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Holbs said:
naw...I'm no MQTT pro :) I have MQTT working via Blue Iris & DSC 1864 alarm panel to Home Assistant via MQTT. I think I know the basic levels of MQTT.
What I do not understand is why bother with a Ring script to being with? MQTT is as simple as SMTP email.
Logic would say...RING publishes a topic to MQTT. Anything that can read the MQTT topic (Home Assistant, HomeSeer, another MQTT program) will act on what is published.
Why a script? Maybe the script acts as a go between RING and MQTT. So instead of 3 parties involved (Home assistant <> MQTT <> RING) there is actually 4 parties involved (Home Assistant <> MQTT <> script <> RING). That linked page talks about when this or that is restarted with auto-discovery. This is something I have no need to do when restarting Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel because Home Assistant does not care if something is restarted because it is only looking at that single MQTT publish variable and not the Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel itself.
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My Home Assistant never discovered Blue Iris because it is using MQTT as a go between. But did discover my DSC alarm panel so that I can select specific alarm (motion detection PIR for example) which does not use MQTT. For some reason, was thinking my alarm panel uses MQTT which it actually does not.
 
Holbs said:
naw...I'm no MQTT pro :) I have MQTT working via Blue Iris & DSC 1864 alarm panel to Home Assistant via MQTT. I think I know the basic levels of MQTT.
What I do not understand is why bother with a Ring script to being with? MQTT is as simple as SMTP email.
Logic would say...RING publishes a topic to MQTT. Anything that can read the MQTT topic (Home Assistant, HomeSeer, another MQTT program) will act on what is published.
Why a script? Maybe the script acts as a go between RING and MQTT. So instead of 3 parties involved (Home assistant <> MQTT <> RING) there is actually 4 parties involved (Home Assistant <> MQTT <> script <> RING). That linked page talks about when this or that is restarted with auto-discovery. This is something I have no need to do when restarting Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel because Home Assistant does not care if something is restarted because it is only looking at that single MQTT publish variable and not the Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel itself.
Click to expand...

The main issue is despite repeated attempts by folks on the Ring forum about opening up the Ring to allow API and other things, they refuse to do so, so workarounds are needed.

It would be nice to be able to have Ring issue an API out when my mailbox is opened that would swing the PTZ to that location, but there is not an easy way without adding more parties to the mix.
 
wittaj said:
The main issue is despite repeated attempts by folks on the Ring forum about opening up the Ring to allow API and other things, they refuse to do so, so workarounds are needed.

It would be nice to be able to have Ring issue an API out when my mailbox is opened that would swing the PTZ to that location, but there is not an easy way without adding more parties to the mix.
Click to expand...
This is why I went the Blue Iris and Dahua camera route :) You would imagine...those in the know about IT & computers & cameras realize that Ring's API is totally locked down. One day, API could change or get all messed up (think NEST). Kinda spooky!
 
Holbs said:
This is why I went the Blue Iris and Dahua camera route :) You would imagine...those in the know about IT & computers & cameras realize that Ring's API is totally locked down.
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Yeah it isn't a total deal killer for me and I have figured out other ways within BI to make it happen with an overview camera, but dangit I have that sensor in there and would like for it to be able to talk to something else LOL.
 
wittaj said:
Yeah it isn't a total deal killer for me and I have figured out other ways within BI to make it happen with an overview camera, but dangit I have that sensor in there and would like for it to be able to talk to something else LOL.
Click to expand...
I should say...I have nothing against proprietary API's. I have a weather station that I have to rely on it's API to incorporate into my home automation.
 
I made a reminder (e-mail is sent) to close the garage door if it is open after 21:00.
The email is sent with the screenshot of the garage (to make sure this is not false alarm).
Using raspberry pi and an old IP camera.
 
The link I posted be
Holbs said:
Why a script? Maybe the script acts as a go between RING and MQTT. So instead of 3 parties involved (Home assistant <> MQTT <> RING) there is actually 4 parties involved (Home Assistant <> MQTT <> script <> RING). That linked page talks about when this or that is restarted with auto-discovery. This is something I have no need to do when restarting Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel because Home Assistant does not care if something is restarted because it is only looking at that single MQTT published topic variable and not the Blue Iris or DSC alarm panel itself.
Click to expand...

