Does anyone know how to trigger recording on a 2nd camera when motion is detected on a 1st?
On floodlight cams for instance where a 2nd camera is powered by the aux port on the back of the Floodlight to cover more angle, if the Floodlight PIR or main camera detects motion and the light turns on, both cameras should start recording immediately.
Thanks @R.Good
Hope it will also record to SD card in the action.
If you have the camera set to continuous recording with the SD card the event uploaded to the cloud can act as a “marker” for you to review the SD playback.
So the uploaded video will only get recorded to the SD card if Continuous recording is being used and not motion recording?
The rule history shows completed, but don’t see any companion video in the events list or on the SD card of the paired camera.
The action of upload a short video to the cloud, only uploads a short 12 second clip to the cloud from the camera listed in that action. If the second camera has an SD card and is set to continuous, it’s always recording and you can refer to the playback on that second camera using the timestamp of the cloud event to find more footage. The action of upload a short video to the cloud will not trigger the SD card recording on the second camera if that one is set to record events only to SD card.
You may need to clear your filters in the event tab to see all videos. I don’t recall exactly the tag but it should be listed as either automation or smart video in the event viewer. What is the SD card recording setting set to on the paired camera? If it’s set to continuous recording it should just record what’s the paired camera sees anyways, whereas if it’s SD card recording is set to events only, the paired camera will have to see its own motion to record to its SD card as that cannot be controlled by the rules.
Thanks for the responses and explainations @Omgitstony & @R.Good .
None of it seems to work. I can see events from the rules history, but no corresponding 12 second video in cloud recordings. Perhaps subscription is required.
Obviously this is not a feature, since there are too many steps to it & results are unexpected. Such a shame, since I believe the practicality if it is obvious, especially in the case of a Floodlight that’s hosting 2 cameras.
I don’t suppose there is any other automation that could tell a camera there is motion.
I use Automation Uploads (12s uploads triggered from rules) on over a dozen cams as positive or negative feedback indicators on critical rules and routines I have running to automate my HMS and other devices that lack Notification capability. They are very reliable.
Some points to know though:
The Automation Event will NOT show in your Events Tab if you have ANY filters set for Cam Plus Only filters or Triggered By filters (the ones at the very bottom of the Advanced Filters list - funnel icon in upper right). For whatever reason, the Automation Events are excluded from the list when any of these are selected. If you have any Quick Filter buttons enabled at the top of the Events page other that Camera (be sure your Cam is selected), the Automation Events will not show. There is no Filter for Automation Event. It is best to clear the Event Filters and then just select that cam when testing.
The Cam MUST have Notifications enabled in order for you to get the “Smart Alert” Push Notification from the 12s Automation upload.
I tested this on my V3 Test Cam while assigned to a Cam Plus subscription and also when unassigned from any subscription. In both cases, a 12s Automation Upload succeeded and I received a Push Notification for both. In the past, it was my understanding that the Upload requires NO subscription, however the Notification required Cam Plus. My test did not indicate this as I received notifications for both. Perhaps this has changed.
When the cam is NOT assigned to any subscription, it appears that the 12s Automation Upload is NOT restricted by the 12s cooldown. As you can see from my screenshot above, all Automation uploads were within the 5m cooldown period while the cam did not have a Cam Plus subscription.
I also tested the rule with 5 other cam types assigned to Cam Plus, all with Notifications enabled:
If these points don’t help you find the uploaded 12s Events or get Notifications, perhaps post a screenshot of the rule you are using to generate it. There may be a conflict in the rule.
In addition to that screen shot, can you also post screen shots of your event tab, rule history with the line item open so that each action and it’s status can be seen would help with the troubleshooting. Thanks in advance!
@SlabSlayer thank you for the useful information about being able to see automated uploads by turning off all filters in the event view. I can see them now.
12s uploads are better then nothing. Ultimately would have been nicer to trigger the secondary camera motion so that SD recording could take place. Continuous recording is a much too heavy price to pay for such functionality.
How is this not a thing? I don’t have the doorbell for instance, but doesn’t this type of function also suit the doorbell? Someone rings doorbell and multiple cameras get triggered to record to SD? If subscribed to CAM+, does the 12s upload turn into full motion fueled recordings?
Thanks again.
Are you referring to the number of days of SD Card history being too small or the price of larger SD Cards?
I am recording continuous to 256GB High Endurance cards and get around 3 weeks history depending on the cam or the settings.
Wyze Doorbells do not have SD Cards nor do they have an Action to Upload a Short Video to the cloud.
