Camera intruder detection triggers hubitat and some siren?

[anitesh.a.kumar]

I have dahua camera system that can pick up intruders between 12 am to 6 am.
But has anyone able to integrate those triggers into hubitat which then turns on some devices? eg lights outside. And some speaker that says "You are trespassing, owner has been notified"

Maybe dahua has to hit some API that hubitat listens to. And what's a good custom battery powered speaker?

[johnwill1]

With Hikvision it can be done with or without the built in integration. I’m using node-red and there are several palettes available to make it easy. Due to some issues with Hikvision (they keep releasing firmware that breaks existing functionality) I was considering trying Dahua out. I’ve only had a brief look but couldn’t find similar integrations. It might be worth posting a message over on the IPcamtalk forum. That forum has a large Dahua following and I’m sure someone will be able to advise what is possible.

[stephen_nutt]

If you have an Android device and willing to pay ~$4 for the Tasker app, there is a workaround with the Android device acting as the middleman. I have suggested it twice in the last 2 weeks; once for someone using Lorex cameras and someone else with Reolink cameras.

Here is a thread @wolferjerry just posted on the solution after we worked together to get it working for him:

[Solved] Lorex camera 3rd Party Notification on Android using Tasker

Background: Lorex camera system provides only notifications to it’s Phone App. Lorex has an Alexa skill but only to view cameras. What is needed then is 3rd party Plug-ins for notifications to be recognized outside of a smartphone if wanting those notifications on other devices like Echos. Hubitat solution solved using Tasker. Credit to two Experts: sburke781 (Simon) and Stephen_nutt (Stephen Nutt). My solution then: Tasker app on Android, Hubitat virtual contacts and Rule, Amazon Alexa Sk…

The Tasker app can do a whole lot more and, after spending the $4, you might get sucked down into its rabbit hole. Yes, I am a Tasker fan boy.

[marktheknife]

@anitesh.a.kumar

Maybe dahua has to hit some API that hubitat listens to.

Can the cameras send a webhook when triggered?

That would be the simplest way to trigger a Hubitat automation (in rule machine) that I can think of.

[woodsby]

I use a different approach. My old-ish reolink cameras support FTP image upload on motion. So I set up a simple ftp server running inotifywait to watch for file uploads - I set up an upload directory for each camera. I also set up virtual motion sensors for each of my cameras on Hubitat, which I set through maker api.

So when a camera picks up motion, it uploads an image to the appropriate FTP directory (no more than once every 15 seconds). Once inotify sees the file begin writing, it sets motion active (through maker api) on the corresponding virtual motion sensor, then after a brief delay, deletes the file.

The virtual motion sensor’s auto inactive is set to 30 seconds.

This set up works great… and pretty much instantly… although the cameras are old and motion detection generally sucks on them (at night). I downloaded frigate to play around with, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

Edit: I accidentally wrote amcrest. They’re Reolink cameras.

[user2574]

It is hacky, but I use the free iSpy software for windows, and run it as a camera server on an old laptop.

It detects motion from the camera feeds, based on sensitivity you set, and on where you draw boxes on the image in the software. Then when it detects motion, it has a lot of options for what to do.

I use the call api feature in the software to trigger a virtual motion sensor using Hubithings Replica. I just put the web address for a motion sensor api "active" command in the api box, and it sets the virtual motion sensor active when there is motion. Then that sensor is used like a real sensor to trigger automations. Mine turns on the floodlight, but it could also trigger an announcement.

Nice thing about iSpy is it also rebroadcasts the feeds. I am able use a rebroadcast feed to put live video on my dashboards using only an image tile with the broadcast address. I'm not sure why it works, but it does.

[johnwill1]

@woodsby

I use a different approach. My old-ish reolink cameras support FTP image upload on motion. So I set up a simple ftp server running inotifywait to watch for file uploads - I set up an upload directory for each camera. I also set up virtual motion sensors for each of my cameras on Hubitat, which I set through maker api.

So when a camera picks up motion, it uploads an image to the appropriate FTP directory (no more than once every 15 seconds). Once inotify sees the file begin writing, it sets motion active (through maker api) on the corresponding virtual motion sensor, then after a brief delay, deletes the file.

The virtual motion sensor’s auto inactive is set to 30 seconds.

This set up works great… and pretty much instantly… although the cameras are old and motion detection generally sucks on them (at night). I downloaded frigate to play around with, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

I quite like that idea. Most cameras and NVRs support ftp image upload for events and it can be set individually per event type. As the NVR can upload the image it gets around the issue of cameras connected to NVR PoE ports (no route from camera through NVR)

[woodsby]

I had initially tried to use gmail for this, but it was way too slow. Then I remembered inotifywait. I had/have been using it for an old Brother MFC laser printer that supports scanning to samba shares. Inotifywait watches a couple of shared folders for scans to come in and then emails them to the appropriate recipient… thereby allowing a cheap multifunction printer to effectively scan-to-email.

Inotifywait is great! And quite lean yet powerful.

[RobDaBush]

Might help: Dahua and Amcrest integration for cameras and doorbells