Wyze sense V1 - Design flaws

Has anyone setup the v2 sensors using the V1 bridge? I’ve beeen repeated told by the customer service that it’s possible, but I can’t seem to get mine to connect to the v1 bridge.

You don’t convert the bulbs. There is a wyzeapi addon to HomeAssistant that gives you access to bulbs, plugs, sensors, HomeMonitoring, etc. It uses the Wyze servers to get the information.

1 Like

I’ve heard rumours that you can do it with HomeAssistant and one of the Wyze addons, the one that makes the sense bridge work directly. Beyond that, I haven’t seen anything indicating you can do it via the Wyze app.

I was not able to use a V2 contact sensor with a v1 hub in a V2 cam but was able to use a v1 sensor with the home monitoring hub.

I’ve not yet tried a v2 sensor with a hub in my Pi running Home Assistant.

I tried the Wyze add on for Home Assistant and it works for a bit but then crashes my system. I suspect lack of resources on my old Pi due to too many wyze products. I may give it another go but using another account that I shared some items with. That way there are leas items to crash my system.

@davsav I read in some forum thread (maybe in Home Assistant forums?) several months ago that someone figured out how to convert the V1 bulbs to be local only. This made them no longer work with Wyze’s ecosystem of course, but apparently, there is some kind of complicated way to convert them to local-only so they weren’t internet dependent. I bookmarked it somewhere…but it might take a while to figure out where that bookmark is! :rofl:

I don’t recall the details on it off the top of my head, but I am guessing they had to get access to the microchip and manually overwrite the firmware somehow. I don’t know if there is a way to do it OTA since it just goes to Wyze’s servers…though maybe they figured out how to highjack that authorization to OTA a different firmware onto it. I just remember reading it was possible (though complicated) to convert them to local only, and I saved that thread somewhere for long-term intentions of switching a bunch of things to be able to work locally and not be dependent on so many open points of failure (Xfinity, Wyze, Amazon Servers, and so many other possible points of failure). Though I do like Joshua’s Wyze API for Home Assistant, and Love having that in the meantime, even if it is internet dependent too. If I find that thread I saved somewhere, I will try to remember to post a link. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it’s beyond my capabilities since I don’t currently know how to manually update firmware in some microchip, and I am sure I’d have to buy some special tool, but it could be worth it…hoping someone found a way to insert firmware OTA through highjacking the API though. That I probably could do.

Here’s the thing. Officially, as of right now, Both sensor versions will connect to the new V2 Hub.

Home Assistant users have been able to connect V2 sensors to the V1 bridge, so we know this is possible.

When Wyze started selling the V2 sensors separately several weeks (or months now?) ago, the Wyze website and FAQ’s announced that V2 sensors COULD now connect to the V1 bridge, so I tried it out, and it was not the case. Wyze then edited the Website and FAQ’s to instead basically say “not at the time” instead now…but for a short time it said it was possible.

From this we can guess that Wyze apparently intends too allow V2 sensors to connect to the V1 bridge, but they would not be allowed to act as security sensors for the HMS. It seems that Wyze must be testing an Alpha firmware update on the V1 Bridge to allow this, but it hasn’t [yet] been released publicly or even to beta.

It is possible they will ultimately decide not to allow this at all for different reasons, but I suspect they are mostly waiting for the silicone chip shortage issues to abate. Since they are limited on how many chips they can secure for their products, they are probably restricting that firmware update for now to ensure those who want them for security and home monitoring get them first. Once they have no shortage of supply, they will likely allow the bridge firmware update so anyone can add V2’s to their bridges.

I don’t work for, speak for, or represent Wyze in any way though. I am just stating what I observed as well as my interpretation and personal hypothesis on the matter based on those observations.

So Customer service may have seen an announcement that V2’s could work with the bridge, or they may know people who are alpha testing this capability or simply misunderstand the difference between the V1 bridge and the V2 hub…customer service agents aren’t necessarily tech experts or Wyze experts, and they can have a lot of misunderstandings too. But the basic answer is that

V2’s cannot currently connect to the V1 Bridge through the Wyze Ecosystem, but this capability is possible and MAY (or may not) be enabled by Wyze in the future.

