I know I can send notifications to my iPhone, but is there any way for my iPhone to send notifications to Hubitat?
The reason I’m asking this is because I got the Aosu Ultra doorbell camera and like that it is subscription free and that it can send notifications to my iPhone reasonably quickly.
However, I want Alexa to tell me the Aosu detects motion and the Aosu skill can only be triggered by the doorbell being pushed (like a thief will do that - and the UPS/Pizza guys never ring the bell either).
I was thinking of maybe adding a Hue motion sensor by my door and have it send me an Alexa notification via Hubitat. However, my condo unit is right next to the main entrance to our floor and I don’t want it alerting me every time someone goes in or out. While I can set up the Ring and Aosu camera zones to exclude the entrance door and hallway, I don’t think I can narrow the notification zone with a Hue motion detector. Am I wrong about? Are there any motion detectors that allow the user to adjust the detection area like a video camera can? I’m trying to avoid the cost of getting a video camera just for that (which would also have to be battery powered).
A mmWave presence sensor might be what you are looking for. You can set the distance to monitor in preferences on most of them.
Linptech/Moes ES1 is pretty popular, and inexpensive, but you need USB power for most mmWave sensors. However, if you are powering a camera in the hallway, I guess you also have power to plug in a sensor?
Thanks for the fast response. I didn’t mention a mm sensor as I know they need to be powered and I have to be on battery as I can’t run any power to outside my unit (for a camera, doorbell, motion/mm sensor etc.)
You might want to get any PIR Zigbee Battery Motion sensor, and see what you can do with electrical tape or something to block the areas you do not want it to see. Unlike mmWave, you can limit the area, and distance, that it can see by partially blocking the lens.
You could set it up inside first, just knowing generally the areas you want to block if it were out in the hall. Maybe just make the lens be a slit to reduce range, or you may want to block the bottom so it only looks up higher, above people's heads if they are a bit further away, but catching their heads when someone is closer to the door.
Personally I'm not sure how you would do it unless you put a battery operated motion sensor in. For myself, I have Reolink doorbells (POE version on the front door, Battery in the back door). They detect motion and I think Eufy does as well. You can also draw specific motion zones so you reduce false alarms. If its not too late, you could consider returning the Aosu in favor of one of those unless you're married to the product. Just a thought is all.
I just got the Aosu via Amazon so I can return it. I was very interested in the Eufy E240, but from my research, it seems to have the same issue that it can only start an Alexa routine based on a doorbell push.
I assume ip is for wi-fi but I wouldn't know what to do with that to help me and I don't know what rtsp and/or onvif are. (I'll look those up now)
Do you know if the Reolink can base an Alexa routine on detected motion?
Also, does the video come up fast enough on an iPhone to be practical to answer someone at the door? (As mentioned, I have to use the battery version).
BTW, I do have a Synology NAS (a DS220+ with 2 12TB hard disks). I understand I can use that to save the videos.
One thing I like about the Aosu is that I can save it right to the iPhone Photos app or download them to my phone. Can the Reolink do anything like that so I wouldn't need to use my NAS to save the videos? (I know it can take an SD card, but any could remove or just grab the whole camera and it would be gone).
I taped off 1/2 of one of my Hue motion sensors and was able to mount it above my front door as there are metal crossbeams holding up the ceiling tiles. I was then able to also angle it more towards the door via its magnetic mount. This way it won't detect people just going up and down the hallway. But once someone is detected it does give me notification a bit faster than the Aosu doorbell/camera . (BTW, I think this would be true of almost any battery doorbell/camera as they sleep to save the battery).
The sensor was brought directly into Hubitat as I had it turning on a hall light previously. I just had to add it to Alexa via the Hubitat app and then created a routine within Alexa where it made an announcement that motion was detected going to my various Echo Dots.
BTW, I had first tried using Alexa "Says" vs. an Alexa "Announcement". When I did the Alexa Says I could only pick one Echo Dot vs. being able to pick multiple Echo Dots with an Announcement. Since each routine can be set to go off only at certain times, while it may be a pain for some to create an Alexa routine for each Echo Dot, it would be really helpful if there were different times that you wanted them to go off. (E.g. maybe only have them go off at certain hours in bedrooms, etc). So using the routine fire an Alexa Says would give those folks a per device configuration ability.
As I like the rest of the features on the Aosu I think I might just keep it, using my Hue motion sensor to provide the Alexa motion detection announcemnt.
