KeviNH

That's my experience with every visible light camera I've installed outdoors -- in-camera motion in particular is just too prone to false-positives to rely on it for alerting. OTOH, disk space is so cheap now that (assuming hardwired PoE powered cameras), it just makes sense to enable 24x7 recording and then only send an alert based on more reliable triggering inputs. What I have done is set my NVR to record constantly, but also enabled the camera (could also do it in NVR) motion detection and setup "HTTP alert" to run an ISY program each time the video analytics motion detection triggers. This gives me several options to ignore false alarms, for example to only react if ISY has also seen input from a PIR motion sensor or driveway alarm, or even make it less likely to react if the weather module says current conditions are windy! Dakota has dropped many of their more HA-friendly products from the lineup, but still makes a reliable "vehicle sensor" (buried magnetic field probe coil) which could possibly even detect the gate being swung open.

I've been looking at the ZXT-120/600 devices, other than your programming hiccup, how is the ZXT-120 working out for you? Would you recommend it?

Looking at the Axis manuals, it appears those modules also support similar external calls, but may only call out with HTTP (sending password in the clear), not HTTPS.

Here's a quick overview for Axis cameras running the "AXIS Video Motion Detection" (VMD3/VMD4) software, how to execute ISY programs when motion is detected. There's another thread for enabling/disabling/triggering motion on Axis Cameras. Axis cameras also have the option to add text to an overlay caption on the image, however setting the overlay requires Digest authentication, so cannot be done directly via a Network Resource call sent from the ISY994, requires V5 and NodeLink for relaying. To run a program on motion, the basic steps are as follows: Make sure your ISY is configured for local HTTPS access, and create the program you want to trigger. I prefer to set some conditions on the program itself and then disable it, so it only evaluates the conditions when called via REST as "RunIf" Make sure your VMD is working as expected, that you're getting recordings/emails every time motion occurs in frame (see Axis instructions or call support). On the camera, go to System -> Events -> Recipients and create a new recipient. Protocol will usually be HTTPS URL will be something similar to https://<IP-or-Name-of-ISY>/rest/programs/<program-number-4-digits>/runIf (Unless you want to run this via the Portal). Usually you will disable "Validate Certficate" Username and password are your admin username and password (Unless you want to run this via the Portal). Click "Test" to confirm program runs successfully. Go to System -> Events -> Action Rules, Add a new rule. Set the rule to trigger on motion, and set a reasonable time before it will run again Choose "Notification" as the action, and select your recipient. Do not populate the "parameter" fields when using ISY REST calls. This will cause the call to fail.

Sending "beep" to a scene works great; all devices in the scene chirp nearly in unison. Before I setup Sonos for voice alerts, I used "beep" with a scene to do one, two, or three chirps for specific notifications.

Can you show an example of how you set a persistent notification? I assume this means that when the values are updated. the new notification replaces the old?

For pressure measurement, you want a "potable water" rated "Pressure transducer", probably something with a range of 0-100 PSI. Even a cheap analog (low voltage output) transducer is going to start at around twenty bucks, and you'll still need something to take in the signal.

With my original Insteon MS, I get the low battery alert about 3 months before the battery is truly dead.

I use the original Insteon MS, mounted upside down and aimed directly at the litter box. It's part of a scene which turns on the automatic cat feeder and a light, plus I have a program which keeps a daily count of how many times the MS was triggered. See description here:

I've been able to successfully decode the RF transmission from AMR meters for gas, water, and electric by using a cheap RTL-SDR dongle and BeMasher's open source " rtlamr" software on Windows and Linux. I have not been able to get this to work reliably on Raspberry Pi, even the newer Pi 3 falls behind and fails to decode. You'd still need to write code to do something useful with the readings, like post the delta of the meter reading to ThingSpeak and/or to an ISY variable, or trigger an alert on sustained usage over a long term.

I'd add a bunch of debug statements, then run it in the foreground and watch to see what exactly happens when it "fizzles out". Does the program exit with an error? Keep running, but stop talking to ISY? etc. If you can reduce the frequency it sends changes to the ISY, then turning off Keep-Alive (and instead doing {'Connection': 'close'}) is worth trying.

