I'm trying to set up rules, but am unclear on the actions to use

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#1

Ok, I did a cursory search, and didn’t find this specific item. Forgive me if its staring at me in plain sight.

I’ve set up device triggers, for if one of my three V2Cams at the front of my house, detect motion, then turn on the other two. “Turn on Cam” may be the wrong action, because when I do, it seems to reset the settings for the cams when they come on, specifically the IR lights, which I had turned off (using behind a window and get a glare).

What would be the right action to use, to get the cameras to start recording an event, if another camera detected motion?

#2

Have you tried “Upload short video to the cloud?”

#3

Not yet. I’m currently testing with ‘turn on motion detection’ on the other cameras. Ideally, a tutorial on what each action does, would be nice.

#4

There’s a support topic on Rules: https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032409032-How-to-use-Rules

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#5

Thanks for sending him the link

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#6

Thanks, I had already read that, but it doesn’t seem to have anything that describes what the actions are supposed to do specifically.

#7

For example, ‘turn on camera’ seems to be almost like a reboot, because I see camera settings get reset to defaults. Does ‘start motion detection’ cause the secondary cameras to start recording like an event? or is the ‘upload short video to the cloud’ the proper action for triggering other cameras to record, when motion is detected on a primary camera.

#8

I am curious what settings you are seeing changed by turning the camera on?

#9

IR Lights come back on, when set to off previously.

#10

Ah, so in live view for that camera does the the small icon on the right side of the Live View line say Off/On or Auto?

#11

Right now, it says off. However if I trigger the camera with motion from a different camera, and the trigger action is ‘Turn on the camera’, if its dark outside, the IR lights come on too, and reset to Auto. And behind a window, the glare just destroys the view. I could just drop back to electricians tape over the IR lights, but that seems silly.

Again, some sort of specific definition for each action, would be nice…

#12

FWIW - I tried the "Upload short video… " option, and it uploaded an event video when the motion trigger occured.

I turn my cameras on and off daily, but have not noticed the behavior described. I’ll test it turning the IR lights off to see if the come back on when a camera chimes on.

— Edit ----

Nope, IR lights stayed off when the camera was switched on by a trigger.

#13

Odd indeed? In the Advanced settings you can turn the IR lights off. The switch I asked you about controls night vision mode which is independent of the IR lights. If the IR lights are enabled in the advanced settings they will turn on when night vision turns on.

#14

One difference is that turn on motion detection turns on the cams built in motion detection which relies on a light pixelation algorithm to define motion, on which it triggers the event video.
Upload short video to cloud, when triggered by the motion sensor, causes the cam to upload video, which might be the same actual scene as the other, but it is triggered by the passive infrared (PIR) capability of motion sensor, not the light pixelation algorithm within the cam. This can avoid headlights, sunlight changes, flaring porch lights, etc.

#15

IR lights were disabled in Advanced settings. They had to be, otherwise the glare in the glass windows at night. So night vision mode set to off, and IR lights set to off in Advanced settings. However when the triggered action is ‘turn on camera’ and it triggers at night, the IR lights come on. This may totally blow this conversation out of the water, but I just double checked and this is happening on a V1 camera, triggered by a V2 camera. Not sure if that matters, but since the firmware isn’t being updated anymore, it may be a moot point. If so, apologies to all, and sorry to disturb everyone.

#16

I know nothing about V1 behavior so I have to bow out.

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#17

Ditto.

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#18

Wouldn’t the process of uploading the video, cause the camera to not continue to record an event? Thought this was the ‘cool down’ process, when the camera is not recording anything.

I just want to trigger recording on other devices, just as if an event happened, but happened on another camera (ie the device trigger).

#19

As far as I know rule generated video is not subject to the cool down period. Have to test that…

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#20

I believe you are correct. I have motion trigger my camera when pulling into the driveway. When I open the garage door a scene action video appears within a minute after.

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