Hi all,
As of this evening I am a proud new owner of a Vera 2. I configured a single leviton plug in modue and created a scene for it so I’m feeling very bold right now! Now for my question:
I have a windows 7 PC configured with an Avermedia AverDigi NV5000 security camera card and AverMedia software. This system works great, allowing me to receive motion alerts and record anything going on at my house in front of the cameras. I’m wondering if there’s any way to interface the security cam system with my Vera so that motion alerts can trigger events on the Vera 2. I know the AverMedia card has signaing capability and obviously, the windows 7 PC it’s on can interface through USB, serial, IP, etc. I’m probably getting in over my head for a Vera newbie, but it would definitely be a great way to enhance my security system. One example would be my front door camera triggering a motion detection alert which would cause the Vera to turn on my front door lights.
Any assistance pointing me in the right direction would be very appreciated!!!
Thank You
Pasqual
Basically, there are two ways to interface your cam system with Vera:
[ul][li]physical connection (LAN, USB, …)[/li]
[li]wireless connection (WLAN, Z-Wave, …)[/li][/ul]
You should start with analyzing what signals your cam system (card and PC) can provide.
The easiest (but not the most reliable …) way might be to hook up a Z-Wave door sensor (e.g., Everspring SM103) to the relay output of your card.
@Ap15. Why you say it’s not the most reliable? Is there any problem with that kind of sensors?
Nothing is wrong with that kind of sensors, but a physical connection is more reliable than a radio connection.
Thanks for the informative responses so far!
Just to be clear, I’m interested in using my security cam system as the motion detector that tells the Vera 2 to do something. The motion detection on my cameras is very consistent, reliable and configurable, so I’d hate to have to redundantly add another motion detector or door/window sensor when I have that function on my camera. So basically I just need to figure out how to have my security cam computer send a message or signal to the Vera 2.
Ap15e - Are you saying that the Vera 2 can receive signals over my LAN from other (non z-wave) devices? If so, how does that work. I looked into setting up events for a scene on the Vera 2 and I have to choose a device to trigger the event, but my camera system isn’t in there. Is there a way to add a generic “IP network device” so that i can use it to trigger an event? Perhaps it can rebroadcast camera video as a generic IP cam?
Again, any assistance is very appreciated!
Thanks
Pasqual
I’m not suggesting you use the Z-Wave door sensor as an additional motion detector. The Z-Wave window/door sensor (connected to your card) would transmit the state (motion/no motion) of your non-Z-Wave motion sensor(s)/camera(s) to your Vera and you could setup scenes (tied to the Z-Wave window/door sensor), which could switch on/off other devices supported by Vera.
If your cam system can get a user defined URL if there is motion/no motion, you could use a virtual device flag on Vera (e.g., http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=2138.msg9104#msg9104) and tie scenes to it.
There are many possibilities … Once again, you should start with a list of all signals your cam system can provide to indicate motion/no motion.
The camera server and Vera dont need to be physicaly connected, or even in the same country. I use a camera server remote to Vera that has each of it’s camera’s images show up within Vera using the generic camera plugin, the camera servers IP address & port number.
Can you view the camera images remote of the server? If you use an IP address or link to the server to view the images you can more than likely get the images into Vera without a physical connection.
JOD.
Wow! This forum is just amazing with the fast responses and great hints/tips/suggestions!
Ap15e - now I understand what you’re proposing with the door setector. I particularly like the virtual device flag suggestion and will look into that!
JOD - my security cam server can be accessed remotely, so I will explore your suggestion also! If I can do that, can I use the Vera to detect motion? That’s my main goal here.
Thanks All!
Pasqual