Wyze Cam Outdoor bright IR flashes during night recording?

Hello! I searched for this but didn’t see anything so will ask here.

After I jacked my motion detection sensitivity to 80 I started getting some recordings of animals in the woods where I have the camera. During the recordings at night, when the recording first starts, the camera appears to get “confused” when first starting the recording. The first several seconds of the video the IR bulbs which illuminate the darkness seem to flash or vary in intensity maybe 3 times before they finally settle out. What I mean is the video will go super bright, then dim, then bright again, then dim… it basically fades from an almost completely white recording to dark until it finally settles out. Last night it caught 4 different animals and each time the camera did this. It makes it so only the last maybe half or so of the video clip is usable. Also, when it is doing this, the camera is evidently making a noise because you can tell the cat and raccoon, which I caught on video, heard the camera doing something because they turn around and come investigate the camera while the cameras IRs are varying in intensity.

Is this a firmware issue that will hopefully be fixed or do I have a defective camera? Thanks!

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Upload a video so we can tell what you are talking about.

It’s the filter lens flipping back and forth. Try setting night mode off and on manually and do not use Auto.

Edit: Oops just realized you have a WCO. I don’t have one so not sure if you have that setting.

Yes, WCOs have that setting!

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I can confirm the camera makes a noise, one of my cats looks at it. It’s a very slight clicking sound. I can hear it if it’s really quiet and I’m close to the camera.

I couldn’t upload directly… says I’m a new user and not allowed :slight_smile: But, here’s a possible work around! I’ll reply with a few…

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Here’s 3 more… it doesn’t play the video internally I see so might as well just include the rest here. Seems to be consistent in what it is doing. FYI, these are the first night recordings I got so it’s not like it was working then stopped… appears to do this for every night recording thus far. Thanks!

And I’m new so can only do 2 links too I guess. LOL

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Yes, I do have that setting but I’ll tell you I have absolutely zero desire to manually turn on the IR lights at night then turn them back off when the sun comes up. Not going to happen. LOL!!!

Plus, I don’t think that would fix anything either? It appears to be the way the camera doesn’t use the IR lights all the time (preserving battery life) and turns them on only when motion is sensed and just for the recording then they get turned back off again… at least that’s what I’m thinking so I don’t think that would work even if I was willing to do it manually! :slight_smile:

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Is there a way to put the camera slightly higher ? based on what you described, I am guessing it is too much IR light got reflected from the ground and make the camera to adjust a bit longer than it should be.

No, not really. It’s sitting on a chair in the woods that is also holding a plant :slight_smile: Also, I think it should work… it’s flashing several feet off in the distance and the point of the camera is to get close up detail of critters walking by :slight_smile:

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Upload a video to a website or YouTube and link it.

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So first things first. The clicking is the FILTER clicking into place, not the lights. Putting the cam in night mode (instead of auto) should leave the filter In place, preventing the sound.

Second thing. Your cam IS to close to the ground. It’s not meant to be sitting on anything. Not ground, not chair, not anything. It should be ten feet (I think) above anything that can reflect light. This will also help with the sound being heard as the animal will be further away.

Third thing. Some level of flash will happen anyways when the recording starts. It should be a very short flash.

Try experimenting with different placement and different settings. I’m confident you can find a combination that will work for you.

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Do you not see the links to the 4 videos I posted above?

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I think he was requesting you host the videos on another service (such as YouTube)

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll have to read up on the night mode vs auto because I must be misunderstanding that. I use the camera in the day as well and with other cameras I’ve had if you leave them in night mode all the time it’s black and white even during the day and that’s no good but I’ll experiment.

I don’t understand why you think the camera is too low? After the IR lights “stabilize” the picture is just fine where the camera is at. It washes out the picture even in the distance so not sure what raising it up 5 or 6 feet is going to do? But, again, the picture is fine except when the camera first turns on to start recording so it would seem like it should work?

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My thought is that when the lights first turn on they produce a bright flash. If that flash reflects off a surface like the ground, it affects the auto adjust. This could cause it to switch in and out of “night mode” before it finally figures out the correct adjustment to make.

I don’t work for wyze or have any information other than educated guesses here.

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I do see what you are saying and that’s a possibility but if that is the case I think it needs to be “tweaked”. I’ve probably messed with 50 different cameras and never seen this problem to this degree. I have seen where some cameras do initially go very white but then adjust quickly and just once. I’ll do some experimenting. Thanks!

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No doubt they could adjust this by putting a delay on when the cam auto detects the light levels, but I assume this is a trade off. If you delay the detection too much more of the video will likely be “washed out” and unusable.

Your very welcome sir, hope you can get it all sorted out.

I think you’re on the right track. The flash is the IR lights and the repetition is probably from some kind info of reflection back triggering the Auto switch. I have two sitting on the ground and have not had that problem (yet). Is there anything covering or wrapping the cam, maybe a hanging leaf from your plant, that could be out of the view of the lens but reflect the IR back to the sensors?

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