I’m currently looking for a Cam, that is working with my HA setup.
I’m using a Docker installation HA, mostly with WIFI and zigbee2mqtt devices.
I would like to add 2 cams to be able to check some rooms of my house, especially in the night.
So the cam should have the following specs available, or should be configurable with HA:
On/Off at specific Time (and on events from HA)
Night Vision
Live Feed
Take picture at Movement and save it to my HA Server (if possible i could also use a motion detector as a trigger)
USB powered or battery powered
The problem is the power supply, the power consumption needs to be as low as possible as I have no way of plugging it in directly. It needs to be battery powered (I could add a large battery pack or something).
I have already looked at : Aqara Camera Hub G2H Pro
But I’m not sure if it will work the way I want with HA.
Any suggestions for cameras?
Or is there a compatibility list for intergration with HA?
Every IP cam should work, I’m also capable of writing pyhton scripts and so on, but i would like to use already existing integrations in HA, if possible.
The other options is to look into a camera that comes with a solar panel that you can either pass-through the cable or direct attach to the window to recharge it if there is enough sunlight coming through during the day time to keep its battery topped up.
Eufy and Wyze have a range that come with a solar panel but those are more outdoor use, I’m not sure if there is one like with the switchbot curtains that come with a window mountable solar panel to keep them topped up that said so that is something to keep an eye on if not a DIY job.
Forgot to mention I am not sure they can be used directly with HA as I have only PoE based (one hikvision and 2 hilook) ones linked to my Synology NAS for my camera needs at the moment, but see if you find onvif and rtsp capable ones that fit your needs to see if they can be integrated for your setup needs.
Theoretically, if I would use an ip camera with REST API and a Live feed over an url, i could trigger a scriped (pyhton based) to create a snapshot of the current picture of the stream and save it where i want, but i would like as much integration in HA templates as possible, so i don’t have to DIY Script everything, since it might know work after updating and so on…
This may help you get setup, I use the following with my front door camera when my shelly button is pushed that is acting as my doorbell so you should be able to just swap the trigger to the one you need:
i.e Each time the button is pressed as the trigger it tells HA to send a notification with a snapshot of the camera and send it with the notification to my phone, it stays on the phone until cleared from the notifications and is only temp but gives me a time stamp and visual when I need it. The channel is setup on the phone app to tell HA to know what audio to play that is setup in the channel on the phone with the file saved on the phone.
In your case the trigger may be your motion with the specific times you have it active or setup the times in HA for a global set.
DIY part would then be your power and network setup for the camera once you have it tested and working before setup in the area you need it.
