BlueIris & Alerts (& HomeSeer)

R

rfj

Pulling my weight
Oct 26, 2014
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I am using BI with HS (HomeSeer). In short, when a camera is being triggered then I do a "Post to a web address or MQTT server" which triggers an event on HS. At this point I narrowed it down to where I believe HS is not part of the problem. So here is where I am at this point:

When I go to the Trigger tab of camera properties and I click on "Trigger now" I see a red frame around the video stream and the red dot in the top right of the video stream is lighting up. Hence, it seems the camera is indeed being triggered.

When I go to the Alerts tab of camera properties, click on "Configure..." for "Post to a web address or MQTT server" and then click on "Test" then I see a message coming in to HS. So the connection between BI and HS is working.

Hence, for some reason, although the camera gets triggered no alert is being executed.
 

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HS_Alert.png I am new to HomeSeer, but likewise I had problems with HS alerts, too. More than likely the problem is with the HomeSeer rather than with Blue Iris. What is the alert you are wanting to create from a Blue Iris trigger?

As a test, if you have Phillips Hue lights, try to set one to blink upon a BI trigger.

Oh, and under the events options, I have it checked as a Priority Event.
 
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I do not have a Phillips Hue light. Having said that, why do you believe this is an HS issue? When I manually trigger an alert in BI then I see an appropriate log entry in HS. So it appears to me that for whatever reason no alert is being executed in BI despite the fact that the camera is triggered (shows the red border around the video feed).
 
To add to this, note that I have BI configured to only record when motion is being detected and I do see recorded video. Does BI have a log file where I can see motion triggers and most importantly that an Alert was executed (which in my case doesn't seem to happen).
 
Hi rfj, If you can see a message in HS, then BI is getting something through.

I created a virtual device in HS3, and used that device number in the BI command. It works well here. I can add screenshots if you need them, but its beer time in the UK now !
My BI command is:

192.168.2.2/JSON?request=controldevicebyvalue&ref=222&value=100

Which switches HS device 222 to value 100. Does that help ?
 
Well, maybe I didn't explain it well. In the camera properties there are among others the tabs "Trigger" and "Alerts". The "Trigger" tab allows you to define under what circumstances a camera triggers a motion event. What BI does with that motion event is defined in the "Alerts" tab. In my case I use the global standard profile "1 Active" which means it's active 24/7/365. My "Fire when" is set to "This camera is triggered" and "motion zones" is checked along with "A". Hence, Alerts should be executed when at any time/day there is motion in zone A. When that happens, then my action "Post to a web address or MQTT server" is being executed which basically is calling HS. I can test that "Post to a web address or MQTT server" by clicking on "Test". When I do that I see a message in HS, hence, the "Post to a web address or MQTT server" is working.

However, when my camera is being triggered, that "Post to a web address or MQTT server" is not being executed. I am saying this because I don't see a message coming in to HS. So it appears to me that for whatever reason, although the camera is being triggered, the Alert is not being sent out.

Edit: For debugging I configured the camera so it draws a rectangle around a moving object. I do see a green rectangle when something is moving outside of the zone that have defined. As soon as the object enters my zone A the rectangle turns red and a red frame is drawn around the live video stream and video is being recorded. But again they Alert doesn't seem to be executed (based on the fact that I don't see anything in HS but as stated above, when I test the Alert by clicking on the "Test" button then I see the message in HS).
 
Again, what type of alert though HS are you trying to get? An email? SMS? Make another device do something?

Apart from that, and anything you are trying to build in the Events, you are really saying that you see nothing in the Log showing the alert coming from BI?
 
From BI I am calling the HS plugin "Blue-Iris". I do this by doing a "Post to a web address or MQTT server" and setting the first line in "When triggered" to [IP]:[Port]/JSON?request=pluginfunction&function=Alert&plugin=Blue-Iris&P1=&CAM&P2=&TYPE. To exclude complexity I am not looking at any HS devices. Instead, I am looking at the live log file in HS and see if a message is coming in.
 
In the HS Log, filter by the type "Web Server" and see if there's any postings from Blue Iris there.

Within the Blue Iris Plug In, you can specify what level of logging you wish to have, as well.
 
I don't see anything related to BI when I filter by "Web Server".

Here are some further updates. In BI under "Alerts" I know also enabled "Sound an alarm using PC or camera speakers". Indeed, when the camera is being triggered I do hear an alarm but I see no log entry in HS. It's as if "Post to a web address or MQTT server" was never executed.

BUT:
1) If I manually trigger "Post to a web address or MQTT server" by clicking on the "Test" button I do see a message in the HS log.
2) I have another camera where I use the same setup as for the problematic camera. Here when the camera is being triggered I see a message in the HS log. I even copied the content of "Post to a web address or MQTT server" from the working camera to the problematic camera but there it still isn't working. That's even when setting the log level to "Trace".
 
That is odd. I'd look carefully at the HS Devices list at the problem camera.
 
In the Trace-level HS logging for BI, does the periodic status pull (in my settings, every 300 seconds) for the log show the problem camera as Online?
 
Can you build an HS event based on the triggering of the problem camera, just to see what the logs may show?
 
Well, it actually works now. Unfortunately, I don't know what fixed it as I violated my principle of doing just one change at a time. I did upgrade to the latest version of BI but I am not confident that was the source of the issue. I also disabled the BI plugin and re-enabled it which didn't help. I rebooted the computer which also installed some Windows updates. Again, I doubt that those updates fixed the problem. I also uninstalled the BI plugin and then re-installed it. I suspect that this might have fixed the issue. It still doesn't explain why I saw messages when I triggered an event manually vs when there was actual motion.

Anyways, I really appreciate all your input. Thank you and Merry Christmas!!
 
Very glad to hear, rfj. The HomeSeer system is a bit baffling, as I'm still trying to build up my own z-wave network. Merry Christmas!
 
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