How to Power Cycle Wyze Camera to Fix Common Issues

Do you know how to power cycle Wyze camera? Wyze is one of the bestselling standalone wireless security cameras on the market. And like any other system, the CCTV camera may fail to function at one time or another. Then when you get in touch with the customer support team, the representative asks you to power cycle the device. Can you do that on your own?

While the term may sound a bit techy, power cycling a security camera is so easy. And in this article, we’re going to show you how to do that for the different types of Wyze cameras.

Verdict: How to Power Cycle Wyze Camera with Plug-in Power

1. Grab the camera power adapter and unplug it from the wall outlet
2. Wait about 15 seconds for the camera to dissipate all power charge
3. Next, plug the camera power adapter back into the electrical outlet
4. Finally, wait for the camera to reinitialize before you can launch the app again.

Is to Power Cycle Wyze Camera the Same as Resetting?

No, to power cycle the Wyze camera is not to reset. Resetting a security camera is where you delete the previous configuration and return it to factory settings.

On the other hand, to power cycle is a fancy phrase for rebooting or restarting. But unlike where you push a “restart” button, power cycling Wyze camera (or any other security camera) involves cutting off all power sources.

Once your Wyze camera has lost all the power, it will clear the internal memory– please don’t confuse this with clearing internal configuration. Or in other words, the troubleshooting hack refreshes and reinitializes the CPU processes, leaving the device in a ready state for the next use.

After reinitializing CPU processes, the Wyze camera will reconnect to your home router and the Wyze servers. And when all this happens, it can help resolve some common internal problems the camera may have had earlier. “Some” is the keyword here as there are CCTV issues power cycling can’t resolve, no matter how many times you try.

FYI: We’ve used the computer term CPU here to refer to the entire circuitry in a security camera for processing data.

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Situations When You Can Power Cycle Wyze Camera

The various situations you can power cycle the Wyze camera is when experiencing issues such as:

• The Wyze camera shows a “Device offline” error on the app
• The Wyze camera doesn’t connect with the company servers
• The Wyze camera has lost audio features suddenly when in use  
• The Wyze camera has the audio and video out of sync
• The Wyze camera live feeds tend to freeze when viewing them
• The Wyze camera seems to not read the installed MicroSD card
• The Wyze camera doesn’t play video clips recorded on the MicroSD card
• The Wyze camera doesn’t rotate in the right direction– applies to the Wyze Pan-Tilt series
• The Wyze camera doesn’t turn off the built-in floodlights– applies to the Wyze Cam Floodlight
• The Wyze camera motion detection features don’t work. Say, the camera doesn’t detect movements or use the smart AI detection setting.

If you’ve had the Wyze camera for a while, you may notice different connection issues display varying error codes. A quick power cycle can help resolve many of these connection error codes. But you can try the hack for all of the errors since it doesn’t hurt or cost anything.

How Do I Power Cycle My Wyze Camera

The steps on how to power cycle Wyze camera are very simple. As per the definition we gave earlier, the hack means turning the security camera off and on again.

However, remember the goal is to dissipate all the power charge for the Wyze camera to clear its previous memory. So, we will be turning off the device completely- just like when you remove the battery in a laptop if it freezes.

That said, the way you power cycle the Wyze camera varies with the type of device at hand. The reason for this is that your Wyze camera can be either on the plug-in power or the rechargeable battery.

Part 1: How to Power Cycle Plug-in Wyze Camera

Most of the Wyze cameras operate on plug-in power. They include the original Wyze V1, V2, and V3, as well as the Pan-Tilt Cam and the new OG series.

Unfortunately, these Plug-in security cameras have no physical button to cut off the power supply to the internal circuitry. You can only cut off the power from the main supply.

Therefore, to power cycle the Plug-in Wyze cameras, you’ll need to:

1. Go where you have plugged the Wyze camera into the power source
2. Unplug the power adapter of the camera from the power outlet
3. Wait about 15 seconds for the camera to dissipate/ discharge all power charge
4. After all the electrical charge has discharged (should be done after 15 seconds), plug the camera adapter back into the power outlet
5. Finally, wait for your security camera to reinitialize fully and turn on before you can launch the mobile app again.

Note:

In Step 2, you can cut off the power supply to the Wyze camera by disconnecting the power cord from its end. That means you disengaged the Micro-USB connector of the power cable from the charging port on the camera.

Meanwhile, the steps on how to power cycle Wyze Floodlight cameras are pretty much like with plug-in cameras. The only difference is that here you’ll need to cut off the power supply from the main electrical switch box. And that means you switch the breaker of the connection to the floodlight to the “OFF” position.

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Part 2: How to Power Cycle Battery-Powered Wyze Camera

Wyze doesn’t exactly have an extensive line of battery-powered security cameras, as with the likes of Arlo. The Wyze Cam Outdoor is the only camera category that runs on battery power.

Sadly, the battery of the Wyze Cam Outdoor cameras is non-removable. The only way to remove the battery will be to take apart the camera and unplug the cable clip connecting to the main circuit board.

On the plus side, the rechargeable Wyze security camera has an external switch to cut off the power from the battery.

So, to power cycle the Wyze Cam Outdoor camera:

1. Grab your camera and turn it around
2. On the back of the camera, locate the power switch
3. Once you have the power switch, flip it to the “OFF” position
4. Wait for about 30 seconds for the power to discharge from the camera circuitry
5. After the camera has fully discharged, flip the power switch back to the “ON” position
6. Next, wait for the camera to complete initializing before you can launch the mobile app again.

Note:

In the case of the Wyze battery security camera, you can see the wait time for the power discharge is slightly higher. And this is because we’re cutting off the power from the source through a secondary route that takes longer to complete.

If we had disconnected the battery from the camera completely, 15 seconds should have been enough to fully discharge. But as was mentioned, the Wyze Cam utilizes an internal battery that requires taking apart the housing to remove it.

The Wyze Cam “Off” Button on App Doesn’t Work

Be it freezing, video loss, or whichever of the issues we mentioned, that’s how to power cycle the Wyze camera. It’s a simple process we would have completed in the first five sentences of the article. But we felt it might be worth including what the power cycle means and some of the issues it can resolve.

Power cycling can resolve these issues we listed as the root of the problem is mostly from the camera overworking. “Overworking” in this case is the camera running for many days non-stop to a point where the processing memory is fatigued.

 A successful power cycle should help refresh the fatigued memory of your Wyze camera. And that “successful power cycle” can only be achieved when you disconnect the power source.

One last thing, the Wyze Cam “Off” button on the mobile app is not for power cycling as some people tend to claim. When you tap that button, it puts your camera in Stand-by/ Sleep mode- say when you don’t want it to record video or send alerts.

If you’d like to be able to power cycle the Wyze camera remotely, we could advise connecting to the power outlet via smart plugs. The smart plugs this time will help you turn off the power supply to the camera right from the mobile app. It only works for plug-in cameras, though.