I'm committed to Blue Iris for the long term. With that in mind, I'm about to start building our retirement home and home automation is something I want to implement. BI integration is a must have for my HA solution. What are my options and what type of things will integrating with an HA allow me to do? Thanks!
Trying to pick a home automation system - BI integration is a must
- Thread starter 105437
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I've been using Blue Iris with Smarthings and over 100 smart home devices for about four years. Some community members have created some integration smartapps like Blue Iris Fusion. And I also use stuff like HTTPS requests via IFTTT Maker to using BI alerts (Request from web service) to do stuff like turn on my front door entrance lights when video motion triggered in the driveway and nobody home or night mod (you used to be able to easily make these http requests directly to SmartThings, but <probably overdue> security changes broke that).
I also use smartapps (BI Fusion) to enable SmartThings to change Blue Iris profile states when home goes into night or away mode for example. And trigger Blue Iris recording on specific cameras if a door opens, a door knock, doorbell ring, or motion on a motion detector when home is in night or away mode for example.
You can look at SmartThings + Blue Iris integration discussions here: Search results for 'blue iris' - SmartThings Community
Basically, depends on your technical ability and time availability to get over the initial SmartThings learning curve. SmartThings isn't exactly the perfect platform, phone apps are quirky. Z-wave and zigbee network stability can have issues requiring occasional maintenance (remove and reinsert sensor batteries or remove and re-pair switches for example) and the ST platform occasionally has "issues".
What SmartThings does have going for it, compared to other home automation systems which tend to be restricted in customized actions and clever just-how-you-want-it rules, is it is the most flexible and customization platform with no fees for automation. You can just about do anything if you can hack some groovy code. Also, the developer community makes it easy to find and use existing examples, cloud to cloud integrations, device handlers and smart apps.
For the most part everything just works for me except for those occasional glitches. But that rarely relates to BI integration. I don't use effort heavy manual control gimmicks like Amazon Alexa. I prefer pure home automation. i.e. everything happens automatically, I never do anything. Lights on and off exactly as I would want in every room. Thermostat automation. Doors lock when they should. Modes change automatically based on rules, video records or turns on lights for only certain events based on modes or times etc. It works so well that I'm now quite traumatized and frustrated every time I visit a hotel and have to use light switches!
Edit--
Blue Iris live video from BI web server is also the centerpiece of my home ActionTiles home automation dashboard. We almost never actually use the dashboard to flick a switch, but we use it all the time to see who's in the driveway.
I also use smartapps (BI Fusion) to enable SmartThings to change Blue Iris profile states when home goes into night or away mode for example. And trigger Blue Iris recording on specific cameras if a door opens, a door knock, doorbell ring, or motion on a motion detector when home is in night or away mode for example.
You can look at SmartThings + Blue Iris integration discussions here: Search results for 'blue iris' - SmartThings Community
Basically, depends on your technical ability and time availability to get over the initial SmartThings learning curve. SmartThings isn't exactly the perfect platform, phone apps are quirky. Z-wave and zigbee network stability can have issues requiring occasional maintenance (remove and reinsert sensor batteries or remove and re-pair switches for example) and the ST platform occasionally has "issues".
What SmartThings does have going for it, compared to other home automation systems which tend to be restricted in customized actions and clever just-how-you-want-it rules, is it is the most flexible and customization platform with no fees for automation. You can just about do anything if you can hack some groovy code. Also, the developer community makes it easy to find and use existing examples, cloud to cloud integrations, device handlers and smart apps.
For the most part everything just works for me except for those occasional glitches. But that rarely relates to BI integration. I don't use effort heavy manual control gimmicks like Amazon Alexa. I prefer pure home automation. i.e. everything happens automatically, I never do anything. Lights on and off exactly as I would want in every room. Thermostat automation. Doors lock when they should. Modes change automatically based on rules, video records or turns on lights for only certain events based on modes or times etc. It works so well that I'm now quite traumatized and frustrated every time I visit a hotel and have to use light switches!
Edit--
Blue Iris live video from BI web server is also the centerpiece of my home ActionTiles home automation dashboard. We almost never actually use the dashboard to flick a switch, but we use it all the time to see who's in the driveway.
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Thanks @peterfram! Really appreciate you taking the time to reply with so much information and detail. Does Smartthings allow me to set up procedures that would for example turn on certain lights when the garage door opens? Would it be smart enough to enable certain BI settings when I leave the house? Would love for Smartthings to be able to turn on exterior lights if motion is detected etc. Would Smartthings allow me to setup procedures that create certain lighting scenes? So much to learn!!! Thanks again.