Looking at the link again, I think this is correct, the script acts as an interpreter between the Ring API and MQTT.
So it lets you talk to Ring devices using MQTT.

I don't plan to buy any Ring devices anytime soon, but if you already have them, this seems like a nice way to integrate them into a smart home.
 
Using Home Assistant here to do several different things. Never was successful at getting Blue Iris integrated, mostly because I haven't tried very hard. Most valuable automation in the whole shebang? Light sensor in a south window to measure ambient daylight. Use it to turn on/off the outdoor lights every day. Have the Honeywell house alarm integrated, and for $70, Alarm Decoder works extremely well on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. Can now look at and around and inside the house (via Blue Iris app) anytime away from home, and remotely disable the alarm if necessary. No more beeping alarm panel when opening the house, because it's disarmed from the car, using the HA phone app. And there's no monthly charge for that capability, either. Just the initial investment and effort.
 
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Home assistant, running everything from an alarm system to turning my front light on and off. Garage doors, locks, I run an nvr but I also have frigate doing image recognition on cameras that home assistant takes and sends me a photo when a car or person enters my yard zones.
 
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Been spending some time on my home automation stuff, and fixing/updating documentation on it.
Randy's Smart Home
You can find the info in my pages, but wanted to say the the IOTstack software I'm using to help install everything on the pi makes installation and keeping software up to date so much easier.

I also just spent time figuring out how to backup my pi's automatically during the middle of the night. I make a backup of the sd card image, so if something happens I just have to write the image to a new sd card.
Backup info
Doesn't happen very often, but any type of memory will fail, so having a backup is REALLY important.

I almost messed up a few months ago, but was able to find something so I could recover. But it wasn't optimal, took some work. If you have an actual backup of the sd image its really easy to recover.

Randy
 
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I've been using a Wink2 Hub and Z-wave for several years for home automation, but have recently switched over to a new system that uses LoRa (Long Range wireless).

My new system (Yolink) consists of 4 door sensors, 10 leak detection sensors, 15 motion sensors, 11 smart plugs, 2 sirens, 2 garage door sensors, 12 wall switches, 8 smart temperature sensors, 1 door lock, 2 Fob's, 2 speaker hubs and 1 standard Yolink hub.

I have one of the motion sensors in my mailbox, which is 935' from my house. Signal strength is 3 out of 4 bars communicating with the hubs. Yolink claims that the wireless range can be up to 1/4 mile with no obstructions. It's been working great. I am notified by voice instantly whenever mail is delivered and there are 3 houses between my house and my mailbox that the signal has to go through.

I use some of the temperature sensors to control smart plugs. I have one in a bathroom that turns on the bathroom exhaust fan when humidity reaches a certain level and then turns it off when it reaches a lower level. I'm using another temperature sensor to control a box fan in my shed. The fan turns on when the temperature in the shed reaches 90F and then turns off when the temperature reaches 80F.

It works great with app and voice control using Alexa. Will be adding more door locks to the system when they're available. They've been on backorder for a couple of months. It's a fun hobby, along with the IP cameras and Blue Iris. :-)
 
Hi Larebear. Can yolink integrate with BlueIris, such as when a sensor has an event then BlueIris receives a trigger command to a camera, whose alert then sends out an email with a snapshot? Also same idea - can an event send out a PushOver notification?
 
I don't know of any way to integrate Yolink with Blue Iris. That would be great if it was possible. Maybe someone more knowlegable than me can figure out a way.

The Yolink app can be configured to send push notifications, text msgs and emails for each device. With their speaker hubs, you can also have it announce by voice when the device is triggered. Of course that can be done with Alexa too when a Yolink device is triggered. When my mail is delivered, my Yolink speaker hubs and Alexa smart speakers all annouce at the same time "Larry, you got mail".

I do have Yolink smart plugs power on/off my indoor Amcrest cameras with Alexa location-based routines. When I leave home and get a few blocks away, all the indoor cameras are powered on using the smart plugs. When returning home, they power off.
 
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