You will be interested in reading through the following thread on the topic of people actually doing this:

1 Like

I had a neighbor digging a poop accidentally cut the cable line, taking out my internet. Then I couldn’t turn on my lights so I can see why people would want to keep control local.

I am curios how they do the conversion so please let me know if you find the link.

Interesting you mention bricked motion sensors as I only recently got my first one bricked so I didn’t know that was a thing… but glad to know they can be unbricked.

Oops… digging a pool.

And thanks for the link on unbricking.

1 Like

A few months ago on the same day every single one of my v1 motion and contact sensors stopped working. Totally bizarre. They were spread across three different usb bridge/camera combos.

Wyze support told me to delete and re add them all. None of them will re-add. They all have good batteries in them. They all flash three times when I try to add then but they all time out no matter what bridge/camera combo I try to add.

Wyze support won’t help me, they just say there is nothing they can do because they don’t have replacements for those sensors and they are more than 30 days old.

I tried holding down the reset while inserting a battery - get a single flash. Try to add them again, three flashes, timeout.

Anyone have any suggestions? I am furious to suddenly have twelve sensors stop working for no reason and Wyze’s only suggestion is to buy new sensors, hub, and their subscription monitoring service that I don’t need.

Yikes, I know return policy is 1 month, but warranty should still be longer than that, and if they don’t have replacements, then at least store credit would be the honorable thing to do to cover the warranty issues. If you’re within one year I would try to call another rep. I was pretty sure some other people got store credit within the warranty time frame, though I am guessing you’ve had them more than a year too.

What I would try:

  • Try to reset one of the bridges.
  • Switch the Bridge to another camera (I had a problem like this once, and when I switched the bridge to a different camera, my problems were resolved).
  • Try another CSRepresentative anyway. Sometimes you get different results with different people. It shouldn’t be that way, but it’s just reality. Maybe ask to be escalated to a higher technical support.
  • Remove and set back up the camera again. Maybe the initial problem was caused by a firmware update that had a bug. Delete and set up the camera, then make sure it has the latest firmware, and try again.
    • if that doesn’t work, then if you are on production firmware, try switching to Beta and installing the latest beta firmware. Otherwise maybe try flashing the camera back to a previous firmware and seeing if that makes a difference.

I can’t imagine what caused the initial issue, and it isn’t happening to ALL V1’s unless it was a firmware update bug or a temporary system outage or some weird surge fried the bridges or something. I have V1’s that are still working on bridges and the new hub. I am able to set up new ones too (I just moved to a new house and have been re-adding V1’s to my system over time).

Sorry, I wish I could resolve it, but the above are things I would try in your shoes.

1 Like

Make sure to power cycle the camera while removing the bridge and power the cameras off at least once before installing the bridges. I’ve seen this make a difference as well.

1 Like

How do you reset a bridge?

I tried moving the bridges around already - I have six cameras and three bridges and no combination works. All the LEDs are indicate everything is fine on bridge and camera but adding sensors always times out.

I’ve had three or four support chats always with the same result. I waste hours of time running through their scripts, they clearly don’t understand the issue and then they blow me off.

I will look into beta firmware, I thought I already had switched to allowing betas.

Yeah it isn’t happening to EVERYONE’s V1s but it happened to every single one of mine.

Thanks for your suggestions, I will monkey around with deleting cameras tonight and report back.

I hate Wyze so much, only reason I am still trying to troubleshoot is I am angry about spending money with them and getting treated so poorly by the company.

What do you mean by power cycling while removing the bridge? Like try to unplug the camera power at the exact moment I am removing the USB bridge? Please clarify the order of operations if you can.

It’s been a long time since I tried troubleshooting the bridge issues, but as I recall, there is some kind of reset or pairing button on the back of the bridge that might be able to be used in some way to try resetting the bridge in some way, though I don’t recall the details off-hand.

