Virtual Wyze Camera driver

🚧 Developers
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Hey al!. I'm new to home automation in general and HE in specific. I've been looking around for a comprehensive way to integrate my Wyze cameras and didn't see anything like it so I decided to make it. (If I just missed it somewhere, please point me in the right direction.)

Anyway, this is essentially a virtual Wyze camera driver which can be wired up to IFTTT via Maker API. It features an on/off switch and virtual sensors for motion, sound, smoke, and carbon monoxide. I've also added a variable reset interval so the user can decide how long it takes to deactivate.

First, my rationale for doing this was mostly "because I can". I don't have a specific use case in mind. But I'm still hooking things into HE and figured "why not?" That being said, I think there are some definite pros and cons to integrating Wyze cameras and some use cases will be better than others...

Pros:

  • Cheap! A whole camera costs as much or less than a PIR motion sensor
  • Unusual sensor options (sound, smoke, carbon monoxide)
  • Wired power (no batteries!)

Cons:

  • Slower than local alternatives due to cloud integration
  • Multiple cloud hops = multiple potential points of failure
  • Notifications require recording so there are privacy concerns. I haven't tested out with a memory card so maybe there's a work-around, but from what I saw
  • On/off status isn't bidirectional (a limitation of IFTTT triggers)

Good use cases:

  • Home security / safety (though I take no responsibility for the effectiveness of the device or my driver in a life-or-death situation)
  • Occupancy (backup/confirmation to another motion sensor)
  • General status updates

Poor use cases:

  • Home automation (due to slow detection speed)

I can provide instructions, if necessary, for anyone that needs them, but this should be a standard IFTTT -> Maker API integration using webhooks. The device commands to call via IFTTT webhook are motionOn, soundOn, smokeOn, and coOn. In the other direction I've added a switch to the driver which can be used as a trigger in IFTTT to either turn the camera on/off or turn motion detection on/off (your choice). The reset interval is an integer variable in the device's settings. Valid values are between 1 and 299 since Wyze can only send an update every 300 second, anyway. (I'm not an expert on motion sensors so this felt appropriate, but tell me if I got it wrong.)

This is the first ANYTHING I've written for HE so feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

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RTSP firmware on the SD card allows you to eliminate the cloud.. and with creativity the others are overcome

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Nice job. Would like something like this for Arlo too!

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I’ve seen the RTSP firmware but haven’t used it so I don’t know what the options are. It would presumabley fix the speed and cloud hop cons, but I’d expect it to drop smoke/co detection. I’m guessing you’d need Blue Iris if you went RTSP?

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Thanks! This driver merely exposes the IFTTT triggers to Hubitat and vice versa. I haven’t explored Arlo so I don’t know what it provides, but it may be similar.

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Yeah, I'm assuming it would have similar commands accessible via IFTTT. I can arm and diarm my Arlo cameras using IFTTT but one annoyance is there is no way with Arlo to arm individual cameras (well, not without diving into Python I believe). May see if I can modify your driver to work with Arlo at some point when I can find the time.

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I have RTSP and use blue Iris but it's not required. The Wyze app and features still work. Just not the latest firmware and people detection.

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I have the rtsp firmware in a V2 and a Pan camera. The data stream is delayed be at least a second, probably more. It also disables recording to the SD card and you might as well turn of motion detection. In rtsp mode they do work with MotionEye for example, but think about the delay - it makes some ideas infeasible.

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I have zero delay in RTSP mode. its faster than the native app and casting, and you can in fact still record to the SD.... Sounds like you might want to inspect your setup and settings. RTSP just loses the people detection which was a cloud based feature anyway. motion, smoke, co, all still work just fine.

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Really? I wonder if it's the same firmware? I'm using the official 'wyze' rtsp - downloaded a few weeks ago for a V2 cam. I know there are other firmwares for V1's.

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I am the same as @anon62731458. There are 2 RSTP firmwares for the V2. I have 4.28.4.41 which I think is the latest.

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Oddly enough I just got an email from Wyze thats a bit relevant....

Wyze Person Detection

Selective beta testing now available!

Hello from the Wyze Product Management Team!

You've been identified as an active Wyze member so we're writing to let you know you've been randomly selected to be an early tester of our upcoming Wyze Person Detection technology .

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@anon62731458 - you lucky dog. I believe my RTSP issue is network related. I noticed a slowdown on my Mac when using NFS which is a 2.4 wifi to wired connection. Switched the Mac to 5Ghz and that problem went away. And yes the delay on the mac was about the same as my rtsp complaint. I unplugged the cameras, switched back to 2.4 and I have Delay again. I don't have that many things on Wifi but I'm guessing one of them is causing problems for the router or the router itself went wonky.

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Got the email, updated my app and i now have person detection by wyze ai... I do love that the RTSP firmware still leaves the normal app intact... really not sure why its not just part of the standard firmware

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I have a question. Where within this code do I give the RTSP ip address for the Wzye camera? What am I missing?

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can you provide the instructions to use this. thank you

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