For the Motion Activated Uploads directly from the cam, yes. From the Automation Rule to upload a video, no. Automation upload “Short Video upload to Cloud” are always 12s. SD Card Recording remains unchanged. Also realize though, without Cam Plus, your trigger cam will only pull the “Motion” trigger for the rule once in a 5m period. During the 5m cooldown, the trigger cam will not activate the Rule since it cannot upload.
But, you can get 12s Event upload recordings on the V3 Cam with Cam Plus Lite and it can still be for $0 although it still has a 5m cooldown between uploads.
What I am saying is there is a benefit to motion recording and you loose that benefit if you have to revert to continuous just to make what we are talking about work right.
Yep, so what I am saying is that its something thats needed. Doorbell should accommodate a rule action that can trigger recording from a secondary camera and that would have justified the rule action for all things related.
This topic has nothing to do with the difference between SD Card Continuous vs Motion Event Recording.
Everything we have discussed above has been dealing with triggering Cam B to upload a Cloud Event Video when Cam A encounters a Motion Event.
In this case, when Cam A encounters a motion event, it uploads that event to your account on the cloud server. Depending on your subscription, that Cloud Event could be a snapshot (none), a 12s video (CPL), or a full length video (CP). When that Cloud Event hits the server, it triggers the Rule to Cam B which then uploads a 12s Automation Event Video to your account on the server. Everything accomplished so far is all Server side. Server Event Recordings can never be continuous.
But the Event Upload Recordings have nothing to do with the SD Card Recordings. Those are completely separate MP4 video files saved to the SD Card.
In both of these cases, the Cam A initial Event Upload and the Cam B Automation Event Upload, the Event is viewed in the Events Tab where there is a link bar button for "View Playback. In both cases, pressing that button will launch to the SD Card Playback Video from the SD Card.
On Cam A, that was triggered by the Motion Event, there will be a video of the event. That video, if SD card recording is set to Motion Events, will be 1, 2, 3 minutes long depending on how long the event lasted, but always in increments of one minute because of the way SD Card Video is recorded. If set to continuous, the timeline will be 100% solid video for the duration. But, the View Playback link will still take you to the time of the event.
On Cam B this is not the case. Cam B did not see or get Motion Activated by a motion event. It was triggered to upload from a rule. So, if you have Cam B set to record to the SD Card for Motion Events only, there will be no video on the SD Card because it saw no motion. There will only be SD Card Video footage if Cam B is Motion Activated itself. If you have it set to record to the SD Card Continuously, there will be video available when you press the View Playback button from the Automation Event Upload regardless of if it experienced a Motion Activation or not.
Also consider that while Cam B is uploading the 12s Automation Event Upload triggered by the Rule, it cannot also upload a Motion Event if it does encounter Motion Activation within that 12s. The cam cannot upload two videos simultaneously which go to different areas on the server.
The SD Card is constantly recording when “Record to SD Card” is enabled regardless of whether it is set to Continuous or Motion Events. It records every minute in an MP4 file from second 00 to second 59. If set to Continuous, it saves every one minute MP4. If set to Motion Events, it only saves the one minute MP4 files that have motion activation, or multiple motion activations. It deletes those without motion activations immediately. If a motion activation occurs at second 55 in the minute and continues to second 05 in the next minute, there will be two MP4 files and the Motion Event on the SD Card will be two minutes long starting at second 00 of the first minute and ending at second 59 of the second minute.
I’m really not sure what the benefit is to to only recording Motion Events to the SD Card except for a longer SD Card history. If either Cam is Motion Activated, it uploads. That upload is directly linked to the exact time of the Event on the SD Card Video. There is no need to search and scrub the SD Card when it launches straight to the SD Video of that time from the Event Upload regardless of if the SD is set to record in either Continuous or Motion Event.
SD card local recording and cloud based recordings are two separate things, you can have one, both or neither at any time. But in your posts, you want the cloud recording because you are using the “upload a short video to the cloud action”. When doing this, the SD card recording is happening or not along side the cloud actions and actually helps it by recording more. It doesnt replace or run instead of.
I think the questions are answered.
1.) To Trigger secondary events, rules can be employed.
2.) If the secondary event is to be a video recording, select “upload…” as the action.
3.) Rule triggered video events aren’t visible in the Events pane unless filters are clear.
4.) Video that get uploaded in rule triggered scenarios are either 12s, or full length if subscribed to a plan.
Thank you very much.
No. All Rule Triggered “Upload a Short Video to the Cloud” actions are always 12s video regardless of subscription.
Motion Activated Cam uploads are Snapshot, 12s Video, or Full Length Video based on subscription.
Thanks for the clarification.
