.

A 4G WiFi router with a data plan + DDNS and you are good to go. No need for WiFi/Extender.

Remember that a Wi-Fi extender has no recurring cost. The 4G is best if one lives in the boonies.

Anyone tried to setup a solar solution for the Wyze cam outdoor base station?

Wasserstein. They make the solution you seek. Buy it and let us know how it works out for you.

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I have a couple of those Wasserstein panels on order to try out on a few WCOs.

Be aware, that these mini Wasserstein panels output only 2w of power, and it takes a 20w panel in sunny California to run the Wyze 3.0/2.0 camera 24x7.
Its highly unlikely it will work. Purchase at your own risk.
Compatible in thats its USB sure, will it work as you expect? No.

The DIY system I originally posted works with all the Wyze camera including the outdoor and base,

You would need 10 Wasserstein panels to output the power necessary to run a Wyze camer. Do the math.

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I’m only planning to try out on WCO.

Outdoor cams use rechargeable batteries for operation. The panel recharges the batteries only. Wasserstein makes these solely for the Outdoor Cam.

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Thats all very well, but if the panel doesn’t make enough power to recharge the battery, thats a big problem. It needs to be at least 10x larger to provide sufficient power.

Your solution is like using a cup full of gasoline to do a 100 mile trip, sure its compatible with the engine, but not nearly enough fuel to make the trip.

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It would be strange for Wasserstein (and Reolink) to sell something that couldn’t do the job. Hopefully, @Simple will let us know how it works out.

Its probably not best to always believe what advertisers say. Maybe you fell for these ads also?

Advertising standards in the USA are really low, its perfectly fine to rip off uneducated people there and take advantage of the less fortunate, in that respect, its still the wild west.

In most civilized countries, advertisers have to back up their claims, Not so Merica!

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I have one of the Reolink Wifi cameras now as well. The panels that are included do not seem to have any problem keeping the cameras charged.

I will report back on the Wasserstein panels when I receive them.

On a side note…dropping down to the $5/month T-Mobile plan (512MB) since the 4G @ 2G throttled speeds are more than acceptable for live view on lower resolution video and 250k motion captures.

I am still a strong Wyze supporter (run 40 other cameras) and just purchased another 3 V3s (received), another headphone, and one of the portable vacs on order

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Looks like the Reolink does the job according to @Simple.

You shouldn’t let these brand solutions take away from your invention. It seems you made something that fits your needs. And looks cool. But lots of folks can’t pull that off.

Personally, I’ll keep buying some more Wyze stuff but I’m gonna switch to Swann or similar for total house surveillance. My Wyze goes off with every ghost and they stopped selling sensors. I need reliability.

The Reolink and the Wyze are different devices, the power requirements are not the same, but feel free to try. Just know that a 3W panel cannot provide nearly enough power to run the Wyze v2 and v3. Make sure they are free to return!

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I only plan to attempt the Wasserstein with WCO… they likely wouldn’t stand a chance with power draw of any of the Wyze V1-V3 cameras for draw.

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When do you anticipate that you’ll be testing out the Wasserstein with WCO?

I haven’t received them yet… they told me it might be another 1-2 weeks