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Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 8:34 pm
by Thixotropic
I saw an earlier post about attaching an external antenna to a Wyze V2 and also replacing the lens.

I got a pair of antennas and a 1 of the 2 wide angle lenses in and have started playing with them a bit. The pic below is a pre-work sht showing the parts.

I'm not all that impressed with the wide-angle lens, but the antenna seems to make a difference. I haven't cut the case to make it permanent yet, but after I'm satisfied with the antenna it'll get mounted permanently. I just want to figure out the best place to drill a hole in the case, which will depend on how I mount the camera.
wyze-antenna.JPEG
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Also, an easy way to waterproof stuff for outdoor use is to use PlastiDip. The Foscam plugin power supply below has had about 5 coats of PlastiDip and it's completely watertight now. I just did this one for fun but I'll use it somewhere later. Notice that even after 5 coats or so, the coating doesn't glob up or fill in the various design details. It might not look like it's sealed, but it it. It's super handy stuff, and becomes very durable after it sets for a few days.
charger-1.JPEG
charger-1.JPEG (120.01 KiB) Viewed 10382 times

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:17 pm
by TimG
How many of these do you have in operation with BI ? I keep hearing that more than one of them doesn't play well with BI, so I'm very interested in what you find with your Wyze cams.

More hacking pics please !

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:46 pm
by Thixotropic
I had two running but now just one- the other one is going to get the new antenna and a WA lens.

As for more hacking, here's something else I've been playing with. I bought a fake dome camera for about $5. The idea is to gut it and install two of the wyze cube cams and them mount it outside under an eave. Here are a few pics.

This is the dome 'cam' assembled, a little hard to see due to reflections but it'll give you an idea of what it looks like.
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Here's a pic of it disassembled, and another one below.
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1580841142805.JPEG
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With the center mount for the fake camera removed, it'll hold two Wyze cube cams comfortably. The only question is whether I'll take the time to print a nice mounting bracket for the cams or glob a bunch of glue or silicone rubber in there to hold everything in place. I'm leaning towards the latter. After it's all fixed in place I'll never move them, so quick and dirty may be the way to go.

Just run a micro USB to one cam and use the regular USB connector on the back to power the other camera. I'll probably finish this off when the weather gets a little better.

Total cost? about $45 for the cams, $5 for the fake dome cam, and a few bucks for the power supply cable. I'm curious to see just how much IR gets reflected back into the cams when it's all powered up. I'll probably need to disable the IR after it's installed.




[quote=TimG post_id=3139 time=1580840260 user_id=178]
How many of these do you have in operation with BI ? I keep hearing that more than one of them doesn't play well with BI, so I'm very interested in what you find with your Wyze cams.

More hacking pics please !

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:57 am
by Raccoontodd
I was the one that posted earlier about the ext antenna and lens. Not sure what lens you got but the 170 degree one I added works great. You do have to set it up by turning the lens in or out to get best focus. They are not properly focused when you get them. Mines super sharp and as good as the stock one that came on the Wyze. I went farther and put a +9db antenna on mine, and a silicone sleeve, and its got about 100 foot range now being outside with the router inside. Over all I'm happy with it. I will be setting a couple more up to see how they play with BI5 soon. Cheap fun :) Takes maybe 30 minutes to take the Wyze cam apart, drill one hole, swap the lens and put it all back together. I did the antenna hole right upper side of the case on mine, works great there. The lens IS in stock as of this post:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082NN7LR2/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2020 3:40 am
by Thixotropic
Thank you for the link! The last time I looked Amazon said they were unavailable and they didn't know if or when they'd be available again. Grrrr.

So I saw your link and *boom* went there and ordered one on the spot, lol. Maybe I should get a second one while they're still available. :)

The WA lenses I bought to play with are made for cell phones and to be blunt, they aren't very good. They have a lot of chromatic aberration and edge distortion. Plus they aren't really made for the Wyze.

Thanks again, Raccoontodd, that made my day.

Raccoontodd wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:57 am I was the one that posted earlier about the ext antenna and lens. Not sure what lens you got but the 170 degree one I added works great. You do have to set it up by turning the lens in or out to get best focus. They are not properly focused when you get them. Mines super sharp and as good as the stock one that came on the Wyze. I went farther and put a +9db antenna on mine, and a silicone sleeve, and its got about 100 foot range now being outside with the router inside. Over all I'm happy with it. I will be setting a couple more up to see how they play with BI5 soon. Cheap fun :) Takes maybe 30 minutes to take the Wyze cam apart, drill one hole, swap the lens and put it all back together. I did the antenna hole right upper side of the case on mine, works great there. The lens IS in stock as of this post:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082NN7LR2/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:09 pm
by Thixotropic
I swapped the lens on one of my Wyze cams and I got what I think are mixed results.

The field of view is slightly wider, but not much. It's hardly noticeable, I was hoping for a lot more FOV.

The clarity and focus, however, is much much better than the stock Wyze cam. Maybe my stock Wyze cam needs the focus to be adjusted but the clarity on the one with the new lens is significantly better.

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:43 pm
by Raccoontodd
You go from the stock 110 degrees to 170 degrees field of view. Was perfect for me. I now have 100 percent of my backyard covered with the camera mounted on the back of the house vs maybe 70 percent before with the stock lens.

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 9:22 pm
by Thixotropic
Raccoontodd wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:43 pm You go from the stock 110 degrees to 170 degrees field of view. Was perfect for me. I now have 100 percent of my backyard covered with the camera mounted on the back of the house vs maybe 70 percent before with the stock lens.
This image is of two cams, side by side, one modified and one stock. I see a little wider field of view in one, but not much. Maybe they changed lenses and I ended up with a different brand or version, but I don't see an extra 60 degrees of field in the modified one, maybe 20% or so.
lens-compare2.jpg
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Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:10 am
by Raccoontodd
Untitled-1.jpg
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Weird...mine was like night and day from stock. its almost a fish eye now with the 170 degrees. Maybe they sent you the wrong lens.

Re: Hacking the Wyze V2

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:04 pm
by Thixotropic
Yep, I think we got different lenses. Time to contact the seller and see what they have to say.
Raccoontodd wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:10 am Untitled-1.jpgWeird...mine was like night and day from stock. its almost a fish eye now with the 170 degrees. Maybe they sent you the wrong lens.