Blue Iris

CasaDelGato,

There are many options, but we need to know more to help you.

Homeseer with Z-wave can work over small or large distances, due to mesh networking. If your HS3 and floodlight are a long way apart, you can still get the control signal between them by having other z-wave devices in the path. Can get expensive, but is very reliable. Homeseer can also poll devices to find out which state they are in.

HeneryH's system appears to be rf without mesh networking (Please correct me if I'm wrong). If that is true, then it will work reliably up to a certain radius from the transmitter, and then it won't. Doesn't appear to be much cheaper than z-wave devices, but that door bell unit looks sooo good....

There maybe other cheap or free RasPi HA systems that can be used, but I haven't tried them. If you are after low cost, then more research is required. For example, Ikea devices may interface with IFTTT, which may be controllable from BI5. Or it may give you massive delays or not work at all

TimG wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:42 pm HeneryH's system appears to be rf without mesh networking (Please correct me if I'm wrong). If that is true, then it will work reliably up to a certain radius from the transmitter, and then it won't. Doesn't appear to be much cheaper than z-wave devices, but that door bell unit looks sooo good....

Yes, the Felix (designer) RFM69 solution is a hub/spoke system.

And it can get expensive as you tinker with or want to install many modules. Not sure about the cost of other systems. I was doing it as a hobby too so I factored that benefit into the cost analysis.

HomeSeer seems rather expensive.

I've also been pointed to https://esphome.io/# as a possibility, using Sonoff devices, which are rather inexpensive.
Trying to find more details on how to set that up.

CasaDelGato wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:45 pm HomeSeer seems rather expensive.

I've also been pointed to https://esphome.io/# as a possibility, using Sonoff devices, which are rather inexpensive.
Trying to find more details on how to set that up.

I can't recommend anything Sonoff unless you are a skilled DIYer and accept the risk of using devices that are not certified for use in the US/Canada.
With ZWave, all of the devices that I own are UL/ULC approved. CE approval is not recognized in North America. North America does not use a 50Hz/220/240V distribution system that most of the rest of the world uses. The approval would not be important if it were a low voltage 12/24V system but talk about control of a mains connected device I always consider the safety of family first.

I mentioned Zigbee a couple times and suggest you look at Samsung Smartthings, Hubitat (on Amazon). X-10 is also pretty simple to work with but nowhere near as robust and reliable as ZWave or Zigbee which are both mesh networks. Most of the Sonoffs rely on WiFi for control. I do not know if the Sonoffs are 1-way or a 2-way communication. The reason this matters is for status and reassurance the command was received.

If it were me, I would get a Homeseer controller with built-in ZWave module and the ZWave motion senor floodlight contoller that Homeseer offers. Alternatively I would replace the floods with Zigbee floodlamps and use Hubitat or Smartthings to control everything.

Addendum:
The OPs problem to control a floodlight is a real pet peeve of mine, demonstrating how hard it is to do something so simple.
Home automation and control has been a mish-mash of different brands and proprietary protocols dating back to the 70's with the invention and patenting of the X-10 system. Patents had been a holding back problem for any particular protocol to gain universal acceptance. WiFi is ubiquitous and has largely been adopted as a way of controlling many devices but there is no underlying framework to make the different devices work together. That's why protocols like Zigbee or ZWave have made it easier to construct robust automation systems with a high degree of reliability. According to an article posted on theVerge website, Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Ikea and Zigbee are in talks to try to sort things out. Hopefully they can make some sense of it all to the benefit of the consumer.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/18/210 ... ip-project

Spending several hundred dollars to control a couple of floodlights seems rather silly. (Homeseer setup)
Remember that I want to trigger these from BlueIris.
Are any of the Zigbee or ZWave devices controllable from BlueIris - without using a remote server?
I haven't found any good references on exactly what is needed to use either.

The DIY system from Felix that I referred to earlier would probably come in about:

• Pi Maybe $40'ish

• Pi Shield configured from Felix $55

• SwitchMote for the Light Control $45

• Misc other crap $20 or so

So, yeah, it starts to add up with the base system + one switch coming in at about $160.

The reason for the Pi type of controller is that they have easy access to I/O pins.

Does your camera have a contact that closes (DIO) when motion is detected ? If it does, you could cobble together a relay circuit to control the floodlight. If not, then there may be hope with BI5 settings - see the "Digital IO and IoT" tab. That gives you IoT and MQTT to research

What is the exact model number of your camera? Some cameras have relay outputs so that camera motion events can activate an external device.

The solution in this case is a bit old-school but is my favorite use for X-10. An X-10 Powerflash takes the relay output of the camera and in turn sends X-10 control signal to any X-10 Lamp or Light switch. This would be very cost effective.

Props to @TimG I just noticed your post on the same topic.

Yep, X10 is transmission over electrical wires rather than RF but you'd need to make sure both devices were on the same phase at the breaker box.