To the initial Unifi comments... Solar or battery is POSSIBLE, but DIY. I have the G3 Instant and it uses a USB-C plug for power (which I just put a power pack between the wall and it).
They DO have a floodlight (I have one) but it is PoE without integrated battery backup and expensive for what you get. It works very well and is bright... But I cannot really call it worth the money.
They do have a "doorbell" in the form of their Access devices.
All that said... I do not think they will meet your needs right now. Integration is still progressing (I am working real hard on that) but has come a fair ways.
As another possible Blink. Unfortunately another Amazon-owned company (for a while now). They have a hub with local storage, battery cameras with solar add-ons. Lots of aftermarket accessories. They have announced a doorbell coming soon. Integration is there for general control but not video/images (not much I can do about that until drivers can write files to the hub AND the dashboard supports rtsp). Their API exists but is not public (despite the pre-Amazon promise, have to love how company's only follow through on the parts they want). So if they changed it they can kill integration in a heartbeat. That said, their app is pretty simple and the 4 I have (indoor, outdoor, and mini varieties) work well.
I've seen how to do such a thing with battery, but I can't find something that would do solar -> battery -> USB-C
I should clarify I'm looking for a floodlight that has an integrated cam. I don't think they offer that, do they?
I didn't really think about Blink, but yeah, same fear. I had many conversations with the (former) CEO of Ring both pre/post Amazon. He continually assured me they were adding an API. Still nothing. In my opinion, Amazon is in control now and working on locking you into their ecosystem. As I mentioned, the finally added a local option and 24/7 option which they promised long ago. Turns out you must buy their new base station and switch to Eero wireless (also owned by Amazon) for it to work. So great, I can throw away all my expensive Unifi APs and try to get Eero to cover my yard after FINALLY getting all the signal strength on my UI devices setup properly for coverage. My gut says they'll kill Blink the same way. Honestly, I foresee them killing Blink and just merging with Ring over time.
I use Blink, and really like them. It crosses just about everything off on your list. I don't think Blink is going anywhere too soon, they just introduced new hardware this week so that's usually a good sign they are investing in it. It's actually kinda affordable compared to other systems so the market is a little broader. It also has integration with HE with custom driver and app, that works pretty darn good.
Oh...before that I had Ring, they took away all functionality without subscription and they are expensive, so now i just have the ring doorbell left to replace. I just need to get my hands on a Blink doorbell (which are only being sold in the US currently.
The solar-battery-usb c is actually pretty easy depending on how big/ugly you can accept.
There are small solar panels that directly go to a USB Type C cable, but they lack a battery for night
There are the USB-providing solar panels meant for other outdoor products/cameras that include a battery and could work with an adapter
There are solar battery packs with USB (both regular and C ports, and the G3 Instant does not need C for the power rating)
There are larger "portable" arrays that often include USB ports (usually for camping)
There are solar charge controllers that include USB
For the floodlight, gotcha! No, I do not think they offer an integrated floodlight/camera, although you CAN directly link them via Unifi so that motion on x floodlight will trigger the specific camera and vice versa.
I really like my Blink cameras... I really worry about the Amazon control of them going forward. One reason I bought the new "local storage" hub for them. But even if they store the pictures locally they still need to be controlled via the cloud. Ugh.
On the doorbell - if that is the only deal-breaker, it seems there is probably a way to add a z-wave /zigbee/wifi relay to the chime then automate / integrate it with the doorbell.
That is correct. It is also only the older cameras up to the Arlo Pro 2. That means the Arlo Q, Arlo Wirefre, Arlo Pro, and Arlo Pro 2. Be careful if you think about using the free storage. They have recently released the new essential cameras and they don't use better specs then some of the older ones, but don't have the 7 day free storage. Many folks worked around that by creating multiple accounts and then just sharing from one to the other. The key with those older cameras is that now i don't think they are easily found, and their hubs don't allow easy access to locally recorded video if they allow local recording.
If you really do start with arlo look at getting the Arlo Pro Ultra kit for the most powerful hub. Then get whatever extra cameras to add to it. Something else to consider is that generally speaking a hub can only allow recording from 5 cameras at once. That may mean you want to get more then 1 hub if you will have more then 5 cameras.
The biggest advantage I see here for Arlo is that it is all first party supported from arlo. There are probably several ways to do what you want but Arlo can provide it all.
Arlo does provide some enhanced function with their cloud service. Basically it is effectively $3 a camera up to $10 when you go to unlimited cameras. That activates things like package detection, AI detection for notifications, Enhanced Action zones, and some E911 stuff. It will also augment your recording access to improve ease of access.
I don't have any experience with the Wyze doorbell, but I have a couple Wyze cameras and they work well. A wide variety of Wyze triggers are readily available for integration and automation, including doorbell press, through IFTTT.
Hubitat is also available through IFTTT for both triggers and actions. Linking a Wyze doorbell press to an HE z-wave relay with a 500ms reset to off should be fairly straight forward and easy to implement in IFTTT. The relay with reset acts like a momentary push-button which then activates your chime. There are many ways to program the relay to act as a momentary switch either through a rule, auto-off, or sometimes through a setting in the relay itself depending on features/functions.
Zooz Zen 16 will work easily, but is overkill for a simple single device relay. There are likely many other options out there which will also work.
Bottom line is once you get the device actions and control into HE (or some similar automated environment), linking them together is the easy part.
Ugh. Thanks for the suggestion but I’m not sure having a doorbell rely on the cloud is workable. IFTTT can take minutes to respond sometimes, not always but 10-30s is common in my experience. That means by the time my doorbell rings, the person has left. It also means if the internet is down, my doorbell can’t ring. IMHO a doorbell is a device that has to be local.
