use motion sensor from Foscam FW8918 to switch on lights?

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
#8

You’ll need to have downloaded the Foscam plug-in. I haven’t used UI4 but I think you can get it from apps.mios.com.

Once the plug-in is downloaded, on the camera’s advanced tab in the “impl_file” field type in:

I_FoscamPTZ.xml

That should create the sensor for that camera.

#9

I believe the plug in will not work in ui4.

  • Garrett
#10

The plugin works in UI4, the only difference being that there is no preset functionality. For this the D_DigitalSecurityCamera2.xml file is required, which works only in UI5.

@HouseBot
What is the value of the ConfigurationMD variable in the camera’s Advanced tab?

#11

[quote=“mcvflorin, post:10, topic:172056”]@HouseBot
What is the value of the ConfigurationMD variable in the camera’s Advanced tab?[/quote]
None, it does not exist. Should I add it and what value should I give it?

#12

This means that either the I_FoscamPTZ.xml file is missing from your Vera or it’s missing from the camera’s impl_file field in the Advanced tab. Please check that you have the file on your Vera and that the file name is present in the camera’s impl_file field.

#13

i want to used the above setting but i also want the motion to turn on light to only at night which you show above for create a scene with the sensor arm during the night time and bypass during day time. is there any way to schedule a pacific scene to only run from certain to a certain time??

for example

“”“”“”“”
Name: “Motion detected- Lights on”
Action: “Dining light ON”
Triggers: “an armed sensor is tripped”,-- “Device armed is tripped”
Activate scene (RUN only from) (schedule) 7pm-5am.
“”“”
so that this will turn into an occupancy sensor with a photo-cell sensor, determine only active during night time

“”“”“”“”
Name: “Motion detected- Lights off”
Action: “Dining light OFF”
Triggers: “an armed sensor is tripped”,-- “Device armed is NOT tripped”
Activate scene: always.

so that if we have the light on manually during the day and when there are no motion the should be turn off.

The above setting by Trotsky40 creating a scene to by pass the sensor during the day it defeat the purpose of turn off the light when there is no motion when we forgot to turn off the light. please let me know if this possible .

other problem i had when trying the motion light on/off is that when the light on and the camera motion goes to armed/ no-motion then when a scene turn off the light with “no motion” controlled the armed motion camera goes to tripped because of the change in the light condition or when the ir cut off in the camera activated this cause the the scene Motion Light on to run and it in a loop because the moiton on and off any better way to fix this? Im new to these stuff been reading a lot and trying out things and i like to ask when there is a question in mind otherwise confused. Thank you

#14

[quote=“samsungd415, post:13, topic:172056”]-----------------------------
“”“”“”“”
Name: “Motion detected- Lights off”
Action: “Dining light OFF”
Triggers: “an armed sensor is tripped”,-- “Device armed is NOT tripped”
Activate scene: always.
-------------[/quote]

If I understand correctly for your first question you just need to change the trigger on the lights off scene from “an armed sensor is tripped” to “a sensor (door, window, etc.) is tripped”. This will make the light turn off whenever the sensor is not tripped regardless if it the sensor is armed or not.

Your second question is not so easy. I use the motion sensor to turn on lights that are not directly in front of the camera (motion in the bedroom turns on a hallway light). You could try to adjust the sensitivity directly on the camera ( try a setting of 1 and see if that still triggers the motion sensor when the light turns on). The other option would be to use Futzle’s excellent count down timer available in the App section. With this instead of using the “sensor not tripped” you could put it on a set timer to turn off.

#15

i created and play around with these setting to get my foscam as a motion sensor to turn on and off the light. The turn on when motion (triped) is working fine but to turn off when there are no motion not realy working. It wont turn off. now for the scene to turn run (turn off light with no motion) i have to click on reload in MIOS then it will triger the scence to run. I tried both “a sensor/windows” and also “an armed device is not trip” not of them work. any idea please help thank you.

#16

@samsungd415,

Welcome!

Turning a light on/off seems to work with the FW8910. What do you have the [tt]OnTime[/tt] set to?

#17

15second (15) i got the light to tun on when it detect motion but i can not get it to automaticly turn off the light where there is no motion. i create a scene to no motion light off but it will not automatic run i eirth have to click on run or i have to click reload on th MIOS for the scene to run. like i explain i choose “device” as “windows sensor” or/and “triped device” when “device is not triped” but no such luck

#18

@samsungd415, can you post screen shots of the settings in your “no motion” scene? That would help us debug your problem.

