Take picture based on open/closed sensor

[born2dive]

Here is my use case:

 

Liquor cabinet that is equipped with a open/close sensor

Cam plugged and pointed toward that cabinet

When the cabinet is opened, I'd like the cam to take a picture and email it to me

 

I use the ISY portal and network module

I have a Nest Cam if that works, otherwise I can buy another cam that can do the trick.  I know the Nest Cam has a motion sensor and can detect events.  I want it to only trigger and email when the cabinet door is open.

 

I tried playing with IFTTT with the ISY and was not able to get it to do what I want.

 

Thoughts/Ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[MWareman]

I wrote a PHP script on a Linux system that triggers on an API call from my ISY, obtains an image from the camera (a Foscam in my case), and then sends the image to Pushover (where it’s displayed on my phone, and can be saved to the local phone).

[KeviNH]

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.