Any Insteon or Z-Wave device with reliable status reporting would be easy enough to have an ISY program turn it back on 10 minutes after the "status" changes to Off. However, all the appliance modules I have experience with are 3-prong. Using a lamp module could be problematic, depending on how the filter reacts to being "dimmed".

The old DSC PC1550 panel isn't compatible with any of the integrations, but that isn't a reason to get rid of all the hardwired sensors. You could get a new brain and new keypads, and just ditch the panel itself.

ADT removed your physical keypads when you went to Pulse? Maybe you can add an ADT-branded Keychain Remote or a SmartThings fob? I see last year ADT announed " ADT Pulse skill for Alexa", allows arming via Alexa:

I'm extremely leery of a cloud-tethered system having the ability to arm/disarm a security system. What I do is detect when the alarm system is armed, and that causes an ISY program to run which does the timed shutdown of lights, HVAC setback, etc. So I always remember to arm the alarm because arming is what tells the ISY to go into "goodnight" mode. The Pulse features for Z-wave seems to be mostly distinct from arm/disarm? I see IFTTT integrations, but they all use the arm status email notifications sent from Pulse to trigger IFTTT; that's a one-way feed out of Pulse into your email, can only react to arm/disarm/etc, not control the alarm system. For older alarm brains there is Honlink. I do not know if Eyez-On EVL3 works with ADT Pulse? Pro-Tip: If you are dead set on giving a third party or cloud service your alarm system code, check whether you can create a "Babysitter Code" and expose that code only.

This is getting really complicated. Just read the link in this first reply to this thread, and remove/minimize the Wait timer.

Does the sump cycle normally last more than a minute? If not, the program will never make it past the Wait. (see this thread)

The "disable" approach is one solution. Another is to use an integer variable, this allows implementation of the solution in a single program: Notify on Shed door open - [ID 0115][Parent 001F] If Status 'Shed Door-Opened' is On And $Integer.Notified_Shed_Recently is 0 Then Send Notification to 'NR' content 'NR Shed Door' $Integer.Notified_Shed_Recently = 1 Wait 5 minutes $Integer.Notified_Shed_Recently = 0 Wait 10 minutes Send Notification to 'NR2' content 'Close the darn shed door already' Else Wait 5 minutes $Integer.Notified_Shed_Recently = 0 Make sure you create the variable $Integer.Notified_Shed_Recently as an Integer, not a State variable, and "Init" is 0 (That is, value starts out as zero after a reboot).

Sounds like what you need is a camera which supports "camera alarm trigger from http", then you can have ISY994 send a trigger via a Network Resource. In theory, this might be achievable without using a separate script on a separate computer if your camera can be triggered (e.g. via an API call) to force it to take a snapshot and email it. Or sometimes you can trick a camera into thinking it saw motion by turning on/off the IR leds and/or IR cut filter so it sees a scene change. This varies not only by camera maker, but also by model -- for example, some Foscams have a public API, some have well-documented HTTP request strings, and some are just a PITA and won't work for this sort of thing at all. It's more common to have a URL you can call that will send a snapshot to the calling computer -- but the ISY994 can't do anything with a JPG coming inbound as a response to a Network Resource call, thus the need for a Linux script. Another options would be to use a network camera recorder (NVR). Many NVRs (Zoneminder, BlueIris, etc) can be triggered from a Network Resource.

Here's a quick overview of the notifications I am using to create a list of web pages for each day of the week, and then add events to the appropriate day's logfile. I have a variable for day-of-week, increments from 1-7. This notification is used each day at 12:00:01 AM to recreate the "indexlog.htm" so it points to today's current logfile: The midnight program also calls a notification to blank out the current day's logfile by writing a new header to a file where the filename includes the variable for the day of the week, like so: And finally, here's the simplest "append to today's log" notification. I have others which are more complex, or highlight particularly interesting events in bold, red, etc.

