Vera Lite not installing/configuring cameras properly

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

Having an issue with my Vera Lite running 1.5.346.

Shortly after getting my Vera Lite I added 4 D-Link IP cameras to the dashboard ([1]DCS-932L, [3]DCS-930L). All added without issue and could be monitored. Earlier I had the brilliant idea of adding a couple of Foscam FI8918W cameras. Needless to say all was not rosy during the installation.

I downloaded the Foscam I_FoscamPTZ.xml file from this forum, uploaded it to the server, and restarted luup. I then tried adding the 2 Foscam FI8918W cameras and added the I_FoscamPTZ.xml file name under impl file. The cameras both added but it would not allow me to utilize the PTZ controls associated with either. If I clicked on one of the controls nothing would happen until the camera image disappeared and a broken image indicator was displayed in it’s place. I tried deleting and re-adding the camera and nothing seemed to help. It was at this point I noticed something odd with my existing D-Link devices. They were showing up listing plugin 5 under the advanced tab. I found this odd because periodically the status indicator along the top would now display a message about plugin 5 which I hadn’t seen before.

Out of grins I tried deleting one of the D-Link cameras and got an error message telling me that plugin 5 was invalid (it did not delete the device). I then went into the device and manually removed the reference to plugin 5. Vera would then allow me to delete the camera. I then tried re-adding the camera and it would not allow me to re-add the camera. It went through all of the steps to add the camera but displayed a “X” in lieu of the camera image when asking me to verify that the camera was added. I told it to add the camera and close the dialog but when I went back to devices the newly added camera was not there.

Last night I ran “heal network” twice to see if there was a problem. It grumbled about having trouble communicating with a Everspring SM103 sensor but otherwise seemed to work without issue.

Today I tried restoring a backup that I made of devices from about a week ago. The restore worked and I could see the devices… but it still would not allow me to add a new camera. Additionally the PTZ controls for the two Foscam cameras still did not work.

I tried running another heal network and then did a factory reset on the entire Vera box. When the Vera Lite rebooted, all of my rooms and scenes disappeared but 6 of my devices seemed to mysteriously re-appear in the dashboard. I tried deleting several of them but they seemed to come right back. I did not realize that the Vera Lite had the ability to go out and find devices on it’s own.

In any case I’m still not able to add new cameras to my Vera Lite. I’m tempted to open a trouble ticket with tech support on this but was hoping that someone might have some suggestions for things I’ve not yet tried. Help?!?

2

I logged my issues with MCV Tech Support and received an email reply today.

The tech support team member indicated in his email to me that l_FoscamPTZ.xml file only works in uI4. I was also provided hyperlinks to the pages in the Wiki referencing adding cameras, Foscam cameras, and factory resets.

This evening I bit the bullet and did another factory reset. Once done I followed that up with a Reset of the Z-Wave network to clear out all of my devices (fortunately I don’t have that many). I then started the arduous task of re-adding all of my devices. Once done I went to re-add all of my IP cameras but ran into a similar snag. Whenever I tried to add a camera, D-Link or Foscam, it gave me an error. It told me that it was unable to get an image from my camera. I tried every permutation I could think of to get around this but nothing seemed to work.

I next tried something I had read in a thread in this forum. I went to Apps → Develop Apps → Create Device and manually created each IP Camera device. Once each device was created I went back through my list of cameras and edited the settings to reflect a proper URL along with valid login credentials the cameras all started to work. For grins, I tried adding l_FoscamPTZ.xml to the impl file field in my two Foscam cameras but I still didn’t have PTZ capability. As such I’m going to assume that, for the moment, PTZ does not work on Foscam cameras under UI5.

3

Incorrect, PTZ does function correctly with the Foscam cameras under UI5. Please use this I_FoscamPTZ.xml file:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8832.msg58277.html#msg58277

  • Garrett
4

I suspected that might be the case…

I downloaded the copy of l_FoscamPTZ.xml from this thread

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8832.45.html

dated March 27th. I uploaded the file successfully into Apps → Develop Apps → Luup files, restarted luup, and referenced the exact file name (noting that file name is case sensitive) in the impl file field in each of my Foscam cameras. The commands still did not work. I then kicked off a Heal Network process to see if that would correct the issues. When I checked again this morning the commands still do not work. Oh well… I suppose I’ll keep tinkering with them.