Wyze V2 Setup Instructions

[rumplestilts]

Perhaps the Neos version of the cam along with the non-Wyze firmware isn't fully baked (or is just different enough--cam+firmware--not to be reliable. I'm not having any video glitches so far with the genuine Wyze cam with Wyze's RTSP firmware. I'm not implying that "I don't, therefore you shouldn't"; just that my requirements are being met with what the brand-name Wyze plus their RTSP firmware bring to the party.

[JonoVegas]

Hey Rumple, interested in your experience with BI, and Wyze RSTP. I have a dozen Wyze V2's with micro sd cards in each, 24x7 recording. My UI is the Wyze app and it works pretty well (some disconnects, where rebooting my phone and sometimes router seems to fix). Rarely do I have to reboot the cams.

Looking to get a Hikvision or dahue "real" camera with LAN connection vs the Wyze wifi. I would love if I can use BI to be my UI for all my cameras for live views and motion detection as well as recording.

Do you use BI with your Wyze cams to store video? Can BI be used on a PC with good storage to act as a NVR for video storage and access?

Any other tips you have uncovered in your journey with BI and Wyze. Like you, my Wyze cams have been pretty good for what they are.

Thx,
Jon

[rumplestilts]

Hey Rumple, interested in your experience with BI, and Wyze RSTP. I have a dozen Wyze V2's with micro sd cards in each, 24x7 recording. My UI is the Wyze app and it works pretty well (some disconnects, where rebooting my phone and sometimes router seems to fix). Rarely do I have to reboot the cams.

Looking to get a Hikvision or dahue "real" camera with LAN connection vs the Wyze wifi. I would love if I can use BI to be my UI for all my cameras for live views and motion detection as well as recording.

Do you use BI with your Wyze cams to store video? Can BI be used on a PC with good storage to act as a NVR for video storage and access?

Any other tips you have uncovered in your journey with BI and Wyze. Like you, my Wyze cams have been pretty good for what they are.

Thx,
Jon

Jon,

I am using BIv5 (v5.3.2.11 x64) on an old Lenovo T430 (Core i5, 2.60GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Samsung EVO 850, Win 10 Pro v2004). I have connected all 3 Wyze Cams—all with the RTSP firmware—to BI via my AT&T router's WiFi (might add a more powerful WiFi access point in the future) and have set the system to do 24/7 recording. Additionally, when BI detects motion on any of the cameras, BI sends me an eMail with 8 JPEGs (that seem to be spaced about 1 second apart). I have disabled any motion sensing by the cameras using the Wyze app on my Android phone); so essentially these are "dumb" cameras and BI contains all the intelligence.

I have Splashtop set up so I may remote into my Lenovo when I'm away to control/tweak the BI settings (in case I am getting too many eMails from false BI triggers - and that's not a BI problem but my unfamiliarity with BI's motion sensitivity settings).

The Wyze app lets me restart the camera if, for example, it might get frozen for some reason (although I will say that this has never happened - I just tested it to verify it would do so). Additionally, I can live view all three cameras via the Wyze app (which is a bonus). I do not pay Wyze for any additional services. BTW, the Wyze Cam (after a restart) retains its settings; specifically, turning off the IR lights and then restarting retains that setting (which my Foscams never did).

My Wyze cams do not have microSD cards installed; as indicated above, they are "dumb" cameras (dumbed down by my settings in the Wyze app).

BI has been set to create new recordings at no greater than 4hr or 4GB size (although as an x64 Win10 machine, there should be no issue). The oldest recordings get trashed automatically as BI requires the space for new recordings. If I use 800GB as my HD's free space, then 800GB / 4GB = 200 recordings of 4 hrs each / 3 cams = 266 hrs /24 hrs = about 11 days worth of recording (for three cameras). As the Lenovo has a fast USB3 port, I can set the recording destinations to an 8TB external drive and then get about ten times the storage capability. I will probably do this as I add a few more cameras. If BI starts taking exception to the added load, I have a Dell AIO Core i7 which I had been using for BIv4; I can upgrade that machine and copy the settings from the Lenovo.

I'll mention that BI has been set to -not- record any video during "no signal" conditions; when I'm home, I use the Wyza app to turn off the cameras and BI stops recording automatically so I don't get 4 hours of "nothing" per camera. (I also don't then get hundreds of motion events from my internal cameras eMailed to me.)

Any deficiencies in my system seem to be caused by my inefficient BI settings. I will have to tweak motion detection a bit. BI is such a rich app that I will have to study the documentation (RTFM to the extreme ).

I am by no means a BI expert; my wife refused to permit online recordings from Wyze (or any other service) so I had to find a solution. I had tried a Mac-based solution but could never get it to consistently work with my Foscams; so I abandoned it (and was refunded the purchase price) and tried BI which has worked well. I abandoned the Foscams I had been using after they started failing just after the warranty expired. The video quality of the Foscams (the RT model was the latest I bought) is marginal.

Let me know if this helps you. Stay safe!

Barry