105437. yes the built in SmartThings device handlers and smartapps do the garage door open, door open, motion, vibration action turn on lights, lock doors when you leave and a lot more. Blue Iris is considered a custom device type with custom apps. These don't run locally (on the hub) yet to the best of my knowledge. As Cor points out, things that depend on Cloud connectivity do not run if your Internet connection is not working. Otherwise the impact of Cloud vs local processing is a matter of milliseconds. For me not an issue since the Internet rarely goes down unless we have a major area power outage that causes it. The SmartThings hub batteries only provide an hour or two of backup power IIRC.
The Blue Iris Fusion smartapps, created by a community member, is used for a number of things. For me it changes my BI profiles from #1 to #2 which changes triggers, motion sensitivity and zones, recording duration, alert rules, camera settings etc when the house goes into Away, Home, or Night mode. It also can use various z-wave or zigbee sensors - motion, open/close/vibration, doorbell, and other sensors to trigger recording in BI when things happen. And BI motion detection can turn on lights or execute any other smart device action you have configured in SmartThings with devices or virtual devices (e.g. lights or something like motion/recording/alert on porch or doorbell turns on TV or radio). This functionality and integration is all thanks to the dev community, not produced directly by SmartThings itself.
Cor, I loved Vera when I played with it 4 years ago, great community and effort, but it limited me when I was setting up our new house for certain devices or Cloud services and I couldn't get some wanted Vera to Cloud integrations. Part of it was learning on my part I'm sure. Still I wouldn't push anyone away from Vera.
SmartThings doesn't have fees for automation but they are trying to create a business model with various optional monitored home security companies and offer optional video storage kinds of packages. Those are all option add-ons that I do not think are very popular. With Samsung now owning them, I think they can generate revenue by making Samsung smart products more attractive rather than restricting growth through forced subscription fees. They are also fairly quickly moving more cloud processing to the local hub for reliability and operating costs. The majority of my core motion, open/close and lights, lock doors smartapps seem to run fine these days when I'm rebooting my cable modem or running on generator power during extended power/Internet outage. They have a lot more work to do but are moving pretty fast, especially in recent weeks. Anyway, SmartThings does have its struggles, but Cloud hiccups or local processing is rarely an issue any more for the standard part of my setup.
The Blue Iris Fusion smartapps, created by a community member, is used for a number of things. For me it changes my BI profiles from #1 to #2 which changes triggers, motion sensitivity and zones, recording duration, alert rules, camera settings etc when the house goes into Away, Home, or Night mode. It also can use various z-wave or zigbee sensors - motion, open/close/vibration, doorbell, and other sensors to trigger recording in BI when things happen. And BI motion detection can turn on lights or execute any other smart device action you have configured in SmartThings with devices or virtual devices (e.g. lights or something like motion/recording/alert on porch or doorbell turns on TV or radio). This functionality and integration is all thanks to the dev community, not produced directly by SmartThings itself.
Cor, I loved Vera when I played with it 4 years ago, great community and effort, but it limited me when I was setting up our new house for certain devices or Cloud services and I couldn't get some wanted Vera to Cloud integrations. Part of it was learning on my part I'm sure. Still I wouldn't push anyone away from Vera.
SmartThings doesn't have fees for automation but they are trying to create a business model with various optional monitored home security companies and offer optional video storage kinds of packages. Those are all option add-ons that I do not think are very popular. With Samsung now owning them, I think they can generate revenue by making Samsung smart products more attractive rather than restricting growth through forced subscription fees. They are also fairly quickly moving more cloud processing to the local hub for reliability and operating costs. The majority of my core motion, open/close and lights, lock doors smartapps seem to run fine these days when I'm rebooting my cable modem or running on generator power during extended power/Internet outage. They have a lot more work to do but are moving pretty fast, especially in recent weeks. Anyway, SmartThings does have its struggles, but Cloud hiccups or local processing is rarely an issue any more for the standard part of my setup.
Great info @peterfram... One other key component will be my home security system. Which one do you use?
I use a separate standalone alarm.com based monitored 3rd party alarm provider with open/close sensors and motion sensors, fire/smoke sensors with a reasonable monthly fee. All the alarm equipment is wireless with 4G mobile panel and self installed.
I choose to keep monitored alarm system separate from my automation system at this point in time since automation is new and still maturing and I like to not have to check my phone on vacation, airplane or scuba diving
. For now I'm more comfortable with a monitored alarm system, personal Blue Iris camera system, and the automation system that happens to also provide instant alerts as secondary security from my perspective. Two layers of connected security is pretty much a good idea in this day and age.
