I wish Wyze sould have recommended that they be plugged in if using remotely. All my camera are of line. This is at a property 2000 miles away in Florida so resetting them is not an option. During the summer Florida has frequent thunderstorms that knock out power. If resisting is all it takes then why don’t they come back online after the next strom?
I’m disappointed and left without any options
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As I was advised here in the forum, the best solution at the moment is to get some smart plugs and this way you can power cycle the cameras.
This is a huge problem for me, to the point that it makes my camera useless. Apparently my upstream connection has high latency and that knocks the camera out several times a day. My ISP hasn’t been able today fix the problem so I am left with a a camera that is unreliable to the point of being completely useless.
How hard can it be to have a firmware that reconnects automatically or if necessary restarts the camera after the connection is lost?
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Hmmm… I wonder why some people have this problem and others don’t. I have a couple cameras I move on a regular basis., which I’d consider the equivalent of a power outage. I’ve never had to do anything else. I plug them back in and they work.
I think the difference is in your case the power outage is just your cams, and in the original case the power outage was whole-house – including the router & cable modem.
So if the cameras come up before the router (etc) does, then it would depend on how well the cameras handle that. Do they keep retrying, or no. I have no experience here because my cable modem and router are on a 2-1/2 hour UPS, but some say the cameras do not handle that well.
If that is the case, until Wyze changes the situation, a smart switch at the camera should be a good workaround. You can get smart switches for as little as $12 nowadays, and should help in any other instances where you might need to power-cycle the camera. The router ultimately coming up would give you access to the smart switch.
I highly recommend a smart switch for cameras in inaccessible locations (I have one in my clerestory windows along my roof line). If it’s 2,000 miles away all the better.
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Another alternative would be the use of a Sonoff. It’s a wifi switch, cheaper than a smart plug but with the same functionality.
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Thanks for the Sonoff suggestion, I am looking for one right now.
As for my specific issue, I am now convinced that the cause is not so much power outage but an internet connection with high upstream latency - the cam will work for a few hours at best and then require power cycling.
So it is simple to program Sonoff to restart the camera after a specific amount of time to avoid the problem, but I’d think about to change the router or add an access point…
I’m curious how you see this as cheaper than the smart switch I posted. I see Sonoffs in the $13 region, which is where the smart switch I posted is. If you buy a 2-pack they are in the $12 region. The one I posted has independently-controlled double outlets, and doesn’t block an outlet. It has an energy monitor function. Why are the Sonoffs better?
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I do not think this is an acceptable solution. It greatly increases the cost of ownership of the camera to have to also purchase a the power outlet. Nice idea, but doesn’t fly in my book.
I disagree that this is ‘many times…router…’. A router has one job, and that is to route, most routers of any quality are not going to cause wired, or wireless devices to stop functioning. If you have to keep doing this you either have an old, defective router, rare, or you have a defective product connecting to the router. Having to reset routers is like telling someone to restart your computer because one piece of software does not work, it’s not the solution to your problem.
Maybe get a UPS for your Internet, that your Internet drops is more of an issue here than the devices not coming back up. The latter would not occur if the former was not happening to take out your Internet.
A ups wouldn’t do a thing for loss of service or high ping latency
If you are 2,000 miles away from your smart devices, the investment of a smart outlet is a no-brainer. If you are in the same location, a smart outlet is not necessary.
This is a $20 camera. The investment of a $13 smart outlet still puts the cost of ownership WAY below any competitor on the market.
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I don’t have have a problem with the wifi outlet if I would have known. I’ve have these cameras for a while and have had storms wnd power out outages when I was home and never had to reset any camera. Did Wyze change something recently in software or firmware that is causing this suddenly happen ?
No, this applies mostly to some remote users. I am in the same boat as you, I don’t have any issues.
However, I still buy smart switches for my most critical smart devices for when I am on vacation as a safeguard.
I was speaking from experience, both with my own old router (which I replaced because of issues with adding smart devices to my network), and by helping others with their connection issues. Please note I did not say “every time”, because each person’s setup is different.
The problem is only with Wyze cameras, at least for me, I have 2 other cameras, Amcrest and Xiaomi and none of them have that issue, the moment the internet is back, so are the cameras. If Wyze really want to corner that market, and not only with prices, they have to address this bug.
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As it’s a powers cam I can’t see why it doesn’t have a constant / recurring ping to the router
I could understand this behaviour if it was battery powered to conserve power but that’s not an issue
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No, a smart switch is not a solution because one never knows when it stops working. I could schedule a restart every hour or so but what if it frreezes one minute after the restart? I would still be uncovered for 59 minutes. Too unreliable.
Wyze, this is a bug that needs to be addressed, especially because, as [trentbg] pointed out, it does not happen with other brands.
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