After a power failure, my Wyze cams often fail to connect to my wifi router because the cam reboots too soon and the wifi signal isn’t available yet. In other words, the wifi router takes up to five minutes before broadcasting the signal. I worked around this problem by installing a mechanical timer on each cam with a 15 minutes power off ever night. This assures me that in the event of a power failure, my cams will be able to reconnect after the timer reboots the cam. This is important when it’s impossible to be physically on-site to manually reboot the cams.
Why doesn’t Wyze change the firmware so that if the cam isn’t successful in reconnecting the first time, it tries again every 30 minutes? Otherwise just have it reboot once every 24 hours.
The cameras should automatically reconnect when the wifi/internet becomes available. If that’s not happening, you should file Support Request so they can troubleshoot the issue.
I also power cycle all my cameras daily using a digital lamp timer because I want more control over the times that the cameras record. When I had problems getting a Bridge to connect (after its host camera fully connected), I asked Wyze Support for help. They do not endorse frequent power cycles but prefer that the user keep the cameras powered ON all the time, and use the App to turn the camera Off/ON. Here is what they sent me :
> I am very sorry for this problem you have been dealing with, our devices are designed to stay on at all times and the connection failure you are sometimes experiencing is not a malfunction but a result of it being disconnected and having to reestablish itself. Turning the device off via power cycle cuts off all connection and this can take multiple attempts to reconnect, therefore we recommend only power cycling the devices when there is a ongoing issue with the Cam. Once the bridge and sensors are connected however we would advise not cutting off their power source / connection.
They also said:
> Manually power cycling the cameras is typically suggested for troubleshooting a problem with the camera, and a "Hard Reset"can actually cause problems however if done daily.
What is one to do when webcams in a vacation home fail to reconnect? Impossible to use the app to power off & on as there’s no connection! Having someone go in to manually reboot isn’t always possible! What’s the best solution?
A smart plug could be used to remotely power cycle the camera. But, since cameras are typically plugged into separate receptacles several to many feet apart means a smart plug for each camera. Or, perhaps smart plugs for a subset of cameras that are considered vital for operation.
Last year I left the country for several days but had all cameras plugged in and operating. I used live streaming a few times in the first two days with success. On the third day one camera went offline and stayed that way until I returned home. That camera was still trying to establish a connection when I returned. If I had the ability to cold start the power to that (and other) cameras remotely, the errant camera could have been restored to service. Instead, one camera was out of service during most of my absence.
I have all my Wyze cameras on smart plugs. I’m using mostly Wyze plugs but if you are concerned about the Wyze ecosystem you can use plugs from other vendors. I have products from Kasa and YoLink that I use. I don’t routinely reboot the cameras, but having the option to power cycle them at least gives me the false sense of security that I can fix them in a pinch.