#19

Would it be correct to say then that if I’m using UI4/Vera2 with Foscam plugin, that I cannot get a separate motion sensor created in UI4? I’ll need to upgrade to UI5 for this functionality? I’ve deleted/re-added the foscam camera several times, but I’ve never seen a motion sensor for it appear. That would be very useful. I’ve already downloaded the I_FoscamPTZ.xml and put in the correct fields. Everything seems to be working with the exception of being able to access the motion sensor on it via a separate UI control.

#20

I believe that the foscam plugin only works with UI5.

  • Garrett
#21

Hmm, I haven’t tried it on UI4, but @mcvflorin’s statement was this:

#22

[quote=“Trotsky40, post:2, topic:172056”]I have something similar set-up with my FI8910Ws. Here’s how I set it up:

Create a new scene and call it something like “Motion detected- Lights on”
Choose the light you want to turn on and select the action you want as “on”
On the triggers tab, set-up a new trigger by selecting the Foscam motion sensor and selecting the trigger as “an armed sensor is tripped”, name the trigger, and select “Device armed is tripped”
Confirm the changes and hit save

Create a second new scene and call it something like “Motion detected- Light off”
Choose the same light and select the action you want as “off”
On the trigers tab, set-up a new trigger by selecting the Foscam motion sensor and selecting the the trigger as “an armed sensor is tripped”, name the trigger, and select “Device armed is not tripped”
Confirm the changes and hit save

Now the light should turn on when the motion sensor is tripped and turn off when it goes back to un-tripped (the default is 20 minutes and can be changed in the sensor settings). I only arm my sensors at night so the lights aren’t turning on and off all day. If you wanted this to happen all the time, in the trigger section choose “a sensor (door, window, etc.) is tripped” instead of “an armed sensor is tripped”[/quote]

Just wanted to thank you for this post. I was looking for this. I added the additional scenes also that you mentioned few posts below create arm and bypass schedules.

#23

Hi,
Changing a little of subject, but still related to foscam and trigger. I would be very happy to have your feedback about daily use of foscam motion detection.
I have 2 Aeon labs PIR detector that are working quite well. However I need to invest into more detectors and was thinking about taking foscam camera and use motion detection to switch on lights.
This is same price, but with camera you also have picture available…
However I’m not sure that in real life this motion detection is working well. What’s your feedback about it ?
Are you able to switch on lights everytime in a room using Foscam as detector ? What is the latency of the system (interval between entering in the room and light is switching on).
Thank you for your feedback.
Best regards.

#24

I would not rely on the cameras motion detection. To many false positives. If you need many motion devices, an alarm system would be more appropriate and cost effective over the long run.

  • Garrett
#25

I am with Garrett, I have a Foscam Outdoor and when it starts raining/snowing it trips the sensor, same with sunlight in a window. So many false positives, but I can live with it.

#26

Hello guys,

first of all Happy New Year!

My Vera lite is coming next week and I have done a ton of research so far what I want to do. Reading this thread here and reading the Foscam forum and their website there should be “the perfect” way of doing this. Let me explain and see if you think that this is even feasible.

Foscam has a motion detector which should or could be used to trigger recordings regardless at day or by night. With that said the Foscam has the IR feature which is light sensitive which means as soon as it gets dark outside IR should kick in.

If there would be a way to use this trigger from the cam to kickstart another scene that would be perfect. Something like this from a logic perspective:

A) if IR is NOT enabled + motion detected = record 5 seconds of video
B) if IR is enabled + motion detected = record 5 seconds of video + switch on lights for 15 seconds

All this under the assumption that Vera can read the status of IR from the Foscam. If that is not possible then the only way to achieve the above would be on a time basis as described earlier in this thread which wouldn’t account for days when it gets dark earlier or later.

This is the model I am going to purchase soon and if anybody who has a Foscam or ideally the same model could check if there is a way to check the IR status, I would appreciate that.

http://foscam.us/foscam-fi9821w-bundle-7pbracket-9dbi-ext-black.html

Thanks in advance.

#27

make sure you are OK with the problems FI8921Ws have…

Problems…

frequent Wifi disconnects (not an issue if on wired ethernet) from all FI8921w … while FI8910w’s are perfect.

flashing / flickering issues… http://foscam.us/forum/fi9821w-v2-flickering-image-t7377.html