DS2 motion sensing in snow

[OMF]

How do you ignore snowflakes caused false motion triggers on DS2 in snowy geographic areas? Or for that matter the same on Pakedge IP cameras?

If this feature cannot been achieved by programming, is there any way to assign two custom buttons, say "DS2 motion ENABLED", and "DS2 motion DISABLED", to enable and disable the motion sensor at least manually. In Device Actions - Device Specific Commands for DS2 I have found 2 options only: Restart, and Send snapshot email... Lowering motion sensing sensibility is not an option.

Any suggestions?

[Gary Leeds UK]

In composer you will see a IP address for DS2

Type that into your Browser and is the api user name and password to log on 

You can now amend the motion sensor on the DS2

[OMF]

42 minutes ago, Gary Leeds UK said:

In composer you will see a IP address for DS2

Type that into your Browser and is the api user name and password to log on 

You can now amend the motion sensor on the DS2

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your reply, that is exactly what I did so far. What I am looking for is a user (i.e. wife and kids) friendly solution, perhaps with custom buttons in one of the four corners of the Control 4 app. So when I am away from home I don't have to establish a VPN connection to access the DS2 and Cams user interface, etc.

[Gary Leeds UK]

Just checked and agree - I can not find a simple way to do this !!

Call out the big guns 

[Adidaswood]

what happens when the motion triggers?  it sends a push notification?

Perhaps you could have some code and a custom button that disables action while snowing?

so you aren't actually disabling the motion sensing you are just disabling what you've told it to do when it does sense motion?  I hope that makes sense.  

[OMF]

Thanks Adidaswood, it makes perfect sense, unless there is a method to achieve the override automatically.

The way the notifications are currently set up, it sends an email with 5 snapshots and a push notification. It is set up in Composer, as follows:

DEVICE EVENTS:

Control4 DS2 Door Station Events -> Motion detected

SCRIPT:

When motion detected via door station camera:

-> Send snapshot email

-> Send push notification

What would be the best way to manually override the above two script actions based on selected Custom Button status? Perhaps using a Boolean variable? Sorry for the stupid question, but I am not really familiar programming with Boolean variables in Composer.

 

[Adidaswood]

let me see....

I'd probably make a boolean variable  SNOWING and set it to False. maybe something more generic like DS2 MOTION might work better if you want to use it in other situations

Then make a custom button or use a keypad button and it would set the variable to true or false when you push it.  You could even have the LED change color based on its state to remind you.

When Control4 DS2 Door Station Events -> Motion detected

IF SNOWING = True

     Do Nothing (you could use STOP, I think)
ELSE

     Send Snapshot Email

     Send Push
 

you could also move or copy the email one to the top if you thought you still needed that.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[OMF]

3 hours ago, Adidaswood said:

let me see....

I'd probably make a boolean variable  SNOWING and set it to False. maybe something more generic like DS2 MOTION might work better if you want to use it in other situations

Then make a custom button or use a keypad button and it would set the variable to true or false when you push it.  You could even have the LED change color based on its state to remind you.

When Control4 DS2 Door Station Events -> Motion detected

IF SNOWING = True

     Do Nothing (you could use STOP, I think)
ELSE

     Send Snapshot Email

     Send Push
 

you could also move or copy the email one to the top if you thought you still needed that.

Hopefully this helps.

 

Thanks a lot, will do it tonight.

[dw886]

I've had this same issue on some outdoor cameras for quite some time.  In my situation, there's really two things that can cause it (things falling from the sky, like snow or rain) or things blowing around (snow or leaves).  All of my non-C4 cameras no longer rely on motion detection - instead, I use the camera built-in intelligent functions, like "trip wire", which allow you to set the minimum and maximum size of the object as well as the direction of travel.  This seems to false far less than using purely motion-based events.

On the DS2, I know that's not an option but it may be for your other cameras.  I actually turned off the motion sensing on my DS2 for the reasons that you're calling out and use another camera that has a better view of the same area to detect...

[OMF]

25 minutes ago, dw886 said:

I've had this same issue on some outdoor cameras for quite some time.  In my situation, there's really two things that can cause it (things falling from the sky, like snow or rain) or things blowing around (snow or leaves).  All of my non-C4 cameras no longer rely on motion detection - instead, I use the camera built-in intelligent functions, like "trip wire", which allow you to set the minimum and maximum size of the object as well as the direction of travel.  This seems to false far less than using purely motion-based events.

On the DS2, I know that's not an option but it may be for your other cameras.  I actually turned off the motion sensing on my DS2 for the reasons that you're calling out and use another camera that has a better view of the same area to detect...

Thanks a lot for your reply dw886. Can you please let me know which C4 cameras support trip wire functionality, if any? If not C4 cameras, what brand and model are you satisfied with? Can those cameras be integrated in Control4?

[dw886]

1 hour ago, OMF said:

Thanks a lot for your reply dw886. Can you please let me know which C4 cameras support trip wire functionality, if any? If not C4 cameras, what brand and model are you satisfied with? Can those cameras be integrated in Control4?

I personally like Dahua cameras with Starlight sensors.  The Starlight sensor works better than pretty much everything in low-light conditions, and they're reasonably priced - do a web search for starlight and you'll find quite a few positive impressions.  Dahua doesn't sell directly into the US, so if you buy anything with the Dahua name, it's being imported.  In the US, they license their products through OEMs (Qsee, Lorex, Amcrest, Bosch, Honeywell, Legrand, Panasonic, etc).  Many of these are really made by Dahua, and have someone else's name on it.  I like buying the ones that have the real Dahua name on them, because I know exactly what I'm getting.  OEMs tend to mask what it is that you're really getting, and the kit versions are usually the lowest end cameras...

There's a few sites out there that state which OEMs are actually just re-selling Dahua - a quick search landed me here: https://ipvm.com/reports/dahua-oem

There's a Dahua and Amcrest driver for C4 written by Greenfield Solutions.

[OMF]

10 hours ago, dw886 said:

I personally like Dahua cameras with Starlight sensors.  The Starlight sensor works better than pretty much everything in low-light conditions, and they're reasonably priced - do a web search for starlight and you'll find quite a few positive impressions.  Dahua doesn't sell directly into the US, so if you buy anything with the Dahua name, it's being imported.  In the US, they license their products through OEMs (Qsee, Lorex, Amcrest, Bosch, Honeywell, Legrand, Panasonic, etc).  Many of these are really made by Dahua, and have someone else's name on it.  I like buying the ones that have the real Dahua name on them, because I know exactly what I'm getting.  OEMs tend to mask what it is that you're really getting, and the kit versions are usually the lowest end cameras...

There's a few sites out there that state which OEMs are actually just re-selling Dahua - a quick search landed me here: https://ipvm.com/reports/dahua-oem

There's a Dahua and Amcrest driver for C4 written by Greenfield Solutions.

Thanks a lot again for your advice!

[OMF]

12 hours ago, OMF said:

Thanks a lot, will do it tonight.

So I implemented it, and used the STOP command after the If conditional statement, will test it tomorrow. Thanks a lot again!

Under Connections, Control & Audio Video Connections, I have "Motion Sensor" connection. CONTACT_SENSOR Output is set up as "Motion Sensor->Contact Sensor".

I am wondering if there is any difference between the following two programming approaches:

   1) Device Events - Control 4 DS2 Door Station Events - Motion Detected - Script...

   2) Device Events - Motion Sensor - When the Motion Sensor senses motion - Script...

Tanks a lot in advance!

[OMF]

Thank you again dw886, it works fine.