However, if you are hearing the whole “Wyze Bridge ready to connect” announcement then it stands to reason that indicates the camera and bridge are both communicating okay already. It is odd that all your sensors aren’t working to connect. It’s almost as if every single sensor suddenly went through the brownout phenomena in the same day, but that shouldn’t be possible if the battery is still still good as you say. The brownout issue doesn’t actually destroy the sensor, but it does remove the Wyze approved MAC address, and then the sensor will never reconnect through Wyze again without finding a way to rewrite the original MAC address back onto the sensor firmware, it will still work with Home Assistant directly, but not to Wyze. It doesn’t make sense that this could be the issue though if your batteries have always had good power still, and especially for it to happen with EVERY single sensor, let alone all at once, so it just logically can’t be that, barring some astronomical crazy coincidence and statistical anomaly.

Sorry, wasn’t very clear on that. Unplug the camera from power; remove bridge; plug camera back in and let it complete power up; unplug the camera; plug in the bridge plug in the camera.

As for the button on the bridge that @carverofchoice mentions, I think Wyze disabled that in a past version of the firmware so now the only way to add the sensors is via the app. Also as @carverofchoice mentions it is unlikely that the batteries would all reach the low power point that would corrupt all the sensors at once, it isn’t out of the question if they were all purchased and installed at the same time.

1 Like

Especially since it is my understanding that even IF you let every single sensor’s battery go completely dead, the brownout doesn’t happen 100% of the time to every sensor. I have in fact had sensor batteries completely die and not brownout. From what I recall reading in the Texas Instruments manual for the chipset, it is just a fraction of the time that it happens (though I don’t know what that fraction or percent chance is), but it is not 100%. So for it to happen to 100% of the sensors in this case, even if they all did die at the same time, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that they all suffered the brownout phenomenon when it shouldn’t happen to them all.

Right! This is clearly a bizarre issue and I have done every single silly thing support asked me to do to the letter and they are just incapable of addressing this problem and no amount of my continuing to open support cases is elevating their thinking. The only satisfaction I get is from opening repeated RMA cases. I have a pile of stuff I replacements I’ll never open because they won’t work - I tried a brand new sensor they sent me - same problem. It’s something on the back end specific to my account or something like that, but support just won’t deviate from their script at this point. I feel like every time I talk to them I am talking to chat bot.

Exactly! And Wyze support chat just isn’t knowledgeable enough to troubleshoot something this technical and they won’t escalate, they just stick to the script and tell me they are sorry and all that but there is nothing they can do.

My field strength analyzer even shows the expected RF frequencies and activity I would expect to see based on the documentation I have been able to find.

The only thing I can think of is that whatever is supposed to happen on the back end when a sensor is added is hitting a road block but support just won’t work with me on this. They just want all their customers to go away I guess if they have a problem they don’t feel like dealing with. Asking for escalation if just like throwing peas against a brick wall.

I even wrote a physical letter to the CEO, and sent it registered mail so I know it was received. I am sure it was trashed without reading because Wyze is just a [Mod Edit] company to deal with.

Wrote a letter to the FTC as well, but I am sure they aren’t going to do anything unless a lot more people complain.

I bought Wyze stuff fully expecting hobbyist level home automation but they can’t even achieve that - this is just garbage from soup to nuts.

Every time I see this garbage being sold in places like Home Depot and such it just angers me further. I have to hold my nose to walk by the displays.

[Mod Note]: Post edited to conform to the Wyze Community Guidelines

I agree, this is beyond frustrating. I have had multiple sensors stop working. After contacting WYZE, their solution was for ME to purchase the v2 sensors and also told me to purchase the home monitoring service.

I find it unacceptable that their solution for bad sensors is for the customers to purchase more products and services. NOPE!

I really wanted to like Wyze products. For the price, I was willing to tolerate some bugs, which I will agree that Wyze was quick to address. But I cannot support a company that will not stand behind its products.

2 Likes