How can I trigger a siren or strobe light with BI

[John Sutherland]

I want to trigger a sound file to play on a speaker like "hey get out of here" or siren or a strobe, or all three.

How can I trigger all these? Most use 12v, so I need a relay and something to trigger the relay based on motion detection from a camera connected to BI.

What is the best way to do this?

Thanks,

John

 

[mja01]

My solution for doing this may be more complex than what you are looking to do, but this has worked for me to protect my garage.

I use a Raspberry Pi as an alarm server which I placed in the garage. My Pi connects to my WiFi network. I wrote a python program (let's call AlarmServer) that would run on the pI as a server task, This program would listen for an HTTP message via a ServerSocket. On the Blue Iris PC, I wrote a python client program that would connect to the AlarmServer and send the message ALARM to the AlarmServer and then close the Socket. I configured BlueIris so that this Client program would execute when any of my cameras was triggered.

My AlarmServer program would play mp3 files via the Omxplayer program that comes with Raspian. The mp3 can be anything you wish - I recorded me saying "ALERT ALERT ALERT. YOU ARE BEING RECORDED AND POLICE HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED" to an mp3 file. I also play a police siren sound, a klaxon sound, and a whirling sound. I have cheap PC speakers connected to the Raspberry PI to produce the sound. I also have the AlarmServer program connect to the IFTTT service. Using the Maker Channel, I have IFTTT call my phone and send out an SMS message to me.

I am still trying to enhance my setup, but it does work.

 

[hmjgriffon]

My solution for doing this may be more complex than what you are looking to do, but this has worked for me to protect my garage.

I use a Raspberry Pi as an alarm server which I placed in the garage. My Pi connects to my WiFi network. I wrote a python program (let's call AlarmServer) that would run on the pI as a server task, This program would listen for an HTTP message via a ServerSocket. On the Blue Iris PC, I wrote a python client program that would connect to the AlarmServer and send the message ALARM to the AlarmServer and then close the Socket. I configured BlueIris so that this Client program would execute when any of my cameras was triggered.

My AlarmServer program would play mp3 files via the Omxplayer program that comes with Raspian. The mp3 can be anything you wish - I recorded me saying "ALERT ALERT ALERT. YOU ARE BEING RECORDED AND POLICE HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED" to an mp3 file. I also play a police siren sound, a klaxon sound, and a whirling sound. I have cheap PC speakers connected to the Raspberry PI to produce the sound. I also have the AlarmServer program connect to the IFTTT service. Using the Maker Channel, I have IFTTT call my phone and send out an SMS message to me.

I am still trying to enhance my setup, but it does work.

Dude, that's pretty cool.

 

[fenderman]

If you attach speakers to the BI machine you can play any audio...or you can send audio to a camera that has audio out...you can use a sealevel device as well

 

[hmjgriffon]

If you attach speakers to the BI machine you can play any audio...or you can send audio to a camera that has audio out...you can use a sealevel device as well

Side question, I was looking into the sealevel device for BI to use some PIR sensors, are you limited to one sealevel device at a time? I see they only come with up to 4 inputs, which is a lot of PIR coverage but still lol just curious.

 

[John Sutherland]

My solution for doing this may be more complex than what you are looking to do, but this has worked for me to protect my garage.

I use a Raspberry Pi as an alarm server which I placed in the garage. My Pi connects to my WiFi network. I wrote a python program (let's call AlarmServer) that would run on the pI as a server task, This program would listen for an HTTP message via a ServerSocket. On the Blue Iris PC, I wrote a python client program that would connect to the AlarmServer and send the message ALARM to the AlarmServer and then close the Socket. I configured BlueIris so that this Client program would execute when any of my cameras was triggered.

My AlarmServer program would play mp3 files via the Omxplayer program that comes with Raspian. The mp3 can be anything you wish - I recorded me saying "ALERT ALERT ALERT. YOU ARE BEING RECORDED AND POLICE HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED" to an mp3 file. I also play a police siren sound, a klaxon sound, and a whirling sound. I have cheap PC speakers connected to the Raspberry PI to produce the sound. I also have the AlarmServer program connect to the IFTTT service. Using the Maker Channel, I have IFTTT call my phone and send out an SMS message to me.

I am still trying to enhance my setup, but it does work.

I have a Raspberry Pi that I use as an As blocker, essentially it is running pi-hole, it is the default DNS server on my local network and it captures any ads and replaces them with blank HTML. So, I like what you did, but I do not have the Python skills, but I am interested if there was a way I could do this.

Thanks for sharing,

John

 

[spork]

Side question, I was looking into the sealevel device for BI to use some PIR sensors, are you limited to one sealevel device at a time? I see they only come with up to 4 inputs, which is a lot of PIR coverage but still lol just curious.

you should be able to hook up a entire loop of sensors on one input or even just use a cam with alarm inputs. For instance if the loop and sensors are NC any in the loop would break the current and sound alarm. I've been thinking of picking up a sealevel myself and see how close I can come to replacing a traditional alarm system with BI. You should be able to add door contacts and glass breaks as well.

I'm thinking you could have a away profile that you can switch to once you go out the door that will activate the blue iris siren if your internal sensors are triggered.

 

[Sammy2]

How about using a Vera Z-Wave controller with a Z-Wave alarm and then using the BI plug in to connect BI to Vera?

 

[klaparp]

I use raspberry pi with a simple php get that triggers a gpio attached relay. This is the easiest setup i could Think of. The php file is called from "alerts" with the ure: file.php?rapw

The "?rapw" is there so it wont get triggered just by someone accessing the filename.
A simple relay attached to gpio 27

The whole php file:

<?php
if(isset($_GET['rapw'])){
shell_exec("/usr/bin/gpio -g mode 27 out");
$gpio_off = shell_exec("/usr/bin/gpio -g write 27 0");
}
?>

Edit: I have alos made this accessible manually by adding the substream at lowest resolution / bitrate as a secondary camera without recording or motion detect. It can only be triggered manually and all it does is activating the relay

 

[CaliGirl]

I hooked up a very loud siren and strobe to a wifi plug. When I see something on my cameras that look like a threat, I can simply open the wifi plug app and turn on my alarm remotely from anywhere in the world. Total cost $25+7+10-= $42


For my location it would be too tough to decipher between friend and foe on auto motion detection alarm without seeing the live camera feed. I don't want to scare the heck out of each lost dog neighbor, house cleaner, window washer or power company employee the second they walk on our property. So manually setting off the alarm works better for me.

 

[Matt L.]

I use the cameras speaker output and a cheap audio amplifier and a horn. It is very very loud and somewhat clear.

 

[Matt L.]

For the lights and siren i would find a camera with an alarm "relay", or use a arduino and a relay. I have a pair of police strobes I'm meaning to connect up.

 

[Matt L.]

you should be able to hook up a entire loop of sensors on one input or even just use a cam with alarm inputs. For instance if the loop and sensors are NC any in the loop would break the current and sound alarm. I've been thinking of picking up a sealevel myself and see how close I can come to replacing a traditional alarm system with BI. You should be able to add door contacts and glass breaks as well.

I'm thinking you could have a away profile that you can switch to once you go out the door that will activate the blue iris siren if your internal sensors are triggered.

I'm looking to migrate away from BI to reed switches. Tired of flapping papers, shadows, walk-bys triggering a "door alarm". Just need a bunch of arduinos to network all the sensors into a nexus that runs BI and displays house data.