All that said, 3 or 4 years ago when my semi-rural suburban neighborhood had about 13 or 14 midday burglaries over 18 months and my BI connected cameras recorded two separate suspicious visitors poking around during those months, I'm pretty sure it was the cameras alone that scared them away from my house. Since then the entire neighborhood has cam'd up and not much has happened in recent years.
I choose to keep monitored alarm system separate from my automation system at this point in time since automation is new and still maturing and I like to not have to check my phone on vacation, airplane or scuba diving
. For now I'm more comfortable with a monitored alarm system, personal Blue Iris camera system, and the automation system that happens to also provide instant alerts as secondary security from my perspective. Two layers of connected security is pretty much a good idea in this day and age.All that said, 3 or 4 years ago when my semi-rural suburban neighborhood had about 13 or 14 midday burglaries over 18 months and my BI connected cameras recorded two separate suspicious visitors poking around during those months, I'm pretty sure it was the cameras alone that scared them away from my house. Since then the entire neighborhood has cam'd up and not much has happened in recent years.
For myself I would probably start with 'homeseer" , they say a bit more stable as vera (although my system is now running very stable with a lot of "higher programmed automation" ). I am very sceptical in companies who offer "free" stuff , I always learned; nothing is for free. If you build your whole system, spend a lot of time and money on it, and suddenly a company descides to pull the plug or want a monthly subscription. Numerous examples; teamviewer who made restrictions some time ago , dyndns, very recently imperihome. Just food for thought if you start building on a system and what you expect, also thinking about the future.
Cor
@peterfram... if I wanted a security system that could integrate with Smartthings, any thoughts on that? Thanks again!
I haven't paid much attention, but someone has a working basic ST to alarm.com integration floating around the community linked to in the earlier post.
Then there's the official ADT integration SmartThings.
Also, Scout Alarm with ST SmartThings + Scout Alarm
One very simple issue I see is with motion sensors. The many z-wave or zigbee motion sensors that work with smartthings are great for automation with instant active state changes to turn on lights etc. Sensitivity adjustment capabilities are limited. For a security system, generally they tend to use less sensitive motion sensors which require more steps of motion before triggering to mitigate false alarms. Even if you don't have pets, lights and shadows create some risk of false alarms with automation calibrated motion sensors. If using a shared automation + security system, you can work around this by skipping motion sensors for security. Instead use open/close, glass break, and acceleration sensors etc.
Then there's the official ADT integration SmartThings.
Also, Scout Alarm with ST SmartThings + Scout Alarm
One very simple issue I see is with motion sensors. The many z-wave or zigbee motion sensors that work with smartthings are great for automation with instant active state changes to turn on lights etc. Sensitivity adjustment capabilities are limited. For a security system, generally they tend to use less sensitive motion sensors which require more steps of motion before triggering to mitigate false alarms. Even if you don't have pets, lights and shadows create some risk of false alarms with automation calibrated motion sensors. If using a shared automation + security system, you can work around this by skipping motion sensors for security. Instead use open/close, glass break, and acceleration sensors etc.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
A lot of existing info in the Home /Automation subject area of this forum.
In short, a Z-wave stick and Domoticz will get you up and running. See subject area.
Home Automation
nayr's home automation build out...
In short, a Z-wave stick and Domoticz will get you up and running. See subject area.
Home Automation
nayr's home automation build out...
I don't know too much about OpenHAB or Domoticz other than what I have just googled.....based on that, I would answer your question with 'yes' it would be more expensive. OpenHAB and Domoticz are free/open source, Homeseer is not. You pay for the base system and any plugins you want eg Blue Iris. So it would be up to you based on $$ vs programming skills etc. From what I quickly researched you could probably get Blue Iris to work with those two systems, but you need to script it yourself. Blue Iris on Homeseer is a plugin (that you need to buy), and once installed, it is dead easy to integrate with the rest of Homeseer. I have motion detection triggers in Blue Iris in events in Homeseer and from there into Imperihome (including controls).
Thanks for the reply @grcgto... Can you have PIR sensors in Homeseer that can trigger a camera to record in BI?
Yes.
I just set up a quick event to check this. I have a couple of motion detectors in the house and though it is a nonsensical action in this particular case, you could start a camera recording (or other stuff) based on a motion trigger. Enabling/disabling a camera would make a bit more sense.