Understand. I have ring doorbells in several homes and have found the same/similar delay issues even through the Ring native app. The app can be slow to respond, and the local Ring Pro activation of a conventional doorbell is also unreliable, even after trying new chimes/power supplies/etc. It may work better with an electronic doorbell, haven't tried that.
Hence In all my cases (3 separate houses now) I've put Ring Chimes (Chime Pro) in the homes that I use the ring doorbell, and in one case 3 separate chimes to cover basement/main floor/upstairs.
For me it's the trade-off of having a video/remote doorbell.
I've only used IFTTT for the 'unofficial' ring integration to send web requests over to HE to activate the Ring virtual devices. The ring to HE integration works great from what I've seen. The motion detections/etc seem to respond reliably and timely, no issues that I've noted. However, I haven't integrated these into any automations. Therefore I also haven't measured the delay, nor do I have anything that would make it highly noticeable.
The Arlo video doorbell connects to the leads from the existing doorbell. You do add a power adapter to the wiring, but that was easy. It is instant for the traditional doorbell I have.
I do have something setup with node red that is near instant as well as long as Smartthings isn't having issues. The key with that is it goes from the video doorbell to my arlo 4540 base station to the Arlo Cloud to Smartthings cloud to a node red restful api setup with Samsung Automation Studio to hubitat. All of that does happen pretty quick when everything is working optimally. You can trigger anything you want from the button push once that happens.
When you say MP3 chime do you just mean the chime is a mp3 sound and not a traditional one, or is it something has a sound you loaded. There are a few siren devices thay can take a loaded MP3 sound.
Arlo can also attach multiple alro chime devices if needed to the base station if needes.
One other option is if you wantes to just have audio in some places you could attach just the regular audio doorbell as well. I believe you can assign different chimes to different doorbel devices.
Another recommendation for Blue Iris and pick your best camera solution for the need.
BI can also integrate with HE.
I use a Uniden WiFi video doorbell that works well and has a phone app. The camera is also available white label through some OEM integrators. Also works with BI. Also works with existing 24V doorbells for power and bell - some may need a resistor added but it's a simple fix.
I have a couple Wyze cameras with their RTSP image loaded and feeding BI. Not the most reliable but good for secondary cameras.
You are going to skip the entire Wyze ecosystem because they don’t have a doorbell that works with a chime?
I am not a coder, but surely a rule could be used so when a sensor detected the Wyze chime going off, that would trigger a switch to ring your doorbell chime.
I have a bunch of Arlos and have had reliability problems with them. Out of a dozen or so three have failed. Some of them I attribute to Arlo pushing firmware upgrades but I still had to replace the cameras. The last time I managed to sort of manipulate Arlo into replacing them for me but it was not a good experience. However, given your requirements, you may not find the "perfect" solution.
Though this is true. BI along with other systems that analyze the video stream and record may need a continuous video feed. Without that it may be hard for it to record and operate properly. I use a setup with Motion on linux for video and audio recordings from two Eufy Indoor cameras. When others have tried my directions with it in the Eufy forums for battery powered cameras, it works kinda, but works best with continuous video feed. The effect of the screen going blank and then suddenly coming back from RTSP cameras can act as a trigger or cause strange results.
We need to keep in mind that the request is for battery powered options.
Arlo certainly isn't the company it was years ago. I have been less and less impressed as time has passed after it was broken off of Netgear. The new company has been very focused on subscriptions and getting continuous funds from each user. It can be used without a subscription though. That is why I started my first post in this thread the way i did. The problem is you can't really argue with how well they fit the requirements here. The really sad thing now is they won't even provide phone support for a user now if they don't subscribe for at least one camera for 3 bucks a month. Well that is atl east after the initial trial period is over.
I think the best option is a solution that everything would be powered over POE, and can use PIR, and AI for motion detection. It records continuously to a NVR or Blue Iris. The doorbell requirement would have to be a add on from the normal camera system. Simply put i don't think any system will allow what a doorbell needs. Perferably a Doorbell that has a option for RTSP or OVNIF that the NVR or BI can record. That simply handles the recording, but would still use the OEM's features for the door bell functions.
The problem is obviously that isn't Battery/solor powered or Wifi so. Arlo is my suggestion for a full retail package that should just install in run based on how it designed.
It depends. Does wyze trigger a local api or something when it’s pressed? If it does I could make it work. I haven’t really researched them much at this point
I agree. I have an entire arlo system sitting on the shelf that I pulled because I wanted full time recording. (got tired of arlo taking pictures of people walking away from the camera because of start-recording latency).
I know unifi is not what he's looking for, but that's what I did. Bit the bullet and ran the cables and poe.. don't regret it.
I just ripped out my Linksys consumer-grade meshed network and went 100% Unifi with PoE access switches on every floor and a 24-port PoE switch in the basement. The Unifi Protect app will run just fine on my UDM. I'm definitely headed for Unifi cameras as the next step. But pulling 1,000 feet of cat6a through a 130 year old home was not fun. The thought of running cat6 (would not use 6a) for cameras is a little daunting at the moment.
The arlos are OK when they work... but I agree full-time recording is one of my requirements for my next-gen system.
Brad.
Mines a little older than yours. 2x8 port POE switches, 1x5 port POE powered switch. USG router, cloudkey 2+, and an unvr. Total of 8 cameras. 2 wireless AP's
I will never use battery powered camera ever again. Yes, running the cables was not fun, but so worth it in the end.
currently.
