Foscam IP Camera Plugin

mcvflorin,

The Foscam Camera App V2.2 finally downloaded on my machine. My Vera3 is not happy. All four of my Linksys WVC80N cameras, which use the Foscam Camera App as their impl_file now show “Failed to configure camara” after every reboot. My Vera3 keeps setting the ConfiguredMD setting of these cameras to 1. The Linksys cameras had no problem with V2.1 of the Fosccam Camera app.

My Vera3 keeps setting the ConfiguredMD setting of my two Foscam FI8910W cameras to 2.

Initially, the ConfiguredMD of all 6 cameras was 0, but after several reloads, my Vera3 decided that Linksys cameras should have a value of 1 and Foscam FI8910W camera should have a value of 2.

I looks like getting this app to work in a mult-type, multi-camera mode is a real hornet’s nest. The images from all the camera still work well, but the Motion Sensor functionality is another matter.

I may be wrong but I think that is what it is supposed to do. I have three Foscam FI8910W cameras and all are set to ConfiguredMD=2 (and working) after I changed it to a 1 this morning.

I interept the ConfiguredMD as: 0=Motion Detectors Disabled, 1=Reset/Reload Motion Detectors, 2=Motion Detectors Enabled

I don’t have a programming background but after trying to get these to work yesterday I think I am getting the hang of it. When you enter 1 in ConfiguredMD, the plug-in logs into the Foscam cameras and makes changes to the camera’s parameters. One of changes it makes is to set the “alarm_http_url” which tells the camera where to notify Vera that motion has been detected (this is why you need to input Vera’s IP address). Your Linksys cameras probably don’t operate in the same way so the Vera is stuck on ConfiguredMD=1 since it can’t complete the operation.

If the motion alarm on the Foscam camera is working but it isn’t showing up on the Vera check the camera’s parameters page. You can access through your browser at: “http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:####/get_params.cgi” filling in the x’s with your camera’s IP address and #'s with its port. You’ll be asked for your camera’s password before it loads. This page will show you all of the settings for camera, many of which aren’t accessible from the Web GUI.

Scroll about half way down and you should see a section with settings labeled “alarm”. Look to see that “alarm_http” is set to “1” (meaning enabled) and the “alarm_http_url” is pointing at a URL with the Vera’s IP address.

The Foscam Plug-in should be correctly entering all this, but you can manually enable the alarm_http by entering this in your browser: “http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:####/set_alarm.cgi?http=1”. Changing the URL is a little trickier but same general idea.

One thing I found interesting in the parameters page is that there is an option to enable alarms based on sounds. I am going to play around with that a little this weekend.

[quote=“silvereagle2208, post:15, topic:171931”]@Trotsky40
I do not agree with your request that if you set the BYPASS mode on the new Vtera Foscam Motion Sensor device that you want it to turn of Motion Capture on the parent IP camera as well. I regard the camera motion detection as my baseline. I do not want Vera to override my baseline. At most, I want Vera to supplement my camera baseline. If you want a button on the Foscam Motion Sensor tab to override the camera motion detection, then there needs to be 3 buttons: Armed, Bypass, Turn Off Parent Camera Motion Capture. This new motion module is still too experimental. I also consider it to be somewhat unnecessary, since I feel the prime location where camera motion capture should be Enabled/Disabled should be on the camera itself, with Vera providing supplemental functionality.[/quote]

After thinking about this more, I agree with you on this. Using motion dection to turn lights on and off at a certain time of day is an auxillary function that can be handled by Vera and the bypass is a good way to manage this. The “heavy lifting” of motion detecting (logging, recording video and photos) should be done and managed by the cameras directly.

@Trotsky40

Thanks for providing me with the meaning of the ConfiguredMD settings. I now understand why mcvflorin asked me to set the ConfiuredMD setting to 1 on my camera: It forced the camera/motion detector to reset itself.

Now that I better understand the purpose of ConfiutredMD, it appears that in its present form my Linksys cameras will not be able to use it. The Linksys cameras could coexist with Version 2.1 of the app because it did not work properly. However, the code that works with a Foscam camera, does not appear to be compatible with a Linksys camera. I believe the mcvflorin will have this sorted out in a couple of days, but in the meantime, users with non-Foscam cameras wll need to be patient and enjoy the fact that their FI8910W cameras now have increased Motion Detection capability.

the motion detection feature is very specific to Foscam cams, so most likely it won’t work with Linksys cams (unless they support Alarms in the same fashion); to get the Linksys working, I suggest setting ConfiguredMD to -1 (disabling the motion sensing)

@silvereagle2208

ConfiguredMD basically holds the motion detection configuration step. When the plugin is first installed this variable is “0”, meaning that nothing has been configured. The plugin first creates the motion sensor device and sets the ConfiguredMD to “1”. ConfiguredMD = 1 is the camera configuration step. The alarm notification is enabled on the camera and the notification URL is set to be the Vera’s IP address. If the plugin managed to configure the camera the ConfiguredMD variable is set to “2”, meaning that everything has been configured successfully.

The reason you got “Failed to configure camera” is probably because the commands used to configure the Foscam camera don’t work with the Linksys cameras.

@mcvflorin

great addon! however it seems it doesn’t work when the option for “secure this vera” is set to yes (i.e., username/password is needed for accessing Vera over LAN), as the alarm URL doesn’t take this into account. Can you confirm this?

