Alarm output NC or NO via wired connection into Camera to trigger BI alerts?

bignose3

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Just trying to figure out is this is a real option.

I have an alarm, don't always trust remote alerting via their cloud server.

I wondered if I can connect the alarm output (via relay), no Volt NOpen or NClosed into a camera. (not sure which camera, I m in the UK, I have lots already but none have terminals)

Do some camera's have DIO inputs, I know some have outputs to trigger an alarm but not sure the other way round.

If so would his then trigger an alert via the camera. I am sure in BI settings I can use the numerous alert option to push notificatons & all the other great options as long as the fundamentals of what I am asking are possible?

As cheap to buy a average camera as a dedicated Wifi alert sender & then integrated in to BI that I already have on phone rather than a separate App.

Thanks I/A
 

TonyR

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Consider using a Shelly1 to provide alarm input to a Blue Iris camera, not directly into the camera itself. The Shelly1 would access Blue Iris via Wi-Fi. The Shelly1, which is very popular in the UK and EU, is only about $20 USD here!

GO HERE ==>> Simple Blue Iris I/O using Shelly1 Wi-Fi Devices

This scheme below could likely work for you. Set the Shelly1 to operate on 12VDC.

shelly1_input.jpg
 
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bignose3

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That looks really good, so this is in effect the relay & trigger for BI.
I did not say before as I figured I would a have to sort the relay side of it because the output from the alarm is the siren 12v & not a switch.

So the shelly is powered by 12v all the time and when the alarm triggers it sends its 12v to the SW.

Not sure how "The Shelly1 would access Blue Iris via Wi-Fi " What setting would I use?

I can investigate all this, so thanks again.
 

TonyR

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So the shelly is powered by 12v all the time and when the alarm triggers it sends its 12v to the SW.
If the output from the camera is a "dry" contact (meaning it has no connection inside the cam and you can put your own external voltage on it), I would switch the negative ( - ) from the 12VDC power supply by connecting that negative to the Shelly1's "L" terminal and one of the cam's relay contacts to the "L" terminal also. Then connect the cam's OTHER wire from its relay to the Shelly1's 'SW" terminal. That little switch symbol you see above the Shelly1's "SW" terminal is essentially your cam's alarm output wires. BTW, the Shelly1 can be configured to respond to a NO (Normally Open) or a NC (Normally Closed) external switch or relay contact.
Not sure how "The Shelly1 would access Blue Iris via Wi-Fi " What setting would I use?
It's explained in an attached PDF found at the link I supplied above. The Shelly1 would be configured to log into your existing LAN's Wi-Fi; the same LAN that your BI server is connected to.

You configure the Shelly1 to send a HTTP command to Blue Iris that would result in an alert being executed; that alert could be a Push notification, SMS text, e-mail, audio, trigger another camera, etc. You can find all of BI's HTTP commands in it's built-in "Help" file.

For instance this command below triggers a cam; you then create an alert based on what you want the alert to do!
Code:
http://BI-Server-IP:BI-Server-Port/admin?camera=CamShortName&trigger=1&user=username&pw=password
 
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bignose3

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Hi,
Thanks for all your help,
feel bad when someone (not sure if you) has gone to a LOT of trouble laying out the instructions in such details & I did not have the decency to read it,
to be honest I thought it was just a link to the image already in view but I should have checked.

What a fantastic little device the Shelly1 is, I cannot believe I have not been aware of these before & so cheap, amazing.

Just got x2 for £20, setting up now.
Struggling a little to get the http command right but will get there, I think a account/user & pw issue.
Not sure if it one of the Users in the settings/users or the other account name under the settings/startup/OS/Run as a windows service .\Greg

must admit this should be obvious but got confused with the Users & local account & main account & the .\Greg above. I fiddled & lost track of what I did to get that, I can't even remember why now, lots of .. that won't work unless you have this or that account type.


Thanks again.
 

TonyR

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Struggling a little to get the http command right but will get there, I think a account/user & pw issue.
Not sure if it one of the Users in the settings/users or the other account name under the settings/startup/OS/Run as a windows service .\Greg

must admit this should be obvious but got confused with the Users & local account & main account & the .\Greg above. I fiddled & lost track of what I did to get that, I can't even remember why now, lots of .. that won't work unless you have this or that account type.
Just a note: the Shelly1 will work on your Wi-Fi only, no Shelly Cloud account needed! Any user and password you place in the HTTP URL to command BI will be a BI user and password. If you created a password to log into Shelly's webGUI, then that is needed to configure Shelly.

Also, if you have BI send a HTTP command to Shelly and you had set up Shelly with a password, then that will have to be placed in the URL sent to Shelly, as mentioned on page 6 of the PDF file.

To repeat the bottom of page 5 (I really need to # those pages!):

"NOTE: The above URLs sent to BI from Shelly assume that BI is configured with User “anonymous” enabled. If user “anonymous” is NOT enabled and you have created a user and password in BI to be used by Shelly, then you must also place that user/password at the end of the URL that Shelly sends to BI. That would add “?user=username&pw=password” to the end, so the example URL now would be “. Additionally, you must also go to “Web server” => “Advanced’ and UNcheck “use secure session keys and login page”. "​
 
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TonyR

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Thought I remember seeing someone connect an Arduino via USB serial to their Blue Iris machine and getting in/out that way. ARDUINO & BLUE IRIS SERIAL digital i/o DIO

BI makes many ways possible by the sounds of it :).
Yes, BI is very flexible which, IMO, is why it's such a treasure.
Yes, folks are hooking up Arduinos and various Pi flavors but the Shellys are a lot more turnkey for someone like me. They're packaged and ready to go hardware-wise, just need some configuring.

And for those that are looking for it, the Shellys are also MQTT friendly. ;)
 

bignose3

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Eventually got the http working on the shelly to alarm a BI camera. Somehow I think the camera config got corrupted (v.unusual) but removed & re added the camera & it worked straight away)

Works v.fast & well, fine tuning now.

I am using alerts action to send a Push Notification to my phone with a unique sound.
The only thing is it does this only once, I would like it to repeat until the Shelly1 switch is Off.

I think this normal behaviour, S1 switch On, send http, BI alert, sends push, mobile sounds off once.
I could get some sort of script in between but trying to keep it simple, really wanting to use only the S1 or BI.

Will investigate more but if anyone has good idea.
 

TonyR

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The only thing is it does this only once, I would like it to repeat until the Shelly1 switch is Off.
Glad to hear you've made some progress with the Shelly!

For now, you could set up a "Wait" after the push notification in BI's alerts, then repeat the push to the mobile, "wait" again if you like, then another push.
There might be a min. wait time between pushes required but no harm in trying to see if it works.

I suggest you read in BI's "Help" the section "Alerts and Actions" where it states:
"Action items on this list are executed in order from top to bottom. Alerts of different types may execute simultaneously however. That is, push notifications, sounds, and emails execute in order, but these all have separate queues and threads."

Maybe do a push, then a wait, then another push, another wait, etc. in sequence from top to bottom and see if that works for you.
 
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bignose3

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Hi,
thanks for the follow up,

All working great, BI & Shelly,

I actually spent more time using the shelly direct with MQTT to send alerts to Telegram messenger as a backup (more primary really) to my phone if the alarm goes off.
This uses my NAS & some python programming so if the BI PC goes down (which is rare to be fair) I have separate backup, as long as the Shelly1 is OK.

This is more of a Shelly fan club post (BI does not need more plaudits as so good anyway)
Looking to get the thermometer adapter as I have so many uses for those but have a few other projects at the moment.
 
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