Solution: PIR motion-controlled Mimolite binary input triggering Blue Iris camera recording

I almost don’t believe I wrote the title of this post, since I was a newbie 2 months ago - and probably still am.

This post is meant to be a “thanks” to the community of those who helped me in the past and for those who may have similar challenges or objectives. I hope my experiences help one other person.

My objectives:

  • Control Blue Iris recording from my driveway motion sensor
  • Use an alternative to native camera motion detection (due to false triggers from tree shadows on windy days)
  • Get a quality PIR sensor with sensitivity adjustment - most everything on the market is cheap junk

The solution I designed:

  • Amcrest IP3M-943S – 2K 3MP 1080P bullet camera. Discontinued but works like a champ.
  • RAB Lighting STL360W Super Stealth motion detector. It is built like a truck. Is pricey but works great. I did not even hook it up with lights, since I have garage lanterns already and night IR lights in the camera. Also, lights in the same fixture as the PIR may at times cause false triggers or flaring on camera.
  • I set up the RAB for the minimum (5 second) motion duration. My Blue Iris recordings are set at 10 seconds minimum. Customize as you see fit.

Now, for the connections:

  • I used the RAB light control output to control a 110V relay, Functional Devices RIB-U1C Relay in a Box

  • I tied the output of the RIB-U1C to the binary input of the FortreZz MIMOlite. Basically using it for dry contact closure detection. MIMOlite is probably overkill for a binary input sensor, BUT I already had one installed for my garage door, so I was familiar with the device and decided to get a second one for this.

  • FYI I tried to use a PIR Zwave motion sensor, but the PIR sensitivity was terrible. So I went with a better PIR device and a wired approach as described here.

  • I had to install the MIMOlite plugin in Vera, which as you may know creates 3 devices. I only needed the binary sensor. I deleted the others to reduce “Vera Clutter”

  • I believe I had to associate the binary sensor to the actual mimolite device. Perhaps someone more saavy on Vera can verify this. What I did was go into the MIMOlite plugin → Advanced → Variables, and I entered the Mimo Device ID into the field “MIMO_Devices”

  • The MIMOlite is included in the Vera network. I created a scene in the Vera box to trigger recording in the Blue Iris camera. There are other posts on this and other forums on how to do the scene for Blue Iris. Here is a summary:

  • In Blue Iris, disable motion sensor for the camera (e.g. camera specific motion sensing), enable Global DIO

  • Disable “Use secure session keys and login page”

  • Create a LUUP script:

luup.inet.wget("http://ipaddress_of_blueiris_server/admin?camera=shortnameofcamera&trigger=1&user=username&pw=password1",5)

Note: I spent two days troubleshooting the scene because the LUUP code had hidden characters in it. Do NOT create the above code within a word document or other editor and attempt to paste into Vera. Instead, write it out from scratch within Vera or make 100% sure your notepad won’t insert hidden chars. There, now you have two extra days back!

Also, i found that the logic of the MIMOlite was inverted. So I had to make my motion trigger “when binary sensor STOPS detecting motion” (versus when it detects motion).

Yes it works PERFECTLY. No more false triggers. Motion is actual motion.
I use a Synology NAS and the “drive” application from Synology, which syncs the “New” Blueiris recordings to my private cloud server. I loaded the drive app onto my mobile phone and can view from anywhere. I am sure you all have more elegant cloud solutions for Blue Iris. This worked for me since I already had the Synology.

Good luck to all, happy to answer questions, get corrections in my summary, or get other feedback.

2 Likes

Nice write-up and giveback…

Remember, everyone was a newbie once.