@capjay

I haven’t thought about this when creating the plugin. Indeed, it doesn’t work because the camera connects to Vera on port 80. As a workaround until I fix this you can change the notification URL from [tt]http://Vera_IP/port_3480/…[/tt] to [tt]http://vera_ip:3480/…[/tt]:

http://Camera_IP/set_alarm.cgi?http_url=http://vera_ip:3480/...&user=camera_username&pwd=camera_password

The new Foscam plugin V2.2 finally works with my two Foscam Cameras. I need to thank @capjay for pointing out that the new plugin does not work if “secure this vera” is set to yes. Once I set this value to no, the Foscam motion sensors began working.

I also need to thank @capjay for informing me of the -1 state of the ConfiguredMD variable. Previously, I only knew of states 1, 2, and 3. Setting the ConfiguredMD variable to -1 on my Linksys cameras removed the error messages I received when I had the variable set to 1.

Now some more questions have arisen:
What would it take to get this motion sensor module to work with a Linksys WVC80N camera? Does it make sense to even try if the code were available? Is the necessary code available or is it MiCasaVerde proprietary code? Presently, I couple my Linksys cameras with real physical Motion Sensors, so I have a workaround. However, if I could use the cameras motion sensor instead, I would save money on batteries and I would have a more reliable motion sensor.

Can the Foscam Motion Sensor Module cause its associated camera to store an image when motion is detected? I can send a notification when motion is detected. I can also activate scenes, associate it with triggers, interact with Luup events, and follow schedules. But I do not see anywhere where a Motion Sensor Module, either Foscam app, or actual physical device, can cause a camera to capture and email an image.

The Foscam Motion Sensor Module locates itself in the same room as the camera with which it is associated, even if I try to place the sensor and camera in different rooms. Is is possible to place a Foscam camera and its associated motion sensor in different rooms?

The question is: does the Linksys camera supports sending notification when motion is detected? If it does, then the code can be modified to work with this camera, but that would be a different plugin, because this one is specifically for Foscam cameras.

The code is located here: http://code.mios.com/svn_public/mios_foscam-camera/
You can also download the I_FoscamPTZ.xml file from the Vera UI → Apps → Develop Apps → Luup Files.

Not without Lua code. You can search the forum for the code to send images from the camera when motion is detected.

This is by design, because I thought that no one would want to have the motion sensor in a different room than the camera, because they are the same physical device. To allow the motion sensor to be placed in a different room uncheck the embedded checkbox in the motion sensor’s Advanced tab.

@mcvflorin

Thank you for the quick response to my questions. The reason why I asked if the motion sensor for given camera could be sent to another room is because my Linksys WVC80N cameras use your new Foscam plug-in. The motion sensor capability is disabled for my Linksys cameras to prevent an error being generated every time my Vera3 is rebooted. Since the device is disabled, there is no need for it to be in the same room as my Linksys cameras. Another way I could do this is to remove all Motion Sensor devices attached to Linksys cameras. However, I have learned from experience that once the link is severed it is difficult to restore the the motion sensor device for a given camera. I imagine you know a way to do so, but the only way I was able to do so was to do a system restore.

@silvereagle2208

To remove the unused motion sensors set the ConfiguredMD variable to “-1” in the camera’s Advanced tab, then simply delete the motion sensor. To restore it, set the ConfiguredMD variable to “0”.

Has anyone else seen this? After I upgraded my Vera3 to Firmware Version 1.5.408, the Arm/Bypass functionality of Motion Sensor Device attached to my Foscam FI8910W cameras no longer worked. I was able to recover the functionality by reuploading the D_DigitalSecurityCamera1.xml file provided by @mcvflorin in the first message in this thread into my Luup files directory.

Here is the link provided by @mcvflorin to this file:
http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_foscam-camera/raw-attachment/wiki/WikiStart/D_DigitalSecurityCamera1.xml

The device file for my Foscam Motion Sensor devices stayed the same: D_MotionSensor1.xml

I have another question for @mcvflorin: If I had set the device file of my Foscam camera to D_DigitalSecurityCamera2.xml, would that have also restored the Arm/Bypass functionality as well?

@silvereagle2208

Yes, and you would have gotten preset functionality too.

I have successfully installed the Foscam plugin on my Vera Lite, with UI5. I have assigned a fixed IP address and an alternative port (8010) to the FI8918W camera to permit direct remote access to the camera interface using a dyndns host. The Vera and the camera are both on the same router.

All works fine after I added the alternative port to the IP address in the camera’s Vera Lite Advanced tab in the format 192.168.xxx.xxx.xxx:8010. The setting (including the port number) appears “automatically” in the Setting tab, and successfully saves. This allows successful inclusion and operation via the Vera UI (including motion detection). However, over a relatively short time the port entry in the Vera Advanced tab “disappears”, leaving only the correct, fixed IP address (but NOT the port number), and of course results in the camera becoming inaccessible to the Vera. This does NOT appear to be related to a camera, Vera or router reboot.

Any suggestions as to the cause of this and/or make a suggestion so that I can lock the port setting down? I have attempted to insert the dyndns host name into the IP field in the Advanced tab without success, but this might be one possible solution if it can be done.

If the mac address field of the camera is filled out in the settings tab, you will need to remove the mac address. Having the camera on a different port other than 80 with the mac address field filled out, you will lose connection after some time. The fix is to remove the mac address in the settings tab and save.

  • Garrett

Wow! Instant action! Shouldn’t you be in bed??!! :o

I’ve made the change as you suggested and now, time will tell …

Thanks again for the prompt response :smiley:

mclass (in Australia at 6:30 pm)

Most of America is in bed, however I work nights so…

  • Garrett

Hi Garrett!

How pleased am I that you work nights!! ;D

It’s been 24 hours and the Foscam and Vera haven’t missed a beat (touch wood!),
Thanks for your help.

Regards