Problem
Wyze Solar Cam's battery is draining faster than expected.
Troubleshooting
- Confirm that the Wyze app is up to date.
- In your Wyze app, navigate to the Account tab > tap About.
- Your current app version will be listed beneath the Wyze logo.
- Compare your app version to the latest app version listed on our Release Notes & Firmware page.
- If you find that your Wyze app is out of date, head over to your mobile device’s app store and update the Wyze app.
- If possible, check that your Wyze Solar Cam’s firmware is up to date.
- You can check this by going to the Account tab > Firmware Update.
- If there is an update available for the camera, please move forward with updating it.
- Check and clean the solar panel.
- Clean the solar panel with a soft, damp cloth.
- Check the solar panel’s cable for any kinks or damage, such as cuts, corrosion, or moisture in connection points.
- Verify that the solar panel’s cable is inserted correctly and securely into the camera.
- Ensure the solar panel is mounted in a position where it is able to receive at least 1 hour of direct sunlight per day. Adjust the placement, orientation, and angle of the solar panel, if needed.
- For users in the northern hemisphere, we recommend placing the solar panel facing south, with a tilt angle of 30° for optimal performance.
- For users in the southern hemisphere, we recommend placing the solar panel facing north, with a tilt angle of 30° for optimal performance.
- Ensure the solar panel is free from obstacles such as overhangs or shade that could block direct sunlight.
- During a sunny midday, check if the app is registering the solar panel’s charge.
- Navigate to the camera’s live stream.
- Check the battery icon.
- If charging using the solar panel, there should be both a lightning bolt and a sun icon.
- Adjust the position of the camera.
- We recommend mounting the camera 7-10 feet above the ground, with a downward tilt of 25-30° for optimal performance.
- Avoid pointing the camera at areas that may trigger unnecessary detections, such as waving trees or bushes, busy roads, dryer vents, range hood vents, or AC condensers.
- Ensure Wyze Solar Cam has good signal strength.
- You can check this in the Wyze app by going to the camera’s settings > Device Info > Signal Strength.
- If it has 2 bars or less, try moving the camera closer to the router.
- Lower the live stream’s resolution.
- Higher resolutions require more bandwidth and are more likely to cause slower connectivity or drain the battery more quickly.
- Enable Power Saving Mode.
- In the camera’s settings, select Power Manager > Power Saving Mode.
- Note: When enabled, tap the Play button in the live stream to begin viewing it.
- Review the camera’s charging performance over a few days.
- In the camera’s settings, select Power Manager.
- Under Solar Energy Charging, verify that the solar panel is charging for at least 1 hour per day.
- Review the number of Detected Events.
- Divide the Detected Events by the Working Days to get the average number of detections per day.
- If the average exceeds 200 events per day, adjust the camera’s position and recording settings.
- Check that the camera is set to record correctly.
- If possible, disable Event Recording for a day to see if that impacts the camera’s charge. If unable to do so, proceed to the next step.
- Navigate to the camera’s settings > Event Recording.
- Enable Motion.
- For users without a Wyze Service, select All Events.
- For users with a Wyze Service, select Smart Detection Events.
- Next to Recording Preferences, tap Customize.
- For users without a Wyze Service, locate Other Motion, and ensure that the boxes are checked for both the Tag and Notify columns.
- For users with a Wyze Service, only select the specific types of AI motion that you would like to trigger the camera in order to eliminate unnecessary videos.
- Adjust the Detection Settings.
- Navigate to the camera’s settings > Detection Settings.
- Create a Detection Zone to exclude any areas that may be creating unnecessary detections, such as waving trees or bushes.
- Under Detection Range, adjust the slider to Near to minimize the distance at which motion will trigger the camera.
- Under Motion Sensitivity, adjust the slider to Low so that the camera will only detect larger movements.
- Restart the camera.
- Navigate to the camera’s settings > Restart Camera > Restart.
- Factory reset Wyze Solar Cam.
- Remove any microSD card that is inserted into the camera.
- Press and hold the setup button for 10 seconds.
- Once the status light starts flashing red, set up the camera as new.
Additional Notes: There are multiple factors that can impact how quickly the battery drains, including:
- Keeping the live stream open for extended periods of time.
- This also includes viewing the Events list underneath the camera’s live stream while the live stream is active.
- Recording a high number of Events.
- Recording very long Events.
- Local recording to a microSD card.