Tips on Setting Up the Ultimate Wyze Cam Security System

**Our honesty policy: This post may contain affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase at no extra cost to you. Some are, some aren't--I do some comparison shopping. The important thing is you will know exactly what we are talking about. Drop a note/comment if you have any questions on the products as these are materials and tools we use on our own projects.

A Wyze Cam security system: welcome home!

Wyze offers an entire suite of security devices at a steal of a price for most of your home security system needs.

This is a slightly different format than my usual posts since I think there are a few kinds of people perusing for info–you may know all about Wyze, wanting to compare and contrast setups, or you may want to go straight for any specific suggestions. The content list below gives you the sneak preview for what to skip to:

• What are the Wyze options.
• My own initial setup.
• What I would do differently / plan on upgrading and why / ideas for you to set up your own ultimate Wyze cam security system.

Also note, some of these are affiliate links and some are not. I’m also going to put some round but realistic (to May 2019) numbers out there that include some assumptions like shipping and handling (because I can’t find any place that doesn’t include that) along with a the current Wyze maximum 32 GB micro SD card like this one I purchased (because we want playback, right? And I’m also not delving into bigger micro SD cards that require special formatting).

What are the Wyze options.

Wyze Cams are the most basic offering with a static camera easily positioned. About $30 each all in.

Wyze Pan Cams are a step up in flexibility–literally–with the ability to rotate the camera 360 degrees. About $40 each all in.

Wyze Sense is a new product just released earlier this year (this affiliate link is for a Wyze Cam and two door sensors–you have to go through Wyze.com for the sensors only if you already are a member of the Wyze family and just want the sensors). For about $25 you get 2 devices that pair up with a Wyze cam. These two sensors are made up of two pieces so you can detect when a door opens, a dial goes around or any other kind of mechanical type situation where the two opposing parts of the sensors move.

My own initial setup.

Wyze Sense was not available at the time when I was buying the first round of Wyze Cams.

So I setup my own home with six Wyze Cams–five with intention and an extra just in case I overlooked something.

One Wyze Cam backs up the video doorbell giving me the ability to see any event right outside the front walkway. The video doorbell does not have continuous recording–most have live feeds, but not playback. The Wyze Cam allows playback for at least a couple days.

Another camera gives me a different angle of the front yard. The second two cameras are pointed in the backyard, again covering doorways as well as status of the citrus trees and height of the weeds.

A fifth camera gives a wide-angle shot of the interior of the house. The sixth Wyze Cam was going to cover a different angle on the interior but it ended up monitoring the thermostat instead.

What I would do differently / plan on upgrading and why / ideas for you to set up your own ultimate Wyze Cam security system.

Tip 1. Wyze Pan Cams give you flexibility.

When the second interior camera was allocated to monitoring the thermostat it would have been better if that camera has been a Wyze Pan Cam. That way we could check on thermostat if we wanted but turn it around at all other times to have playback if someone entered through the front door or to see if the bathroom faucet or toilet seeps water down the hallway.

No doubt–this is super helpful monitoring the air conditioner. I just need to replace it with a Wyze Pan Cam.

Likewise, the other interior camera is pointed at the back door and can see the front door entrance. When our neighbor came in to drop off mail we were unable to verify it was her although the garage door app said the garage had opened and then closed within two minutes. If we had a Wyze Pan Cam I could have panned the camera over to verify mail was placed on the kitchen table after the fact.

Placing a couple Wyze Pan Cam strategically would also be a better monitoring system.

Tip 2. Wyze Sense on all exterior doors.

As we discussed in this post, any exterior facing cameras are going to give you a shit ton of notifications from the trees blowing in the wind, a bird flying across the yard, a cat running across the fence line, or whatever else moves. By the time something with actual entertainment value occurs, you’ll be ignoring all notifications if you haven’t turned them off already. Even if you limit yourself to notifications from interior cameras you are still going to get false positives. A cloud moving in front of the sun can cause a motion detection notification to fire off or you’ll receive a sound detection notification because of an airplane flying overhead.

You want to zero in on the real notifications.

Wyze Sense is that answer.

When your door opens and you are not expecting it is the exact moment when you want–and get–a notification with Wyze Sense.

Wyze Sense on all exterior doors just makes–I’m going to say it–sense. Set those puppies up and you know when your kids get home from school no matter what door–or window–they enter or exit.

Tip 3. Keep a Wyze Cam as a backup for a video doorbell.

Again, many video doorbells do not have the ability to record continuously so you can’t go back in time to see what happened for longer periods of time.

For more on the bonuses and limitations of these smart little cameras check out this post: Lessons Learned on Using Wyze Cams for Home Surveillance

Use the comment section below if you have any additional tips on setting up your own Wyze cam security system!