(Feel free to merge with the archived thread when ready for archiving) There are several options for integrating IP video surveillance (Cameras and NVRs) with ISY, in both directions. Your options will depend on the camera make, model, and firmware and whether you have the Network Resource (or portal) module for your ISY. Polyglot Camera NodeServer If you are running v5.x.x and have a supported camera, you can use the Polyglot Camera NodeServer Wired Contacts More expensive "commercial" surveillance cameras will often include "dry contact" alarm input (to force recording on) and alarm output (to notify when motion is detected by the in-camera analysis). These can be used with Z-Wave or Insteon inputs or outputs (e.g. an open/close sensor or EZIO2X4) to interact with ISY994 without any reliance on TCP/IP communications. Note: If security and speed are a concern, best practice would be to hardwire a PIR sensor to close a circuit to both the camera and an open/close sensor at the same time, eliminating delays and dependency between the ISY and the camera. Public API (or reverse-engineer unpublished API) If you are lucky enough to have a camera with a published API (e.g. Some Foscam models), you may be able to use a Network Resource to change camera settings "on the fly" or even cause the camera to start recording or to upload a snapshot to a server. Note: Network Resources on ISY994 (as of V4.6.2) cannot do anything to use,store, or process the return data; e.g. you can't have the ISY fetch a snapshot JPG and do something with it -- you'll need a rPi or some other middleware if this is your goal) Network calls via NVR (Public API, etc) Free Network Video Recorder (NVR) software is available for Windows and Linux and can provide a public API and other network connectivity to enable integration between ISY and the NVR for cameras which are NVR-compatible. Zoneminder can accept "triggers" (a Network Resource sent from ISY) to cause individuals channels to record for X seconds, and can also send a REST command to the ISY (see HTTP "Alarm" push below), using the "filter" feature in Zoneminder. HTTP "Alarm" push Many cameras include a "HTTP Alarm Send" feature (the exact terminology varies). This is a configuration within the camera motion detection settings which enables making a HTTP call out each time the in-camera analysis detects motion. If this supports authentication to the remote web server, you can use this to make a REST call to the ISY to set a variable or run a program. For example:

Here are a few ways to tie cameras to ISY. Depends on the model. FLIR (Lorex) mostly rebrands other camera makers (Dahau, etc) and some models are ONVIF, some have SD card slots, a few only work with "FLIR Cloud". Even Axis is starting to sell cheap dumb tethered cameras to hit lower price points.

If you don't already have cameras, you'll probably buy a few duds before you find a product you really like. If you have a Costco membership, you can abuse their return policy. Most recently, I've been buying directly from FLIR Lorex because of their 2-year warranty and 60-day returns. For remote access, I use "tinyCam Monitor Pro" app as well as my own private cloud storage. If you're up to running a Windows or Linux server at home, there are free network video recorder apps available. Some home NAS (Synology, QNAP, Asustor, etc) also include surveillance recording onboard. I agree, the move towards cloud-dependent products is annoying. Most recently, Y-Cam announced that they would only sell "cloud" cameras, and then later decided to limit free use of cloud storage to the first year of ownership. So now owners are stuck either paying a subscription or losing all recording features. Another strong cautionary tale is Netgear's VueZone. Choosing the right cameras makes a huge difference in capabilities -- even within a particular brand, features can vary immensely from model to model, or even by firmware revision. See this thread: https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/18753-looking-for-camera-recommendations/ When choosing a new IP camera, look for "ONVIF Profile S" compliance, and standard PoE (IEEE 802.3at or IEEE 802.3af) to avoid proprietary lock-in.

I don't know why the feature is there. Just a way to make a shortcut link to HTTP cameras for people who want all the HA stuff on one page? There are a few different options for camera "flexibility", depends on the make and model of your camera. Which cameras do you have? What would you like to accomplish? How do you feel about keeping a PC or rPi or Unix machine always running at home just to handle camera services?

If you're interested in remote tracking of the actual level of oil in the tank, there are some interesting competitors to the venerable Beckett Rocket with high resolution output. Two newer options include the TEK-603 "Eco Oil Monitor" and "The Smart Oil Gauge™", a cloud-tethered product which requires a smartphone app. This last one looks to be the most likely to eventually support integration with home automation, or at least IFTTT. If you have a thermostat which sends status updates, you can accomplish this without extra wiring. I've been logging furnace runtime from my Z-Wave thermostat, it tracks closely to oil consumption (my burner nozzle is calibrated for 1.0 gallon/hour).