Wyze Cam V3 cameras offer a way to get RTSP feeds, motion detection, notifications, and more, and you can do it without the Wyze app or other 3rd party software. You just have to make one small change...
Introduction
The Wyze Cam V3 is a popular outdoor-rated wifi camera. Requiring only power from a micro-USB cable, you can run a really long cable and place the camera pretty much wherever you need it. Wyze offers an app with motion detection, notifications, and more - but that means your camera feeds are always going to the cloud, which puts your data in someone else's hands. Let's take a look at how I use Wyze Cam V3s in my AstropotaPOD as well as for streaming on YouTube, Twitch, and more. Don't worry, no screwdriver required! Keep in mind, this is the V3, not the V3 Pro we're talking about here (more on that later).
Key Specifications
- Brand & Model: Wyze Cam V3
- Type: Wifi security camera
- Price Range: about $20
- Key Features:
- Awesome 1080p low-light color sensor without having to activate IR
- IR Lights: 4x940nm, 4x850nm
- Field of View: 121 degrees diagonal
- Indoor/outdoor rated, so you can leave it out in the rain and snow
- Includes a micro-SD slot (very important for what we're about to do to it)
- Capable of running Thingino alternative firmware (and providing ONVIF capabilities)
- Best For: Home and office security, monitoring your astro equipment, and streaming
Design & Build Quality
- IP65 Weather Resistant
- The protector on the power cable will survive most typical weather, but you might want to put some tape around it to be sure
- It's a plastic housing but a glass lens.
- Relatively close focus and there's a mod for closer focusing if you're willing to cut it open
- Operating temp: -5F - 113F (-20C - 45C)
Performance & Features
Probably the best outdoor rated camera you'll find for $20. Do the mod that I'll be talking about later in this article, and it becomes a powerhouse of open source features that are constantly being improved upon by an active community and more than 350 people on the Discord server. The hardware is based on the Ingenic System-on-a-Chip (SoC) with a decent amount of memory and processor power. If you run the default firmware and use the basic Wyze app on your smart device, it offers motion and sound detection, motion zones, recording, and smart-speaker integration. Remember - you're at the whim of Wyze with that and if they ever change their mind, sell their business, or stop supporting it, it stops being useful.
It lets you get outside their walled garden.
Add the Thingino open source firmware replacement, and you get all of that and more but without having to send your data to Wyze first, or use their app (or pay for their Pro version). It lets you get outside their walled garden and explore the rest of the world. I've got an article specifically on Thingino, so we'll leave the details for that, but for now, let's just assume that you're going to use Thingino with your Wyze cams.
Ease of Use
- Even without Thingino, the camera "just works" when you plug it in and use the Wyze app. With Thingino, there's small extra steps of putting an image on a microSD card, putting that into the camera, booting, and then setting up the wifi via a web page (and then Thingino configuration after that).
- In both Wyze and Thingino modes, the defaults are usually sufficient, and offer a great balance of daytime and nighttime visibility.
- There's a magnet in the base so you can click it to something magnetic, or you can use the included double-sided tape and metal washer to make your own. Screw holes and screws also provided.
- It took me a while to discover this, but the cute little "Luxo" style base not only extends but rotates, so you can truly get just about any angle you want.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Outdoor rated
- 2.4GHz wifi has good penetration and range
- Has a built-in mic and speaker for two-way audio
- Runs Thingino alternative firmware with a brain-dead simple install
Cons
- It's only a 2MP image
- 2.4GHz wifi is older (but still widely available) tech
- Lack of close focus means you can't use it as a birdfeedercam or similar (there are mods)
Who Should Buy This?
- Ideal for anyone with typical home/business security needs or if you want to see in the dark without spotlights
- Best suited for surveillance type applications, but with Thingino firmware, it can be used for streaming as well
Final Verdict
If you need an outdoor rated camera and only have $20 to spend, buy this.
Yes, there are other, better cameras (see my Wuuk article). There are definitely cameras that have better images, zoom lenses, closer focus, etc. But for $20, you can't get a better camera with excellent night vision and an IP65 outdoor rating. Throw Thingino on it, and you have a full-fledged Linux computer that you control, rather than sending your data up to the cloud. Plus its ONVIF capable so you can integrate it with Home Assistant, Frigate, AgentDVR, VLC, MPV, and more. I bought three of these originally to run what was the Wyze RTSP firmware, but that's no longer supported (and hard to find). That led me down a rabbit hole that eventually got me to Thingino, and once I switched, I was hooked. I bought nine more.
For my AstropotaPOD, I have one aimed at the mount from the inside lip of the POD lid. So as the dome rotates, it always stays aimed at the center where the mount is, but with the interior of the other half of the dome (the part that doesn't open) as the background. This means it never points at the Sun, for instance. I have a second mounted along the axis of the primary scope, so it sees the night sky where the scope is pointed. I have a third that's mounted inside the POD but just mounted to the wall, so that it always aims at the west side of the mount, regardless of how the dome is rotated. This way, I can both monitor the scopes and make sure they're not banging into the mount/tripod, and I can also stream those camera feeds to YouTube, Twitch, or the AstropotaPOD Telemetry page for remote viewing.
In short, I love my Wyze Cam V3s and I'm happy with them. If you chose to buy them, or something similar, check out the Thingino web site first to make sure that you're getting a compatible camera, and you'll increase your functionality tenfold!
Where to Buy
These are getting harder to find as they're being replaced with other versions, but they are still available from time to time as stock gets replenished.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which help support our work at no extra cost to you.
FAQs
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Q: Will it work with Alexa?
A: It will if you use the Wyze app -
Q: Is it good for home security?
A: It is if you use the Wyze app. It's even better if you use Thingino and Home Assistant or AgentDVR -
Q: Can it pan, tilt, or zoom?
A: No.