Wyze camera woes..

[JTKermie]

Being the crazy crab keeper that I am, I followed some other threads and posts in regards to using a wyze video camera (or other camera) to film/monitor crabby action when you're away from the tank, at night, etc..

I ordered a wyze cam V3 off amazon and had it rolling the other night. It's a really nice product for ~$35. Seems to be of great build quality, packaged well, easy to setup, etc.

These cameras work off your home's wifi. What's odd to me is they are not compatible with 5Ghz. Only 2.4Ghz. I have a netgear AC1750 cable modem, wifi router combo that offers both 5G and 2.4G. This is a new router for me. Just got it a few weeks ago.

For what ever reason, a few hours into testing my new wyze camera out on one of my tanks, it lost signal and my 2.4Ghz dropped and no longer shows as an option for wifi connectivity. No 2.4G means your wyze cam is useless. It's been days. Still can't figure it out.

[wodesorel]

There's a few things to try, if you haven't done them yet.

The wyze cam may have failed in the middle of a firmware update. That was my biggest headache with them! The company has step by steps on what to do if it stops responding. Given the timing I think this is kinda likely.

The router may have borked. Using the reset button shouldn't affect any major settings and will probably fix the issue if it's coming from the router. We have an old one from our ISP and I have to do this more than I would like. Takes about 10 minutes to reboot, and magic. (Not really magic but getting a replacement is like pulling teeth.)

There may be interference from a portable phone or other electronics? There are ways to change the channel in the router settings.

[JTKermie]

Thanks. Multiple power down/ups did nothing in terms of getting 2.4G back. Only 5G service. Same with poking the reset button. It just boots back up to 5G only. I can't quite figure out how to gain access to the modem/router settings online either through Netgear. Very unhappy with this particular Netgear product. It's only been in service a few weeks.

[wodesorel]

There should be an address, usually numbers, printed on the bottom or back of the router that will take you right to the settings, with the default login of admin/password. It has to be from a device that is already connected.

(Also, I have no idea how computer savvy you are and I don't want to offend! I just don't know many people who have ever needed to mess with their router for normal everyday use. We have a bunch of old second hand stuff and a server at home, so are always needing to tweak settings.)

[JTKermie]

There should be an address, usually numbers, printed on the bottom or back of the router that will take you right to the settings, with the default login of admin/password. It has to be from a device that is already connected.

(Also, I have no idea how computer savvy you are and I don't want to offend! I just don't know many people who have ever needed to mess with their router for normal everyday use. We have a bunch of old second hand stuff and a server at home, so are always needing to tweak settings.)

LOL I hear you. I'd consider myself on the low end of the novice scale at best. Been tinkering with this stuff for a long time.

I just wanted to pursue every avenue. If I do attempt to access my modem/router settings I get a message that my firmware is out of date and it ends there. Oddly, Netgear doesn't offer firmware updates. They claim they give the latest firmware updates to the internet service providers and it's on the ISPs to push the updates to your hardware. Sucks too because netgear has a neat app for setting access as well, but it's useless for me.

The good news is I did manage to get 2.4Ghz service back. I did a modem/router reset through my ISP software which initially did nothing. I then unplugged every wifi item I could think of in the house, did a master reset (poking device on the magic button) and it finally worked! It's only been about 24hrs, but the wyze cam did do it's own firmware update successfully and the camera footage is pretty cool. I just have to figure out the night vision. I tried it through the glass tops, but I'm getting this weird reflection/distortion and can't make out the images well. I am getting crabby activity at night, in the dark in both tanks which is exiting to me!

[Jlmills525]

glad to hear you have some activity!

[crabocado]

Very interesting thread, and good luck with this project JTKermie! I have thought about pet cams off and on, and I recall Wyze was a popular brand, but I never felt certain enough about it to launch into a purchase...

[Jlmills525]

I want to get one bad.. but i'm waiting until Eugene resurfaces for sure before i pull the 'trigger'